Wild and Wicked Things

I have been highly anticipating <i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> ever since it was announced and described as a sapphic, witchy <i>The Great Gatsby</i> and I am happy to say it did not disappoint. It was the gorgeous gothic slowburn I didn’t know I needed.<br /><br />I studied <i>The Great Gatsby</i> in school and thanks to my wonderful teacher, it became my favourite classic. So I was beyond excited to read Francesca May’s take on it. <i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> captures so much of what I loved about Gatsby: the symbolism, the nature of the island and its people (though with a fun magical twist) and the characters who are wonderfully imperfect (and often downright horrible). The gift of this book is that it lays bare these characters’ flaws and you empathise with and love them anyway.<br /><br />What struck me from the very first page was how gorgeous the writing is. The decadent nature of the prose worked so well with the story to create the perfect Gatsby-esque atmosphere, with hints at the occult and wickedness too. The way May describes the setting, the characters and the magic is so compelling and visceral that I was immediately drawn in. This is particularly impressive as the slow building, simmering nature of the book isn’t one that usually works for me. I often find myself getting bored in these scenarios but <i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> sunk its claws in and refused to let me go.<br /><br />As I’ve mentioned the characters were all deeply flawed but so compelling that I adored reading about them. I related a lot to Annie, our main character, who has always felt meek and timid, and been written off for that. Seeing her come into herself in this book was a delight. Emmeline was another interesting character: the definition of morally grey, alluring and with a dark past. I loved the complex relationships between them all too: the sibling bond between the witches of the Delacroix house, the old friendship between Bea and Annie and the new blossoming relationship between Annie and Emmeline. Though I would have liked to see a bit more development on the romance and that’s what stopped this book from getting five stars.<br /><br />I really enjoyed Annie’s slow realisation that she’s a lesbian and the self acceptance that came with that. I felt that it was handled very well within the context of the time period. I also liked that Emmeline was gender nonconforming. On <a href="https://twitter.com/franwritesstuff/status/1512481207870980098?s=20&amp;t=1y1XwsDSf_AtPRsqGu6vPA" rel="nofollow noopener">Twitter</a>, May called her a nonbinary lesbian and I loved getting to explore this in the novel, though I would have liked a bit more emphasis on her not feeling like a woman, rather than just not conforming to society’s views of womanhood in the 20s.<br /><br />The plot diverged from <i>The Great Gatsby</i> quite a bit so I wouldn’t go into this expecting a true retelling, though there are definite influences and references throughout. <i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> is undeniably gothic, with its creeping mystery, unfurling darkness and careful, slow burning plot. It is an absolutely stunning novel and I highly recommend picking it up.<br /><br />I also talk about books here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/sapphoslibrary" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/libraryofsappho" rel="nofollow noopener">instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.twitter.com/sapphoslibrary" rel="nofollow noopener">twitter</a> <br /><br />*eARC received in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley*

yes hi, hello i have read this book approximately 1,342 times and i STILL adore it even though i wrote it. it is the absolute book of my heart and i can't wait for you all to read it. if you want a very slowburn sapphic historical fantasy novel loosely inspired by the great gatsby, or if you like lots of pining, dark witchcraft and blood curses, then WILD AND WICKED THINGS might be for you! <br /><br />if you're looking for content warnings for any of my books you can find them here: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://franwritesstuff.com/content-warnings">https://franwritesstuff.com/content-w...</a>

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May is full of dark witchy magic with a slow burn sapphic romance. <br /><br />World War I has just ended, and Annie Mason has arrived on Crow Island to settle her late father’s estate. She quickly falls into a world of dark magic and feels a strong connection to her enigmatic neighbour. <br /><br />This tale alternates between Annie and Emmeline’s perspective with a few others here and there. The writing style is very atmospheric and captures the era well. <br /><br />Although the writing is beautiful, I felt distant from the characters. Not many of them were particularly likeable, even knowing their origin stories. Usually, I don’t mind reading from unlikeable characters pov’s if they are interesting, but with this one, they felt one-dimensional. <br /><br />The pacing went at a snail’s pace as well. Not much happens for the first two-thirds of the book, but things did get exciting near the end. <br /><br />I recommend this book to those looking for a sapphic historical fantasy read. <br /><br />Thank you to Redhook Books for a finished copy to review. <br /><br /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://booksandwheels.com">https://booksandwheels.com</a>

3.25 Stars. This was a tough one for me. I think the book was well written, but my enjoyment level wasn’t as high. I was quite excited about this one at first. I love retellings so a witchy sapphic retelling of Gatsby was right up my alley. The Gatsby feel, the whole setting and atmosphere was right on pointe in my opinion. The problem was I wasn’t enjoying myself as much as I expected to. I was reading another book at the same time, Truth and Measure, and while both sapphic, these two books could not be further apart. I decided to put T&amp;M down, hoping if I only focused on this book it might click better. Unfortunately, that is when I realized that the main problem was deeper because I actually didn’t care for the characters. <br /><br />This is historical fantasy, since it takes place after World War 1, and most things felt very true to the period except that magic and witches were prevalent enough that magic was recently banned. This is a longer book, and at times it was a little slow. I personally would have cut out a few chunks, but the author was very successful in building the past and how this little island steeped in magic felt (as if it had a life of its own). Even magic had different tastes and smells to it which was all wonderfully described. The book is very atmospheric and done well.<br /><br />When it comes to the characters, there are three main characters and three important secondary characters. The problem I had is that I found I only cared a little about one character. I’m okay with flawed characters, but their flaws where so played up that I started not to like them. The characters refused to communicate, never wanted to except help, and just always made things worse. They would say nasty things to each other, meant to hurt, and either ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t happen or they did but seemed forced. Can I really root for these characters and even a slow burn sapphic romance when I don’t care for most of them?<br /><br />TLDR: While this is a historic fantasy, and has a Gatsby feel, the witch story also reminded me of a more depressing Practical Magic (movie version). If you are a fan of either of those, this book might be for you. As a very character driven reader, I had trouble connecting to this story because of not liking the characters but this author definitely has talent and the book was well written. <br /><br />A copy was given to me for review.

Gothic + Gay = my new favourite type of book ?<br />

I really enjoyed the atmosphere this book created but I couldn’t find it in me to like any of the characters.<br />Full Review to come on YouTube: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/hollyheartsbooks">https://www.youtube.com/hollyheartsbooks</a>

<blockquote> <i>Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ARC!</i> </blockquote> <br />They said lesbian witches in the 1920s and gave me a pretty cover and I ran. <br /><br />I’m not really sure what it was about this book, but <b>I couldn’t really get into it</b>. I was fully prepared to start shipping and screaming and overall getting really immersed in the aesthetic - because witches in 1920s England. But I didn’t.<br /><br />I don’t understand why. Maybe it was my mental state, maybe I wasn’t in the mood, but I’m almost 74% sure it wasn’t actually the book’s fault that I couldn’t enjoy it.<br /><br />The <b>plot</b> didn’t feel as exciting as I hoped it would. I was expecting intrigue from the romance, danger and suspense from the plot, and generally just a lot more intensity? I was promised a “bloodthirsty, glittering world” and most of what I got was Annie being indecisive and Emmeline being stressed.<br /><br />Which, honestly, was a mood, because I am both of those things. But it didn’t give me a lot of the storyline that I’d been waiting for.<br /><br />I didn’t have as much interest in the storyline as I should have. It felt predictable to me. Nothing was all that surprising and nothing really affected me emotionally. Even at the end, when character backstories and motivations had finally been laid out, I had been predicting most of it from the onset.<br /><br />The <b>world-building</b> was really cool, incorporating witchcraft and magic into WWI-era history. Historical fantasies are generally interesting, and this followed the pattern. But the magic wasn’t explained to me very well.<br /><br />I learned from Emmeline that blood magic is the most dangerous and potent type of magic, and she technically shouldn’t have been using it, but I didn’t learn about any of the other kinds of magic? I couldn’t really tell what Nathan or Isobel were doing with their magic or how it worked.<br /><br />I also was given no information on what kazam was, aside from a magical drink. What did it do aside from get people both high and drunk? Was it just like a different, enchanted form of alcohol?<br /><br />For something that was so emphatically illegal and important to the plot, I understood very little of the magic and the magic system.<br /><br />For example, the moments (especially near the end) where the characters were in danger. I would usually find myself thinking, “well if they’re witches, couldn’t they just do <i>x</i>” or “why don’t they just <i>y</i>” and then learn more about the world-building and character flaws through their limitations.<br /><br />However, with this book, those things didn’t occur to me. I thought it was a nice touch that the magic wasn’t something they could use as freely or with as much power as the regular witch books, but it kind of annoyed me that it played such a little role.<br /><br />The <b>characters</b> were all great and I loved how distinct everyone was, but I also felt like they could have been developed a lot more. I kept expecting more layering and depth from each character, and I couldn’t find it as I read.<br /><br />Annie specifically wasn’t my favorite protagonist. I loved that she started out as this naïve, clueless woman, because it was both realistic and something that I don’t see often, but I think a lot of the plot was devoted to what should have been her “development” that for me just wasn’t there. She was supposed to be growing and sort of waking up to the reality of how things are, and I just got a lot of indecision.<br /><br />Emmeline was very interesting and I liked reading her perspective a lot more, but I think a lot of the problem was just that I didn’t care that much about each character? I didn’t really look forward to reading any of them.<br /><br />The <b>romance</b> also was not the best. I was expecting some tension and intrigue and just…attraction? I don’t ship couples very much, but I was waiting to start rooting for Emmeline and Annie, and I never got around to doing that.<br /><br />Their romance was mostly summed up by the magical tether that inexplicably bound them, which bugged me a bit. Why do they have this mystical connection, what does it do and why is their only reason to be attracted to each other?<br /><br />I didn’t feel like either of them had a lot of chemistry and I didn’t care much about the romance. To me, it seemed like an actual developing relationship was being replaced just by mentions of their “bond” and the “tether” and the “inexplicable pull,” with not enough character involvement for me to see anything happen.<br /><br />My favorite thing by far was the <b>aesthetic.</b> The atmosphere of Cross House and Crow Island was so compelling. I am a sucker for tarot cards and witchcraft-y things, and the writing and drama of the book really captured that perfect dark-and-slightly-unnatural vibe.<br /><br />I was promised something “bloodthirsty and glittering” which wasn’t quite what I received, but it was very close and definitely enjoyable enough to make up for it.<br /><br /><b>Overall,</b> this book didn’t do it for me, and I’m not entirely sure it was the book’s fault? I definitely was not connected to life for most of March and my reading habits have been all over the place, so my enjoyment of this book was definitely not proportionate to how good the book actually was.<br /><br />Generally, my expectations were not met and I can’t figure out why.

DNF @54%<br /><br />Wild and Wicked things is a gender flipped retelling of The Great Gatsby set in post-WWI England, except with witchy magic and sapphic love interests. Which sounds intriguing, but ultimately this book ended up being more atmospheric vibes than anything else. It moved at a glacially slow pace with characters I had a hard time caring about (whether to like or dislike them). At over 400 pages retelling a quite short novel, I think this book is far too long. I ended up deciding to stop reading a little more than halfway through because I am just uninterested in what's happening or in what might happen in the second half of the book. <br /><br />I think the idea is cool, but at the halfway point the sapphic elements are pretty vague- we have a female character who dresses in menswear (sounds great), mentions of characters having had feelings for women, and a character perspective who can't quite figure out that what she's experiencing is attraction. But that's about it and given the pitch I was expecting something a bit more torrid. Hopefully other readers will do better. The audio narration is decent, very British. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

<b>rep:</b> lesbian mc, nonbinary lesbian mc, bi side character<br /><b>tw:</b> domestic violence, child abuse, magic requiring self harm, blood, body horror, violence, murder, guns<br /><br /><b>Review also on <a href="https://readsrainbow.com/2022/03/arc-review-wild-and-wicked-things" rel="nofollow noopener">Reads Rainbow</a>. <i>ARC provided by the publisher.</i></b><br /><br />Imagine <i>The Great Gatsby</i>, but if Gatsby was a nonbinary lesbian blood witch. That single sentence alone should be enough to convince all the people with good taste to read <i>Wild and Wicked Things</i>, but I can and will say more! <br /><br /><i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> is very much an adult book, despite the description that seems very in vogue for the current young adult landscape. This isn’t an admonishment of any kind, though, for neither of the literature groups. It’s simply something to be taken into account, when managing your reading expectations. <i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> is a slow book, it takes time to develop the world, the characters, it pushes the plot forward in small steps. And it’s very dark and bloody (figuratively and literally). <br /><br />The slowness of the book works like a charm (no pun intended), because of May’s writing style. There’s no other word to describe it but <i>lush</i>. It shines like a diamond, every sentence somehow more beautiful than the last. Some descriptions feel truly otherworldly, while others forcefully bring you to the pain &amp; dirt of everyday life. The stylistic choices help create the atmosphere of the scenes themselves. <br /><br />And given that this is an adult novel, you as the reader have to piece together the world and its rules yourself. You’re given some pieces of information here and there, but only in the way that is natural to the characters existing in said world. No conversations about things all parties already know about, no infodumping in the narrative. No holding your hand. All is as it’s supposed to be in a fantasy book.<br /><br />The greatest achievement of <i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> are the characters, though. Some of them are terribly selfish, some of them will give all of themselves for others, and all of them are so very, very human. They grow throughout the story, as well, especially Annie. Her journey into confidence, into finding a goal in life, mirrors her lesbian awakening. It’s absolutely spectacular. <br /><br /><i>Wild and Wicked Things</i> is the kind of book to make you <i>feel</i> things. It’s full to the brim with magic, and yearning, and secrets… It’s not an easy to forget story, instead one that will find a place in your heart, like the characters within who carved a space for themselves in the world with blood &amp; tears &amp; love.

(4.5)<br /><br /><i> <b> <a href="https://readsrainbow.com/2022/03/arc-review-wild-and-wicked-things" rel="nofollow noopener">read my review on reads rainbow</a> </b> </i><br /><br /><b>Rep:</b> lesbian mc, nonbinary lesbian mc, bi side character<br /><br /><b>CWs:</b> domestic violence, child abuse, magic requiring self harm, blood