ARC Review: Wink Poppy Midnight

About The Book:

  Title: Wink Poppy Midnight

  Author: April Genevieve Tucholke 
  Pub. Date: March 22nd, 2016
  Publisher: Dial Books  
  Pages: 352

  Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Fantasy

  Rate: 4/5 stars

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.

Review:

Fan Cast of Wink: Lily Cole

This book was really something. When I saw that it was "for fans of Holly Black", I knew I needed it! Because HELLO - if you know me at all, you know I'm a huge Holly Black fan. Lucky for me, they were giving them away at New York Comic Con, aaaand then I lost my copy at baggage check along with my copy of Slasher Girls & Monster Boys, which I brought along to get signed. So I was in a crappy mood all night thinking I wouldn't find them, trying to get service so I could call the convention center lost & found. But the next day, I found it at baggage check. I'm not sure they even really believed it was mine, but how many people would be looking for two extremely specific books with one signed to "Jocelyn"… I mean really. Anyhow, this book was fun, addicting, and I read it in less than 24 hours.

“I never cried because there are only two reasons people cry, 

one is empathy and the other is self-pity, and I never had any of either ."

Fan cast of Poppy:
 AnnaSophia-Robb

The characters are really hard to describe, mostly because you never know their motives. Wink. Wink is batshit crazy, that is one thing that never changed for me throughout the story. I wanted so hard to root for Wink - who doesn't love the underdog? However, I just couldn't - I hated her! Besides the fact that she was weird, she was manipulative and I never understood what was going on in that psycho red head of hers. And I just didn't like that one bit! Poppy. How can I describe Poppy? I think raging bitch is a nice word for Poppy. Have you ever watched Scream Queens? She reminds me of Chanel Oberlin, except way more mean. If Wink Poppy Midnight was published before the show came out, I'd say Scream Queens was inspired by Wink Poppy Midnight. However, as much as I hated Poppy, I loved her all the same. I enjoyed her point of view the best because her craziness was more funny than psycho. Does that make sense? Different types of crazy? Well after you read this book it will make sense, trust me. Midnight. I felt so sad for Midnight throughout the entire book. He always gets the short end of the stick. He's truly a good guy, and I hated watching him get screwed over.

Fan Cast of Midnight:
Dylan O'Brien

The romance was one of my favorite things about it. I wasn't sure who I shipped. I wanted miserable things to happen to Poppy about the entire time, but I still wanted to see her in a romantic relationship with someone because it was just SO funny! Seeing Wink engaged in romance was funny as well because it was sort of her first relationship but she pretended she knew what to do. And seeing Midnight was just so sad because he was very pathetic. And pathetic is kind of funny so I guess that was funny, too (in a sad way, of course). I loved Midnight, though. I wanted him to NOT be pathetic because he was adorable and he could be my book boyfriend if he wasn't so pathetic.

The biggest problem I had with Wink Poppy Midnight isn't a problem as much as a personal preference. I never truly understood Wink, I feel like the more the story progressed, the more I didn't understand her. I understood Poppy and Midnight just fine, but the book is titled Wink Poppy Midnight so when I don't get Wink - it feels like I'm almost missing a third of the story. Besides that, I don't think I got enough closure at the end of the story for my liking. A lot of people don't have a problem with this or may even like it, but I am not one of those people.

“I would have given it to Leaf the second he asked for it, 

except he never ever, ever did, so I gave it to Midnight instead."

Ultimately, I was extremely pleased by Wink Poppy Midnight. I'm 100% glad I went through all the trouble of finding it at baggage check! The characters were multi-layered and complex. Besides the complexity of the story, I love the title and the beautiful book cover that both are completely fitting. And while I never did truly understand Wink, I was still able to appreciate the story. I'd recommend this book to people who are fans of abstract books and don't really mind NOT understanding everything at the end of a story. I gave Wink Poppy Midnight a 4/5 because while I enjoy abstract novels, I like a little more closure at the end of books.

- Jocelyn