Darling

„Darling“ is one of the most unsettling retellings I’ve ever read. In this retelling of „Peter Pan“, Wendy is a teenager who agrees to join Peter, a mysterious guy who just broke into her home, for a night on the town. Before long, Wendy realizes that this might not have been the best idea, but it’s virtually impossible to get away undetected. I don’t know what to say. I really did not like this book at all. Since I am not a fan of the source material either, I probably should have known better than to pick up „Darling“ in the first place, but, alas, I did. I really wish the author had made Wendy a smarter girl. Who agrees to leave the house with someone who just tried to rob them? That’s just plain stupid and something I wasn’t able to get over until the very end of this novel. Also, I am a huge advocate for including characters of all races, genders and sexual orientations in stories, but sometimes it feels like the authors are trying too hard. In this case, I felt like Ancrum tried to fit as many diverse characters into the story as possible just to appear woke, since none of them have any personality traits to speak of apart from their diversity. That’s exactly why I did not care about a single one of them, which is just sad. The only character I did not despise or was annoyed by is Wendy’s friend, so there’s that at least. In my opinion, „Darling“ isn’t written very well, either. I hope that’s due to the fact, that I read an early copy, but I am not sure. It’s been a long time since a book aggravated me as much as „Darling“. I really love retellings, but this one just wasn’t for me. I’m hardly ever this blunt in my reviews, but I just found the story and its characters dumb and annoying all around.