I requested this title back before my blogging break. I have ended up with a number of titles that are overwhelming to catch up on now I am back from my blogging break. I am regretfully not going to be reading and reviewing this title, but now I am back from my blogging break, I am looking forward to reading and reviewing some of your future titles. Thank you so much for the opportunity and apologies.

The book did not really work for me. I DNF'ed it. I wasn’t able to connect with any of the many characters in the book and I found myself putting down the book a lot because it was never really catching my attention.

I was a big fan of the television series, "Once Upon a Time." In that show, Peter Pan was not a good guy. He was actually rather evil and unlikable, as opposed to the Walt Disney version of the happy go lucky boy. Well, in Brianna Shrum's story, he is the evil boy with no conscience. Peter heads off to London where he meets James Hook. James thinks that Neverland sounds like a great place to visit and he is assured by Peter that he can go home whenever he wants so he agrees to go on a vacation. Once there, Peter gives him the rules and refuses to help him get home when he is ready to leave. We meet all the characters we already know and love like the lost boys, the pirates, the indians including Tiger Lily and the fairies. Peter is not very nice and is always wanting to attack others. James does not like this at all. When you don't like what is happening in Neverland and stop dreaming, you start to age and young James Hook turns into an adult, thus being banished from Peter's camp.

This story has a very different spin on the story I am familiar with. I enjoyed hearing it from Captain Hook's point of view. There were some very interesting twists on the relationships in Neverland, as well as the evolution of Captain Hook. As he ages and becomes the captain of his ship, his hatred for Peter grows. Throughout this story they are always after each other, but the reason is very different in this book. It is easy to see why James hates Peter and wants to kill him, but I also like how his humanity is shown. There is an interesting storyline involving Tiger Lily as well. So is this a middle grades book? I thought it might be, but I think it is definitely more YA due to that theme. I did enjoy this book and am glad I finally read it.

It started out great. Dark atmosphere and interesting characters. It became very repetitive in the middle though. It's about the constant battle between James and Peter. We get to see more of Tiger Lily, who is also not really the sparkling personality like in the retelling from Jodi Lynn Anderson, but there isn't enough to fill all the pages. It got a little boring. The ending was quite good.

I am a massive fan of Peter Pan, or really any fairy tale story, so I tent to judge retellings pretty harshly. Getting the perspective of Hook in Never, Never is very unique an intriguing. While I feel it was interesting in that aspect, I felt that is was lacking in living up to the hype. Sometimes the story drags, and Peter himself is the biggest drag of all. Understandably, Hook is no fan of Peter, but I still feel Peter's character could have been represented differently.

This book was fun! But it sort of fell flat for me where I really wanted it to count. I don't know--I liked the whole idea of the man behind the villain but it wasn't properly executed for my tastes? I don't know... like I said, it was fun, but that's just about it.

An interesting take on peter pan, dark, dangerous and interesting.

*I never got around to reading and reviewing this book. I may do so in the future*

NEVER, NEVER was supposed to be the Peter Pan retelling of my dreams. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat, mainly in the writing department. But the dialogue was quick and smart, and I could have spent more time with the characters.

My biggest qualm with this novel was the writing. I had a hard time determining for whom this book was written as the writing seems very juvenile while the content remains very much young adult. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, specifically Hook, which really upset me as he was the main reason I wanted to read Never, Never! Overall, I would definitely recommend this to lovers of Peter Pan, but it fell short for me.