New Book: Artifacts by Pete Catalano

Artifacts by Pete Catalano is a new release this month and Catalano's debut novel. This is being marketed as a cross between Goonies, Peter Pan's Lost Boys and fairy tales for middle readers. I'd add it has a touch of The Librarians and Warehouse 13 for inspiration, too. The reader reviews are praising it for its fun for adult readers as well as middle reader boys who don't have as many fairy tale themed books marketed at them. I am considering it for a read together book with my nephew this summer.

Book description:

It's funny how one little letter can change a person's life. Jax and his friends have been planning the summer of a lifetime at Camp Runamuck. However, when one of them is facing summer at a school desk for failing English, they watch those plans crash and burn!

At the last moment they're given a way out.

An extra credit assignment to find several fake artifacts for a fairy tale display their teacher is presenting at the local library.

Thinking they've hit the easiest-extra-credit-ever jackpot, they begin rummaging through any piles of junk they can find. As they start putting the clues together, they realize that what they're really searching for is one authentic artifact that can rewrite fairy tales!

Enlisting the aid of the Lost Boys, Jax and his friends battle fairy tale villains to see who can get their hand, or their hook, on it first.

New Book: Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen

Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen was released earlier this month. I have received a review copy and I admit I am actually interested in this one after reading the reviews and the description. I have a complicated relationship with Peter Pan--not a fairy tale despite popular perceptions and Disney/ABC efforts--it's a fantasy novel--that shouldn't prejudice anyone else either way. There are a few Peter Pan retellings out there, too, but this is the first one that actually caught my interest despite myself. I like the idea of Hook fighting to leave Neverland. I wouldn't want to live there either. A bit of romance is nice during a long, hot summer, too. So onto my TBR pile it goes.

Book description:

"Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It's my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy."

Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain.

With Stella’s knowledge of folk and fairy tales, she might be Hook’s last chance for redemption and release if they can break his curse before Pan and his warrior boys hunt her down and drag Hook back to their neverending game. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen is a beautifully and romantically written adult fairy tale.

Reviews:

Review
"Jensen's second novel, a twist on the Peter Pan story which reconceives of Captain Hook as a tragic hero, shows how she's matured as a writer since her excellent debut, The Witch from the Sea. Jensen's wonderful imagination and devotion to history and myth allow the reader to fly with her through this outstanding adventure--no fairy dust required." -- Publishers Weekly

"Scintillating description and deep characterization make Jensen's Neverland a psychologically intriguing place to visit. Jensen offers a humanized take on Captain Hook that will be sure to entertain fans of the fairy tale-retelling genre." --Library Journal

“A rich and darkly humorous tale of a man trapped in a child’s nightmare. A delicious and thought-provoking read.” —Laurie King, New York Times bestselling author of The Bones of Paris

"Jensen's wonderful imagination and devotion to history and myth allow the reader to fly with her through this outstanding adventure - no fairy dust required."—Publishers Weekly
"A marvellous book. A plot to keep you guessing, and a character to fall in love with. Written with verve and warmth, Alias Hook will challenge what you thought you knew about Neverland, and have you cheering for an unlikely but irresistible hero." —Paula Brackston, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Witch

"It's a really beautifully written novel about Captain Hook. It tells that story from his perspective. He's stuck in this childhood world where Peter Pan rules everything until an adult woman finally falls into Neverland. It's an unusual premise. I love it." -- Eloisa James, author of Three Weeks with Lady X

“Captain Hook is as proud and lonely as Lucifer—though, being a pirate, he’s loads more fun—while the impious Peter Pan is as cruel as an unleashed child can be. Alias Hook is pure joy.” —Broos Campbell, author of Peter Wicked

“A captivating blend of fantasy, adventure, and historical fiction, Alias Hook is a fresh, utterly convincing reinterpretation of the Peter Pan story. Lisa Jensen takes a classic villain and transforms him into someone we care about and root for all the way to the emotionally stirring end. You will never look at Captain Hook the same way again!”
—Elizabeth Blackwell, author of While Beauty Slept

“Both a cracking adventure and a chance to witness that annoying little prig Peter Pan get a good kicking! Highly recommended.” -- C.C. Humphreys, author of Vlad – The Last Confession

"Scintillating description and deep characterization make Jensen's Neverland a psychologically intriguing place to visit. Jensen offers a humanized take on Captain Hook that will be sure to entertain fans of the fairy tale-retelling genre." -- Library Journal

Bargain Ebook: The Child Thief by Brom

I don't do much Peter Pan coverage here, but this bargain book caught my eye and I thought I would share. The Child Thief by Brom is temporarily marked down to $1.99 in ebook format by publisher Harper Collins. I don't know if the discount is a day, a few days or a week, but here it is!

Overall, it is very well reviewed and this review--"blends elements of the Peter Pan story with characters from Celtic and Norse mythologies"--convinced me to share the book here.

Book description:

Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief—and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose?

There is always more to lose.

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries—one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.

There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.