Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

From Goodreads:For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home. Her mother believes they are being hunted by brutal monsters, and those delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. Gwen’s only saving grace is that her best friend, Olivia, is with her for the summer.

But shortly after their arrival, the girls are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and dragged into a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey. And Gwen begins to realize that maybe her mother isn’t so crazy after all…

Gwen discovers that this new world she inhabits is called Neverland, but it’s nothing like the Neverland you’ve heard about in stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through your fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and tries to find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the captivating pirate who promises to keep her safe.

Caught in the ultimate battle between good and evil, with time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to finally face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But can she save Neverland without losing herself? 

(Note: Daylight Savings Time came into effect the night before I wrote this review, rendering me exhausted, so forgive my zany format for this review)

It could be that I watch Once Upon a Time religiously, but this novel reminded me so much of the arc where Emma & co. go to Neverland to save Henry, and it's during this time that she and Hook begin to really fall for each other. But really. Dark Ones? A morally ambiguous pirate captain that the main character falls for, and ends up being a hero? A villainous Pan? I made all the connections very quickly. It even got to the point where I pictured Rowan, this version of Hook, complete with an Irish accent, to look like a young Colin O'Donoghue. 

All televisual allusions aside, I found myself to be pleasantly surprised by Unhooked. The writing hooks you right in (pun fully intended), and it's a very gripping and entertaining read. I really liked the fact that there wasn't really a love triangle between Gwen, Rowan, and Pan, as most fairy tale retellings do. I haven't really read many fairy tale retellings, though, so that could be a misconception that I have. I've sort of moved away from Y/A fiction as a whole in the last couple of years, so it was strange to read one after being away from the genre for a while. I've found more recent young adult novels to follow the same formula, which this one does follow to an extent (the main character is a Saviour Unknown Hero Special  Part of a Prophecy you choose, that she didn't know about previously. There's conflict that could have been avoided, stuff like that that for whatever reason almost always shows up in Y/A fiction). Gratefully there was very little of the formulaic parts aforementioned. 

There were a few things that I wish they had expanded upon, such as Rowan's backstory (we do get some, but we never see what happens between his main past *cough cough Killian Jones identifies and sympathizes with your backstory, Rowan *ahem*  and when he gets to Neverland), more on Gwen and Olivia's friendship (considering the fact that Gwen's main motivation is to save her friend and get them out of Neverland) and more on Gwen's parentage. While we don't see these things, the characters for the most part are good. Gwen was naive in parts, but I think that's just her character. Fiona, the Tinker Bell character, was my favourite. Four for you Fiona, you go Fiona.

I loved the writing style of this book, as I already mentioned. It was really easy to fall into rhythm, and made it so it only took a couple of hours to finish. I wasn't bored by anything, and overall found it to be a really interesting concept; I really loved how Maxwell preceded each chapter with quotes from (I'm assuming?) the original J.M. Barrie Peter Pan. Another thing I liked about this book? It was funny, which is a rarity in Y/A novels. It wasn't a laugh a minute, but it had lighter, funnier moments sprinkled throughout. 

All in all, Unhooked was a good read. While there were many (likely unintentional) references to Once Upon a Time, it was a unique and original novel, with compelling world-building and a fast-paced plot, with easy-to-follow writing and a sense of humour. This book gave me a pleasant surprise and for that I give it 4/5 and recommend it to people who like fairy tale retellings or Y/A fiction.