Heroes and villains. Fairy tales and reality. Wink Poppy Midnight is a thrilling story that blends magic into the everyday lives of two girls and one boy. Wink is the sweet, innocent and whimsical eldest daughter of the Bell Family and Midnight’s new neighbor. Poppy is vicious and cruel and prefers it that way and the keeper of Midnight’s affections. Midnight is just a boy caught between the two.

I loved this book! Everything from the characters to the writing and the settings was just perfect. Tucholke does magical realism so freaking well it actually boggles my mind. There were several parts in the story where I was questioning what was real and what was the characters fantasies. Wink is the more whimsical of the three characters and is often portrayed as innocent with wide eyes crazy red hair. She is the second oldest of the Bell children and is an outsider to the rest of her town, although non of the Bell children seem to care. Wink was raised on a steady diet of fairy tales and magic. Her mom is a gifted fortuneteller and tarot reader, although she no longer reads her children cards. Because of this Wink looks at life through an almost magical lens of whimsy and mystery and views Midnight as the hero and Poppy as the wolf in her story. Although she never really views her self as the damsel in distress; more like the author. Poppy is the gorgeous Queen B of their small town. She is left to her own devices by her parents most of the time and she takes enjoyment out of being unnecessarily cruel to the people around her. Her character read like a sociopath for most of the book, actually all of the book, but you could tell there was at least some emotion there. Midnight is the old soul stuck between them. He’s soft around the edges and a bit of a romantic; he kinda has a bit of Wink’s whimsy and a little bit of Poppy’s capacity for cruelty (Although he doesn’t really have the stomach for it).

I think the best part about this book is the guessing game on who’s really who. After a few days to digest the book and really think about it its kinda like if Tim Burton directed a Studio Ghibli film in book form. I had my ideas on who would be the quote on quote “bad guy” but with every twist in the book they changed from one character to the next. Highly recommend for anyone looking for whimsical thrillers. Its defiantly on my favorites of 2019 list.