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Review Snippet: Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May

About this Book (from Jonathan Ball Publishers): 

In the aftermath of the First World War, a young woman gets swept into a glittering world filled with illicit magic, romance, blood debts and murder in this lush and decadent debut novel.

On Crow Island, people whispered, real magic lurked just below the surface. But Annie Mason never expected her enigmatic new neighbour to be a witch.

When she witnesses a confrontation between her best friend Bea and the infamous Emmeline Delacroix at one of Emmeline’s extravagantly illicit parties, Annie is drawn into a glittering, haunted world. A world where magic can buy what money cannot; a world where the consequence of a forbidden blood bargain might be death.

Wild and Wicked Things - Francesca May - Jonathan Ball PublishersThe cover of this book promised to be dark, gothic and magical – and that is exactly what the story, by debut author Francesca May, delivers.

The book is beautifully written – atmospheric, moody and utterly enchanting. The story isn’t fast-paced, quite the opposite in fact, but it does sweep you along as we learn more about naïve and shy Annie Mason, her former best friend, Bea and the intriguing inhabitants of the neighboring Cross House.  Annie’s fascination and obsession with one of the neighbours, Emmeline Delacroix grows as we wonder if she is bewitched?  And everyone knows that there always is a price to pay when destiny is manipulated by magic.  It is a macabre and eerie slow burn sapphic romance, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Interestingly, this is a gothic retelling of The Great Gatsby, but I am ashamed to say, I’ve never read the book (or watched the movie), so I get the idea that I may have missed some references or ‘easter eggs’ along the way.

As you can imagine, it comes with trigger warnings, so I will not classify this as YA though.

Standout themes:

  • 1920’s glamour
  • Unexpected allies
  • Witchcraft
  • Historical fantasy
  • World-building

There’s a part of me that is really wishing for a sequel, because there is so much potential here!

And here is just a little thing I did:  “Convincing you to read ‘Wild and Wicked Things’ based on its aesthetic’

@roelia_reads “Wild and Wicked Things” by Francesca May #gothic #fantasy @jonathanballpublishers #roeliareads #wildandwickedthings #retelling #francescamay #historicalfiction #booktok #booktoksa🇿🇦 ♬ Gothic – Desert Sin

 

With thanks to Jonathan Ball Publishers for this copy, in exchange for an honest review.