A very different genre to what I usually read but really enjoyed the plot of this one and the romeo and juliet parallels!

After These Violent Delights not quite hitting the spot for me despite obviously being a brilliantly crafted book, I was a little hesitant to dive into the sequel. I wanted to keep my expectations low and just be along for the ride and oh boy, what a ride it was!

Our Violent Ends continues Chloe Gong's beautiful prose that is sharp as a knife and equally cinematic, dropping us right into this vibrant world and the machinations of all the players with their own agency. The setting and the writing remain my favourite aspects of this duology but I am happy to report that after my troubles with being emotionally invested in the first book, Our Violent Ends made it easier for me to care! the stakes are higher and the relationships more fraught with drama. Unfortunately, I still didn't quite have the emotional thrill-ride that so many other readers seem to experience with these books which makes me feel that I might just not be the right reader for this series (or at least not for these characters!).

I am however still very excited to explore the others books set in this world to see if maybe there are stories and relationships that give me the intense emotional attachments to characters that I never quite developed to Roma and Juliet.

That being said, if you loved These Violent Delights, I think Our Violent Ends is a fantastic sequel. It ups the stakes but doesn't reinvent the wheel, provides enough tension and character drama for you to swoon and scream and overall, I think Chloe Gong managed to wrap up this most tragic of magical love stories very well.

Never got around to reading it!

Thankyou so much for the opportunity for the advanced readers copy. Life just got busy and than I lost interest in this duology as a whole

I have found this author not to be particularly for me, because despite enjoying the first book and being intrigued enough to request the second I did not end up enjoying Our Violent Ends.

I found plot moving swiftly, which I can enjoy, but would have liked a little more time to build up the characters as the plot moved. I found the characters to be over the top and unenjoyable more and more as the plot reached a climax.

Overall, I can see why it is a favourite, but as the setting and style is out of my comfort zone I did not enjoy it.

An incredible book. It is a powerful book. The main characters are very flawed. It is a tale of love and betrayal. The ending was a huge surprise.

After how hyped this series is, I really wanted to love it with everybody else but I just can not get past the first few pages. Unfortunately these aren't for me and I am gutted about that as the premises are just gorgeous.

The follow up to these violet delights! I really liked how this book closed this story up. I can't wait to read more from chloe gong

A beautiful conclusion to an emotional and devastating story, Stronger even than the first book, this sequel doesn't disappoint. I absolutely adored this.

Absolutely loved loved this. The ending was not to my full expectations but still, I felt satisfied at the end.

-Contains spoilers for book one, These Violent Delights-

2.5 stars

Roma and Juliette haven't seen each other since saving Shanghai from the monster and its madness. Roma saw Juliette murder Marshall, his friend, and wants revenge. He doesn't know that Marshall is actually alive and well, and that Juliette orchestrated the scene to save Roma being killed himself.
Juliette's position as heir of the Scarlet Gang is still precarious, with her cousin Tyler ready and eager to take over the moment Juliette makes a wrong move.
When a new monster appears in the city, Roma and Juliette will need to work together to save their home from the risk of further madness as well as the Nationalist threat inching closer - that is, if they don't kill each other first.

Having enjoyed the first book, I was intrigued to see what would happen next, especially given that it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger.
Juliette was a complex protagonist - she was relatable and wanted to protect her friends, family and home, but she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. I did feel sorry for her given that she'd had to sacrifice her relationship with Roma, and that she constantly had the threat of Tyler waiting for her to mess up so he could take over as heir.
While I did like Roma, I didn't feel that I connected with him. I liked a lot of the side characters, including Kathleen, Alisa, Marshall and Benedikt. Tyler was an interesting character who, while I didn't like him, I understood his motivation. I would have liked to have seen Dimitri fleshed out more, as he felt very two dimensional to me.
The politics were interesting, as was the setting of 1920s Shanghai.
The plot was mostly enjoyable, but the pacing was off for me and around 70% through I did start to lose interest, which meant that I became less invested in what happened, and I wasn't as emotionally impacted by certain scenes as I should have been. There were several things that I didn't see coming, but because I wasn't gripped, I wasn't very shocked by them. I felt that the book could have been at least 100 pages shorter as there was some two-ing and fro-ing that seemed unnecessary.
I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall this was a mixed read.

I really enjoyed this final installment of the duology. I am really excited to read more by Chloe Gong.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

Although I did enjoy this, I'm kind of sad this duology did not really live up to its hype for me. I really loved the protagonists, but the plot was just too political for me which led to me zoning out. The writing style also didn't grip me, which didn't help matters.

Excuse me, I'm going to need 3 to 5 working days to recover from this.
Even though I knew going into this duology, that this was a Romeo & Juliet retelling, I was still hopeful and completely unprepared for how everything went down. Be still my broken heart.

Even though I feel like some of the plotlines were slightly more predictable than the ones in book 1 (I mean, I pretty much knew from the start who the blackmailer was, as well as Rosalind's secret lover), I still enjoyed this a lot.
I loved both Roma and Juliette, and the entire cast of side characters (Benedikt and Marshall ftw, I'm dying to know how they end up), and the incredibly rich but slightly complicated city of Shanghai.

I can't wait to dive into Rosalind's series next!

I absolutely adored the first book and this one solidified Chloe Gong as one of my favourite authors!

Received ARC via Netgalley

What an amazing conclusion to the series , I loved every minute ! The plot was brilliant , and loved the characters. Its one of the books that will stay with you for awhile !

Following the events of These Violent Delights, in 1920s Shanghai, Juliette and Romeo are now facing newer dangers and navigating their own love in the midst of blood feud and political turmoil. If the start to the duology was anything excellent, this sequel exceptional. It definitely doesn't hold the same strengths of the first book, but claims its own power: from personal motivations like Juliette reiterating herself as the Scarlet Gang heir and Roma grieving for revenge. The side characters who had won hearts in the first book add even more complexity to the plot as their fascinating story lines intersect. With the mysterious return of the monsters, a brewing revolution, and the terrifying ideological chaos on streets, the tension inevitably rises with each page and the star-crossed lovers find themselves challenged —both individually and together. The ending, to a duology that impressed since the very first page, is satisfying and almost perfect.

I've been trying and failing to finish this book for over a year and the truth is it just doesn't capture my interest. The writing is lovely, but this author hasn't made me care enough about these characters and story to keep on reading. DNF at 30%

Chloe Gong has created something fresh and unique with her debut Historical/Fantasy YA duology. These Violent Delights and its sequel Our Violent Ends are a well-crafted, modern Fantasy retelling of Romeo & Juliet. #

I really appreciate the way Gong took one of the world’s most infamous love stories and found a way to spin that tale in a completely original way, while staying faithful to the source material.

Our Violent Ends is an explosive finale. Dark, seductive, and action-packed. Both books are on the mature end of the YA genre, with plenty of grit and violence.

I adored the historical setting of 1920s Shanghai. Gong does a marvellous job making this city feel like its own living, breathing character. It’s a city with sharp teeth, sharper claws, and it’s all too willing to tear itself apart.

Gong excels most at creating multifaceted characters, all of them as complex and contradictory as any real-life person. Juliette’s characterisation in particular is perfection. She’s loyal, compassionate, and loving, but she can be cruel, ruthless, and wickedly violent when the need calls. The entire cast of this duology are compelling and well developed.

The storyline across the duology is solid, entertaining, and fast paced. It wasn’t my favourite part of the novel, but it certainly kept me turning the pages, along with my adoration for the characters.

The main romance between Roma and Juliette is pitch perfect, as one would expect from a Romeo & Juliet retelling. It simmers with tension, angst, and longing the whole way through. There’s also a romance between two side characters that I could not get enough of!

Overall, These Violent Delights is a standout YA duology from a rising star in Fantasy.

While reading this duology, I was loving it, completely immersed. However, I never seem to remember that I've read it. I do read a lot of books so this can often happen, I think it is partially due to the fact I am slightly stepping out of my YA phase and though it was good, I have read a lot to overshadow it recently. I honestly can't remember most of what happened in this book, but I know that I kinda wish this had just been one longer standalone, the sequel did not feel necessary and instead drew out the ending we all knew was coming. I am glad however with the ending itself; having it left closed but slightly ambiguous really worked in this retelling and I loved the closing chapter. Overall this series is fun, dark but maybe doesn't play around enough with the tropes it uses. I really enjoyed the character work and found them to be the most compelling part of this duology and only really kept on reading for their interactions.

Great followup to the 1st book! I missed these characters so much, but I have to say - i wish the stakes were a lot higher. I wanted more angst from RomaJuliette and BenMars. Don't get me wrong - I loved when our leads had their moments, but everything moved very fast in this 2nd installment - i felt like there needed to be some silence after each mic drop (each momentous scene?) If that makes sense. Nonetheless I'm sooo excited for Foul Lady Fortune and what's next for Chloe Gong! Would recommend this duology if you'd like to see a cleverly done retelling of Romeo and Juliet that does the original justice.