In Shanghai of the 1920s, the power is divided between two warring gangs, the Chinese 'Scarlets" and the Russian 'White Flowers'. A string of self-inflicted deaths supposingly caused by a monster sighting, forces the heirs of the two gangs to work together. Problem is not only do Juliette and Roma hate each other, but some betrayal in their past tore them apart.

The descriptions are utterly unique, like small poetic flourishes, the smallest of details giving you such a vivid picture. The author's figurative speech is to be envied.

Juliette is tough, almost cruel, impatient, loyal, utterly likeable. Roma is focused and puts on a facade of hardness, even though he has more of a respect for life, any kind of life, then he is supposed to show others. Basically he loathes being a gangster. Both of them live with the weight of being the heirs, being underestimated, without having all the support they expect.

Surrounded by wonderful secondary characters like Alisa, Kathleen and Rosalind, Marshall and Benedikt, it's hard to choose which is your fave. Characters that frequently make you want to smile, even smirk, so different in style, but so alike in stealing your heart.

Things get more and more intense and the build up is so enjoyable, absolutely captivating. As is every time Juliette and Roma cross paths. The search for the contagion and/or monster is invitingly mysterious, as is the heightened sense of danger, making the book difficult to put down. And let us not forget the little tidbits/nods to the Romeo and Juliet mythos this has borrowed inspiration from.

I love how the author conveys the feeling of this multicultural world. How we view the era through the encounters with quite different personalities and through the musings of the characters. Touching themes of entitlement, privilege, veiled or outright racism. Full of the allure of power and the machinations to achieve it, its fickleness plays a key role in the events of this narrative.

Simultaneously hard as nails and tender, plus utterly exhilarating to the very end. And ending that seem to be reaching its crescendo, until Gong pulls her ace of a devastating betrayal out of her sleeve and leaves you dumbfounded, wanting to scream "NOOOO" like a Skywalker. Then your jaw will hit the floor so abruptly it will hurt. There is nothing you can do but utterly adore this book.

My first impression of These Violent Delights was that Chloe Gong is a spellbinding writer. The first chapter had me hooked with its stunning writing and intriguing premise. As an English Literature graduate, I was all in for a Shakespeare retelling. Romeo and Juliet is a classic tale, and Chloe Gong has crafted an excellent reimagining which uses the themes from the original in an interesting way. I loved that this isn’t the story of them falling in love, but rather of them meeting again after years apart following a tragedy that caused a rift between them. There are also other references to the original Shakespeare play which are very satisfying.

Chloe Gong does an absolutely brilliant job of making the setting come to life. I felt immersed in 1920s Shanghai, in terms of the sights, smells and sounds, but also in terms of the history. I didn’t know much about the history of Shanghai before reading this book, and enjoyed discovering something new. As well as being about romance and the mystery, These Violent Delights also explores very important themes, such as political divides, colonisation and culture. Sometimes I feel like in retellings the stories are transposed to a different time period and/or setting for the sake of it, just as a way to twist the story, but in this case the choice of 1920s Shanghai really worked as an alternate setting for Romeo and Juliet. The story melded with the setting so well. This is an excellent example of how setting, plot, theme and character can intertwine very effectively.

Juliette was my favourite character as I found her story so interesting. For her, being the heiress to the Scarlet Gang is about protecting her people. She’s also confident, bold and unafraid to pull the trigger, but we also get to see some other sides of her too as the book progresses. I didn’t connect with Roma as much, although I did enjoy seeing Roma and Juliette’s evolving relationship as they are forced to work together. They didn’t seem to have that much time together on page, so I didn’t feel as emotionally invested in their pairing as I had hoped. The other characters were all well depicted and came together to make a great overall cast. There is also a brewing romance between two male side characters which I was totally rooting for!

The mystery is intriguing though I did start finding the book a bit slow at one point, but then it picked up again for a suspenseful finale. Then comes a big twist right at the very end, on the last page, just when I thought everything was resolved!

There are some gory moments. As mentioned in the synopsis, a contagion is spreading through Shanghai that causes people to claw out their own throats. There is a lot of detail and blood. After the first couple of times I starting skimming over the graphic descriptions because it was just too much for me. There are also insects involved in the spreading of the contagion which was quite grim. So I would bear this in mind when deciding whether or not this book is for you.

These Violent Delights puts an excellent spin on the well-known tale of Romeo and Juliet and is a very strong debut. I will certainly be looking out for future works by Chloe Gong.

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

For Chloe Gong's reimaging of our favourite star crossed lovers Romeo and Juilet, almost everything about the iconic opening to William Shakespeare's tragedy could describe her book. But we are not in Verona anymore, Toto. Instead, the book takes us to 1920s Shanghai, where Roma Montagov is heir of the White Flowers, and Juilette Cai has just returned from New York to stand at her father's side as heir to the Scarlet Gang. Both gangs occupy different territory in the city, their blood feud burning stronger than anything and yet... four years ago, Juliette had fallen in love with the White Flowers heir. And it had cost her dearly. Roma betrayed her, escalated their blood feud, and Juliette was sent back to New York. Now, she hates him.

But the citizens of Shanghai face something more terrifying than rival gangs fighting. There's talk of a monster, talk of a madness plaguing the city, causing people to claw out their throats. Something needs to be done. White Flowers and Scarlets are dying to this sickness, and after witnessing the death firsthand in the Scarlet speakeasy, both gang heirs want to get to the bottom of it. Their only hope is to set aside their differences and work together. If they don't, there might not be a city to rule when all is said and done.


I'm going to be completely honest here; I wanted to dislike this book. I didn't want to fall in love with another series that had just started, leaving me in limbo until the next book came out. And yet, that's exactly what I did.

The rich world building, the characters, the storytelling... everything about this book drew me in. I loved the dynamics between Roma and Juilette, Marshall and Benedikt, the family interactions....I was left hanging on the edge of my seat with each twist and turn into the story, and the ending. Oh my word. That ending has stayed with me since reading the book, and I and so sad that I'm not able to pick up the sequel to find out what happens next.

Rating: ★★★★★

Release Date: 17th November, 2020

Pre-ordered?: Yes

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

I don't have words for how good this book is. All of the characters interested me, the atmosphere and the era (Shanghai, 1920s) completely grabbed me and I couldn't put the book down. The writing was beautiful and vibrant which was quite refreshing and complimented the story very well. There is body horror in the book but I personally didn't mind it even though I am a little squeamish at that sort of thing.

This debut novel truly blew me away and I look forward to reading more from Chloe Gong!

Rating: 5⭐
Would I Read It Again? Yes, I plan to read the book as soon as it comes out!
Would I Recommend it? Yes, there is a reason why it has been talked about everywhere as well

A good and interesting read!

I would recommend this to everyone who loves a good story with captivating characters! Definitely a good read!

This review discusses the story and plot, but does not reveal any major plot reveals. However, I do make wishes about what I would like to see in the next novel, thus that may hint/spoil at some events in this novel.

Trigger Warnings: (Taken from the authors review) This book contains mentions and descriptions of blood, violence, gore, character deaths, explicit description of gouging self (not of their own volition), murder, weapon use, insects, alcohol consumption, parental abuse.

Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights pitched as a Romeo and Juliet retelling by way of The Godfather, is absolutely phenomenal. Gong adopted elements from both Shakespeare's tragedy and Puzo's novel and created something unique, and hers. While some of the elements of the story may seem familiar because of the intertextuality, Gong adapts them into nail-biting reveals, twists, and turns. I particularly loved how Gong used the 'this will make you appear dead for a time, but you are not' in to the plot in an unexpected, but no less heartbreaking, manner. I was on the edge of my seat the entire novel to see if she would include that, and if the end of the novel would be similar to that of Shakespeare's tragedy...

Speaking of the ending - as the title suggests, These Violent Delights do have violent ends. I could not believe it when I read the last page, as Juliette read that later, and then chaos was unleashed...and then it was DONE! Over! And I'm left sitting here, yelling, because WHAT? I was already heartbroken and desperate for more over previous events a chapter or two earlier, and I was like "no! Not this too!" But WOW, am I excited for the sequel.

On the topic of heartbreak, oh, the angst and the yearning and the hate and the love between Roma and Juliette had be so emotional. The tension between them with all the hurt, the unspoken words, the hidden - but also obvious - love they still had for each other . . . it was killing me. I love them. The misunderstanding. The way they should just talk. The way they protect each other even if it means heartbreak. The people and politics standing in between them. AHHH. ALL I WANT IS FOR THEM TO BE HAPPY.

Aside from their relationship, I really liked both Roma and Juliette as individuals. I feel like Gong explored their motivations well, and gave a convincing backstory to why both of them are the way they are, and what shaped them. This happened through some analepsis, and anecdotal stories, which made the story feel fleshed out and well rounded despite many of the years that had a big impact on their characters not being shown fully on page (i.e., the relationship between Roma and Juliette before the betrayal and her departure for New York).

I enjoyed the relationships we saw between Juliette and her family, particularly that with Kathleen, who I thought was a wonderful character. I have my suspicions about Rosalind...and I absolutely do not like Tyler (he is a well written antagonist for Juliette). I do wish we got to see more of Juliette and her family, but it's not something that impacted my enjoyment of the novel. I also loved if when we got to see Juliette interact with Marshall! Can they please be best friends?

I loved the relationship Roma had with his sister, and do wish we got more of that! His relationship with Benedikt and Marshall was also brilliant, and I enjoyed their scenes together. I am really glad we had the dual POV to be able to see both Roma's and Juliette's lives and the personal stakes each of them have, and the pressures on them - especially since both of them are not aware of some of the problems they have (Roma/his dad, Juliette/Tyler).

They were not the only characters I found myself invested in, but also Marshall and Benedikt. Oh, the quiet, soft, budding yearning between them . . . please. I love them. Their dynamic was soft and hilarious. And they are both such brilliant characters individually, too.

This novel is filled with political turmoil, with foreign powers trying to assert their influence and control, which unsettles the pre-existing domestic turmoil between the gangs. This impacts the way the characters move through the world, and their identity - particularly Juliette, who finds herself heavily impacted by her life, education and experiences in the West. Thus, opening up a wider discourse on imperalism, white supremacy & racism and not only how it impacts the individual, but the entire country.

Despite loving this book so much, I did have my issues with it. At times I found it to be particularly slower paced, not really moving anywhere which was disappointing. Because when it did pick up with the action, it was brilliant. However, for long build ups, it did seem sometimes as if the reveals just decided to jump up out of no where (because the book was finally coming to a close). Also, I feel like a lot was saved for the next novel, for example, what is going on with Rosalind (I have my suspicions), and Tyler etc... which, you know, is fine because this is a duology but it is disappointing that so much of the book spent time on things just to be like nope, wait for the next! I just wish there was a little more reveal/resolution to it, for the sequel to deal with the fallout (there's a lot that book is going to have to do, and I just know when reading it I will be full of tension).

So overall, this is a 4/4.5 star read for me! And I am excited for the sequel.

This book has the PERFECT premise.

Going in, my expectations were high. I was imagining dark vibes, star-crossed lovers reluctantly working together, blood shed, feuds, and other such things. I did get all of that, but there was one surprising element.

Interlaced with all the dark themes, there is wry humour through character dialogues and interactions which I did not expect. And that addition threw me off because I was only expecting dark and gritty vibes.

While I enjoyed the slight comedy brought out through the characters, I was not able to fully get used the alternating dark vibes and light/humour vibes. It did not feel like the writing was consistent throughout the book and that soured my reading experience.

Other than that, I actually really enjoyed the writing. Particularly, the descriptions.

The author describes everything really well with almost poetic sentences. Right from the start, I was transported to the book’s setting and had no problem imagining anything.

Descriptions of the crowds, markets, overall idealisms and more were highly familiar to me which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because the setting was so much like India and my city and hence I could easily imagine it. But bad because I couldn’t understand the uniqueness of 1920s Shanghai other than the historical perspective with politics etc.

Even though the book is set in another country during another time, the backdrop almost felt like modern India to me. This is a totally personal thing but I’m mentioning it because it had a huge influence on how I experienced the book.

The characters were the highlight of the book for me. It was easy to relate to both Juliette and Roma because although their lives are very different than mine, their fears and ambitions were highly relatable.

The supporting characters were also really nice to read about. I particularly loved friends of both the main characters who are kind of the main source of humour.

With the author really going into the characters’ motives and emotions, the book is firmly character-driven and I LOVED that. Character-driven books are my jam.

The plot was super interesting too. The darker parts of the book were shining. There was tension and stand-offs and build up. The two gangs of Shanghai made the plot so interesting and eventful. I finished the book fast because I couldn’t wait to read more.

The ending disappointed me though. It is supposed to be a huge cliffhanger but instead was simply abrupt. I am really looking forward to the next book but I still do not like the ending.

Speaking of the sequel, several scenes in this book were clearly set ups for the next book and it wasn’t even subtle. That kind of made me cringe.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book but also did not enjoy many aspects of it.

Aspects of the writing disappointed me, basically. While there were good points of writing (I have several sentences highlighted because they make really good quotes), the overall effect of it wasn’t great.

Also, the book did not make me feel much which is another reason why my rating is low. All my true opinions are mentioned above but my rating is highly subjective to how I feel when reading.

A retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but more darkly and mysteriously.

I was captivated by this story from the beginning to the end. The heroine is nothing like Juliet, she’s more strong, smart and opinionated, she’s a fighter and knows what exactly she wants and how to get it.

Overall, the story seems quite a dark historical rivalry between two gangs of powerful characters and it reminded me about Gangs of New York especially since it’s set in 1920 but in Shanghai and this adds even more to the story as I haven’t read or know much about their culture.

I enjoyed it, the suspenseful moments and interaction are great and the writing is very good and easy to follow. I’m looking forward to reading more by the author and I recommend this book to anyone.

A dark retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in 1920s Shanghai, with two rivalling gangs on the verge of destruction as a mysterious monster looms over the city. I hope that little description captivated you because it sure did for me.

I love retellings of pretty much any sort, and this was an excellent one. It stayed true enough to the original play to draw connections but veered away sufficiently in order to keep the reader intrigued, since the classic story is very well-known. The book is full of twists and turns that kept me guessing to the very end. The prose is also beautiful; I actually had trouble picking out a single quote for this review since I had so many saved. You can really feel the authenticity of the setting and culture, fittingly, as this is an OwnVoices novel. There was strong commentary on colonialism, colonisation and communism.

In addition, there was such a great cast of characters. Juliette Cai was an improvement from the original Juliet, a lot more powerful and less naive. Roma Montagov was also sweet, despite being heir to a gang, and I loved all their interactions together. It has the appropriate amount of yearning you'd expect from a R+J retelling. Even the side characters all had their own storylines going on, and I liked those too.

I really wished I had read this book at another time when I wasn't swamped with university work. I would've been able to read it much quicker and perhaps given it 5 stars. Maybe I'll give it a reread when I finally get a physical copy.

It’s hard to summarise how much I truly loved this book. I was scared that because of this being my first arc, I was worried about whether I would end up disliking it and having to put a bad review up. But wow, I knew I was going to enjoy this book pretty much straight away.

This book is set in 1920s Shanghai and is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet but so much better. It has tons of action which keeps you on the edge of your seat and the romance I absolutely adored. Who doesn’t love Enemies to Lovers? The key thing that made me love this book is the diversity, which lacks in many books but definitely not in this book!

I definitely recommend this book and can’t wait to read more by Chloe Gong in the future.

Thank you very much to Chloe Gong, Netgalley and publishers for letting me read an arc of this incredible book. (Review is complete truth and not influenced in any way)

These Violent Delights follows both Juliette and Roma, lovers torn apart by betrayal and a blood feud as they team up to investigate a new enemy turning people mad enough to kill themselves.

I did not like the start of the book, it was hard to get into and moves really fast with a lot happening and things being revealed early on. However, the book gets a lot better as it goes along and I ended up really liking the writing style and how the story was told – there were also perspectives from other characters in the book which I actually enjoyed reading. The book is a retelling, but I liked the concept and plot of the book, I liked the build up to the reveal with the characters following the leads and investigating everything and also the tension around the monster.

The two main characters are both heirs to the 2 gangs and are both over their heads with what they are dealing with. Juliette is a very impulsive character who can hold her own and is trying to prove herself in her role as the heir, throughout the book it details her inner conflict with her trying to fake her confidence/strength but I liked how she was ambitious and would do anything to keep her people safe. She is also dealing with betrayal/heart break from 4 years ago, at the start of the book - I did find that the book jumps right in with her personal issues which was also a reason I found it hard to get into the book but I did like how it was dealt with throughout the book. Roma, is the more relaxed one who does not want the power/title but needs it to keep himself and those around him safe. I enjoyed both of their perspectives, the romance was mainly told from Juliette’s side because she was the one betrayed so even though I liked them together it was hard for me to be invested in them because it seemed one-sided, I wanted to see their relationship from Roma’s perspective as well. I also liked the other narrators and their backstories, I did want more of their perspectives in the book to get to know the characters more.

The world building and setting was really interesting, I liked reading about the two different gangs and how they operated differently and about how Shanghai was split up and how they dealt with foreigners. The plot was really fun, the ending reveals are not surprising but I did like the build up to them and the monster/insects element to the book. There were parts in the second half of the book that did seem to drag on but for most of the book I enjoyed the pace and how the characters teamed up and investigated the mystery. I did like the ending and how it sets up for the second book.

4/5

These Violent Delights is set in 1926 Shanghai where a madness is killing off people at a frightening speed. Drawn into the mystery of how to stop this madness spreading are the heirs to two rival gangs.

This book was fun to read. I thought that Chloe Gong has a beautiful writing style. There is a lot going on in this book with some really interesting themes - the historical setting of Shanghai was so interesting, the commentary on colonisation, the Romeo and Juliette theme, a mystery to be solved. I would just have liked the book to feel a little more atmospheric. With the blood feud between the two gangs and the madness creeping through the city I did not feel as if the main characters (and those close to them) were in too much danger.

Overall I really liked this book and look forward to reading the next in the series.

These Violent Delights is a gritty, atmospheric novel. The setting played so well into the mood of the story.

I found the pacing to be quite slow until about the 80% mark. The mystery took so long to solve, each step of revelation only awarded after a lot of work. Despite that, the end was thrilling, and the last 20% of the book I blazed through. The twists weren't unexpected, and I managed to predict what might happen leading up to the end, but it didn't lessen the impact.

It's hard when writing a retelling to keep things hidden from the reader, particularly when each name coincides with a character from the original play. Despite that, the characters are all explored in a modern and interesting way.

The prose was wonderful at times, and I made a fair few highlights, but (and I'll put this down to the early eARC) the tense at the beginning was distracting, and towards the last half of the book the narration switched from 3rd limited to head-hopping within the same paragraph. I liked the segments in omniscient present, it added to the mood of an all-seeing monster haunting the streets.

Most of my issue with the book is in the pacing, with so much exposition taking up the space of character moments and mystery solving.

It started out great but from the 50% mark it began to feel disjointed and I started to skim the rest of the book. The mystery doesn't make sense and it's weird that no one else found out about it? The love doesn't make sense either. I loved the worldbuilding and history though. And it did read like a movie. I wish it was well organized and editing was better.

Verdict: A lot to love, but perhaps too much?

Warning, this book contains more gore than the usual YA read.

This is the story of Romeo and Juliet, but if they were gangsters, and it's set in 1920’s Shanghai - and also there’s a monster on the loose. So many exciting things! There’s also a transgender character, LGBT slow burn romance, and an unapologetically fierce female lead. I was super excited to read this, but I wondered how all the pieces would come together.

First off, I loved Juliet. She’s the right heiress for a gangster crown. She’s bold, brave, and leaves others trembling in her presence. I loved the layers in her character, especially with her concerns over how other's would perceive her time spent in American.

Roma on the other hand is averse to violence and struggles to earn his father’s respect. He's slightly more standard YA, but very likeable. When these star-crossed lovers come together, it’s electric. However, the book picks up four years after Roma betrayed Juliet, meaning their connection is steeped in backstory. As a reader, I felt pushed out rather than pulled in...more on this later.

I also had mixed feelings about the world building. The tension between the gangs was visceral, and the use of different languages within the prose was seamless…some of the time. Other times I had to keep reading to figure out what was going on, and again, I felt pushed out. And while the politics around the gangs was tense, the politics between the nations was vague. There was a lot of talk of the French and Communism and power…but there wasn’t much depth to it, and it had more word time than relevance.

So I started to lose interest around the half way mark. While the writing was gorgeous at times, the pace was bogged down by exposition. Different POVs were thrown in without being necessary, and less was shown than it could have been. Maybe the book tried to accomplish too much?

Oh, and I almost forgot the creepy monster. I loved the supernatural mystery but the monster plot became less interesting the longer it went on. It helped spark some action back into the end sequence, but when the story ultimately finished on a cliché and a cliff hanger, my heart sank.

I’m sorry I didn’t like this one more. There’s a lot to love about it, and I think others would find it a good read. For me, it just wasn’t in the moment as much as I wanted it to be. I lost interest somewhere in the middle, and it didn't manage to win me back this time.

Source: From the publishers via Netgalley.
Video review to follow.

✨”Juliette didn’t immediately turn in haste to identify the voice.”✨— Chloe Gong, These Violent Delights

I just couldn’t get into this book... it somehow felt unedited and rough. And then the actual sentences themselves felt a few words to long. And the dialogue seemed unrealistic and unnatural.

Such a shame because I was REALLY looking forward to reading this book!

Read. Be happy. Stay safe.

Wow. Just wow.

I gave myself some time before writing this review to gather my thoughts but I don’t think it’s working; all I can think up is incoherent screaming and variations of OH MY GOD and THE BEST BOOK EVER.

Where do I begin? Characters? Plot? I’ll start with the thing that gripped me from page one: the writing.

🗡️ I absolutely LOVE the writing. I honestly have a hard time believing this is a debut novel!! It’s flowery but not too flowery and descriptive but not too descriptive; especially her descriptions have me in awe because we all know how hard it is to engage readers with descriptive writing and not bore them out of their minds. But Chloe Gong has managed to do it all the same: the writing she produces is so aesthetically pleasing, and so atmospheric it literally feels like I’m walking in the roads of Shanghai along with Juliette and Roma. The way she tells the story is so vivid, it brings the story alive I can practically taste the world she creates. And within this beautiful writing she weaves social commentary and raises various sociopolitical issues such as eurocentricism, westernisation, colonisation to name a few. Can I wait about the sequel and all other books she will write? Absolutely NOT GIVE THEM TO ME NOW!!

🗡️ Now characters, what can I say? I loved them all, each and every one of them felt so unique and fleshed out. There are so many layers to them all, truly amazing. So much diversity and so many different characters and personalities, what more can I ask for??????? If I had to pick a favourite it defenitely has to be Juliette: she is just so badass!!!! For real no other word can describe her best; she is the heir of a gangster family and she owns it: she is feared and adored by her people, nobody dares talk back to her or even talks about her and her overall attitude *cue incoherent screaming I talked about earlier* Classic case of looks like she can kill you and WILL kill you.

🗡️ THE PLOT talk about engaging and yes unique. I know it is a retelling so you are supposed to know where the story is going but guess again. Full of twists and turns, These Violent Delights has to be one of the most well crafted retellings ever. It tells the original story yes, but is has its own print. It’s like you get the main idea of Shakespeare’s play without feeling like you’re reading the same text. It is a retelling AND a completely different story at the same time, exactly what I’m looking for in retellings. I couldn’t wait to see how she will insert major plot points of the Shakespearian play to her own story each time and each time I was left more than satisfied.

🗡️ Last but not least the romantic aspect!!!!! This is a Romeo and Juliet retelling so of course we get all the angst that comes with having two people from rival gangs fall in love. However this is sort of a lovers to enemies to lovers situation so there’s double the angst and the slow burn. The tension between Juliette and Roma *chef’s kiss* There’s also a side couple I am ROOTING FOR WITH EVERYTHING I HAVE but I won’t say anything cause this is a spoiler free review and I’m polite.

Overall, These Violent Delights is the debut of 2020 for me. Full of monsters, blood and madness but also romance, slow burn and angst, it is the perfect mix of horror and romance. Don’t think twice and trust me on this one: go and preorder These Violent Delights now!!! You will not regret it I promise. Plus the cover is gorgeous just putting it out there for all of us who cover buy shhhhhh.

I received an eARC from the publisher through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

🥀|| тнєѕє νισℓєηт ∂єℓιgнтѕ || 🥀

I loved it, loved it so fiercely that I know I would take a bullet for these characters. (well…hypothetically that is) I will cherish this and I cant wait for everyone to read it, so we can fan-girl over this absolute wonder of a Romeo and Juliet inspired YA Fantasy together.

Mysterious and heinous creatures are rising from the shadows of 19th century Shanghai, ruled by two ruthless gangs fighting against the onslaught of Communists and Nationalists threatening to end their reign, but the city threatens to fall apart as a contagious infection starts spreading, ensuing madness and panic, prowling for victims, causing them to viciously claw their throats out.

Juliette is the heir of the Scarlet Gang, cold and ruthless, putting anyone down in her path to the throne of power. She’s bitter about being sent away to America, but now she’s back and ready to rule, but not everyone in her family is as keen towards her leadership, rather preferring her male cousin (can someone please kill him for me and these sexist a**holes), deeming her too weak, too Americanised. However she’s adamant to prove them wrong, to shoot down any hesitancy, like the freaking bada** she is.😤

Roma is struggling. His chances of taking over The White Flowers slipping low. He’s fighting to stay aloft in ranks, his father’s disapproval of him tangible, his two close friends Benedikt and Marshall (WHOM I SHIP SO HARDD) the only one loyal to him.

Neglected heirs of opposing gangs are clawing tooth and neck to make place themselves at the top, hating each other, their hearts burdened with their brutal past, each of them content on forgetting the other, but the madness that is driving havoc in their city, attacking their gang members, minimizing their members, forces them to work together against the evil rising in Shanghai, which really gets the angst steaming and the inner turmoil brimming.

THE WRITING is painfully beautiful, the descriptions, the metaphors and anecdotes all incredibly astounding, it makes you hold on to the words like its your living salvation, its grasp strong and tight. The experience and rush it gives you as you journey through scrambling Shanghai, and the pure terror just pulls you in, latching you on until you are certain that the worst is over (it never is).😣

The characters are so wonderfully fleshed out, the multiple POV’s distinguishable from each other in thought and action, all impossibly captivating. I’m afraid I’m not able to convey just how addicting this book is, and how much I absolutely adored each character. ❤❤

That ending was painful to say the least. It gutted me, it made me cry, killed me and then resurrected me. The words will slice through you and you’ll be grateful for the scars.

||THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND PUBLISHER FOR THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE OF AN HONEST REVIEW||

I cannot believe a book is allowed to end like that. Yes, I’m happy there is another book coming, but to leave me hanging like that should be a crime.

This is a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in Shanghai where a fatal madness is overtaking its people, and a monster roams its streets. This is a great read for fans of fantasy, retelling, action - and, I’ll be honest, a bit of horror. There were definitely a few scenes where I wanted to gag from descriptions that were so graphic I thought I wouldn’t be able to continue the book (in a good way...I think).

A thrilling book from an exciting new author, please pray for my sanity as I wait for the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Juliette and Roma, former lovers and the children of opposing gang leaders, have to reluctantly team up when a monster starts massacring the people of their beloved city.

This ended up being a mixed bag for me. I loved the setting and think Gong did a great job of setting the scene of 1920’s Shanghai and all the political players, that was by far the highlight of the book. I struggled though with the characters. I never felt connected to them or their interactions with each other. As a fan of angsty romance, I had high hopes for Juliette and Roma but the dialogue in their interactions was quite cliché so while I didn’t dislike them as a pair, nor was I invested in them. I had similar feelings about the monster in the novel, I never felt convinced of the character’s fear or any palpable tension.

This is far from a bad book, and as debut’s go Chloe Gong has done a great job. These Violent Delights has a lot of tropes that I usually enjoy but fell flat here, and the characters all felt pretty one-dimensional. That said, the setting is cool and there’s some trans rep which is always great to see. Although this was underwhelming, I likely will continue with the series in hope there will be better characterisation in the second instalment, and to read more vivid descriptions of Shanghai with interesting historical context thrown in.