Peter Pan Retellings

I’ve been working on a reimagined version of Peter Pan since August so it’s been in my head all that time! I’ve always been a fan of retellings so I’ve slowly been collecting some in the vein of Peter Pan. We open the next extension of Drunk Peter Pan tonight and if you’re in the area, you can get tickets here.

I play Wendy but this isn’t your average Peter Pan. It’s so much fun for both the actors and the audience, and yes you can drink along with the actors. But you also can enjoy the performance completely sober! It’s mostly a fun way to take the classic story and modernize it and update it because some parts of the story should never have been written, Mr. J.M. Barrie.

Anyway, most of these retellings seem to be on the spicy/dark side, with the exception of some YA. Let me know if you have any favorite stories you love to see retold!

Hooked by Emily McIntire

First up in the dark reimagining, we haved Hooked! It’s part of the Never After Series and is available on KU!

“James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.
Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her wealthy cold father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.”—Amazon

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

This one feels more like a thriller and is set in present day!

“Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy—yes, that Wendy. That is, until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she’s been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real, but very dangerous. 
Holly is desperate to find Eden and protect her son, Jack, from a terrible web of family secrets before she loses both her children. And yet she has no one to turn to—her mother, Jane, is the only other person in the world who knows that Peter is more than a story, but she refuses to accept that he is not the hero she’s always imagined. 
Darling Girl brings all the magic of the classic Peter Pan story to the present, while also exploring the dark underpinnings of fairy tales, grief, aging, sacrifice, motherhood, and just how far we will go to protect those we love.” —Amazon

Wendy, Darling by Rebecca F. Kennedy

A feminist retelling? I need it!

“Find the second star from the right, and fly straight on ’til morning, all the way to Neverland, a children’s paradise with no rules, no adults, only endless adventure and enchanted forests—all led by the charismatic boy who will never grow old. 

But Wendy Darling grew up. She has a husband and a young daughter called Jane, and a life in London. But one night, after all these years, Peter Pan returns. Wendy finds him outside her daughter’s window, looking to claim a new mother for his Lost Boys. But instead of Wendy, he takes Jane. 

Now a grown woman, a mother, a patient, and a survivor, Wendy must follow Peter back to Neverland to rescue her daughter and finally face the darkness at the heart of the island …” —Amazon

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

I love Aiden Thomas’ writing so much and I’ve only heard good things about this one!

“It’s been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods, but when the town’s children start to disappear, the questions surrounding her brothers’ mysterious circumstances are brought back into the light. Attempting to flee her past, Wendy almost runs over an unconscious boy lying in the middle of the road...
Peter, a boy she thought lived only in her stories, asks for Wendy’s help to rescue the missing kids. But, in order to find them, Wendy must confront what’s waiting for her in the woods.” —Amazon

A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert

When it comes to reimagings and spice, you know Katee Robert delivers. I think this is pretty high on my list of must reads! This is book 3 in her Wicked Villains series, which focuses on Disney retellings.

“Once upon a time, I was a girl who believed in love and happily ever afters.

Now, the only thing I believe in is revenge.

Unfortunately for me, there’s only one man willing to help me. Hook.

I should have known it wouldn’t be out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn’t have one. No, Hook wants his ring on my finger and me on my knees before him, and he won’t take no for an answer. 

I’m willing to pay any price in order to bring our mutual enemy down...even if it means I lose my soul in the bargain.

Content warning: abusive ex-partner (emotional, physical).”—Amazon

Darling by K. Ancrum

A little YA thriller to mix things up! This seems fast paced and on the dark side but not too dark.
”On Wendy Darling's first night in Chicago, a boy called Peter appears at her window. He's dizzying, captivating, beautiful - so she agrees to join him for a night on the town.

Wendy thinks they're heading to a party, but instead they're soon running in the city's underground. She makes friends - a punk girl named Tinkerbelle and the lost boys Peter watches over. And she makes enemies - the terrifying Detective Hook, and maybe Peter himself, as his sinister secrets start coming to light. Can Wendy find the courage to survive this night - and make sure everyone else does, too?” —Amazon

The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe

I love that most retellings try to reframe Peter as the bad guy. Because let’s be real…he does steal a girl from her bedroom at night! This one seems extra dark and is part of the Vicious Lost Boys series…

“For two centuries, all of the Darling women have disappeared on their 18th birthday. Sometimes they’re gone for only a day, some a week or a month. But they always return broken.

Now, on the afternoon of my 18th birthday, my mother is running around the house making sure all the windows are barred and the doors locked.

But it’s pointless.

Because when night falls, he comes for me. And this time, the Never King and the Lost Boys aren’t willing to let me go.

NOTE: The Never King is a reimagining of Peter and Wendy. Characters have been aged up for this darker, grittier version. If you like your enemies to lovers romance with hot, ruthless, morally gray love interests, you’ll enjoy The Never King and the Lost Boys. You can expect hate kissing, fighting, bickering, and ‘touch her and I’ll unalive you’ vibes. Book one ends on a cliff.” —Amazon