Great cover very eye catching! The book has everything it promises, witchery and magic expecially. Annie is a well drawn character, I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down as it drew me in immediately and before I knew it I was in the middle of the book!

Crow Island, a place where the rich go to play and illicit magic is practised. It’s where Annie Mason’s estranged father lived and died and where her best friend ran off to a year ago. When Annie goes to the island to pack up her fathers belongings she looks up her old friend and discovers more than she bargained for.
This was a weird one, it took me a good ten percent of the book to work out that I wasn’t in modern day America and was in fact on a island in the North Sea off the coast of Whitby sometime after the war. Which war? The first one. Right? There was nothing in the writing to establish place and time, the dialogue was modern and there was no northern twang. It was throughly transatlantic. Then there’s the whole Gatsby thing which only muddied the waters more and it’s book ended by to quotes from American authors. Why set it in Britain if all your influences are American? Just set it in America. It also largely stole the plot of Practical Magic so there was absolutely no surprises plot wise. It’s so blatant.
There was a lot of ideas thrown at this book and only some of them stuck. There was a lot about crows which never really came to anything significant. As I was reading I had a lot of questions like why wouldn’t Annie live in the house she was left by her father instead of spending money renting a cottage on the opposite side of the island? Annie can also drive, if she was poor in 1920s Yorkshire where is she getting access to a car? She seems totally incurious about her dead dad altogether which was weird even if there is a distracting hot chick next door. Also don’t go to Crow Island if you have a penis because you will die.

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May is a sumptuous, historical, fantastical tale set on the mysterious Crow Island. Annie, the main character, has just returned there following the death of her father. She's reunited with Bea, an old friend, but their history is dark and rather obscure, and when Annie witnesses a strange connection between Bea and her neighbour, the enigmatic, mysterious Emmeline, things get even darker.
I loved the relationship between Annie and Emmeline, the undeniable attraction they both had and yet the difficulty in realising this love in the 1920s when this book is set. Francesca May weaves the themes of witchcraft and magic and secrets expertly into what is essentially am historical love story.
Beautifully written, immersive and moving, I loved Wild and Wicked Things, and can't wait to read more by Francesca May.
Thank you to #Netgalley for a review copy.

A post WW1 England where a nation still mourns its last sons lost to witchcraft and magic, where magic has as a result been banned and all spices and herbs are suspect, an island where the rich and beautiful play with faux magic as they drink and dance and embrace the jazz age, a house with unforgettable parties luring in the bright young things, dark magic and a newcomer discovering her inheritance. These are the ingredients which bind this unique novel.
Annie leaves her dull existence in Whitby to travel to Crow Island and sort through her deceased, estranged father's things. Her childhood best friend has moved there, married to a rich handsome man, brittle and evasive. Meanwhile Annie is drawn to the grand house next door and the mysterious people who live there, especially Emmeline who wears men's clothes and simmers with magic. But there are secrets everywhere Annie turns, bloody and violent and dark, and her inheritance puts her in danger. An inexplicable connection means Emmeline is the only person she can trust, but she may be hiding the darkest secrets of all.

3.75 stars

Wild and Wicked Things follows the story of Annie Mason who travels to Crow Island after the death of her father. There she is swept into a world of illicit magic, blood debts and extravagant parties. Her mysterious neighbour Emmeline Delacroix intrigues Annie and when Annie decides to attend one of her parties and witnesses a confrontation between Emmeline and Bea (Annie's childhood best friend) she is drawn into a conspiracy of secret loves. blood debts and murder.

I really enjoyed the prose in this novel, it was very lush and descriptive and fit with the overall decadent vibe of the story. It is set in the aftermath of the first world war with the feeling of post war indulgence and celebration and early 1920s vibes. Magic is forbidden in the world but of course the rich pay no attention to this and continue to use witches for their pleasure.

I think Emmeline was the stand out character of the book for me, she is so effortlessly confident and alluring whilst still being complex and compelling with a haunted past and having to make some hard decisions. I think if you are sapphic in any way it will be impossible to come out of this book without a book crush on Emmeline. Annie as a main characters is quite passive but she does have a likeable personality, although I do feel sometimes there was a bit of a dichotomy between how she was described by the other characters vs how she actually acted. Bea as a charcater annoyed me a lot, I think this book has echos of gatsby and she reminded me a lot of Daisy who is possibly the most annoying characater of all time lol so that hindered my enjoyment of the book a bit.

I did really like the side charcaters of Nathan and Isabella - I loved the little family with them and Emmeline and would really like an expansion of their storylines!

I also felt the relationship in this book was a little bit disappointing. I always love sapphic relationships and seeing this representation so I appreciate that but I did feel like the reason they wanted to be together wasn't really clear. It just felt like there was a magical connection and suddenly this meant they were attracted to each other but it felt like there wasn't true chemistry or banter that made me like them as a couple/ship. However I did really like Annie's realisation/self acceptance of the fact she likes women.

Overall I would reccomend this book, especially if you like gatsby-equse historical fiction with witchy magic, luxurious prose and morally grey sapphics.

This book started off promising but sadly it didn’t live up to my expectations.

It was glittery, glamorous and gothic, and the first couple of chapters got me really excited, however, the lack of plot, poor characterisation and dialogue really let it down.

The writing certainly was beautiful in places, but I often felt it was disjointed and very repetitive, leaving me feel confused.

Nothing of note really happens in the novel’s 400+ pages, and for this reason I would not be encouraged to pick up a sequel.

That being said, I didn’t hate it, so I’m giving of a middle of the road 3 stars.

This book has such a great premise - post-war bootleg magic - and really explores the tragic feeling of desperation in those times. It starts with quite striking Great Gatsby parallels, but gradually steps away from that to focus on its speculative elements, with an atmosphere of claustrophobia. I do think the plot ends up feeling very familiar, in a way that is somewhat comforting, although I think I would have loved the book to really lean into the "Roaring Twenties" magic of it all, and what that might mean. Annie, Emmeline, and their relationship have lots of potential (with Annie's anxiety, Emmeline's past, and their mysterious bond) and I do really like them, but I think I just needed a little more development to really love them. All in all, a charming and at points haunting story with potential for expansion.

(Review to be posted on Goodreads in week of release)

Magical and historical. I love the witchcraft genre but this is a new one for me being set in the 1920s/30s.
Really enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

This is one of those books where I can imagine some people absolutely loving it but, unfortunately, I was not one of them. It's got a beautiful cover, though,

The basic premise of Wild and Wicked Things is that it's set on an island off the east coast of England, though at times I noticed what I thought were some Americanisms sneaking in even though the author is apparently English. Anyway, this is a world where magic was heavily used in World War II (but apparently only by the Germans?) and, as a result, is now heavily monitored and restricted, as well as being socially unacceptable. Crow Island, where our story is set, seems to be a bit of a grey area for this, with both legal faux magic and illicit real magic rubbing shoulders.

For me, alas, the story of the use of magic around relationships didn't manage to hold my interest past around the halfway mark and I just couldn't sustain the will to keep going.

In Wild and Wicked Things we follow Annie, who arrives on Crow Island following the death of her estranged father. She is tasked with sorting out his estate and has hopes of re-connecting with her childhood best friend Bea who in the aftermath of WW1 has fled to the island and cut off communication with her.

Upon arrival Annie settles into a cosy cottage but things take a magical turn when she meets her neighbours, Emmeline, Isabel and Nathan and she is inextricably drawn to their decadent and magical lifestyles. But things aren't as straightforward and glamorous as Annie hopes and she soon finds herself entangled in world of secret witch societies, blood magic and resurrections.

Overall I enjoyed the story, I thought the setting and and atmosphere were wonderfully described and the characters, who at times were morally grey and a little self obsessed captured the period perfectly. Very Gatsbyesque.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for the chance to read Wild and Wicked things.

I love books about witchcraft and this definitely didnt disappoint. I loved the writing, I loved the story premise it was so intriguing and I loved the setting of thr magical crow island. The characters were well developed and interesting, I really enjoyed reading this book.

Perfectly decent book,about magic and witches,and with a beautiful cover that will make you want to pick it up and admire it.
Some decent characters ,and some good storyline.

But good and decent were as far as it went for me,and I never felt fully drawn in,or was in a rush to get back to it.

This book is set in an alternative history where magic is outlawed, but still exists, especially on Crow Island. I enjoyed the book and really loved the cover. The book has everything it promises, witchery and magic expecially. Annie is a well drawn character in particular. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.