Introducing a new fun read from debut author, Rebecca Varnell! Her Award-Winning Romance Novella Retelling of Peter Pan, WENDY’S PIRATES, is now available for purchase and on Kindle Unlimited! Enter the giveaway to win a free paperback copy!

About the Book

Title: Wendy’s Pirates
Author: Rebecca Varnell
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Eagle Gate
Release Date: November 1, 2021

In 1817, Wendy Darling returns from London to her family in Devon, where she meets Captain James Hooke, a dashing naval officer who both infuriates and intrigues her. But Wendy is hiding a dark secret—and running from a past that makes it impossible for her to trust the incorrigible captain. And James has secrets of his own, secrets he’s afraid will interfere with his desire to win Wendy’s heart.

When the Darling family takes in a young orphan boy named Peter, the two newcomers in Wendy’s life help her learn to open her heart and begin to trust again. But when a gang of pirates sails into port in search of Peter, will trust be enough to save Wendy and those she loves from danger?

Varnell takes J. M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan characters and introduces them to risks and romance that go far beyond the average fairy tale. As Wendy and Hooke fight for new beginnings, they learn that happy endings aren’t always guaranteed.

Purchase your copy here or read on Kindle Unlimited

About the Author

Emerging young writer Rebecca Varnell has always had two great literary loves: fairy tales and Jane Austen. In her debut novel, Wendy’s Pirates, the two come together in perfect harmony. When Rebecca isn’t writing or snuggled up on the couch with her nose in a book, she can most often be found baking extravagant cakes or enjoying nature walks and losing dreadfully at pickleball.

Rebecca also has a penchant for travel. She spent over a year living in Thailand and adores the culture and people who live there. She has also traveled to several countries in Europe and is inspired by old castles and Roman architecture—even more so with her architect husband around. One day she wants to live in permanent eighty or ninety degree weather, but until then you will find cozy, over-sized sweaters to be a year-round staple in her wardrobe.

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My Review

Wendy’s Pirates
by Rebecca Varnell
Rating: 4/5

If you’re a fan of Peter Pan and Jane Austen, you will fall in love with this sweet regency rom-com. This debut from the author is beautifully written and full of fun characters. Reinventing the classic Peter Pan characters with a more fleshed out, unique background was genius and well done. The romance and chemistry between the Captain and Wendy is electric and the reader can’t help but root for the presumed villain.

“His was the smile that made her feel that if he weren’t destined for piracy, she might have been very much at risk of falling in love with him.”

This retelling was so inventive with the way that the author incorporated the original Peter Pan characters in a Jane Austen setting. All the callbacks to Peter Pan were tastefully woven into this entertaining story that you won’t want to miss! Full of adventure, romance, and pirates, Rebecca Varnell’s debut novel is a wonderful addition to any library!

Highly recommend if you enjoy Peter Pan and Jane Austen with clean, sweet romance and comedic adventures.

My thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC of the book. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own. No positive review was expected and no compensation received.

About the Book

Book: Shadow (Heirs of Neverland #2)
Author: Kara Swanson
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Release date: July 13, 2021

Peter Pan has crash-landed back on Neverland. But this is not the island he remembers.

Desperate to rescue Claire and the fractured Lost Boys, Peter must unravel what truly tore his dreamland apart. But with each step, he is haunted by more of his own broken memories. Not even Pan himself is what he seems.

Claire Kenton is chained to a pirate ship, watching the wreckage of Neverland rocked by tempests. When she finally finds her brother, Connor is every bit as shattered as the island. Claire may have pixie dust flowing in her veins—but the light of Neverland is flickering dangerously close to going out forever.

To rescue Neverland from the inescapable shadow, the boy who never grew up and the girl who grew up too fast will have to sacrifice the only thing they have left: each other.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

As the daughter of missionaries, Kara Swanson spent her childhood running barefoot through the lush jungles of Papua New Guinea. Able to relate with characters dropped into a unique new world, she quickly fell in love with the fantasy genre. The award-winning author of The Girl Who Could See, Kara is passionate about crafting stories of light shattering darkness, connecting with readers, and becoming best friends with a mermaid—though not necessarily in that order. Kara chats about coffee, fairytales and bookish things online (@karaswansonauthor) and at karaswanson.com.

My Review

Shadow
by Kara Swanson
Book 2 in the Heirs of Neverland
Rating: 4.5/5

Wow. This story was nonstop in the adventure in Neverland. Reading the first book, Dust, is probably necessary to understand what’s happening. The author’s use of imagination and creativity just screams from the manuscript (or literally, since I listened to the audiobook borrowed from the library). The perspectives go back and forth between Peter and Claire. Peter is desperate to save Claire while Claire is desperate to save her brother Connor. Darkness and shadow have crept up in Neverland and Peter and the Lost Boys with some other familiar friends are trying their best to keep Neverland from disappearing.

The first book, Dust, started a bit slow for my liking but this second (and final) installment started right where we left off (when it was just getting really good). I liked seeing the character development and delving into Peter’s past and how he created Neverland. I loved how the author was not afraid to address the darker subjects and inner turmoil that we all have to eventually face. Reading the author’s thoughts at the end made me like the story even more – in light of the past year we’ve experienced with COVID, we still must go on. We have to allow ourselves the space to heal.

Highly recommend if you enjoy revisiting Peter Pan’s adventures in Neverland with some romance and lots of action and pixie dust. I also highly recommend listening to the audiobook – it is excellent.

My thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC of the book. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own. No positive review was expected and no compensation received.

More from Kara

One of my favorite CS Lewis quotes is this:

“Some day you’ll be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

There’s something subtly profound about the idea that the very stories which captivate our imagination and shape our perspective on good and evil as children, will reveal more gems when we return to them later. When we’ve conquered some dragons of our own.

This was especially true when I write my Peter Pan retelling duology Dust and Shadow. These YA novels literally return to a fairy tale. I took a familiar story and dug even deeper, pushing Peter himself to grow a little more and see what new bits of pixie dust and hope there may be in a familiar story.

But there is another reason why our hearts gravitate toward fairy tales.

I think GK Chesterton put it brilliantly in a quote that is actually at the very front of Shadow:

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

Because maybe even more than being reminded of the whimsy of a fairy, we need the reminder that even in a world filled with dragons – they can be killed.

We can conquer.

And that simple truth, told a hundred different ways, will always lift our hearts and our chins.

Shadow was not an easy book to write – and it is not a particularly lighthearted tale. It is raw and vulnerable and at times lives up to it’s title in some darker moments. But there is always a sense of courage there too. A reminder that even in the shadowed places, the valleys, the instances that steal our breath and twist our hearts and make us wonder if all is lost –

There is another page to turn. Another step to take.

We are not finished.

No matter how young we are, we can strap on our armor, lift our swords, and fight for the light.

We are not overcome because our strength does not come from us.

It comes from our King.

And in the end, He will make all wrongs right, and there will be a happy ending to our tale, even if it may not be the ending we expect.

Because it may not be easy to slay the dragon, but as the fairy tales do remind us –

The important thing is that they can be slain.