These Violent Delights

This book people is EVERYTHING. THE STORY, THE CHARACTERS, THE MYSTERY, THE ROMANCE, EVERYTHING IS SOOO GOOD.I cannot believe how good this book is . Chloe gong is such a good writer , I am going to buy anything she writes from now on.These violent delights is set in 1920's Shangai, with two rival gangs in the center of madness , that is out of their reach.This book deals with some real-life events that occurred in shangai at the time with colonialism and capitalism blooming in china at the time.Roma and Juliette are such engaging and strong protagonists, both of their characters are soo complex ,and interesting . I really loved how chloe gong built roma and Juliette as characters and their romance is to DIE FOR.(no pun intended).They have a lot of conflicting feeling for each other due to their gangs rivalry and them being the heirs doesn't make the matters easier.RECOMMEND THIS BOOK 100000% . CANNOT WAIT FOR OUR VIOLENT ENDS (That cliffhanger and the twist at the end though)

while the book is incredible, the quality it came in was horrible. smushed from atleast two corners. what is the point of buying hardcover if it's quality is going to be ruined

The book was good.Did it live up to the hype?Nope.Do I hate Rosalin?Absolutely.Hopefully sequel will be better

Book Cover is really nice. But ... they should have handled it little carefully.

The only thing I knew about this book while going into it was that this was a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in Shanghai in 1920s. Although, I think this line describes the book in a very basic manner. It is so much more than just a Romeo and Juliet retelling.We follow Juliette Cai, the heir of the Scarlet gang and Roma Montagov, the heir of White Flower gang. These two gangs control the entire city of Shanghai and are bitter rivals. Just like in Romeo and Juliet, Roma and Juliette meet when they are 15, and fall in love. But due to gang wars, they fall apart. Juliette is shipped off to America for safety reasons.Our main story starts 4 years after this. Juliette is 19, hardened by the world around her, and back in Shanghai. But things have changed while she was away. Shanghai is plagued with more and more White foreigners trying to colonize Chinese land. Juliette sees signs on shops and places saying "No Chinese allowed inside" on Chinese land. In her own family, people are favouring her first cousin Tyler to take over gang duties, just because he is male.In the White Flowers territory, Roma has been disfavoured by his father due to certain events that happened 4 years ago during the fallout with the Scarlet gang. He is delegated to do the lowest and most unwanted tasks in the gang.Both Roma and Juliette are struggling to regain their place in their respective gangs.And in the midst of all this, there is a spread of a new kind of sickness in the city. People are dying by self inflicted wounds; they are literally ripping out their own throat. Some people say that this is a madness. But there are rumours about sightings of a monster, a monster so terrible that one look at it incites this madness in people. But monster or no, the sickness is spreading and claiming lives of both Scarlets and White Flowers and anyone and everyone in between. The general public is losing faith their gangs to provide protection and turning away from them as the sickness becomes contagious and uncontrollable; leading to the rise of a new threat to the gangs - the Communists. People are joining the communist propaganda in the wake on the threat of sickness.Juliette and Roma and scrambling to find the source of this sickness and to save their people.I absolutely absolutely loved this premise of a new 'sickness'. The author has very cleverly woven the fiction of this madness with what I assume to be the actual political situation in Shanghai during that time. I loved how the author has highlighted the rise of communist agenda and the fall of the drug gangs while showing the cause of this to be the madness and the subsequent death of common folk due to it. I am very interested to know if something similar happened during that time in Shanghai.Also, I absolutely loved Juliette as a protagonist. She is so fiercely protective about her people, not just the members of the Scarlet gang, but even the common people of the city. She does not bend down in front of the countless people who are trying to devalue her just because of her sex. She knows how to command respect and even fear!I also loved the side characters of the story, which were Juliette's cousins Kathleen and Rosalind, especially Kathleen! She was such an unexpected surprise, I want more of her. I also loved Roma's two sidekicks, Benedictk and Marshall. In comparison to all of them, Roma felt very average to me. He did not do much for me to be honest and his contribution to the plot was also very average. Roma is not a bad character. But he is not excellent either. He just felt average to me. Juliette came out to be super strong, This tipped the balance between the main pair for me and affected my enjoyment of the book a little bit.Another thing that took away my enjoyment of this book, was the lack of chemistry between Roma and Juliette. I could not connect to the love between the protagonists. Yes, there were feelings of young love lost, but that for me did not translate too well to the angst or rekindling of love between these two.I solidly loved the main plot of the story and the way it was executed. The author has very impactfully highlighted the blatant racism and culture shaming done by the whites towards Asians. I loved the brutal honesty used to convey this. There is a part where Juliette talks about Americans teasing her about her chinese name, and that resonated so much with me. I am dead sure this still happens in the world. Juliette also talks about foreigners disallowing Chinese to inhibit their own land. Again, I related to it so strongly! As an Indian, my history lessons were filled with atrocities done to my countrymen by colonizers. I was used to see pictures saying "Dogs and Indians not allowed" in my textbooks. I loved the fact that the author has taken so much pains to raise such an important topic. Its about time someone brings this topic to focus in mainstream western YA literature.I loved the way in which the author has perfectly portrayed the political tensions at that time. I absolutely loved the execution of the story. The pace falls slow somewhere in the middle of the book. I felt that the author was giving us the same information dressed in different ways. But pacing picked up again towards the end. Infact the entire climax at the end was so perfectly executed! There's a cliffhanger at the end, and I am not usually a fan of cliffhangers, but this one was so well done, I cannot wait for the next book!

UNPOPULAR OPINION AHEAD:Fancy covers are my undoing & this one was no less. I was sold when I saw the gorgeous cover & the storyline sounded gripping. Who would not want to find out how a Romeo and Juliet retelling, with elements of fantasy & history, pan out? The name of the book had done me in at the get-go because of Shakespeare's famous words -"These violent delights have violent endsAnd in their triumph die, like fire and powderWhich, as they kiss, consume”But all things considered, I was disappointed with this book. I know many will not agree with me, as I have seen flowery reviews copiously praising this book.Roma & Juliet, from two opposing factions, rule the economy of Shanghai in the 1920s. When a monster holds the city at ransom, crushing everything in its wake, they decide to put their heads (and their hearts together) to beat the enemy, working against the wishes of their family.Why I wish I had skipped this one -👹I abhor romance, but if I had to read one, I would choose a slow-burn kind. This one did have all the makings of a blossoming romance but did not hit the sweet spot for me.👹The monster left a trail of head lice, which makes its home in the hair of anyone in its path, and eat through the victim's brain. This premise freaked me out, and I broke out into a rash of itching scalp just with the thought. (Do not worry, I do not have head lice)👹The fact that the main characters were untouched by the highly communicable head lice, although the explanation that the protagonist employed a thick wax to coif her hair, did not hold true for me. People were dying like flies, & they were safe.Apart from this, I loved the snapshots of Shanghai in the 1920's. The world-building & the faction war schemes were meticulously described. The mafia wars were interesting to read about.I walked into this book headlong without realizing it is the 1st in a series, and I was mightily disappointed when it ended in a cliffhanger. If you have a towering TBR I would suggest u to skip this one unless you love retellings.

Apparently I'm the girl that just doesn't get along with highly anticipated reads. I originally picked this book up because it sounded like an awesome premise.A romeo & Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shangai. I'm a massive fan of storytelling set in Asia but man alive, there is just no world building whatsoever. I didn't feel transported to another time, I didn't really get a feel for the culture or the way of life. I really needed more in that regard.The characterisation was weak. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. Juliet was written as a strong and independent woman but I just found her incredibly winey and childish. As the heir to the Scarlet gang she seemed more interested in maintaining her poker face with Romo. Likewise, he was the same but male. Never felt any affection for either and for a romantic retelling, it felt a bit soulless.The first couple of hundred pages was a complete info dump and to say I was exceedingly bored was an understatement. The book didn't need to be as long as it did and a lot of the narrative was endless descriptions and no action.

primeiramente, so deixando claro que essa avaliacao é do paperback em si, nao da historia ou da autora.o livro é RIDICULO DE ECONOMICO. eu paguei 70 reais por um livro que nao vem com UM BRILHINHO NA CAPA, UMA PARTE EM AUTO RELEVO. as folhas sao literalmente DA COR DE JORNAL, tem um cinza feio e inclusive tem cheiro de jornal. estou extremamente decepcionada, se soubesse que estaria dando 70 reais por um livro com qualidade de 10 eu com certeza faria outra escolha. isso é literalmente um roubo.

I was kindly gifted a copy of this ebook by Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So thank you so so much!When I initially heard about These Violent Delights, all I knew was that it was a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in a 1920’s Shanghai. For me that was enough to get excited and immediately pre-order. I have always been a huge fan of the forbidden romance/enemies to romance tropes, so Romeo and Juliet was always up my street.I didn’t know much more about this one until I received the ARC, so I was extremely pleased to find that not only was it an R&J retelling but also containing a murder mystery, monsters, and gangsters.The thing that really captured me was the writing style. I was immediately drawn in to the 1920’s Shanghai and politics surrounding the story itself. I found it informative without even realising, with the rich descriptions I felt as if I were there myself at times.In regards to the story I really enjoyed it, it dived right into the action and was easy to follow, there was little hidden in regards to the gory deaths and that made it all the more exciting. Although we immediately knew the cause of these deaths it was still surrounded in mystery and remained that way until the very last page, being 464 pages (according to Goodreads) the expectation would be that we would get an early reveal or after some time it would become a little predictable or even dare I say it a bit boring. But I was still as hooked as I was when I first started. The one thing I love about the mystery's is trying to predict the killer, but I had no chance with this one. Characters were introduced so intricately that you didn’t question their motives until everything became clear at the end.Throughout the book various plot holes arise, mentions of the past we do not know about but so desperately want to, they are revealed neatly at the end in a way which fits the story, rather than simply info dumping.I loved the ending, it was suspenseful, everything came to together and set up book 2 perfectly. My only issue is that by reading this ARC I now have even longer to wait for the sequel!I liked being able to recognise the characters from the play, being such a big family on both sides I found it easier to keep track of each one and their relevance to the plot. I felt we saw more of the Cai’s rather than the Montagov’s, so although I feel I have a pretty good idea of Juliette’s family with Roma I still feel a little unsure. But I am hoping this is something that can be looked into more in the sequel. However I do have to say that this replicates their relations to their family perfectly.We become immediately aware that although both are in line to take over from their family only one is more comfortable doing so. Only Juliette was trying to fit into the role which was almost being taken from her, whereas with Roma, I can’t recall more than a single instance that he was actually at his family home, unstinting to continue on with the reigns being passed onto him.Speaking of characters, I enjoyed the diversity. I will admit I did get a little confused with Kathleen’s past, when they spoke about the death of a sister, I assumed it referred to Kathleen in her being transgender. However when another sister was mentioned I did get a bit lost. I am planning to re-read this once the book is released, and since I have a physical copy I think it will make it easier to keep track of what may have happened.I loved the closeness of both families, Roma with his cousin and friend, and their slow building romance between them. And also Juliette and her cousins. Aside from Roma and Juliette I think Marshall and Benedikt’s relationship was a big favourite of mine, I loved the friendship and the banter they had, but also when it was suggested there was more to it.Ultimately the build up between Roma and Juliette was so frustrating, but at the same time I don’t think it could have happened any other way. I loved how long it took for them to trust each other fully again, with the combination of not knowing what had happened between made it all the more interesting to read on.Overall I loved the book, I felt it was executed perfectly and was more than I was hoping for in every way. I do have some theory regarding book 2, there was a mention of a traitor but nothing more was said so I am hoping this is going to be a bit plot point in the sequel. I have an idea on who I think it may be, so time will tell!My only issue that I had, and it was a relatively small one considering was with the bugs. Naturally we don’t know a lot about the bugs however, I wanted to know how they knew that by killing the host the bugs would also die. There was a lot of talk of killing this monster to save everyone (which was pretty important) but no one really thought about what they would do if the bugs weren’t affected, or even if they couldn’t kill it.Again its not a bit issue at all, I am pretty hopeful we will find out more in book 2!

Wanted to like this but didn't. Stopped at page 273 and skipped to the end.- I liked the non western take on the story, colonialism and how this affected the blood fued and their livelihood. The action/fast paced scenes were really good but these were few and far between.- While the descriptions of the settings are beautiful, sometimes its OTT and reptitive. The description of Juliette hating Roma every time they met was repetitive. Similarly, the character descriptions at times were lengthy: eg- half a page is dedicated to how two of the side characters type/write. Its not relevant to the story.- The book relies on our pre-exisiting knowledge of R+J. I wasn't invested or cared about the romance (mainly lack of), or hate, between them here because I wasn't a part of that journey. A prequel telling us what happened between them would have been better than being told though snippets, sometimes during dialogue which broke the flow. All the characters were also quite bland, so I didn't care about the ending unfortunately.

This is a brilliant retelling of Romeo and Juliette set in Shanghai in 1926. Roma Montagov, heir to a Russian mafia family, the White Flowers and Juliette Cai, daughter to the head of the Chinese drug cartel, the Scarlets. Roma and Juliette met young, fell in love but were cruelly separately by Roma's betrayal which led to deaths on both sides. Juliette leaves Shanghai to live the high life in New York while Roma remains behind.Juliette returns and tensions between the rival families are at an all-time high. However, a new threat arises with dire consequences for both the White Flowers and Scarlet gangs. A mysterious affliction is sweeping through their members and making them claw their throats out in a sudden onset of madness. Roma and Juliette must set aside their animosity and distrust and work together to find a solution. Their investigation uncovers a powerful supernatural foe at the heart of the contagion. As the deaths pile up, tension rises between the ex-lovers which force them to confront their unresolved feelings and the trauma of their pasts. Will they find the solution before it's too late and can move past their differences to rekindle their love?This was a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 read for me as I loved the attention to detail given to the backstory and world-building at the start which set the stage for a gripping and addictive plot. The fresh take on the Shakespearean story was incredibly creative and I found that both the main characters as well as the supporting roles were beautifully written with complex backgrounds, motivations and diverse personalities. The sexual tension jumped off the page and the visceral love story between Roma and Juliette was both riveting and emotional to read. I loved the Shanghai backdrop with its rich Chinese customs and cultural references as well as the historical elements of the rise of communism and the interference of foreign powers of that time which were incorporated into the plot. This added more depth and realism to the story.