REVIEW Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell
Published by Simon Pulse
Fiction / Young Adult / Fantasy / Romance / Retelling

If you know me, then you know that I'm a sucker for fairytale retellings. Like, 'how-many-licks-does-it-take-to-get-to-the-center-of-a-Tootsie-Pop?' sucker. And I love me some Peter Pan. I hadn't read a Peter Pan retelling before Unhooked. Do I love the Disney animated film? Heck yeah I do. Did I weep like a banshee when I watched Finding Neverland? Damn right I did. Am I secretly obsessed with Colin O'Donohue's Captain Hook from Once Upon A Time? Don't tell my husband.

I originally bought this book because it seemed like the only Peter Pan retelling that sounded interesting. It was advertised for people who like OUAT's Captain Hook, so I was sitting there on the floor of the Barnes and Noble reading that review thinking, 'Well, I like OUAT's Captain Hook. This is obviously being advertised to people like me.'

It took me over a year to actually read it, but you know that's just me and my TBR habits. I hadn't read a book in a while so I really wanted to read something light, something I could get through quickly. And this was it! I got through it really quickly, I read it in about a weekend while doing other adult things that needed to be done. 

So what did I actually think of the book?

It was okay.

Yeah.

It was just okay. I obviously liked it enough to read it in the span of a weekend. But it also wasn't really that long, and wasn't really that difficult to get through. To be honest, I didn't find anything about it truly remarkable. It was kind of your general YA retelling. Sorry if that hurt anyone's feels. But after reading it, I had a few things to say about the marketing. But I'll start it off with just a general synopsis and my thoughts on it overall.

Unhooked follows Gwendolyn Allister and her best friend, Olivia (I almost forgot her name) as Gwen and her mother move to a rundown flat in London after her mother is convinced (yet again) that monsters are chasing them. Gwen and Olivia are soon kidnapped by dark creatures and taken to Neverland where they end up separated; Gwen with Captain Hook and the pirates, and Olivia with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Gwen is torn between Pan's and Hook's narratives and lies as she struggles with why she and Olivia have been brought to Neverland, learning that she has a connection to the Fae and the realm of Neverland. 

That's it for no spoilers. Everything beyond this point is fair game. You have been warned.

Characters 

All of the characters seemed more two-dimensional than anything. Given, there were a few that I thought were more fleshed out than others. But what was more disappointing was that the fleshed-out characters weren't even the protagonists. 

I'll dedicate a whole paragraph to the protagonist, Gwendolyn, or Gwen. First of all, there was no consistency with her name. She's nicknamed Gwen on the back of the book, but was only called Gwen maybe three times. Everyone else called her Gwendolyn. Why even bother with giving her that nickname if close to no one is going to call her that? But I digress. I just really wanted to get that off my chest. Moving on. I thought her character was super bland. I couldn't tell you any particular character trait, except, maybe... empathy? She was like flavorless yogurt, Greek yogurt; not even vanilla yogurt because I actually like vanilla yogurt. Not much going for her. Barely any physical descriptions and we don't know much about her and her likes. We know about her history, and we know she likes running. I don't know what a lot of writers are thinking, but NEWS FLASH a hobby is not a character trait. It contributes to maybe certain character traits, but it is not an actual character/personality trait. Other than that, we have another case of a missing parental figure, aka her father, and she is the mature one between her and her mother. Her mother doesn't take care of her, she takes care of her mother. Just another cliche to deal with. And this was published in 2016. Why was this cliche still around? She seemed like a self-insert for the reader. Just another Bella Swan. Someone so bland that the reader can just imagine themselves in her place. Also, not to mention, not as attractive as her friend, Olivia, but manages to have the attention of both Pan and Hook. 'Kay, moving on from that cliche.

Gwendolyn's relationship with her mother is strained, I get it. We only really get to see how paranoid her mother is, and then learn she's not crazy. Then there's nothing more with her until the end of the book and she's perfectly fine. 

Olivia was your average privileged wealthy girl, but not spoiled or bratty. She was manipulated by Peter Pan throughout most of the book and became annoying to read. Not to mention the girl-on-girl hate/jealousy for Peter's affections, but the author managed to make this different by making Olivia magically manipulated by Peter to feel this way. But Olivia did have her moments that I liked. I felt a little bad for her in the end when she essentially crumbled into dust, which I was not expecting. Though, it didn't tug on the heartstrings and make me shed a tear. 

I'm not sorry.

The character of Peter Pan was handled uniquely. You always seemed to question what he was up to: If he actually liked Gwendolyn, if he was just scheming. There were a few surprises that I was not expecting. Some of his cons were clever. He was puckish, and in a destructive, chaotic way that made me want to see him as the bad guy. But part of me wanted something deeper with him. I wanted more conflict rather than just 'he's the obvious bad guy'. Especially since we're painted such distinct pictures of him compared to Hook. Added conflict would have made the story longer and more intriguing. His ending was weak though. He was taken out too easily, and it made me wonder why the faeries hadn't thought to kill him sooner once they had Gwendolyn.

Now, I shall move on to Hook. Oh, Hook. After whom the book is named. He was very clearly an important character, however, after reading this book, I felt very strongly that I shouldn't be reading YA for much longer. This is where my beef with the advertising stems. I don't know why, but when I was told that as a fan of OUAT I would like this book, I guess I didn't full know what I expected. I think I really wanted this to be a New Adult book rather than what I got.

But then I was reminded that I was reading YA.

He wasn't even remotely the same character. Which I can understand. An author wants some sort of originality with their interpretation of a beloved character. But I was essentially stuck with Colin O'Donohue minus 10 years and a dash of awkward.

I'm getting too old for this. 

So I just kept reading it for the enjoyment or whatever. He was the most three-dimensional character in the book. What made his character unique to this book as a retelling, was his magically mechanical arm. He lost his arm in his life before Neverland and it was replaced by this cool clockwork arm. I really lived for this detail even if it wasn't a traditional hook. So good work there. He had a very clear past, there were stakes for him. He had people he cared about. He struggled with his past and his responsibilities in the present. He was essentially from a different time period, Great War Era to be precise, and his mannerisms for the most part reflected that. There were the small inconsistencies where he seemed like he had that mysterious smoldering thing going for him where Gwendolyn was sure he was trying to use how attractive he was to make her feel uncomfortable, but it just didn't seem right for his character the more we got to learn about him, and it may have just been Gwendolyn being a lusty teenager or something.

But again, I'm getting too old for YA at this point. Will I still read it? Yes. But maybe try to find the mature ones. Or just strictly New Adult.

Story

I appreciated the retelling aspect of this, as simple as it was. I thought it was solid for a YA. Gwendolyn being half-Fae made an interesting twist that I didn't completely expect, and the Fae being destructive was another twist I didn't mind. 

The one thing I thought could have been truly expanded on was J.M. Barrie and his involvement. That's right, J.M. Barrie has a place in this. In this book he does exist and is referenced as having either been to Neverland and writing a story about it. Or something? You see, it was mentioned once and I already forgot it. It could have been omitted and nothing would have changed, but as soon as he's mentioned I want to know more about him and why he's involved and to the extent he is involved. But it was obviously not important since he was mentioned once at the end of the story. That was the one aspect I wanted to know more about, but alas that would have made the plot more interesting or complex and we can't have that for a YA.

The retelling additions that made the book unique to itself were beneficial to the story. The Lost Boys were murderous little heathens, but if anything they just reassured the reader that Peter was the villain. The Fae being angry with Peter and feeling used for their magic was a good addition as well and made the conflict interesting.

With how many theories about what Neverland is and who Peter is, I thought these particular aspects were interesting.

The romance was subtle and cute, but nothing remarkable. It kind of just happened, so I guess it being seamless is a good thing. The only thing that seemed out of the blue was when Hook came to rescue Gwnedolyn from Peter and the Lost Boys (it was unasked for by the way, just a duty he felt he needed to do) he said to her he thought she "was pretty and all, but..." and she was taken aback about as much as I was because I was like

But you know, it's YA and you have to get the romance in there somehow.

The ending was... kind of disappointing from a female perspective. Gwendolyn and Hook manage to get back to London together, without Olivia because she's dust now, and Hook being from a different time period is obviously terrified of this new world he's been thrust into. That lasted about 2 pages, and then he's fine. All Gwendolyn got at the end was a guy. That's it. No mention of going to college, obviously mourned her friend for a page, and she and Hook visit a WW1 cemetery to mourn his lost time and his brother (?) I think that's what happened. Magic came back at the end when he was in the hospital, because of course, and his clockwork arm that stopped working because he was no longer in Neverland started working again because...

Writing

The writing was simple. Which isn't a bad thing. It was good for an easy YA read and concise enough for everything to be appropriately descriptive and make the pacing quick and enjoyable to get through the book quickly. If anything I just wish that the story was longer so we could really explore the world more and how everything truly ties together.

Again, with how many theories there are for Peter Pan, I thought more could be done but were thrown to the wayside for the sake of a simpler story.

Overall

This was honestly just a simple, unremarkable book in a pleasant, but also boring kind of way. It could have been explored more and the characters could have been more interesting if they were fleshed out more and if the older tropes were thrown out.

Overall, I give this book:

⭐⭐⭐

Just three stars. Nothing extraordinary but made for a light read to get me back into the reading mood. For being published in 2016, some of the older tropes and cliches were disappointing to read about and made me a little tired.

I wish Gwendolyn got more in the end than a guy. Maybe a sense of direction of what to do with her life, or anything!

This book is obviously made for younger teens, maybe 14-16. It's the YA type of book that is just not made for readers of YA that are my age. People older than teens just wouldn't be able to relate to the situations, or the characters, in this book because they're just too old to find any of it consequential anymore.

I often run into stories like this and I finish it saying, "Wow... I could write that so much better." 

Not saying this was bad or I'm a better writer, but I often read stories with an expectation of what it will be about and when I'm disappointed that it was a different story, I come out of it with the desire to write the story that I wanted to read. You know, like that one saying. Either way, expect a Peter Pan retelling at some point in the future.

Thanks guys!

REVIEW The Tempest by Charlotte Hawkins

The Tempest by Charlotte Hawkins
Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Fiction / History / Romance / Retelling

The Tempest follows Guy of Gisborne, a popular Robin Hood character from many film, books, and television adaptations, and an original character, a healer named Cassia deWarren, and their growing relationship and romance.

This is a thinly veiled fanfiction of BBC's Robin Hood based on the dark, brooding, and haunted description of the main character, Guy of Gisborne, popularly played by Richard Armitage.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to this book based on that alone, like many other reviewers and readers of this book. That being said, if you know me at all then you know that I have no qualms with fanfiction. I actively read and write it myself. This was probably one of the more polished fanfictions I've encountered. Is it by no means perfect, and there were a few things that could have used some improvement.

From what I understand, this is the first book that the author has self-published. I believe that self-published fanfiction can only be so good but I like to give things a shot if there is a possibility I might like it. It wasn't very expensive on Kindle, so I knew it wouldn't hurt. 

I feel like this review would be best organized by going over the aspects I did like and area that could have been improved upon.

Firstly, I loved the writing style. I thought it flowed well and the descriptions were strong enough for me to see it clearly in my head. I often found myself impressed with how lovely some of the sentences were. They were flowery without being too boring or oversaturated with too many pointless words or descriptors. I could tell each word had been carefully chosen.

This book was more character-driven than plot-driven. The characters were thought out, but I felt some were stronger and more developed than others, which I will go into later. One of these few was Cassia. She, to me, was the most alive out of these characters. I understood her personality, desires, frustrations, hobbies, and life. While I found several of her motivations and decisions questionable, which I will also go into later, she seemed to be the most interesting.

The other two character who I thought were interesting enough, were actually Robin Hood and Marian. Their characters were contrived, however, and made out to be unlikable so as to get the reader to like Guy of Gisborne more. The author took the cocky and shallowness of their characters to the next level, which made me actually want more of them in the story. Mostly because I've never really loved their characters despite me loving anything Robin Hood.

Guy of Gisborne is an in-between character for me. His inner conflict, demons, and desires were the most developed aspects of his character. I thought his transition from lust to love was seamless, I hardly noticed it. Which is both good and bad. It makes his arc seem weak and almost non-existent. It was good because making something seamless is impressive.

Now, what I thought could use some work.

The plot was the biggest issue with this book. More like lack of plot to put it plainly. Like I said earlier, this is a character-driven story. I don't say character-driven plot because they only go through the motions of their situations rather than drive their situations with their actions. Things happen to them, they don't make anything really happen for themselves. It seemed more like a character study in the format of a full-length novel. If I had to guess a vague 'maybe' plot it would be: Guy of Gisborne and Cassia struggle with familial and societal obstacles in order to be with each other.

If I have to guess what the plot is then you very likely don't have one.

This leads me into a few of my my other points that are related to each other.

While Cassia was the most interesting character, she had no character arc. There were no obstacles for her to overcome herself. Obstacles were overcome for her. She was more like an object placed into the story to create conflict for other characters.

This problem plays into a trope I have a huge problem with. And that trope is: the female character is only there to reform the bad boy. If I were to change my earlier attempt at explaining the plot, I would change it to just this trope. She was a well-fleshed out character but was only there for Guy to love and lust over. I think it did a huge disservice to her character. While they did have great chemistry, the stakes weren't high enough for them. The stakes that were there were not threatening enough and it prompted some very serious responses from Cassie. 

At one point, she threatened suicide if her brother and husband did not go to Nottingham and save Guy.

Cassia is known as being very clever, which I like, but this is one way to get me turned off of any character. Threatening suicide to get what you want (even if it is for love) is nothing short of manipulative, whether or not she would have gone through with it. It would have been less damaging to her character if she had just gone and saved him herself. Then they would have had an awesome showdown with Robin and the Sheriff. 

Like, boo-fucking-hoo, your brother and your husband suck because they don't give two shits about what you want and what would make you happy, so you just threaten to commit suicide? 

Where the heck did that come from?

Here's an idea, sweetheart, do something about it yourself!

Oh! It would have been difficult for you to leave because the time period and your gender would have posed as too hard of an obstacle? Figure it out! I'd rather have it be a little historically inaccurate for the female character to leave France by herself and trek all the way back to Nottingham if it meant she took some initiative for once in her life to get what she wanted than have her just sit there and be a damsel thinking she can't do anything because she's a woman. She was far more independent throughout the book than for her to just do that.

As someone who has struggled with depression so severe that I have had suicidal ideation, I found this instance to be insulting. You know who threatens suicide to get what they want? Abusers. It's mental and emotional abuse. No one who has actually thought about committing suicide would ever threaten someone they loved that they would commit suicide because life wasn't going their way and they wanted them to fix it. There was no use for this. None at all. It could have been taken out and it wouldn't have made a difference to the story or her character moving forward. All it did was move this book down a peg due to how uncalled for it was. It didn't show off her mental instability or depression, it just showed manipulation on her part to get what she wanted, which is irresponsible.

Anyway, moving on.

Robin Hood. This story features Robin Hood characters, yet less than a handful are in it. This story focuses on Guy so if you are looking to have lots of interactions with other iconic characters, then you won't get it in this book. Robin Hood is Guy's enemy. So make him the enemy. I think there was a lot of opportunity with the plot that the author didn't take advantage of when it came to utilizing the actual main character of the source material she was pulling from.

I know it seems like there was a lot that I didn't like. But these were mostly things that I really only thought could  have used improvements. Since this book is self-published, and the first the author has produced, I'm reviewing this at face value and basing it mostly on enjoyment. If this was a traditionally published book, then it would have been a different story.

I believe there are a few more books in this series. I'm still deciding whether or not I will read them since I'm unsure what else the author could do. Robin Hood and the Sheriff are both dead and the author tied everything up in a nice little bow.

Overall, I rate this book:

⭐⭐⭐

I really did enjoy this for what it was, aside from the suicide thing. I'm able to move past that one instance and flag it as a faux pas on the author's part so I can look at the rest of the book as it is. I think the author has a lot of potential to be a great writer. However, if you are looking for a solid read with Robin Hood characters, this is not for you. But if you are a bit of a fangirl for Richard Armitage's Guy of Gisborne and are looking for a decent romance that gives him the happy ending he deserved, then you'd probably enjoy this.