Breathtaking On the Inside and Out: WINK POPPY MIDNIGHT by April Genevieve Tucholke

Title: Wink Poppy Midnight
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Dial Books
Publication Date: March 22, 2016
Source: signed ARC via #booksfortrade
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The intrigue of The Virgin Suicides and the "supernatural or not" question of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer coalesce in this young adult mystery, where nothing is quite as it seems, no one is quite who you think, and everything can change on a dime.

Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.

Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.

What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.

For fans of Holly Black, We Were Liars, and The Raven Boys, this mysterious tale full of intrigue, dread, beauty, and a whiff of something strange will leave you utterly entranced.

With each new April Genevieve Tucholke story I read, I grow more and more impressed with her uncanny ability to simply surprise me at every turn. True, this story features an unreliable narrator -- make that three -- but even so, I never saw that ending coming. And that's part of why I love the unreliable narrator so much. I consider myself pretty well-read, at least where the classics and YA are concerned, and that makes it all the more easy for me to find a plot tired and predictable. But the unreliable narrator really shakes things up. When you combine that with Tucholke's eerie style of writing, that sense of foreboding that never completely goes away, you're in for a very unexpected story.

I rarely have the time or opportunity to finish a book in a single day anymore, but that's exactly what I did while reading Wink Poppy Midnight. (Those are the three characters' names, by the way.) As I mentioned, I'm a huge fan of the unreliable narrator, especially when I forget that I'm not supposed to believe a damn word. Makes for a very intriguing story, one where I'm left guessing till the end.

In the beginning, I just wanted the bully to get their comeuppance, and it looked like that's where the story was headed. And then it took a strange turn, one that had me wondering just exactly who was the villain and who was the hero of this story. Especially with all of the constantly changing points of view and the short staccato chapters and the flashbacks. This book felt like it was written just to keep you confused, and I kind of loved that.

I honestly don't know if I know how to review a book like this without divulging too much. Because let's be honest...this is the type of book that it's best going into without any sort of expectations. It's a story of vengeance, of love, of hate, and everything in between. It shows us that in our truest nature, none of us is entirely a hero or a villain, but rather something in between, and we choose which way we lean.

There is no world in which I won't immediately devour and absolutely adore anything and everything April writes. I already want more of her delicious and scintillating words, want more of that feeling that nothing is as it seems. And this is why she is already one of my favorite authors.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

April Genevieve Tucholke is the author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and its sequel, Between the Spark and the Burn. She loves classic horror movies and coffee. She has lived in many places, including Scotland, and currently resides in Oregon with her husband Nate Pedersen.

Find April:

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