17 June 2016

Rview #459: Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke



My rating: 1 of 5 stars


“You can figure out what the villain fears by his choice of weapons.”


----Connie Brockway



April Genevieve Tucholke, an American author, pens a chilling and mystical young adult thriller in her new book, Wink Poppy Midnight that unfolds the friendship and the enmity between three high school teenagers and the readers need to figure out who is the hero and who is the villain in this story through their dialogues and their evolving demeanor.





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.



Wink is the cute nerdy teenager whose head is always bend down inside a book but secretly lusts for the most coolest and good-looking boy of her school, Midnight, whereas Midnight is crazy about the drama queen and the most beautiful yet the coldest girl of his school, Poppy. A perfect teenage love triangle. Throw in one more alpha-male character, then the triangle will be easily resolved, but the author has other plans despite the fact that Poppy is lusting for another guy named, Leaf Bell, who is older and mature student. Okay and this happens to be the story line of this book and the story revolves around the love triangle of these three protagonists.

I was looking forward in reading something thrilling or thought provoking, instead the story is highly predictable and kind of dull as the author has only laced and masked his story with exquisite words and eloquent and intricate writing style. The pacing sucks all through out the book as I found myself baffled with the characters' voices and their secretive and evil demeanor. There is no such important mystery to figure out, as I guessed who's who right from the very beginning. The alluring book's cover image simply masks the negativity lurking inside its beautiful book cover design.

The author mainly focuses her theme under the limelight of teenage friendships, loyalty, jealously, slandering, love, straying and many such things that will make the older readers feel a bit nostalgic about their high school days when their hormones ran wild. Unfortunately, the portrayal of these theme could have been much more striking and descriptive as the readers will struggle with their thoughts on what to wonder on. The romance among the characters are well-featured and developed with passion and emotions that holds the power to melt the hearts of the readers.

Now let's talk about the most disappointing aspect of this book- the characters. Except their sharp narrative, there is nothing in these three characters, that will make the readers either fall for them or connect with them. Poppy is a bully and a manipulator and her evil sneer will make the readers recoil from her, moreover, Poppy's cold narrative will make the readers hate her even more. Wink is the sweetest character of this book, but her flaws are so easily foreseeable. Midnight is the caring and he is caught between the crossfire of these two young ladies who want him badly. In short, all the three characters, are psychologically flawed and will challenge the minds of the readers with their demeanor. The rest of the supporting cast are not that memorable or something to root for.

In a nutshell, this story failed to intrigue me in any possible way, moreover, the characters are also very drab.

Verdict: Can be easily skipped as it is not so much of a promising read!

Courtesy: Thanks to the author's publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author Info:
April Genevieve Tucholke is the author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and its sequel, Between the Spark and the Burn. She loves classic horror movies and coffee. She has lived in many places, including Scotland, and currently resides in Oregon with her husband Nate Pedersen.
Visit her here



Book Purchase Links:

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for your feedback!