Monday, March 5, 2012

Wendy and the Lost Boys / Barbara Silkstone



"Wendy and the Lost Boys may be a fairy tale, but I never made the mistake of thinking I should be reading it aloud to my grandkids."


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Humor/Mystery

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Availability
Kindle US:
YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Current (or maybe former) real estate agent Barbara Silkstone lives in Florida. She knows she’s hitting the mark when her writing causes her to laugh out loud, sometimes fooling the neighbors into thinking she’s having a party. Her other books include The Adventures of a Love Investigator, 527 Naked Men & One Woman, her exploration into how men view love, and the “Fractured Fairy Tale” series, which currently consists of three books with another slated for release soon. She also contributed to the anthology Indie Chicks. For more, Silkstone blogs at Barb’s Wire. She is also one of the hostesses of the A Moose Walked into a Bar blog,  which specializes in funny and true stories from the proprietors and their guests, one of which was yours truly.

Description:

This is the second book in Silkstone’s “Fractured Fairy Tales” series.

Wendy Darling, a Miami real estate broker, makes a promise to a dying friend, and finds herself trapped on a super-yacht with its billionaire crook owner and his crew, along with an investigator from the SEC. While Wendy tries to plot her escape, she also investigates the cause of her friend’s suspicious death.

Appraisal:

My memories of the story of Peter Pan are several decades old, so any comparison I make to that story and this one are likely to be inadequate and miss many points of comparison. However, I suspect Silkstone’s goal wasn’t a retelling of the children’s classic, but as a jumping off point for a story of her own, possibly with some of the same lessons to take away. That is just one reason these fairy tales are “fractured.” Some of the characters have names from the fairy tale: Wendy, Charles Hook (not the captain, but the owner of the yacht), and Peter Payne, a high school boyfriend of Wendy’s who doesn’t want to grow up. There is even a dog, named Tinkerbelle.

The plot of Wendy and the Lost Boys is a mystery, with plenty of tension and suspense. This provides the needed conflict to keep the reader involved, but it is the humor that makes Silkstone’s writing unique. In her book The Love Investigator …, her humor made a book that could have easily been depressing into an entertaining read. In Wendy and the Lost Boys, it adds the needed spice to make this more than just another okay mystery. Sometimes the humor comes from being a touch over-the-top. Examples are a problem Hook experiences (which is a good reason for his name to be Hook, since his hands are both intact) and a visit to Hook’s roots, which couldn’t be much different from his current life. Other times the humor comes from an offbeat observation or smartass dialogue.

Wendy and the Lost Boys may be a fairy tale, but I never made the mistake of thinking I should be reading it aloud to my grandkids. A fun read for adults with a sense of humor.

FYI:

Although the description on Amazon makes it clear this book is intended for adult readers, the content contains no language issues that I noted and the little sexual content is mild and subtle rather than explicit.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

15 comments:

Barbara Silkstone said...

BigAl,
Thank you so much for the lovely review. Wendy's waving her legs at you. Please don't bother to return the wave. :)

Mel Comley said...

Love Barbara's books. Even as a Brit I appreciate her humour/humor! lol

Linda Welch said...

I enjoy Barbara's books and "Wendy" is my favorite. Thanks for featuring it, Al!

Donna Fasano said...

I love that cover! I've read a couple of Barbara Silkstone books and have enjoyed them. Congrats to her on the latest.

Consuelo Saah Baehr said...

I'm delighted to see this book reviewed by Big Al.
The reviewer's take on this irreverent story of friendship, loyalty and unexpected adventure is pretty much the way I saw it, too. Kudos to Ms. Silkstone.

Pj Schott said...

Great review!! One of my favorite authors. Can't wait to read No. 3.

Barbara Silkstone said...

Gosh. Golly. Thank you all for your kind comments.

BooksAndPals said...

Thanks for all the comments.

*BigAl resists returning Wendy's wave*

Linda Mck said...

Great review Al. I have this in my TBR pile, I look forward to reading it. :)

Georgina said...

This is one of my favorite, fun reads!

Sibel Hodge said...

I really enjoyed this book - fun, intrigue, ancient artifacts. What more could you want! :)

Prue Batten said...

We need humour in this mad, bad and indifferent world
and Barbara Silkstone knows just how to elicit a belly-laugh! More please.

Katherine Owen said...

Barbara Silkstone is a true talent as both an author and a person. Her sense of humor and quick wit make her novels all the more enjoyable and entertaining. She's a treasure and so are her books!

Anne R. Allen said...

Thanks much for reviewing Wendy and the Lost Boys here. It's the first book I bought for my Christmas Kindle and I just loved it. What a fun, hilarious read! Can't wait to read London Broil, the sequel. Have it on my Kindle now.

Cheryl Shireman said...

I haven't read Wendy yet, but I have it on my Kindle. LOVE her covers. Nice review!