This is a spoiler-free review!
Imagine you wrote Peter Pan and this is what they do to your IP once it enters public domain. This book has been on my TBR for what felt like forever, and with its resurgence on TikTok, I finally decided to give in... little did I know what I was in for. Hook is not a serious person at all because what do you mean you have been filled with an intense rage since you were 11-years-old? I am sure they mentioned his actual age somewhere in this book, but I literally cannot remember what the age gap was - Wendy is twenty-years-old and he speaks like he has been on this planet for eighty years, but is probably just in his mid-twenties.
It was very much giving Hardin Scott using Tessa in After with the vibes Hook's intentions were with Wendy - she is incredibly naive and kept sheltered by her father, but her friends are constantly trying to get her out of her shell. That being said, Maria is so incredibly annoying and a horrible friend. I can understand the resentment that the guy she had her eye on was interested in her friend -- Wendy -- instead of her, but my word it is not something to get hung up over, especially because she never spoke to him before.
Hook's inner monologue had me bursting at the seems... he is so... not an adult. I completely understand pulling directly from the source material, but his "dark side" being combined with characters that had the most ridiculous names made me not take him seriously. He also seems to have zero common sense while at the same time is able to hatch out these elaborate plans. The man is afraid of clocks, for crying out loud. And we are supposed to believe he is running around town killing people? Sure.
Wendy... this girl essentially is a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. He literally snatches her up and locks her in a basement and she is over here yanking on chains trying to free herself, all while thinking "It's because he cares!" Well yeah, cares about revenge. Even with James falling for her as they spend more time together and he learns more about her, I still could not see their chemistry unless it was a spicy scene. I will not victim blame this girl because I do not even know what I would do if put in the same situation -- probably make fun of James -- but that is besides the point.
The side characters are not interesting at all, and even Wendy's super powerful father is basically a deadbeat dad. The plot's pacing felt inconsistent and characters were just popping up out of thin air instead of becoming gradually intertwined in the story. To be quite honest, the best chapters of this book were literally the spicy scenes, because any other chapter was just information dumps and James realizing that he actually has the detective skills of a rock. His perspective chapters are full of his trauma dumping, re: afraid of clocks, and basically gaining a third brain cell.
Maybe if I read this book years ago like I first wanted to, I might have enjoyed it a little more. This just did not hit the spot like I thought it would, and felt entirely underwhelming by the end - so much so, that I do not think I would consider continuing on with this retelling series unless I truly ran out of books to read. The premise had a lot of promise, and in the beginning it felt like it was headed somewhere, but then abandoned the true "dark" part of "dark romance" and just quickly wrapped up without making me feel as though there was something on the line for the characters. I had multiple friends text me and ask why I was reading this... and to that I say... I wish I knew.
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