Our Violent Ends is a bittersweet ending to the duology started in These Violent Delights. This sequel pulls readers back in from the first page and takes them on an emotional rollercoaster starting a few months after book one's end. The romance is full of chemistry. The action is ramped up. The ending is highly satisfying. If you haven't yet picked up this series, this is your sign to do it now. Highly recommended!

Oh my gosh this book broke me ! The emotional roller coaster picked me up and knocked me down again and again. Loved it. Highly recommended.

After the masterpiece that was These Violent Delights I had high expectations for Our Violent Ends, and Chloe Gong met every single one of them.

The cliffhanger ending of These Violent Delights makes you dive right in Our Violent Ends with no time to catch your breath. The monster is back, Juliette and Roma are enemies again, Shanghai is on the brink of a revolution, there are so many things happening at once and everything is so well orchestrated. This book is so full of angst and stress and hurt (with a side of comfort, but mostly hurt). Gong manages to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last chapter. All the while using all the best tropes. Gong takes the enemies to lovers trope to the next level, sprinkling new and lovely 'dagger to the throat' and 'are they gonna kiss each other or kill each other' moments that we all loved so much in the first book.
The relationship between Roma and Juliette is even more complex than in the first book, in all the best and worst ways. These people drove me absolutely mad with all the angst and repressed feelings.
And I loved getting to see more of the secondary characters. Just like in the first book Kathleen and Marshall own my heart, and it was so great to see them being even more developed in this second book.

Our Violent Ends really was a wonderful ending to this duology, so well crafted and beautifully written. I really can't believe this is Chloe Gong's first duology. These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends are such wonderful books, and to think they're only her first books is mindblowing. It makes me even more excited to discover all her next books.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Earlier this year I read These Violent Delights, the first book in this duology. It was a great book that left me begging in the end for me; if you read the These Violent Delights I assume you must have felt the same. However, the beginning was very slow and it took me three weeks to get through the first 200 pages. I was expecting the same effect for this book.

I misjudged. Not only did I finish the book in give or take 24 hours, it was one of the best books I've ever read. Each chapter contained a part that left me wanting to read more. Wheter it was focused on Roma or Juliette or one of the "side" characters like Benedikt, Marshall, Kathleen, etc. It was a book not only filled with astonishing and breathtaking writing but also a love story that brought me to my knees.

The storyline was enthralling and while I lacked some love for the main couple in the first book, they took my breath away in Our Violent Ends.

It is a well deserved five stars from me and I am looking forward to what else Chloe Gong will bring to the table in the future.

If you think These violent delights was amazing, wait till you read Our violent ends!!The book grips you from the starting through the end, making you feel hundreds of emotions including volcra like screaming and few rivulets of tears and daily sessions of thinking about this masterpiece and the characters.

The book is a sequel to These Violent Delights, a Romeo and Juliette retelling set in 1920s Shanghai. The blood feud between the The White Flowers and The Scarletts, the two rival gangs is always high and filled with angst, and Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov, the heirs of the gangs wants to kill each other (not actually since they have a past together, but the amount of times they have shot at each other says differently). After the events of the first book they are forced to work together again, they decide to set their past and feud aside to save the city from the monster who is ready to destroy the city.

None of the characters are same after the first book, Julliete has decided to protect the city even if it costs her love, Roma had accepted his role as the heir and is now set to kill his lover, Benedikt has lost his people before but after the death of his closest friend he is ready to start a war. Kathleen, always thought of as sweet and kind, is stepping out of the shadows, making her own name and destiny.

Chloe’s writing is beautiful and ethereal and just makes you feel as if you are there in Shanghai watching the characters kill each other and it's just so vivid, rhythmic and perfect.
The politics X fantasy plot of the book was so beautifully executed and really captivating. While the pace of the first book had been slow Our Violent Ends just throws everything at you one after the other.

The knife to throat, romance while still hating each other and fighting the world for each other scenes ate indescribable, but my forbidden love and enemies to lovers trope loving heart was satisfied.

I know a lot of people love Juliette more than Roma , but for me Mr. Roma stole all the show, his character arc, his development and how he will do anything to protect people he loves even if that means going in harm's way to save them.

Also a big thanks to Benedikt, Marshall and Kathleen for just existing and blessing us with their presence. They are my precious babies and I'll protect them till my last breath.

Alisa Montagov is an awesome side character, her dialogues and actions just makes you laugh and somehow gives the reaction the reader will do in the situations.

In conclusion, buy this book, love this book and cry over it

thank you netgalley and hodder and stoughton for providing me an arc of this book

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

〰️

4/5 Stars
〰️
Review:

Our Violent Ends picks up where the last book, These Violent Delights, left off. This book continues the story of Juliette and Roma, two young people destined to be rivals, fated to be lovers.

Re-tellingly of Shakespeare aren’t uncommon, and they aren’t always executed well. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Gong’s writing in both books of this duology. While the book drew on familiar source material, Gong brought her own new ideas to the narrative. The result was an intricate universe with complex politics, geography, magic, and characters.

The central characters from the first book only come to life more in this continuation. There is a wide variety of backgrounds represented, and the tensions in friendships and relationships formed reads to be very organic. Gong successfully created multiple fully formed, complex, and engaging characters. In fact, I’d argue that I enjoyed reading to learn about the characters even more than the plot itself.

All in all, this book is the perfect companion to These Violent Delights. It’s a re-imagination that feels both modern and nostalgic. It’s the perfect read for fans of enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers storylines.

The final lines of Romeo and Juliet Read:

“For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

But maybe, in the alternate world Gong has created, there’s more to learn from this story than woe alone.
There’s love.
There’s pain.
There’s loss.
There’s hope.

“Keep fighting for love.”

Guys, I don't know what to say.
Our Violent Ends was everything I asked for, and even more. This book made me suffer but in the end, it was worth it. I LOVED everything. Every moment, every twist, every single damn word. But above all, I loved the characters. They fought for what was right, they fought for the good of their people, and they fought for themselves. Juliette, Roma, Ben, Mars, Kathleen, Alisa. I already miss them so damn much and when you feel that way, you know the story owns a piece of your heart and will stay with you forever.

"A rose is a rose, even by another name," He whispered. "But we choose whether we will offer beauty to the world, or if we will use out thorns to sting."

If you loved These Violent Delights, buckle up for the sequel, because Chloe Gong has taken things to the next level and in my opinion, has made Our Violent Ends even better than her debut.

We already had a strong premise that was executed extremely well and coming out of the first book we had political turmoil and a love for all of these characters. Our Violent Ends took those emotions are played with them throughout the almost 500 pages of this book.

The characters are still complex and I love each and every one of them, even if I actually hate them (I'm looking at you Tyler) I laughed, I gasped and I cried AND I would do it all over again.

I got sucked in to the atmosphere of 1920s Shanghai from the first page and I didn't let me go till the emotional end.

Really, this book has it all. Whether you are looking for political intrigue, lush settings, fast paced and engaging plots or lovable characters and relationships you can really root for, this series has it all.

The amount of talent this author has at such a young age, and only two books into her career makes me beyond excited to see what comes next. Its needless to say that I will pick up everything and anything she writes after this.

So go preorder this

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book! Falls under "Top 10 Books To Break Your E-Reader" (I'm not entirely joking - this ARC was the unfortunate downfall of my ereader but I really can't be angry at it, the book was immensely enjoyable).

We all know the story or Romeo and Juliet at least vaguely, and YET, every adaptation, every retelling I face, there's a part of me rooting for a different turn of events (I rarely find myself disappointed, though, and this duology was no exception).

The only thing I wish was different in this sequel was that the fantasy aspect of the story was more present. I really enjoyed it in the first book, and it feels like it was pushed into the background in this book in order to give different plotlines more room.

That being said, though, there's so much!! to like!! I'm very grateful for the glimpe into a part of history this duology offered that wasn't something we were tought in schools were I'm from (the edges of Central Europe). I loved how the blend of different cultures in Shanghai was portrayed.

My favourite part, though, is the author's take on the characters. I was already fond of them in the first book, the sequel made it even more so. I don't want to spoil anything too much, but I absolutely loved the relationships between the characters and all the little tweaks and changes to R&J that were done. I've sat on this book for a while before writing these thoughts down and the ending has been haunting me ever since. It's not going to stop anytime soon, and I don't think I want it to.

The sad and angry vibes of this book are exquisite. Wonderful conclusion of the duology. Very much recommend a read.

Note: this book is not a threat to ereaders (mine just had very strong opinions about getting an upgrade and decided that this book was perfect for its final tantrum).

Unfortunately, Our Violent Ends does not live up to its excellent prequel. The plot seems to be meandering, losing the laser-sharp focus and energy that These Violent Delights had.
While the setting and the world Gong built around it are still excquisite and immersive, I...got bored, to be honest. I feel like the characters were lost. I did not understand the plot choice of getting back to the Shanghai monster, which felt like a "back to square one" situation - what was the point of book 1 if we're back to Juliette and Roma not talking, cooperating against their will, and a monster roaming the streets of their city?
The banter between those two was a highlight but really not enough for me to actually enjoy the book.

A truly spectacular finale to this duology (?) that has captivated the reader minds of so many young people across the world.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.

Ugh. If you loved book 1 you are going to be blown away by this next one! Ah I was so excited to get a copy of this book as I absolutely adored the first book and wow. I literally laughed and cried reading this and I just want to thank the author for writing these absolute masterpieces! Beautifully written and leaves you with the bittersweet knowledge that love is the bravest thing we can do.
I’m still reeling and I have so many emotions finishing this book!

My request on NetGalley was approved by the publisher, so thank you Hodder & Stoughton!

My Rating: 4.25 / 5 🌟

SCARLET GANG OR WHITE FLOWERS? SORRY, BUT I'M PLEDGING MY ALLEGIANCE TO ROMA AND JULIETTE, AND MISS CHLOE GONG! ✋

In short, THIS BOOK WAS ONE HELL OF A RIDE. But if you're looking for a longer review, keep reading. 😆

I'm gonna be real with you, I waa on the fence about reading this sequel. The first book, These Violent Delights was a 3.5 🌟 for me, so I was pretty okay with not continuing this duology. However, I've been following Chloe Gong since a little after she announced that she's releasing These Violent Delights and just seeing all the success she has receive so far, makes me pretty sentimental. So I decided to shoot my shot and request for e-ARC for Our Violent Ends.

And LO AND BEHOLD, BEING APPROVED BY HODDER AND STOUGHTON WAS A BLESSING IN THIS DISGUISE BECAUSE MISS CHLOE GONG CAME THROUGH WITH THIS ONE.

She really did say, "Deidre, I know you didn't enjoy the first book that much, but thank you so much for continuing this series, and as a reward, here's everything you wanted from the first book, enjoy."

Since I didn't enjoy the first book that much, I decided not to reread it prior to reading this sequel, AND YET, it did not take away the enjoyment factor whatsoever because I HAD A BLAST READING THIS BOOK.

This book truly did have everything I wanted, ESPECIALLY WITH THE ANGST BETWEEN ROMA AND JULIETTE, AND WE GOT IT AS EARLY AS THE FIRST CHAPTER, I KID YOU NOT. Although Roma and Juliette see rival enemies who fell in love once but grew apart, I feel like the first book didn't capture that chemistry enough. BUT in consequence of the events that happened in the first book, the TENSION GREW TENFOLD IN THIS ONE, AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED. And that itself made the book worth the read for me.

Just like I said, I didn't reread the first book but I couldn't help but notice reading this book was a lot easier than when I was reading the first book last year. I'm not sure if it's because Chloe's writing has changed or I have changed. Either way, I think Chloe was A LOT more confident in writing this one than These Violent Delights. In case you didn't know, These Violent Delights was Chloe's debut novel and I think she rewrote it A LOT of times, but with Our Violent Ends, she's definitely a lot confident in her storytelling capability since These Violent Delights has been received so positively by many readers. So basically, GO CHLOE GONG!

In terms of the politics, whatever that was mentioned in first book will make sense in this one. One of my complaints of the first book was how the story had a lot of elements going for it. BUT, in hindsight, it was all to create this fantastic ending to the duology.

Speaking of ending, this series honestly has the potential to be trilogy, especially since the book was told in the perspectives of a lot of characters, BUT Chloe Gong's next duology is a SPIN-OFF TO THE THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS DUOLOGY 😍, SO I CAN'T REALLY COMPLAIN.

Side note, this book made me cry. I didn't had a mental breakdown but I did cry. And I hate crying over books, so the book DEFINITELY deserves some points for that. 😂

All in all, Our Violent Ends was a GREAT sequel and a FANTASTIC conclusion. It even got to me to reevaluate my decision to reread this duology. Judging from the first book itself, I wouldn't think of rereading this series but with the second book, YES, I do see myself revisiting this story again in the future. So if you read the first book and isn't too sure about reading the second one, TRUST ME, YOU NEED TO. OUR VIOLENT ENDS SLAPS SO HARD AS A SEQUEL AND THE FINALE TO THE STORY. This book was just so much more enjoyable than the first book and quite addictive because there was always something new to discover in the next chapter. And I am SO EXCITED to know that we'll be staying in this world for at least two more books with Foul Lady Fortune!

I really loves „Our violent delights“ and is was soo excited for the second book. The similarity to Romeo and Juliet has me i the edge of my seat. You suffer with the characters and you can’t help but pray for a happy ending. The Cover from the second book is quit similar to the first one and one can easily see that they belong together. The end of book one destroyed me and that’s why I started with the second part straight away. Chloe Gong has a wonderful, tense and emotional writing style. You are immediately back in the Story and I couldn’t put the book down for a second. The pages just flew by and within a day I had finished the book. The setting in the 1920s in Shanghai is very interesting and, in addition to the characters, it ensures that it never gets boring. Volume two has some similarities to volume one, but that didn’t bother me. The whole book is full of action, romantic and dramatic. Absolutely worthy of Romeo and Juliet.

Here we are accompanying Roma and Juliette again and I was excited to see how the author will dissolve the end of volume one. I love the moments between Roma and Juliette. My heart melted because the two are just meant for each other. The love between these two was noticeable on every page and you just cheered for the two of them. Even if I like them together, Roma and Juliette can also stand completely on their own. Both are strong, brave, resourceful, and so much more. In this volume the characters come to life even more. They feel so real.

After reading I was breathless and absolutely speechless. I didn’t know what to feel, how to deal with the end. It couldn’t have ended any other way and I was absolutely satisfied with it. Chloe Gong has managed to give a great series an absolutely worthy ending. Whoever liked „Our violent delights“ will adore „Our violent ends“. This is one of the best series I’ve read lately.

Definitely a Must-Read

"These violent delights have violent ends"

I'M SCREAMING!!! Even after the end of These violent delights I wasn't prepared for this. The plot takes of few months after the first book where Juliette tries to save Shanghai from monsters (again)🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉.

"And what was love if all it did was kill?"

We know more about backstory of the rest of the characters. There's many POV - again it was great. This book was a masterpiece, I couldn't put it down. It was so beautifully written that I felt like I was part of this story. I can't praise it enough. Perfect summarizing to the story.

" 'What are you afraid of' Roma Montagov asked.
Juliette lips parted. She exhaled a short, abrupt breath. 'The consequences,' she whispered, 'of love in a city ruled by hate.' "

This book was so stressful. Here's my literal facial expression while reading this book plus few fitting emojis: 😰😰😰😰😱😳😢😩😩😩😩😍😍😤😤😤🥲🥲🥲🤬🤬😬😳🥺🥺🥺😱😱😱😱😱🤯🤯🤯🤧🤧🤧🤧😭😭🥲😭😭😭
⚔️🗡️🫀🫀🗡️🗡️🗡️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️🐉🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🐉🐉💥💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥🔥🤌🤌🤌🤌

But the ending tho.😭🥲😭🥲😭🫀🗡️♾️/5⭐

Thank you NetGalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

In Our Violent Ends Chloe Gong wraps up her Romeo and Juliet homage set in slightly fantasy version of 1920s Shanghai, begun in These Violent Delights. And without providing any spoilers, anyone expecting a completely happy ending when the source material is a Shakespearean tragedy just doesn’t know their Shakespeare.
Our Violent Ends opens soon after the events that ended These Violent Delights. Although everyone thought that the madness-inducing monster had been vanquished it turns out that someone still has the formula and is blackmailing both the Scarlet and White Flower crime families. Roma blames Juliette for the death of his good friend Marshall Seo but readers will know that his is not exactly the case. The two clearly still have feelings for each other but when the book opens are both completely enmeshed back in their families’ blood feud. But they are once again forced to work together to try and identify the blackmailer. At the same time as all of this is going on, tension is rising in the city between the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists.
While the first book hinged on the actions and impacts of a madness inducing monster, Our Violent Ends is much more grounded (although no less violent). The monsters are back but under someone’s control, and used as one tool in the growing tension in the city. The largest set piece in the book is centred around the very real massacre of Communist forces and their supporters by the Nationalists aided by local gangsters (called the Green Gang) that took place in April 1927. And while the monsters do play a small part in this fictional retelling of that story, the real monsters turn out to be the power hungry leaders of the various factions.
Once again, while Gong references characters, events (even a fake suicide at one point) and the occasional quote from Romeo and Juliet, this is not the Shakespeare play. Juliette Cai, in particular, continues to be a kick-arse, take no prisoners heroine, but one who is concerned about the direction that her family in going in, a position that quickly puts her at odds with her father, even before her attraction to Roma Montagov is factored in. This volume also gives more depth and action to some of the side characters – particularly Juliette’s companions the sisters Kathleen and Rosalind, and Roma’s offsider Benedikt. And knowing that there is going to be some tragedy coming for at least some of those characters makes for a tense, page-turning read.
Through the two books Gong delivers a rich and deep view of 1920s Shanghai, from the wealthiest areas in the Foreign Concessions, to the markets and factories. And through an only slightly fantastical lens, is also able to explore and reveal some of that city’s bloody and violent history. And while she leaves a few threads dangling, as is only right in a complex narrative, Gong brings this two volume story to a satisfyingly tragic conclusion in Our Violent Ends.

☆☆☆¾

I’ll start of by saying I enjoyed the first few chapters of this book more than I enjoyed most of TVD (no hate to TVD it was a good book), what I thought was lacking in TVD was made up for in OVE, I found the pace was much better and I enjoyed the plot more (whereas in TVD I found it a little slow and boring at times but OVE was good from start to finish), I also enjoyed the story between Juliette and Roma a lot more in OVE. The other day I saw a tweet from Chloe Gong saying she could feel herself improve with each book or something along those lines and it’s definitely true and has showed in OVE, I can’t wait to see what else she does!
One thing I really really enjoyed about this book were the quotes because some of them were so beautiful and well written they were hard not to love.
There are so many moments in the book that had me feeling all different things, the moments where I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation or nerve about what’s going to happen next or the moments when I was crying (whether it was tears of happiness or sadness), the moments when I was scared to read on but pushed through anyway or even put down the book and the moments where I was screaming ‘what the fuck’ in disbelief as a plot twist or reveal happened (which I didn’t see coming) and my jaw was on the floor as I sat there in disbelief before continuing to read *needing* to know what happens next.
Overall I really really really enjoyed it and was happy I picked it up.

In Our Violent Ends, we follow the story of Juliette and Roma, two heirs of rival mafia families. I don't want to spoil the ending of the first book, but if you know how the ending of the first book went, this book picks up from the last mystery we get from the first book. However, in this book, unlike the first book, Roma and Juliette were tasked to work together and basically find out why the monsters came out.

Let's break it down into parts because at least I get to organize my thoughts hahah!

I reread the first book and continued my reading with this book, courtesy of Netgalley UK (thanks heaps, my man Netgalley) because I feel like I need to distinguish the difference between the first book's writing/plot/everything about it, and the second book.

World-building was already established from the first book and I feel that Chloe Gong made this story hers starting from the first chapter of this book. It wasn't like her first book. I feel that her first book was like a dip in the water of how she decided to go on with the whole Shakespearean retelling of Romeo and Juliet duology. The first book was very atmospheric and it talks about how the 1920s Shanghai was going through the dark period of having a civil war within the Kuomintang political party. However, because the first book has set the world so vividly, I feel that Chloe Gong decided to just write and deliver whatever that she feels necessary.

Because of that, we get character developments and we see personalities shine throughout the book. From Roma, to Juliette, to Kathleen, to Rosalind, to Marshall, to Benedikt, to Tyler, to Alisa, to Dimitri. EVERY SINGLE ONE LAH! EVERY 👏 SINGLE 👏 ONE 👏 OF 👏 THEM 👏 DELIVERED 👏 WHAT 👏 THEY 👏WERE 👏 SUPPOSED 👏 TO 👏 DELIVER 👏 <b>OHEMHHHGEEEEE</b>

I'm not sure how many times I have muffled my scream in the middle of the night when I was reading this arc. I was screaming with joy, anger, annoyance, of butterflies because this book gave me feelings that I needed in this boring dull world. Okay, I might exaggerate slightly there. but you get what I mean.

There were a lot of plot twists and mysteries that I felt were fun to come out theories with. It was as if I was playing a part of their gang finding out who were the bad guys in the book. Some I could have guessed from the first book (Chloe Gong subtly inserted it in the first book if you guys can catch up with it hehehehe), but there were also some that I did not see coming. I gasped a lot of air that I think my brain got a lot of oxygen from breathing in the air too much because some of them weren't shown even in the first book!

I have two deductions after reading this book, which are:

1) Chloe Gong is a very smart lady and she delivered. SHE DE-LI-VERED! She knows that if you read the first book and you might not like it, she's going to make sure that you will feel left out when those who liked the book enough, continue with the duology. And she makes sure that you get what you wanted from the first book, in the second book. Do you want more enemies-to-lovers angst because it's not enough from the first book of the duology? You will get it. Do you want more friends-to-lovers tension? You will get it. Do you want a badass queer rep and almost basically carry the whole plot character arc? You will get it.

2) This book ended beautifully. After a few nights of sleeping on the ending in my mind, I can conclude that this was the ending that both Roma and Juliette needed.

However, there are a few plot holes that I feel were not answered that left me with a lot of questions that needed to be answered. I'm not sure if Chloe Gong will answer it in her next book if it has anything to do with this duology. I'm staying hopeful.

And with that, I thank Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this review copy. Absolutely love this book 😘😘

ok bestie i didn't cry or anything, but i found this to be a lot stronger than these violent delights. everything was just tighter, more intertwined with itself, more complex. the confluence of everything i wanted from the first book's pitch! can't even be mad. well done

Our Violent Ends

Firstly thank you to NetGalley, PUBLISHER & Author Chloe Gong for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fantastic book.

I will admit I have been sitting on my copy of “These Violent Delights” for some time patiently awaiting “Our Violent Ends” so that I could read them in succession.

I’m glad I waited. This fabulous re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is cativating and magical. The authors attention to detail spins a world the reader can become entirely engrossed in and allows for the story to flow effortlessly.

Our main characters are centred around two rival gangs, we meet “The Scarletts” Juliette, Kathleen and Rosalind and on the other “The White Flowers” Roma, Benedikt and Marshall. These characters are brought to life in the story by means of their personalities and quirks which makes each easily likeable.

Throughout this duology I laughed, cried and had warm fuzzy feelings along side the characters. What more can you look forward to in a good book?

I was on edge at parts during this book with not knowing what would come next. I wish I could time travel to 1920s Shanghai just to experience it. In fact I’m adding Shanghai to my bucket list of places to visit.

Fantastic read. 😊

“Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death!”

#Fantasy #YoungAdult #YA #Romance #HistoricalFiction #RomeoAndJuliet #Shakespeare #Retelling #Fantasy #ForbiddenLove #StarCrossedLovers #Bookstagram #BookLife #NetGalley #Duology #BookLove #ScottishBookstagrammer