Second Star to the Left by Megan Van Dyke

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With a little bit of time to mood read, I looked at what prompts I had remaining in my summer quarterly challenges. I had one prompt left for the 1st bingo board of Summer of Swoon, 2022 debut author! I decided to pick up Second Star to the Left by Megan Van Dyke. This is not only her debut book (she has a couple more out now), but is also the fist in her Reimagined Fairy Tales series.

After Tinker Bell saves her cousin from being captured by Blackbeard, she breaks one of the few laws pixies has to save her. In committing the act of selling her pixie dust she loses the ability to return home in the pixie realm. She is tasked by Queen Titania, the queen of the mermaids, to steal a necklace to gain their trust. She seduces and drugs (with pixie dust) Captain Hook, the current owner of the necklace. He ends up getting cursed as the most recent owner of the necklace by the mermaids. To remove the curse Captain Hook is under and get the pearl that could fix Tink's bracelet (that gives her access to her home), they are tasked with finding a legendary magical item. They are forced to work together to both get what they need, but struggle to keep from forming emotional entanglements.

Guys, guys, guys... this book was soooooo good. First off, I want to preface that I'm not the biggest Peter Pan fan. I don't dislike it, but the only thing that I've really enjoyed relating to it was the movie Hook and the version of Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time (sexy pirate alert). So with that, I know the basic story of Peter Pan, but not all the little details. I cannot tell you how twisted Megan gets with the little details, but not matter how far she goes, I loved this book! I really enjoyed learning about Tink and just pixies in general and their way of life. I thought the magic they had was simple, but also super unique. You could feel the tension between Hook and Tink from the start and I loved that they just kept getting drawn to each other. Even when Hook was trying to be stern and "mean" with her, he just couldn't stop himself from caring. I just loved them together and how they kept stealing kisses and really opened up to each other in ways that they hadn't to really anyone else.

Now the mystery and friction with Blackbeard was a little predictable, but going into a "fairy tale" trope type of book I was expecting some predictability. It didn't bother me at all and I think just made it that much more of a fun and easy read. There really wasn't much that detracted from my enjoyment of the book. I mean the only thing would be I need to know what happened to Tink's cousin Lily and Peter and the lost boys. I'm sure they'll pop up later in the series or in a book of their own, but I want to know how that loose end gets tied up!

I cannot wait to read more from Megan and I'm still a little astounded that this was her debut. I've read her hints and blurb for the 2nd book in the series, The Ugly Stepsister, and I am so excited to read it. It comes out next month (September 13th). Seriously, if you enjoy fairy tale retellings, especially with a twist, definitely check out this series. I think I might have just found another new favorite fantasy romance author!

Have you read Second Star to the Left?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Second Star to the Left, Megan Van Dyke, 5 stars, 1 day, Paperback, 302 pages, published in 2022, small publisher