Hi everyone!

I hope you’ve all had a dazzling weekend. Its been uncharacteristically warm in England over the past few days and I’ve been lucky enough to get away from studying for a few precious hours and actually enjoy it.

This post, I want to talk to you all about one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read.

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke is a magical realism YA novel that follows a trio of characters all shrouded with mystery and darkness. Wink is weird, Midnight is torn and Poppy is beautiful. The three teenagers, over the course of the summer become intertwined in ways they could’ve never imagined and a single act lays the path for secrets and lies that soon spin out of control.

So the first thing I’d say about this book is to go into it with an open mind (as you should with all stories) although especially with this one. In the frankest way possible Wink Poppy Midnight is strange, like really really strange. The plot, whilst on the surface appears to be very We Were Liars-esque (Which I didn’t mind), is nothing of the sort. Certainly I have never read anything like this before and I do not believe that I ever will. It would be easy to look at this book and think it to be just another one go those samey samey-mysterious-and-abnormally-good-looking-teenagers-kill-someone-in-the-middle-of-what-was-supposed-to-be-the-best-summer-of-their-lives-and-form-a-bond-like-no-other troupes but really there is a lot more depth to it and numerous quirky lines and lovable scenes. I won’t give away any spoilers but I will tell you there is a twist and ,just like the entire book, its a weird one.

Tucholke’s use of language is so beautiful and perfectly poetic that the line between realism and magic is often blurred. Whilst reading this book I was never sure if any the characters were going to momentarily conjure fire at their fingertips or shift into a bird; I like this detail very much. If you don’t decide to read this novel for any other reason please do just for the stunning prose.

The characters, in their names and their back stories, were each a delight to read. The dialogue between the cast was so sharp and quick that it felt like I was reading a real teenager conversation. The only way I could describe my love for them all was that it made me feel nice and warm inside.

There are many who criticise this book for being too strange or too ‘out there’ but to that I say nah. Weirdness should be celebrated and thats what this book does, it teaches us that its ok to be different whilst giving us a cracking mystery to solve along the way.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth.