Darling Girl
Remarkable
Charming
Erratic

Darling Girl A Novel of Peter Pan

Liz Michalski2022
In this beautiful, grounded, and darkly magical modern-day reimagining of J. M. Barrie's classic, to save her daughter's life one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan--who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be . . . Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy--yes, that Wendy. She's running a successful skincare company; her son, Jack, is happy and healthy; and the tragedy of her past is well behind her . . . until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she's been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real, but more dangerous than anyone could imagine. Eden's disappearance is a disaster for more reasons than one. She has a rare condition that causes her to age rapidly--ironic, considering her father is the boy who will never grow up--which also makes her blood incredibly valuable. It's a secret that Holly is desperate to protect, especially from Eden's half-brother, Jack, who knows nothing about his sister or the crucial role she plays in his life. Holly has no one to turn to--her mother is the only other person in the world who knows that Peter is more than a story, but she refuses to accept that he is not the hero she's always imagined. Desperate, Holly enlists the help of Christopher Cooke, a notorious ex-soldier, in the hopes of rescuing Eden before it's too late . . . or she may lose both her children. Darling Girl brings all the magic of the classic Peter Pan story to the present, while also exploring the dark underpinnings of fairy tales, grief, aging, sacrifice, motherhood, and just how far we will go to protect those we love.
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Reviews

Photo of Bria
Bria@ladspter
4 stars
May 31, 2024

-1 for that ending

Photo of Moxie Minion
Moxie Minion@moxie
4 stars
Jan 9, 2024

I am not one to do long reviews of books, I would rather get lost in my next book. But I do love this one. Very cute continuation of the story of Peter Pan with a very modern twist.

Photo of Apiecalypse Jen
Apiecalypse Jen@chippedfang
0.5 stars
Jul 8, 2023

Nope.

Nothing redeeming about this I can say. I guess it was written in English, but even that’s a neutral because it meant I read it…

Photo of Vilandra
Vilandra@vilandra
4 stars
Mar 17, 2023

I enjoyed reading this and its take on Peter Pan. I was disappointed in the way the ending was presented and felt that the stakes could have been higher with better payoffs. It was almost there.

Photo of Kaitlyn Cortez
Kaitlyn Cortez@kcortez
2 stars
Aug 25, 2022

This was...dark. Overall it was a fine read. It was a daring retelling and the story was well-told. This book definitely needs TW (rape, SA, murder, thoughts of suicide, death and murder of young children, forcefully injecting children with drugs, etc.) and I could have done without some of the more graphic story lines.

Photo of Steph L
Steph L @paigesofnovels
3 stars
Aug 14, 2022

What I enjoyed Characters One of my favorite things about this book was the characters. I love Peter Pan, so I was drawn to this story. The characters in this book were interesting, and it was a mixture of characters, you know, like Jane, Wendy’s daughter, and new ones, like Holly, Jane’s daughter. Holly and her kids are the main characters, and they were the most interesting stories to follow. Holly and her kids also had the most developed personalities and backstories to follow. Plot I love the plot of this story. When adapting or reading a story like Peter Pan, one that is known, and one that people look for new, takes on, you need something to keep you interested. Darling Girl includes a new story with interesting elements. The plot was one of my favorite elements of this book. Writing I enjoyed the writing of this novel. The lighthearted scenes had a light tone, and they wrote the heavy scenes with a serious edge. Liz Michalski's writing style works well to tell this story. What didn’t work for me Pace Some of the pace in this story was so slow. I felt like they could have talked some things about more, and they could have talked some elements about more.

Photo of Ryan Angel
Ryan Angel@turnanewpage
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022

I LOVED this. Except for a few things that I can’t get into without spoilers. This is a decently twisted after-telling of Peter Pan from Holly’s perspective. Twisted, not dark. Maybe a little dark, but not dark dark. It did a good job at keeping me guessing to the very end. Main pain point is I didn’t get ANY meaningful character connections. Everything was so dull in that regard. I can see how this is a 3 or less star book for some, but for me, I know I will be thinking about this for a while and that’s a good thing. I’ve also never seen Peter Pan and now I’m not sure I can

Photo of Kindra Flores
Kindra Flores@kindraflores
2 stars
Aug 11, 2022

Really bad honestly. Do not recommend. Bad writing in my opinion. Underdeveloped. Cool idea but poor execution

Photo of Celeste Richardson
Celeste Richardson@cecereadsandsings
3 stars
Aug 11, 2022

Darling Girl sounded like something that would be incredibly up my alley. A dark retelling of Peter Pan? Yes, please. However, I found myself pretty disappointed with the book overall. While I didn’t hate it, I found that the tale and the structure and especially the characters left much to be desired. “Once the forbidden fruit has been tasted, there’s no going back to paradise. For anyone. Even Peter Pan, it seems. Innocence, once lost, is impossible to regain.” This is the story of Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy of Peter Pan fame. They’re obviously an incredibly famous family, and are always in the public eye. Holly suffered devastating loss over a decade ago, when she lost her husband and one of her twin sons in a brutal accident that left her and her other son horribly injured. The survivors have gradually recovered, and in seemingly miraculous ways. Holly uses her brilliant mind to, surprisingly, launch a line of skin-care products that take the world by storm. But she has some dark secrets, and those are about to come back to bite her. “I learned long ago that if you wish to keep your loved ones close, you need to let them leave.” I felt a deep dislike for Holly. The desperation she feels to keep her son Jack from growing up seems so odd to me considering the famous story connected with her family name. Surely the past would have taught her better? And the ways in which she uses the blood of her comatose daughter to not only keep her son healthy, which is at least a bit understandable, but to supplement her company’s beauty products, is more than a little despicable. She makes stupid decisions, doesn’t communicate, and does her best to control everyone in her life. I could find nothing in her character to like. To be honest, none of the main characters were likable. I liked Cook and Nan more than the rest, but they felt very peripheral compared to the rest of the cast. “And what’s at the end of age? Death. Which, it transpires, is not such an appealing adventure after all.” Because of Holly’s character traits and the ways in which the author presented her, she felt very similar to the unreliable narrators so often utilized in domestic thrillers. To be honest, this felt less like a fantasy retelling than a domestic thriller couched loosely in some fairytale elements. And, had the book been presented in this way, I would have known to skip it as domestic thrillers don’t often work for me. “Maybe the line between the real world and the magical one isn’t quite as solid as she thinks.” We know from the start that Peter Pan is cast as a villain in this story, which didn’t surprise me a bit; he’s not even a hero in his own tale. What I didn’t count on, however, was how disfigured of body and spirit he would seem, and how small that would make his personality. I saw none of the magnetism he is so known for in his original story, though we are told that it’s present. It felt like Michalski took away everything that was magical about him and his story and tried to tell something new with the husk. He’s utterly despicable here. Irredeemably so. “I’m not saying it will be okay… I’m saying you’ll get through it.” I’ve been a bit harsh so far, and I know it. Until the last 50 pages or so, I thought that Darling Girl was a 2 or 2.5 star read for me. But those last 50 pages redeemed it and brought it up to 3 stars. I was satisfied by the ending, and it was in these final pages that Michalski truly showcased her skills as a writer. She had some lovely things to say about love and grief and life in general, and referred back to her source material in clever ways. If the entirety of the novel had the same feel as those last 50 pages, it would have been a much more solidly successful story. “Sometimes it’s easier to remember sorrow than joy… Sorrow doesn’t hurt as much.” Again, I didn’t hate this story, though I disliked it for a large chunk of my time with it. The ending was solid, and improved the characters a bit in my eyes. But it’s not a book I’ll be rereading. Before you pick it up, make sure to check trigger warnings, because things get dark. But if you’re a fan of domestic thrillers and would love to see one with a hint of the fantastical, then you’ll most likely really enjoy Darling Girl. You can find this review and more at Novel Notions.

Photo of Laura Wilson
Laura Wilson@bookswithlaura
2.5 stars
Jun 20, 2022

This was fine. That’s all I have.

Photo of CN. Holly
CN. Holly@cnholly
3 stars
May 22, 2022

3 out of 5 stars, Darling, a book about a dark and twisted Peter Pan? Sign me up, but to say this book was a little bit of a let down? That's an understatement. I had high expectations and this book carried them until the bitter end. (spoilers...) Holly Darling, daughter of Jane Darling and granddaughter of the infamous Wendy Darling is all grown up. With her own 'Darling Skincare Company', A son named Jack and a deep, dark secret. Holly is no stranger to tragedy, after losing Jack's twin, Issac, and her own Husband Robert. When she was desperate for a way to go one the one and only Peter Pan greets her in the Nursery. But not for the reasons she thinks. A couple months later, Their Daughter Eden was born, When tragedy strikes again, Eden has fallen into a coma with no way to wake up. Until she does. This book was great, I'm a huge fan of the Peter Pan story, My nickname when i was younger was Tink, and I was Tinker Bell for a couple years in a row for Halloween, So do say I had high expectations was an understatement. As always I never read the synopsis before reading books but this book stated on the front a 'darkly magical take on Peter Pan', which means I'm immediately thinking 'Brother's Grimm', and I was excited. And It lived up to it, until the end! THE END! I was so upset with the end. I didn't expect the ending to be a fight, but for Jane to drug Holly and Eden and the end happens while they're asleep? That's IT? So we get told the ending from two different point of views, From Jane and from Christopher. Like what? The ending was so upsetting for Me.

This review contains a spoiler
+4
Photo of Hannah Dismuke
Hannah Dismuke@hannahdismuke
4 stars
Jan 28, 2023
+3
Photo of Whitney Lambert
Whitney Lambert@nonahnopenyet
4.5 stars
Oct 8, 2022
+2
Photo of Madison Pangburn
Madison Pangburn@mjpangburn
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022
Photo of avery byard
avery byard@avebee
4 stars
Aug 6, 2022
Photo of Cris Bee
Cris Bee@i_am_mee
3.5 stars
Aug 5, 2022
Photo of Lizeth Esmeralda
Lizeth Esmeralda@lee_set
4 stars
Jul 23, 2022
Photo of Julia Tari
Julia Tari@juliajustreads
3 stars
Jul 3, 2022
Photo of Annaka Barragan
Annaka Barragan@annaka__rose
3 stars
Jun 17, 2022
Photo of Michelle Miller
Michelle Miller@bookishwifey
5 stars
Jun 14, 2022
Photo of Cassie Bricker
Cassie Bricker@cassieb73
4 stars
May 9, 2022
Photo of Heather Margaret
Heather Margaret@heatherdarling
3 stars
Jun 9, 2024
Photo of Francesca Starecheski
Francesca Starecheski@cescastar
4 stars
Jan 22, 2024
Photo of Sierra
Sierra@swelty
2 stars
Jan 4, 2024

Highlights

Photo of Apiecalypse Jen
Apiecalypse Jen@chippedfang

TW/CW child sexual relationship

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Potential spoiler re: parentage of character, nature of character.

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If I wasn’t 3/4 of the way through I might be dnf-ing this one. Just don’t love a story where a woman who has been married with children instigates a sexual relationship with Peter Pan, after saying he doesn’t understand sex, describes him as “definitely more boy than man” and then later tries to shift the narrative to Peter as rapist, and further Peter as dangerous grown man when he stays earth side and ages. I just don’t buy a person with the mind of a child, vaguely described as “older than in the stories” as the sexual aggressor, or that the protagonist was the victim in this situation. And the “he was always evil you could tell” backfill is leaving a really bad taste in my mouth for what feels like child sexual abuse with a gender reversal that usually makes it socially more palatable.

This highlight contains a spoiler

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