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awholelottachar 's review for:

The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe
3.5

The premise is that Peter Pan’s shadow was stollen and he thinks it was by a Darling so every time a Darling daughter reaches 18 (or something I can’t remember which birthday but are legal adults basically) he kidnaps them and they are always returned but often are returned ‘mad’ something having terribly traumatized them. We pick up the story on Winnie Darlings birthday where her mom has done everything she can to keep her safe but Peter Pan shows up anyway and takes her away to Neverland to try and pry the secret out of her head. Winnie though is no damsel in distress and she befriends/ seduces the primary core squad (idk what to call it) of Lost Boys and Peter Pan. Lots of sex and chaos ensues. I will say this story is definitely the dark story I was looking for but Winnie is a really compelling character and I really enjoyed her frank use of sex as a tool at her disposal without any shame about it, I thought it made for a much more interesting reading than endless internal shame spirals about liking rough sex.