Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel (review)

Peter Pan serves as the inspiration for this psychological drama dusted with a touch of magical realism. While Wendy Darling’s parents and the police believe her younger brothers drowned in a surfing accident, Wendy is certain John and Michael are still out there, so she sets off on a road trip up the California coast to find them. She ends up in Kensington Beach, a timeless place with “perfect waves,” and ends up taking surfing lessons from a boy named Pete and crashing with him and his crew in an old abandoned mansion. When Pete eventually informs her that he kicked her brothers out for using drugs a few months back, Wendy feels betrayed but uses the info to track down Jas, the beach’s charismatic dealer of “fairy dust,” which caused her brothers’ downfall. Wendy’s own dance with the dust leads to her psychological breakdown, and the reliability of her narration becomes questionable. While Wendy becomes involved with both Pete and Jas, the primary romance here is one with the beach, the water, the epic surfing that goes with it, and the freedom that all that entails. Characterization, on the other hand, is weak: nearly every teen encountered here is the embodiment of want in a sea of privilege (both Wendy and Jas come from exceptionally wealthy homes), and though their plight is understandable, their angst blends together in an undifferentiated fog of yearning and not a whole lot of reflection. Still, there’s magic in the evocative description of the sea and surfing, and the multiple twists at the end will certainly have readers reconsidering their childhood views of Barrie’s classic.