SYNOPSIS:
A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete’s nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she’s falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up–and the troubled beauty trapped between them.

WHY SHOULD YOU CHECK IT OUT?
Taking the real magic out of Peter Pan and turning it instead into a magical summer of self-exploration is a unique way to reimagine the classic tale of a boy who never grows up and the Darling children. Only this time, Wendy is searching for her missing younger brothers John and Michael, Peter is the leader of several lost boys squatting in abandoned houses, and Captain Hook is a young man dealing “dust” for his own purposes. Everything about this book is begging for a read, especially for Pan fans.

With glints of sunlight sprinkled over the surface of the water like magical fairy dust, Wendy and Peter are seen on the cover in silhouette. A feeling of otherworldliness and freedom shines.

Alyssa Sheinmel has also written “The Lucky Kind”, “The Beautiful Between”, and “The Stone Girl”. If you haven’t checked out her other work, don’t worry: they all stand-alone!

OTHER YA MAG COVERAGE
Check out our review of SECOND STAR!

EARLY REVIEWS SAY…

[A]bundant emphasis on surfing lends the story a distinct atmosphere. …

An absorbing new look at a familiar tale. (Kirkus Reviews)

Blurring the lines between villains and heroes, truth and (perhaps drug-induced) illusion, Sheinmel… offers an intriguing premise and a dramatic portrayal of an unstable, grief-stricken teen.  (Publishers Weekly)

NECESSARY DETAILS
YA Contemporary
Hardcover & ebook, 248 pages
Published on May 13th by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (ISBN 0374382670)

http://us.macmillan.com/secondstar/AlyssaSheinmel