I was really excited to receive this story, unfortunately I was left feeling like I was missing something in the story. I am enthralled with all things that remind me of Great Gatsby, but here I was just lost so many times while slogging through the story. I found it really hard to stay in the story. I put down the book so many times, with always picking it back up with the hope that it would reveal a gem at some time. I am rating this book a 3.75. I would say this was more a disappointing story than anything else. The characters come across as immature, I could not get a feel on how old Annie or Bea were and Is and Emmeline are portrayed as old souls, so are they young or older? I was left so confused in some of the wording. I am sure there are many people who may relate to this story better than I have. Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book for an honest review.

I was very interested in reading this after seeing the summary. Gatsby vibes—yes! Magic—yes!

The writing is lush and evocative, the descriptions rich and engaging.

The start was slow though. It took awhile for the action to start. It’s worth pressing through, although at times I wasn’t sure the plot was moving forward. The latter half of the book picked up the pace.

I like the varied POVs but some of the time jumps confused me. I do like having various characters weigh in, particularly when there’s an unreliable narrator vibe.

Overall an entertaining read, with very good writing, but with a slow start and I felt a bit muddled in the middle of the book. There is darkness, as promised. This is not a fluffy read by any stretch. Very serious topics discussed and hinted at. The end is far more active than the beginning of the book.

Overall 3.5. The writing was good but for some reason I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I’d hoped. I don't know if it was the slow start of the book, with the characters having somewhat detached POVs or if I was distracted by trying to figure out the world building and magical hierarchy and interwoven relationships.

This book was a slow start, it wasnt until a third of the way in did I start getting into it, and the second half of the book I enjoyed the most. I think the best part of this book was the characters, it was easy to like them whether or not they were technically "good". But the weakspot was probably the world building/magic system, it was a bit confusing from the start and I dont think went into enough depth overall. Not necessary for me to like the book, although it might for some people, but it did leave me wanting a bit more in that. One of the biggest buzzwords that got me interested in this book was how it was inspired by the great gatsby/a great gatsby retelling. I could see it, the vibes and atmosphere of the book is quite similar, but I do think it veered enough away that it wasnt a direct retelling, which I was glad for. So overall, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to what else this authir creates as this was a strong debut!

In a world where magic has been outlawed, Crow island is home to some of the last remaining true witches. When timid Annie moves onto the island as per her late father's request, she becomes increasingly involved in a bold and dangerous new life with her mysterious neighbor Emmaline and the glittering, magical parties that happen at Emmaline's mansion. Annie is worried that Emmaline might be in mortal danger, and is even more concerned that her best friend Bea might somehow be involved.

Pros: The first half of this book kept me really engaged. I absolutely loved Emmaline. Bea was infuriating but interesting. The setting was unique and magical. I feel like Crow island is a real place I could visit, smell the salty sea air, and get into some magical mischief.

Cons: Unfortunately, Annie's character felt flat the whole time, and I lost interest in the second half of the book. A side character I got attached to ends up dying in a really dumb way with little resolution which took things down a star for me. I wanted more character work!

Definitely still give this book a try if you like magic, a strong sense of time and place, diverse romance, and a peppering of mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

I was immediately drawn in by the first line. It's not predictable, which is refreshing because so many books are easy to predict because the foreshadowing is not shadowed, it's written out verbatim. I enjoyed the entire book and the writing style of the author is something I will be looking for more often.

An island, a mystery and magic and mystique. This island has all of the glamour of The Great Gatsby mixed in with witchcraft and magic.
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This was an all encompassing one and I was all in. Thank you #Redhook for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher for this advanced copy.
2.5 stars

The premise of the book sounded amazing, and I was so excited to read. I wish I liked it more. The writing was beautiful; the atmosphere was whimsical and the characters seemed interesting. But the pacing was unfortunately slow, which sometimes bored me. Some jumps in the timeline, in my opinion, were done at wrong times -- just when I was more engrossed in the main story. Pining between the main couple was good but overall, I couldn't care too much about them or most other characters half-way through the book, because I couldn't connect with them. But I do see why people might enjoy the book, it has a magical island, a sapphic romance, and lots of mysteries. I recommend it for people who don't mind a lot of backstories and a slow pacing.

DNF

Unfortunately, I decided to DNF this book.

I was super excited to read this book, having heard that it was a sapphic Great Gatsby retelling with magic, I immediately added it to my TBR. However, I tried reading this book, but I could not get into it. I don't generally enjoy historical fiction, so this was one of many attempts at trying this genre, and once again, it has not worked out for me.

I've read many great reviews of this book and I'm sure it's a great book, but I spent a month trying to get past the 20% mark of this book and could not do it. It's just too slow for me. I can't make many notes on the book because I only read 1/5th of it, but I will say that the world building was really well done and I enjoyed that aspect.

Hopefully others enjoy this more than I did.

I love fantasy books and I liked how this was very different from anything I had read before. I liked the writing and I liked how fast paced it seemed.

Anytime I see a book with The Great Gatsby comparisons, I’m intrigued! Wild and Wicked Things is a story about love, magic, and darkness.

At the start of this book, there are subtle nods to The Great Gatsby. The lavish parties, secret pining, and character cameos give those acquainted with the classic a familiar setting. However, this story is dripping with magic and gave me some Practical Magic vibes.

There’s a darkness to this story that I found haunting and alluring. The melancholic tone and circumstances gave me the witchy book I’ve been looking for! This story goes there - we get a magic that is bloody, witchcraft that is all consuming, and sapphic romance that tugs at the heart.

If you’re looking for dark, sapphic, and witchy - look no further.

Do take note of trigger warnings. A couple of them being blood magic and possession.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read an ARC of this book!
Brilliant and intriguing, Wild and Wicked Things is a masterpiece of prose and atmosphere. May does an incredible job weaving an intricate plot with gloriously queer characters. Highly recommend!

I love witch stories, and I forget how much I missed reading them! It's been awhile, and now I am ready for MORE. This is an adventurous, glitzy story of a magic, and one woman coming into her power—both magical and within herself. There is a lot of magic—spells, rituals, blood magic—you name it, this book has it. Set in an alternate 1920s, where magic and other mind-altering substances are banned (hello Prohibition!), we follow a young woman who comes to a magical island after her mysterious father dies. And of course, she gets wrapped up in the magic of the place.

This is a pretty fast-paced story, but while the plot is always moving ahead, there is still enough time to get to know (and love) all the characters in this lovely story. There is great character development in Annie, our leading lady, and in some of the side characters (especially Bea and Emmeline). This story is quite dark and creepy, so be prepared. I was reading on my Kindle, and I often read in the dark at night and I definitely had to turn on a light a few times.

While I loved all of the characters and got immersed up in their world, I did feel that the ending was wrapped up a bit too nicely. There were a few loose ends that were never really figured out. Instead, they were kind of ignored so we could get a happy ending. I wish they had been explored a little more, as they could have left the door open for a more ambiguous ending, which I always love.

Also, it's a sapphic witch story—amazing!! If you're at all into witchy stories, this one is definitely a fun one!

This is a really great concept but unfortunately the execution fell flat for me. I ended up DNFing the book halfway through. Being halfway done, the plot and story in general was just not engaging enough. There was too much mystery to the point where I didn’t know what the main objective of the story was. There was way too much internal dialogue, not enough interactions between characters, the love interests have had almost 0 tension and Bea has just been an awful friend. I needed more from the plot and characters and it just did not give. I really wanted to love this book.

I struggled with the first half of this book. Not enough to DNF, but it was hard to get into. I'm also not a fan of multiple 1st person POVs if the writing isn't strong enough to communicate a clear and distinct tone for each character. If I didn't pay attention to the chapter title, I'd have no idea whose POV I was reading until half way through a chapter. I think it would've been better had the author stuck to 1st person for Annie and 3rd for everyone else.

The latter half of the book really picks up--which is what really saved this book for me. We get too many vague unexplained things in the first half and then the second half (most) of it comes to light (I'll be honest, I'm still not entirely sure what Kazam is made of). I really loved the second half and wished the book been more even. There's a lot of promise, just feel a little flat.

Also... I just absolutely despised Bea and just hated the way her story ended.

Thank you Netgalley and Redhook Books for the ARC.

wild and wicked things was (somewhat) as the title promised; a good attempt at wild and wicked. and it breaks my heart to say this, as i had really high expectations for this book. the story takes place in the post world war one era, and follows annie, our protagonist, who comes to crow island to deal with familial and financial matters after her father’s death. upon her arrival, she quickly jumps into the magical world around her, after she attends a party and witnesses some serious stuff go down. we then follow annie and the other characters through their romances, friendships, magic, and much more.

the initial premise of this book drew me in; i love historical pieces, but combine history AND magic? i’m sold. and when reflecting on this book, i think this was truly my favorite part. it was so easy to find myself in the world described. however, this did not make up for other insufficient areas in the book . i struggled to connect to many of the characters. i also wanted to see more romance, as this was something that was promised. i just found that there were too many moments that fell flat. i also think the pacing was a bit messy, which did make it hard for me to finish reading this story.

overall, i think history fans could enjoy this book, but i personally struggled to finish it due to some areas that lacked. definitely check the trigger warnings before reading! 2.5/5 stars.

thank you so much to netgalley and redhook books for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun book! A sapphic story with witches and inspiration from Gatsby? HOW FUN IS THAT?!

One would think that something marketed as Great Gatsby meets Practical Magic, but sapphic would be the perfect book for me... Because yes, I love all that, but sadly no. I struggled HARD to get into this book and honestly was bored for most of it. I think this was the case of beautiful cover and overexcitement.

This was a dark, intriguing and magical read.

I was completely drawn into this world from the first chapter and wasn’t released from the spell of it until the very last page.

Normally I find the start of a fantasy book gruelling because of all the world building, how with Wild and Wicked things it didn’t feel like that at all. The pace of the story kept driving it forward while we were getting all the knowledge we needed to understand what was going on.

I found the whole book so interesting, even if at times I felt like screaming at Annie to make sure she went back and locked the door (🤣).
In the end everything wove together beautifully and the story told was so much more then I anticipated!

I absolutely loved how the romantic story line didn’t take over the story but instead played a supporting role in the universe that came to a satisfying happy ending.

It was slow to hook me, but once it did I was all in!

Its set in post WW1 England where magic is real and considered a criminal offense to practice. Annie comes to Crow Island to deal with her late fathers estate. The island is rumored to be a place where magic is used frequently. Her only goal is to get the inheritance for her and her mother and get home. She rents a cottage on the beach for the duration of her stay and is immediately drawn to the mysterious neighbor known for throwing parties of a certain illicit nature. Annie is warned to stay away so, naturally, she does the opposite.

Emmeline is a blood witch with a dark past and a pretty big problem that she doesn't seem to have a way out of. She's forever brooding and stubborn and refuses to ask for help. She's content to live the solitary life she's given herself. Then Annie shows up next door and it's impossible to ignore the strong feeling of something pulling them together.

This book has dark magic, dark thoughts, and some shitty situations that require even shittier decisions to be made. There is romance and tragedy and lust for power. The magic system is super cool. It is well written with a gothic beauty that I adored.

When I began my journey with this novel, I knew nothing of it except that I had seen it described as The Great Gatsby meets Practical Magic and I knew immediately that I needed to read it. I was drawn in immediately by the author's vivid character descriptions and world-building full of lush, enchanting imagery and a wide range of complex characters that are everything from bewitching and extraordinary to relatable and even unlikable. It truly lived up to the comparisons I'd seen mixing reckless, decadent parties for the wealthy with magical mishaps of love and family. From the beginning the plot took me by the hand and led me along at a steady pace and never let go and I absolutely LOVED every single minute of it.