Book Review: Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from St Martin's Griffith Press, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it



And now for another great YA read, that adults will love as well! 

It was released earlier this month!



Synopsis:

"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.



Review:

Our second YA book for the day is aimed at kids greades 9 and up, and I think teens will find the most enjoyment from it (teen angst relatable after all, re the being misunderstood aspect). but it is equally enjoyable by their parents! Do we ever stop to think about Captain Hook? One of the few adults in Neverland, can you imagine how tortured he must feel? So when another adult (and a woman) appears, he is thrilled to be able to share his curse with someone who can help him solve it's riddles. Lisa paints a very unique picture of Hook, much like the series Wicked (by Gregory Maguire) did for another 'villan', Lisa gives us an unique look behind what we think we know and gets the reader to open their minds to the fact that every story has different viewpoints. It's a great book, and perfect for teens who think they are past 'cartoon fairy tales', to kee the awe alive! I highly recommend it!



About the Author:

I might have been a pirate in a previous life, or else I watched too many old Errol Flynn movies on TV in my formative years. says Lisa. My first swashbuckling historical novel, "The Witch From the Sea," published in 2001, was the first book in my planned trilogy. Follow her on Facebook and Goodreads, to read more about her books. In real life, I'm a film critic for an alternative weekly in Santa Cruz, CA, and a former book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle.

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