[Review] Unwished by Damian Wild

One magical wish. A love that transcends time.

When sixteen-year-old Agatha Bromwell makes a desperate wish to escape her miserable life, she never expects it to come true. One moment, she’s a bullied outcast in modern-day New York. The next, she’s thrust into the glittering—and deadly—world of 1660s London, where plague haunts the streets, fire threatens to consume the city, and beauty is power.

For the first time in her life, Agatha is admired. But in a world ruled by court intrigue and dangerous ambition, attention comes at a price. After saving the life of the charming Lord Rance Covington, Agatha is swept into a romance that feels like something out of a dream—until powerful enemies turn that dream into a nightmare.

After the king himself takes notice, Agatha finds herself targeted by a ruthless rival who will stop at nothing to destroy her. Framed for a crime she didn’t commit and running out of time to return home, Agatha must make an impossible choice: Fight for a future in a past that could kill her…or risk losing everything—including her heart—forever.

I love a timeslip novel. Sure a lot of them can be horribly cheesy but it's a great escape and often makes me think 'what would happen if I found myself back in time?'. In fact I've considered writing my own time slip novel - whether or not that ever comes to pass is another story. So when I saw Unwished by Damian Wild on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it. Not only is the cover absolutely stunning - whoever designed it needs an award - but it's set in one of my favourite time periods ever. The Stuarts. There's just something so incredibly magical about the life and reign of Charles II and it's full of so many interesting characters I knew, again, that this was a book for me.

I would say that this book is, at its core, a young adult read and it's something I would have ploughed through back when I was in my teens many moons ago. I've not read a young adult book for a while but this one was just excellent from start to finish and is one that even grown adults will enjoy. Wild's writing style flows beautifully, making this tale a page turner that I was able to finish within just a few days. Honestly I just couldn't put it down and found myself reading late into the night, needing to know what happened. The characters within the story almost feel human thanks to the way Wild has written them - I loved Agatha from the start and felt so sorry for her because of her living conditions, while I despised her two step sisters. And as for the historical characters - wow. Barbara Villiers, in particular, was the perfect villain in this. She is nasty and manipulative which is often how I imagine she was in real life (some of my historian friends will disagree with this, please don't hate me). And then there's the King - charming to the hilt. I would have liked to see more characters from the era woven in. Rochester would have been a fun addition and perhaps a bit more of the Duke of Monmouth. But I loved Nell Gwynn's little part that she played - she came across as incredibly fun, which is just how she was supposed to have been in reality. She is probably my favourite of Charles II's mistresses and I've not seen her pop up in these sort of novels very often so it was really nice to see.

The author has clearly done his research on the time period that the story is set in and describes the city of London wonderfully, as well as the huge historical events that take place. The Great Plague chapters had me on the edge of my seat, hoping that our heroine and the mystery man would survive. And then the Great Fire chapters - it was as if I was there, watching as the city burned. I loved how Wild had the fire start in the bakery of Pudding Lane as it did in reality, but the fictional twist to just how it started was really clever and tied in well to the story.

Overall an absolutely fantastic read and yet another top score from me. I would recommend this book to both young adults and adults alike, to anyone who loves to escape into timeslip novels and to anyone who is interested in the Stuart era.

5/5

Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy.