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.

I, honestly, just couldn’t like this book. I tried, I really did. I’d heard great reviews, I am familiar with the author, and the cover is gorgeous. However, I just couldn’t enjoy it.
To start, it seemed to be trying to hard. It was trying to be very dark and twisty, and honestly, it just seemed awkward. I could not take anything that was happening seriously. Firstly, if the kids in the story were so upset by the things happening, I very highly doubt they wouldn’t have gotten help. I know teenagers are rebellious, but I don’t know anyone who would have facilitated the kind of just… messed up stuff that was happening.

This book reminded me a lot of Heathers. It threw around dark concepts to try and convince the readers that is was a really dark psychological thriller type thing. It had characters who were disturbingly ready to do very twisted things to each other, just for kicks. This concept was interesting to me – the characters were playing a game with each other, each on thinking they’re the ring leader. I liked that. But, the way it was written tried to make too much of it. It was trying too hard, and it just made it seem… kind of cheesy to me.

The characters. Don’t even get me started. I couldn’t take two of the three MCs seriously. On one hand, we had Poppy. Who we were taught to despise from the beginning. Yet, half way through we’re supposed to find her, John Green style. She clearly had many issues, and it was hard to take her character seriously at all because she was so unrealistically extreme in all ways.

Midnight. Oh Midnight. I wanted to like him, so badly. Sadly, he was written very much as a hormonal teenage boy who had no control over his own mind and actions. It was very sad to read, honestly, because he was depicted as rather pathetic, as were many of the background characters. Yes, teenagers are hormonal. Yes, people can be manipulated. However, it just seemed pathetic, the way they were being thrown around, as if they had no free will. It was mostly disturbing, honestly, and not in an intended way.

Wink. I kind of adored her, but in an ‘I’ll admire from afar way.’ I adored her whimsical character in the beginning. I loved her, she was so very Stargirl. However, as the rest of the story went on, it seemed as if she was as fake as the rest of the crew. HOWEVER, her attitude actually contributed to the plot, and was this explainable. I think that her character actually added to the plot.

I could go on for awhile. I wanted to love it, I just couldn’t. Also, NOT appropriate for young readers. There was some very objectifying material.

So, yeah. I wanted to love it. But, sadly this is a testimony of ‘don’t chose a book by its cover.’

1.5 out of 5.

Maddie