Review: Wink Poppy Midnight

Original Release Date:

March 22nd, 2016

Date I Read The Book:

May 2016

My Star Rating:

4.5 stars

Chronology:

Standalone

Official Summary:

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.

My Review: (Vague Spoilers)

Wink Poppy Midnight is one of those books that sticks with you. At the time I’m writing this, It’s been a week since I finished reading and I honestly still don’t know what to think and barely understand what happened, in a good way.

The entire book is unpredictable, since I am someone who frequently spoils things for myself simply by being too smart for my own good (its not arrogance if its true), it was nice to not have the slightest clue where the story was going.

The writing was phenomenal. Each of our three main characters had a clearly distinct voice. There is a different way to view each character depending on who is narrating a scene and at least one is unreliable (I won’t say who). It is the sort of book where nothing is as it seems and there is a seemingly unhappy but actually is happy ending, at least, depending on how you look at it. The writing is lyrical, painting the scenes like a fairytale.

Every character is complex and amazing, even the minor characters. The orphans and the yellows are all interesting, as are the stories each character tells. I still can’t explain the plot, but the book was paced in a way that never felt rushed and didn’t leave you bored and slogging through. Its quite short, but its worth the read.

If you want something different, because I can’t even think of a comparison. If you want a fairytale that isn’t a retelling. If you want something that makes you think, makes you second guess yourself, that reminds you that even true love is never straight forward and that sometimes there is no right thing to do, I highly recommend the book.

Favorite/Famous Quotes:

“When you look into the darkness, the darkness looks into you.” 
― April Genevieve Tucholke, Wink Poppy Midnight

“Revenge. Justice. Love. They are the three stories that all other stories are made up of. It’s the trifecta.” 
― April Genevieve Tucholke, Wink Poppy Midnight

“I used to think that I needed to be part of a story, a big story, one with trials and villains and temptations and rewards. That’s how I would conquer it, conquer death.”
She sighed again, and nestled in closer to me. “All that matters, in the end, is the little things. The way Mim says my name to wake me up in the morning. The way Bee’s hand feels in mine. The way the sun cast my shadow across the yard yesterday. The way your cheeks flush when we kiss. The smell of hay and the taste of strawberries and the feel of fresh black dirt between my toes. This is what matters, Midnight.” 
― April Genevieve Tucholke, Wink Poppy Midnight