Taking Down Evelyn Tait by Poppy Nwosu
Genre: Contemporary #LoveOzYa
Publication: April 1st 2020
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Source: Review copy from Wakefield & the #AusYABloggers – Thank You
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Rating: ✵✵✵✵

The door creaks open and standing in the entrance is my absolute worst nightmare.
Perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect brain.
Perfect sneer.
Evelyn Tait.

Impulsive Lottie – heavy-metal fan, expert tomato-grower and frequent visitor to the principal’s office – is in even more trouble than usual.

Her best friend Grace has dropped an unlikely bombshell: she’s dating Lottie’s mortal enemy, good-girl Evelyn Tait.

Studious Jude, the boy next door, has the perfect war plan. Lottie will beat Evelyn at her own good-girl game, unveiling Miss Perfect’s sinister side in the process.

Taking life more seriously starts as fun, but soon offers its own rewards . . . so long as Lottie can manage gorgeous Sebastian’s sudden interest, Jude acting weird, and the discovery that she might actually be good at something.

Taking Down Evelyn Tait is a story about family, friends and embracing who you are. Even if that person is kind of weird.

Today is my tour stop on the #AusYABloggers and Wakefield Press Taking Down Evelyn Tait review tour.
I absolutely adored Poppy’s first book, Making Friends with Alice Dyson, so I went into this read with extremely high hopes and while I didn’t love Lottie as much as I loved Alice, it was still a fantastic read.

Why was it a fantastic Sarah? Well, I’m glad you asked, thank you bob goblin!
What the synopsis doesn’t tell you is that Evelyn Tait is Lottie’s stepsister, and she has it in for Lottie too. There are deep forced family issues dealt with in a humours and entertaining way.

Lottie, oh sweet yet mischievous Lottie. The POV character Lottie goes through a lot of emotional developing and maturing throughout the course of the story, shown in entertaining and heartfelt ways.

At its core, this is a story about getting revenge but finding something better in the process – teaching the younger reader a valuable lesson. The story, to different degrees, deals with everything from grief, divorce, second marriages, stepparents, absentee parents, and step-siblings, to friendship, first loves, revenge, learning empathy, discovering what your good at, the reward of hard work, being your most authentic and best self. Oh, and there are queer side characters, always a plus for me. – See that sounds like a lot squished in, but Poppy has managed to keep this a light, warm and entertaining story.

I highly recommend you get your hands on both of Poppy’s #loveozya novels, you won’t be disappointed.

About the Author:

Poppy Nwosu is an author of YA fiction. Her debut novel, Making Friends with Alice Dyson, was shortlisted for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award, and the 2019 Readings Young Adult Book Prize, and will be published by Walker Books US in America in 2020. She was also awarded the 2019 Writers SA Varuna the Writers’ House Fellowship for Young Writers.

Growing up in central North Queensland, Poppy enjoyed a thoroughly wild childhood surrounded by rainforest and cane fields. After studying music at university, she moved overseas to Ireland, where she spent two years visiting stunning Europe. These days Poppy and her husband still love to travel, but they also like to come home again to their house in Adelaide near the sea.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Instagram

Follow the tour HERE.