Never Ever

On her 17th birthday, Wylie Dalton sneaks out of her Upper East Side apartment to attend a party with her younger brothers, Joshua and Micah. Disillusioned about her parents' marriage, Wylie prefers to avoid thinking about them%E2%80%94or about Joshua's imminent sentencing for a hit-and-run accident she caused. So when she meets the "irrefutably beautiful" Phinn at the party, and he teaches the siblings to fly, she's inclined to forgive him for sailing them all to a magical island while the Daltons were asleep. They can stay forever on Minor Island, where none of the residents age past 17, but at what cost? Despite a nifty twist toward the cliffhanger ending, this Peter Pan update leaves much to be desired, from the regressive romantic relationship between acquiescent Wylie and chauvinist Phinn to the slow pace. Saedi brings an impressive background in TV writing to her first novel, but the plot winds up an awkward mishmash of wish-fulfillment fantasy and angsty drama. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. Agent: Jess Regel, Foundry Literary + Media. (June)