Wild and Wicked Things, Francesca May

Wild and Wicked Things by [Francesca May]

Genre: Sci-fi and Fantasy

Well, this was hard to follow at first, but the promises of magic and adventure were there, and I was keen to get to them. Its a strange story though, characters behaving in ways that didn't really fit. Lots of questions but very few answers.

Its a kind of parallel universe where the world has magic but its outlawed. Of course that just drives it underground and makes it attractive to a certain set of society, and that's exactly what Emmeline's family survive on.
I loved the glittery, roaring twenties feel, the descriptions of the clothes, the parties and hedonism that came with them, all supported of course by generous bribes to the right people. What I found difficult was the way Annie just accepted the weird happenings, the selfishness of Bea, her "best friend", that her father had abandoned her and her mum, yet left her his house. Why didn't she live there and not the cottage? Why did Emmeline let Bea have what she wanted in the first place? Love? It kind of felt a little wrong that she would do that, at such a huge risk. Then to go that to having feelings for Annie in such a short space of time....
I wanted to know more about the magic, the way it worked, I didn't understand why Annie wasn't more curious about her father, especially once she learned more about him. I would have liked to know more about the history of the Delacroix house, how Cilla came to be there, to do what she did and why, the backgrounds of Emmeline, Isobel and Nate.
Its a strange read, I kept reading right through, couldn't put it down, enjoyed the story but I felt that I had so many unanswered questions, and there were things like Annie's reactions to events, Bea's actions, that just didn't feel right. I expected more from the Crow connection, but when they were there it was a gripping part of the events. Its difficult to think about how I feel. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but I had so many places where I was a bit lost about how and why, and times when I felt credulity stretched a bit too far. Ultimately I think its one of those stories that I enjoyed, but wouldn't reread.

Stars: Four, its a beautifully written story, but there were those little niggles I mention that stop it from being a five star read.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers