Wink Poppy Midnight

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Wink Poppy Midnight

Wink Poppy Midnight

by: April Genevieve Tucholke
My Rating: four-half-stars



Published by: Dial Books on March 22nd 2016
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Mature Young Adult

ISBN: 0803740484

ASIN: B010N18IEU
Pages: 352
Disclosure: I was invited by the publisher to read this title in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. I received no monetary compensation, and all comments are subjective and mine alone.



Synopsis

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.






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Wink Poppy Midnight is a unique story. There really isn’t a lot I can say about the plot without giving spoilers. But I can say, it isn’t formulaic and makes readers work a little. Unlike some of the more cookie-cutter young adult and new adult storylines of late. The author includes beautiful descriptions of places and scenes.

 

“Poppy slipped her long, white limbs into her pale yellow dress, like milk sliding into melted butter.”

 

It was easy to lose myself in the quiet woods and icy river the characters discuss.

I can’t say enough about how the author fit her words together, creating musical sentences that I found myself rereading out loud just so I could hear the words meld together.

 

“…her nighttime wails like willows sighing in the wind.”

 

And another passage I like…

“That afternoon we drank coffee from the blue cup, dirt from the garden between our toes. We sat under the apple trees in my orchard, wide sky, fat clouds, fingers tickling the cold water in the tiny curving creek, twelve inches wide at most.”

 

The characters were written well. They had rich personalities and the author keeps the reader guessing at just who they are. Is he the villain… or is she? Is he good… or is he a liar? Has she been telling the truth all along? And on it goes. The tagline on the cover is: A hero. A villain. A liar. Who’s who?  If the author’s intent was to keep the reader guessing, she managed it. For the most part.

 

“Poppy was planning to trick Wink, and Wink was planning to trick Poppy, and I was stuck right in the middle.”

 

The mechanics were good, if not a little choppy at times. Constant repetition fell flat.

“I hate that place, hate it, hate it, hate it.” (Poppy)

“Not again. Not again, not again, not again, not again.” (Poppy)

“I cried over that move, though, I cried, cried, cried.” (Poppy)

“…my love, love, love, love, always my love…” (Midnight)

 

The repetitiveness actually made passages weaker, rather than creating a strong, emotional tug. And the POV shifts were entirely too confusing to keep up with. It pulled me out of the story a time or two.

 

Bottom line: I liked Wink Poppy Midnight. The author gives the reader enough information to keep them reading, without spoiling the show. The reader is taken on a winding journey, with twists and turns and unreliable narration from each character, leaving them to question their motives.

 

It highlights how narration, opinion, and wants and desires color our lives and the way we view others. There isn’t a lot of black and white, clear-cut lines in Wink Poppy Midnight, but lingering shades of gray that will keep you wondering long after the last sentence… just who was who?

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About April Genevieve Tucholke

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.

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