ARC Review: Wink Poppy Midnight

Title: Wink Poppy Midnight
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Publisher: Dial Books/Penguin
Publication Date: March 22, 2016
Format: eARC
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“The intrigue of The Raven Boys 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 Virgin Suicides, this mysterious tale full of intrigue, dread, beauty, and a whiff of something strange will leave you utterly entranced.”




Where to even start with this review, with this book? When a book is compared to The Raven Boys, I am equal parts intrigued and skeptical, so I went into Wink Poppy Midnight cautiously optimistic. This book turned out to be a magical, atmospheric, weird experience that kept me enthralled from the very first page.

Split into rapid fire changing POVs from Wink, Poppy, and Midnight, this book feels very fast paced even though relatively little action actually happens. I didn’t find any of the main characters particularly likable, but they were each captivating in their own way. Wink, obsessed with fairytales and committed to living one out, was the character I thought I’d love most going into the story, but I ended up feeling distanced from her to the point of mistrusting her most of all. Poppy is at least up front about the fact that she’s manipulative and mean, and I came to appreciate her cruel honesty. I think I struggled the most with Midnight: I alternated between thinking he was unassuming and sweet on one page, to gullible and weak the next. He is far overshadowed by his female counterparts.

That being said, the writing enthralled me. Tucholke’s writing is gorgeous, and she has crafted a novel so atmospheric that I fully expected to be in the woods, surrounded by mist when I looked up from the page. I’ve seen some people complain about the repeating of words and phrases throughout the novel, but I honestly wasn’t bothered by it. If anything, it added to the otherworldly sense of the book. As the reader, you spend the entire book wondering if there really is magic at play here. Wink Poppy Midnight feels so much like a magical realism story, and I felt like it was really building up to that. Ultimately, there is something far more sinister at play.

I pride myself on seeing plot twists a mile off – there have been very few times where a book genuinely caught me off guard. Wink Poppy Midnight messed with my head and kept me completely unsure of what was happening the entire time. I thought it would go one way, and then the story weaved and dived away from me into something far weirder. It must be said, by the way, that this is a genuinely, wonderfully weird book. But it’s also just as manipulative as its characters.

Where things fell apart for me, however, was the ending. I found the ending to be confusing (and not in the enjoyable way of the first 75% of this book) and ultimately unsatisfying. Maybe Tucholke wanted to keep things a bit mysterious and open ended, but I felt that it was a lot of build up to a weak ending. It was like eating a delicious slice of chocolate cake, only for the last bite to turn to dirt in your mouth. That was a bit dramatic, but the point stands. I will always prefer a strong ending over a muted one.

Don’t mistake my critique for displeasure. I absolutely adored Wink Poppy Midnight. It is its own fairytale, while simultaneously preying upon and playing against fairytale tropes. Every story needs a hero. Every story needs a villain. Every story needs a secret. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Which one are you?

*I received a free ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review: The Love That Split the World

Title: The Love That Split the World
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Razorbill / Penguin
Publication Date: January 26, 2016
Format: eARC

“Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start…until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken.”

~


Where to even begin with this review? I’m not sure that I have the words for this book. I had no idea what I was getting into with The Love That Split the World, because this story absolutely blew me away. A book marketed as Friday Night Lights meets anything is likely not something I’d pick up – I just don’t enjoy those types of contemporary stories. And yet, The Love That Split the World is that and so, so much more. This is a coming of age story, a love story, a finding yourself story, a creation story. This is a story that brought me to tears by beautifully written it was.

Our protagonist Natalie has been visited by this “spirit” she calls Grandmother for years, but the summer before she moves to college, Grandmother warns Natalie that she must save “him.” Natalie has no idea who this mystery boy is or how she’s supposed to save him, but soon she finds herself switching over into an alternate version of her town, where everything and everyone is different. The only other person who can switch between towns is Beau. Natalie and Beau have to figure out what’s going on as the switches occur increasingly faster and with no warning, with Grandmother’s warning looming over Natalie.

The very beginning of this book confused me, because I thought this was being set up as a ghost story. I was, thankfully, wrong. The Love That Split the World is nearly indescribable, as is evident by my not-so-eloquent waxing over this story. There is just so much depth to this book, from the stories Grandmother tells Natalie to the possibilities of alternate dimensions, to the difficulties an adopted child faces in forming their self-identity. See what I meant about the lack of eloquence? Probably because my words seem so dull in comparison to this book. Emily Henry’s writing is so lovely that it actually made my heart ache at times.

I know, I’m describing this book to you and you’re probably thinking there’s no way it all works. But IT DOES, DEAR READER, IT DOES. This review doesn’t do the book justice, but trust me when I say that this book is a beautiful, magical tale that resonated with me for days.

Have you ever loved someone enough to split the world?

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

ARC Review: The Boy Most Likely To

Title: The Boy Most Likely To*
Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Dial Books/Penguin Teen
Publication Date: August 18, 2015
Goodreads | Amazon (currently less than $9!)

"Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blind folded, need a liver transplant, and drive his car into a house. Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To...well, not date her brother's baggage-burdened best friend, for starters. For Tim, it wouldn't be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the "smart" choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard. Then the unexpected consequences of Tim's wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn't all it appears to be, that he never could have predicted...but maybe should have. And Alice is caught in the middle."


The Boy Most Likely to is the sequel to My Life Next Door, which I adored for all of its contemporary glory. This follow up feels slightly more serious, as everyone deals with the repercussions of the events in My Life Next Door. If you haven't read My Life Next Door, you can still read this review...there are no spoilers for either books.

One of my favorite things about The Boy Most Likely To is that we return to the Garrett family and see how they're all faring. I adore little George, he's hands-down my favorite character. Seeing how their family functions with so many children is such a fascinating part of these books, and every sibling still very much has their own identify and unique relationships. But the best part of The Boy Most Likely To is that it's split POV of two characters that were portrayed in a rather limited way in the first book: Tim and Alice. Tim is Sam and Jase's alcoholic friend who was kicked out of school and has to get his life back on track. Alice is Jase's older sister who's trying to balance nursing school with the needs of her family. These two characters provided such brilliant voices from which to hear this story. I don't think the dual POV would have worked nearly as well in My Life Next Door, but with the characters and stories in The Boy Most Likely To, it was a great choice.

Seeing Alice struggle in this book is so heart breaking. She's trying to keep everything together for her parents - her siblings, mounting bills, and nursing school, but to do so she puts her own life on hold. I felt so much compassion for Alice and appreciated what a strong character she is. Tim's perspective was really enlightening, and I enjoyed seeing how snarky and self-deprecating his voice came across. The relationship that develops between Alice and Tim was nothing like Sam and Jase - not all sweetness and rooftops. Alice and Tim really have to fight throughout this novel, and I feel like that was a good representation of their characters.

I have to say that the "unexpected consequences of Tim's wild days" weren't so unexpected for me. Less than 50 pages in I knew what was going to happen, and it honestly felt a bit too obvious. But at the same time, it produced results. I ultimately thought the book ended the right way - I know some people may disagree with me on this, but I think the alternative would be too unrealistic and cliche. The Boy Most Likely To was a wonderful sequel to My Life Next Door, and brought two of the most complex characters in this cast to the forefront. The interactions between Tim and Alice and their respective families, and with each other, really leave an impact on the reader. But at the end of the day (and book), both Alice and Tim find such personal strength along the way, and that's why I enjoyed this book so much. If you enjoy contemporary, especially if you're a fan of Sarah Dessen, then you need to check out Huntley Fitzpatrick's novels.

Rating: 3.5 stars

*I received an eARC from Penguin via their First to Read program in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Penguin for this advance copy!