The Great Gatsby but with witches. Now I’m not a fan of the Great Gatsby but I am a fan of witches and magic and this combination worked. So well written, very descriptive. Set just after the first world war where magic exists but is illegal to use. I wouldn’t say it’s the most original idea but the way it’s written makes up for that. I would say it is worth a read for any fans of witches and magic fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC to review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm not usually a big period fantasy fan, but I adored this. Brilliant!

It was thick, luscious and dark. The feeling of a well-aged wine and as thick as the blood used in the magic present in the blood.

Taking a spin on the prohibition era of the 20’s, where magic is banned instead of booze this gave a well written and explored time a new life and light. The characters were intricated and deeply explored. Gritty and angry at the world and what it has created.

With a mystery at its heart, it was a fast paced and dark creating a feeling that the surrounded and encompassed the book and the reader throughout the experience.
The crows of Crow Island were feathered allies to the telling and the setting of the scene.

The writing was fast paced, revelatory but still secretive enough to keep me on my toes. Discovering the world alongside one of our main characters was as wonderful way to get sucked into this alternative version of history. I would have liked the mystery behind the mysterious death of Annie’s father, the reason for her travel to Crow Island, to be fleshed out a little more and for her to have shown more interest in him as a person. This would have added a much needed motivator to many of her actions and decisions, but as it is it was still well done.

The dark whispers surrounding her neighbours was a fantastic portrayal of how the real world treats the other and those they can get something from but refuse to accept into their midst. A mirror for times present and past that I loved seeing on the page.

The world of magic and witches, the different kinds, methods and factions could also have been explored more, but I do think this is just a personal wish as I am curious and would love to know more about everything in general. For the majority of readers the dive into the magic system would be just perfect, I am just too curious and love a good world building situation.

The ending also felt a little rushed, with characters appearing and meddling with no apparent introduction of prior commitment. I feel that I was less engaged and stressed about the entrance and interactions surrounding these characters, just because the lack of focus and fore shadowing given to them.

This is just me nit- picking though. It was all over a fun and enticing read that went down like a glass of Pino noir. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a witchy, atmospheric read, with a female love interest. Filled with clashing passions and ominous crows and blood magic seeped into the pages.

A slow burning read that builds to an exciting crescendo and explosive ending. The novel is set against the dazzling 1920s, where extravagant parties abound that would make Gatsby's seem tame. Annie returns to Crow Island to tie up her father's estate and reconnect with an old friend: Bea. However, the island is steeped in witchcraft, something Annie turned away from, especially as magic is banned, but she meets Emmeline, who is shrouded in mysterious magic and darkness. When Annie witnesses a terse exchange between Emmeline and Bea, things take a darker turn and we are launched into the backstory. The story gets more interesting in this second half. It is a haunting and at times dark read, steeped in history and dark magic. These three complex women all hide darker pasts. On addition to the main story, is the secondary story including sapphic romance. Dazzling. Immersive. Seductive. Sensuous. Decadent and enchanting. If you love romance, witchcraft and murder and a slow building tale, this entrancing book is for you. Great Autumnal read. #wildandwickedthings #francescamay #netgalley #witchcraft #darkmagic #haunting #1920s #magic #glitteringparties #crowisland #entrancing #enchanting #decadent #seductive #sapphicromance #sensuous #women

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and held my attention. I will be reading more from this author :)

Following World War I, Annie Mason travels to Crow Island to sort through her late father’s estate. She’s never travelled alone before, but the island allows her to catch up with her estranged best friend, Beatrice. There’s also Annie’s magnetic neighbour, Emmeline, shrouded with rumours of witchcraft and the host of extravagant parties. Annie stumbles into their world and discovers the terrible cost of magic after witnessing a confrontation between Bea and Emmeline. She can’t help but interfere when these two women are involved.

Slow-paced, rich, and magical this book crafts a shining 1920s full of mystery and extravagance. The writing is gorgeous and evocative enough that the slow-pace works brilliantly. Annie, Bea, and Emmeline are dislikeable yet compelling, frustrating yet multi-faceted. There’s also a delightful amount of sapphic yearning. It’s a brilliant book that fans of The Great Gatsby will adore. As someone who didn’t enjoy The Great Gatsy, Wild and Wicked Things didn’t totally work for me. Despite this, I still found it captivating, which demonstrates the strength of Francesca May’s writing. If you love complex characters, sapphic witchiness, and an intense amount of longing, you should pick this book up.

I really liked the premise of this book and expected that I'd read it quickly - a witchy book with Gatsby vibes ticked all the boxes. While the writing was beautiful, I found the pacing quite slow. I haven't yet finished reading the book and hope to perhaps pick it up again at a later point.

* 3.5 stars.

In theory I should have loved this, a book that is: witchy, gothic, sapphic and Gatsby-inspired, which essentially sounds like all of my interests have been put into a blender and poured out into words. The writing itself is beautiful, crackling with magic and moody atmosphere, however I didn't quite connect with some of the characters, who felt more like part of the gorgeously gloomy scenery than real people, and the romance being so slow-burn that it was more of a flicker I found myself struggling to care about--and I always care about gay witches.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the eARC.)

This is one of the books to read in 2022. Especially if you enjoy witchy vibes and magic realism. But it also features some fantastic social commentary.

May has a wonderfully evocative style of descriptive writing that conjures vivid imagery at the mere turning of a page. The setting and aesthetics drip with detail, and the characters are fully-realised three-dimensional people. They have flaws, make terrible decisions, and it’s because of this, amongst other reasons, that they’re so much more believable. May takes all the time necessary to reveal their hopes and fears and the novel is far stronger for it.

In short, Wild and Wicked Things is a terrific novel that’s well worth your time.

Love, love, love it.

In her acknowledgements, the author calls this ‘a melancholy, witchy sapphic book’ and I cannot think of a better descriptor.

Wild and Wicked Things did not immediately grab me. It was not a book that I could not put down; however, it was a little nudge in the back of my mind, waiting to get back to Annie and Emmeline, to Isobel and Nathan, to Bea, to find out what was in store for them next.

Wild and Wicked Things is melancholy. . Some of the characters are not particularly likeable, but you find yourself caring about them anyway. There are mysteries. It is dark, and sad, and haunting. It explores longing and desperation, lost love and betrayal, everyone is desperate, and lost, haunted by their past.

It is not a happy book. It was not intended to be; but it will linger in your mind.

liked this, needed more out of it though! a little bit better execution??

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an early review.

A well written book that is slow paced but enjoyable to read.
I would have liked to have got to learn a bit more about the characters but it was ok.

Sapphic retelling of the Great Gatsby ? Witches and pagan magic ? This book definitely delivers.

Okay so personally I am not a fan of The Great Gatsby so I am not too surprised that this book didn’t fully click with me but I want to be reallly clear that that is just down to me and that this book is a masterpiece. Glamorous to the hilt. Full of stolen glances and bone aching longing that follows you throughout the book.

Set on Crow Island, a mysterious place full of wealth and darkness. Since the war, magic has been outlawed. Plants in your garden could see you hang just for what they could be used for. But not that this law effect Crow Island. The wealth make the laws, they don’t follow them.

Anna is a plain jane. Love lorn after the war. Drifting through life. A mouse in a world of cats. Then she gets a letter. Her estranged father has died, and his last wish was that she come to Crow Island. The very place he left her and her mother for in the first place. The very place that her only other friend in the world disappeared to. Her curiosity banishes her fear - and Anna goes.

Swept along in the heady current of alcohol, money, love and blood magic, Anna spirals towards the truth, about both her father and her friend - and most importantly herself.

This is a positively interesting premise but maybe I picked it up at the wrong time or something else went wrong because I didn't like it as much as I anticipated and it fell flat for me.

After her father's death, Annie Mason visits Crow Island to take care of his belongings, not knowing what to expect. Her new wealth made it possible for her to rent a cottage by the sea, and her neighbor seems to throw the most elaborate parties possible - with magic that is literally forbidden.

Prohibition in this case means a ban on all mind-altering substances and practises, which includes magic. It doesn't matter if you're taking it externally or have it in you, magic is the forbidden fruit.

Annie is kind of shy, and happy to meet her childhood friend who disappeared on her, but it does not take her long to get a sense of an unhappy marriage there, and wonders why Bea eloped with this guy if it doesn't work out.
Then there are the witches next door. Nobody seems to care about what they're doing, which is hosting parties the whole island and rich people from outside enjoy.

Let's start with what I disliked, because that list is short. Blood magic is used, but as a person with a history of autoaggressive behavior I can tell that the author did not do research into how wounds and blood behave. Most notably if you have deep, possibly life-threating wounds, don't take a hot bath to relax you, hot tissue bleeds more.

Also, there is self harm in here to get blood for magic. I personally felt fine despite self harm being a big triggering topic for me, because the reasoning behind the harm done was entirely different.

What I liked was the found family aspects of the plot, and, well, that it isn't as boring as the Great Gatsby, which served as an inspiration for the set up of the story. I would love to know more about this world, and especially the mysterious council we never get any concrete information about, but since the setting is what is is I'd expect them to be white, cis, and boring dudes.
I see potential for further stories set in the world, but based around different characters, and would be totally here for that.

Recommendations for witchy lesbian plot.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

I was promised a sapphic gatsby retelling with lots of deathly magic, and what I got was rather...lacklustre unfortunately.

Wild and Wicked Things was a most anticipated book of the year for the reasons listed above, so I was delighted to be approved for an arc on Netgalley. From quite soon on, I found the dialogue between the characters strange, which I don't think was the author's intention, because it immediately felt as if I was reading a book and I couldn't believe what the characters were saying to one another. The characters themselves weren't very distinct in my mind, so I couldn't root for/despise really any of them. Annie, upon meeting Emmeline, is instantly infatuated by her, and their interactions that were meant to built chemistry between them just ended up doing nothing for me I'm afraid. However, Francesca May's writing was compelling and well-crafted, there are metaphors and attempts to built atmosphere on Crow Island, which I appreciate. I ended up preferring Emmeline's chapters to Annie's, I liked her more as a character even though we're constantly told she's dangerous but this is never proved (I'd argue based on what happens that Annie is more morally grey, without spoiling anything). The plot is quite sparse, I could summarise it in around a sentence or two, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but without strong characters to make up for it, I did find myself a bit bored and wondering if I should DNF at several points while reading. There could have been a few more explanations of the magic system, but overall I understood it well enough.

So, unfortunately this was a case of another most anticipated release, another disappointment. I think some of this is a case of me not knowing my own tastes, for example I nearly always struggle with historical fiction that's not set between the victorian/edwardian period. If this sounds like something you'd like, please pick it up, it is not a bad book by any means despite my list of criticisms!

Sapphic and witches - of course i was there, plus it all been set in the 1920s was just the icing on the cake. this book was packed full of witchcraft (which thankfully was well researched and i thank the author for that), 1920 style parties and illicit love affairs.

it was a slow burn book but it need to be so you feel everything the protagnist is feeling and how she is dragged in to this world she never knew of. Suddenly you will find yourself at the end of the book and looking for more pages which you hope will magically appear.

the world building is *chef kiss* and as it was based in england it was nice to see again the effort put in to this to make sure it all worked.

would recommended this book to any one who is a fan of witchy books and the diviners

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May has been very high on my most anticipated list for a very long time - just look at that cover. Absolute Fab-bait right there. Sapphic historical fantasy with witches? Doesn't really get more me than that. But unfortunately, the book got swept up in my struggles to read digitally - I only managed to get an eARC as the promised physical copy got lost on the way somewhere, and struggled to get into it, mostly because I don't like reading on kindle and forget about books that aren't visibly in front of me. So when I finally picked up my final copy (yay gilded edges from Goldsboro, they look amazing and fit the book so well) I ended up racing through it in a day because it gripped me and I connected much better to the story in that format. I loved Emmeline, Annie and Bea, the three women driving the story. It is a slower book, but an immersive one. One that grabbed me just right and hit the stop perfectly. It is a story of self-determination, of finding your own path outside of the conventions that are given to you by society, and especially one where women realise that they don't need men to live a fulfilling life in a period where they very much still determine how the world works. It is a lovely story, and one that I know I'll come back to again.

I enjoyed this a lot! Love the witchy vibe and the Gatsby references, definitely up my alley!!!! I also liked that it wasn’t a direct retelling of Gatsby, just took a few element from it. It got increasingly darker as the book progressed which was really interesting, I also liked the protagonist’s character development and how she changed - she wasn’t particularly likeable at the start and definitely had some elements of being unreliable (like Nick in Gatsby lol) which made it very interesting to read her interactions with other characters. Overall it was very well written and fully rounded out, definitely one for you if you like roaring twenties era dark fantasy. I’m giving it four stars because it was so well written and thought out.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown for the free copy!

Whilst Wild and Wicked Things draws inspiration from The Great Gatsby, it also feels so fresh and original and drew me in swiftly to the world in creates, parallel with our own.

My favourite character by far is Emmeline, her complexities and backstory hold a lot of depth and create a multidimensional character who is central to the plot. I enjoyed her relationships with Nate and Isobel and the sibling-like bond they have with each other. Annie and Bea and the history with they have also make a compelling duo who's friendship reflects the (obviously exaggerated) ups and downs of most friendships.

The writing in the book was beautiful and helped create a magic system that I enjoyed exploring, building on the classic "witch" motifs to create a world I almost wish I could live in if it wasn't for the dangers created in the island.

I can happily say any future works by Francesca May will be instantly in my basket, I look forward to seeing what the future holds for such a talented author.