Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke

She also curated the horror anthology Slasher Girls & Monster Boys. 12 & up) About the AuthorĪpril Genevieve Tucholke is the author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Between the Spark and the Burn, and Wink Poppy Midnight. Bottom line? Beware of girls who read books….

Nicely constructed and planned, with unexpected twists to intrigue and entertain. Populating her gothic narrative with a mostly white cast, Tucholke writes in three alternating voices, presenting an eerie, tangled story with plenty of questions: Who can be trusted? Who–or what–pulls the strings? High on teen drama and with plenty of trauma–mostly emotional, with a little physical thrown in–the book keeps readers wondering. But Wink knows every story needs a Hero and a Villain and revolves around three essentials: revenge, justice, and love. Dreamy Wink is Leaf’s younger sister and a neighborhood oddball–the girl with the tarot card- and tea leaf-reading mother, a freckled dreamer who maybe reads a little too much. Poppy is in love with Leaf Bell, an older boy who can see “right through the pretty” to the “ugly on the inside.” A self-described bully, Poppy is “built for winning and getting what I wanted and not for trying to be better.” Determined that, if her life is to be one of “desperation, then it would be loud, not quiet,” she is frustrated by Leaf’s indifference. Dark-haired, awkward (but soon to be gorgeous) Midnight is in love with Poppy, the beautiful, blonde, high school queen with a cruel streak a mile wide. Kirkus Reviews starred (January 15, 2016)īalancing between possibly paranormal and just plain disturbing, Tucholke walks a fine, spine-chilling line.

Lockhart’s We Were Liars (2014) and will appeal especially to older readers who are looking for surprising plot twists, a creepy fairy-tale vibe, ambiguous narrators, and a world where nothing is ever really what it seems. Eerie, dark, and unusually sensual, this mystery–love story is similar in tone to E.

In airy, atmospheric prose, Tucholke has constructed an ethereal story where nothing ever feels quite real. But there’s more going on here than meets the eye, and the three teenagers’ fates-and the roles they play in one another’s stories-are far more entwined and complicated than they seem at first glance. And Wink is the mystery: the odd, unreadable girl who talks in riddles and is obsessed with fairy tales (or so it seems). Midnight is the hero: the thoughtful boy next door who has loved Poppy most of his life, until moving two miles down the road breaks her spell on him. Poppy is the villain: the beautiful, cruel queen of the neighborhood.

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke