Chloe Gong

These Violent Delights

Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River. The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal. But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

Aimee :)

"Call a truce," Juliette murmured against his lips. They needed to stop. She couldn't stop. "You are torturing me."

"We are not at war," Roma replied softly. "Why call a truce?"

Alliyah

He stays for you. He will not walk away from you. Not a second time. He would rather die.

“Do you not listen to me when I speak?” he answered shakily, his lip quirking up, “I love you. I have always loved you.”

“I couldn't stop loving you even when I thought I hated you.” 

“Astra inclinant,” he would whisper into the wind, so heartachingly sincere even when quoting in Latin, “sed non obligant.”

The stars incline us, they do not bind us.

 “I'm going to shoot you,” Juliette snapped. 

“No, you're not. Open the door, dorogaya.”

. Let them consider me callous. It is better than marking me weak.

She hated the knee-jerk way she leaned into him. She hated that her body followed his lead without resistance.

This is why we shall not love more than we need to. Death will come for everyone in the end. 

And he mourned for her. He didn't wish to, but he did—

He is mine to deal with. He is mine to destroy.

Perhaps her memories of Roma would pull her toward ruin, unless she reached into her own chest and ripped out all remains of softness.

Allison Detwiler

Was the line between enemy and friend horizontal or vertical? Was it a great plain to lumber across or was it a high, high wall-either to be scaled or kicked down in one big blow?

A temporary thing for a temporary place, but now the temporary thing is burrowed in so deep it cannot be removed.

Hanna 

„Think about it. Those who wish to protect themselves will stay in, bar their doors, seal their windows. Those who do not care, those who are violent, those who delight in that which is terrible … they thrive. The city has not grown more violent. It is a matter of its people changing.“

Emily McMeans

“The stars incline us, they do not bind us.”

Alina

She hadn’t realized that they had gotten comfortable around each other until they were uncomfortable again.

But here, while they sat nose to nose, he would never have expected Marshall to reach out and touch his cheek—the brush of a finger feather-soft, as though to test whether Benedikt was really there.

Usually it was Marshall making the erratic decisions. Marshall was only ever sensible when he was trying to keep Benedikt away from trouble.

Was it loyalty that created power? Or was loyalty only a symptom, offered when the circumstances were favorable and taken away when the tides turned?

How far would Benedikt go to find perfection? The brushstrokes? The particles? The atoms? If a true circle didn’t exist in their very universe, how was he supposed to paint one?

It was one of those delusions that he had held since a child, a delusion that seemed to have formed fully fledged in his mind with no apparent origin, though if there was, perhaps it had been so early in his life he could simply no longer remember. It was all irrational anyway, a belief that if he achieved one impossible thing, then perhaps every other impossible element in his life would click together too, regardless of whether they truly correlated.

Rosalind inhaled sharply. In that one motion, it was as if she sucked all the oxygen out of the room, sucked out all possibility that whatever she had witnessed could be something casually explained away.

But just as an artist could pick out one accidental jerk of the paintbrush amid a smorgasbord of intentional slashes, the moment Benedikt’s eye landed on the speck, a shudder swept down his spine and told him that the canvas of the world had made a mistake. This creature wasn’t supposed to be here.

This was amazing! I didn't know what to expect, but this was so much more than anything I could have anticipated. The city felt alive and the style of writing was just so good.

Alex Landau

Lili

This book really had my head itching while reading.

The description of the infestation was actually repulsive, low-key.

I wanted to see where it concluded and that kept me reading, but I didn't really 

I also told my coworker the plot of this book as he asked, and his reaction was actually hilarious. Very confused but intrigued.

Ultimately, it was good, but not something I'll really remember far into the future.

Sarah Campbell

This book really had my head itching while reading.
The description of the infestation was actually repulsive, low-key.
I wanted to see where it concluded and that kept me reading, but I didn't really connect with the characters. 
I also told my coworker the plot of this book as he asked, and his reaction was actually hilarious. Very confused but intrigued.
Ultimately, it was good, but not something I'll really remember far into the future.

It was alright, very predictable as an avid reader. Great world building though and a good introduction to fantasy and historical fiction in one. 

Taiha Morton

i really tried to like this book bc shanghai represent but i was so bored

felicity hu

I started violently sobbing when Marshall died 😭 i felt so stupid 

amelia <3

Linara K.S

DNF - i really tried with this one cause everyone on tiktok and youtube has been raving about the romance and the intrigue but BRO I was just so disappointed. The writing is lacklustre and the plot isn't as interesting as i'd thought it would be. Perhaps i'll give it a try again another time but for now it will remain a DNF

tbh i didnt even think historical fiction would suits me well but chloe gong did a really good job! i LOVE love this book so much more i expected &&& i love her writing style bcs i can picture the whole city and every single scenes in my head even tho i'm unfamiliar with this kind of genre. surely will pick up ove as soon as possible :-)

almeera

Liyah 🤎

it's YA and I'm 23 sooo what can I say. Reading this made me pretty sure most of my YA days were over although I will probably finish the series out of curiosity. What I wanted was a fun rival Romeo and Juliette what I got was a YA romantasy with lover to enemies to lovers. The romance wasnt really there for me but when more of the fantasy parts picked up I found that plot much more interesting and for that reason the cliff hanger will have me reading the second book...well played Ms. Gong...

kelsey

being completely honest, the ending bumped my rating up

i was so worried there for a second holy shit

also yes my favorite characters are the secondary ones what about it (and roma)

sani

“astra inclinant,” he would whisper into the wind, so heartachingly sincere even when quoting in latin, “sed non obligant.”

  the stars incline us, they do not bind us.


this is how you do an asian romeo and juliette retelling. the angst kept on punching my heart throughout the book and the cliffhanger has me crying because i want to read the next book at this very moment. 

juliette cai. she kept on reminding me of jude duarte. they are actually so similar. except roma is not cardan. except roma would definitely let her slit his throat if it makes her happy. sorry, this is the kind of romance we prefer. 


  this was what this city did to lovers. it tossed blame around like a slick coat of blood, mixing and merging with everything else until it had left its stain.


i love the quotes of this book so much. might read the sequel very soon

Some parts were really intriguing, especially with the romantic tension. i absolutely love our main characters, apart from Rosalind. However, i did find this whole monster thing kind of strange, but i still enjoyed it. I have to say the ending was really good, and i didn’t expect it. Yet, i feel like the main plot twist was really predictable.

Ellie M.

Okay finally I got to write my review. Now bitches this is going to be a hell of a chaotic one. OKAY FIRST OFF. this book deserves an oscar nomination because romeo and juliet retelling? A MASTERPIECE METHINKS. i had this on my TBR for so long already and so i finally got the chance to take myself into 1920s Shanghai, where a monster is brewing in the Huangpu River. I had so much fun reading this. The emotions I FELT throughout the entire book still make me want to cry. AND TBH I AM CURRENTLY SUFFERING ROMAJULIETTE AND BENMARS BRAINROT. PLS i CANNOT pick up another book 😭😭😭 there are just too many good things about this for me to move on 🥹 this was certainly not just a simple YA novel, because i appreciate how much research was done on politics and diversity. i also love how the blood-feud was incorporated into the world-building, and how the depth of our morally-grey characters were sooo well-written. not to mention the CHEMISTRY? it kept me fucking hooked. also, no one even told me this was a slow burn ?? i could literally feel how they went from being strangers to lovers to enemies and could see how terribly agonizing the longing is between our two main characters, roma and juliette. it is definitely something to look forward to in the next book especially because that fucking ending has left me in a MF CHOKEHOLD. also, are marshall seo and benedikt montagov lovers or bros? there is literally no heterosexual explanation for them FIGHT ME. i have a feeling the next book is going to hurt me but idgaf. overall, juliette can step on me and i would say thank you and if roma told me to bark i would ☺️ the gang is just so *chef’s kiss*

special thanks to claudia for being the best 5evur and letting me spam her with updates 😚

Helena

** spoiler alert **
           the first half wasn’t nearly as good as the last part of the book. i couldn’t put it down, and romajuliette served !!
i’ll ignore that i know how romeo and juliet ends and hope for a different ending. can’t wait to read the sequel!

Ellen Ivey

Megan

(3.5 stars) would have given it 4 stars if juliette wasn’t such an asshole and the political conflict was executed better (the whole book is literally: communism is bad, and factory owners are the victims 😡)

i’ll still read the next one because i desperately want to see juliette experience character growth (and i love all the other characters)

Hannah Bauer

I REALLY liked this book! The best part is definitely the setting, the city is so vividly portrayed and the rival gangs work so well for a Romeo and Juliet reimagining. I enjoyed all the characters, the two leads are strong in my opinion and the supporting characters are fantastic, my favourites were definitely Ben and Mars. The writing was good, though some of the themes were slightly over emphasized, particularly the East vs West motif. Though I understand this is obviously very important to not only the author but to the characters and the overall plot as well, it does cause the pace to lag a little bit. I think a bit more show and not tell would have kept the pace faster and avoided the feeling I had that I was reading the same sentence several times just using slightly different words. Because of this I had pretty much decided on a 4 star rating, but the ending totally won me over! Very excited for the sequel.

Sarah

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

"These Violent Delights" de Chloe Gong es una reinvención audaz y emocionante de la tragedia clásica de "Romeo y Julieta", ambientada en la vibrante ciudad de Shanghái en la década de 1920. Gong crea un mundo fascinante donde las pandillas rivales luchan por el control de la ciudad, mientras una plaga misteriosa amenaza con destruirlo todo.

La novela sigue a Juliette Cai, una joven de la alta sociedad china y heredera del poderoso clan Scarlet Gang, y a Roma Montagov, el líder de la pandilla rival, la White Flowers. A pesar de sus antecedentes enfrentados, Juliette y Roma se ven obligados a trabajar juntos para detener la propagación de una enfermedad que convierte a las personas en asesinos despiadados.

Gong teje hábilmente elementos de misterio, romance y acción en una trama apasionante que mantiene a los lectores en vilo en cada página. Los personajes están magistralmente desarrollados, con Juliette y Roma destacando como protagonistas complejos y carismáticos que luchan con sus lealtades y el peso del destino.

La ambientación de la década de 1920 en Shanghái es rica en detalles y evoca vívidamente la atmósfera decadente y peligrosa de la ciudad. Gong también incorpora elementos de la mitología china de manera experta, añadiendo una capa adicional de profundidad a la historia.

A medida que la trama se desarrolla, la tensión aumenta y las apuestas se vuelven más altas, llevando a un clímax emocionante y lleno de acción que dejará a los lectores sin aliento. "These Violent Delights" es una lectura adictiva que combina romance épico, intriga política y un toque de magia, y sin duda dejará a los lectores ansiosos por más.

Sarah Sammis

I'm going to freely admit that the bug mystery is what kept me reading. Rather than a straight up retelling of tragedy reframed as a more recent historical fiction, we get to see versions of Shakespeare's famous enemies to lovers being forced to work together to save their city from a potentially supernatural threat.

That said, the mystery can be solved. The clues are there. It's a satisfying conclusion and a rip-snorter of a climax. I look forward to what Chloe Gong comes up with next.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comm...

Christine

chloe gong isn't necessarily a bad author i've just read much better books. very bewildered by the pacing of this book and by the characterization - juliette cai is not the ruthless conflicted heir she's portrayed as. she is simply a terrible person lol. and yes i know - that is SORT OF THE POINT! i couldn't care less if characters are cruel and vicious and all that, but she is an ass. roma is just Kind Of There i don't even know how else to explain it? it is all tell and no show with him, somehow. i may just be going insane. rosalind is the most vibrant out of all of them to me even though she's barely there??? i kind of liked marshall and benedikt though. 
something something trying to tackle colonialism and imperialism with a white MMC ? VERY confused by the overall political message. girl what are you trying to say.
honestly thought the monster plot was lackluster at best. um i genuinely don't really know what to say about this book i didn't ever FEEL anything

Meg Ma. Guerrero 

as with many of the things i read, this started off really slow lol though it sure did take its time in laying things out because i remember seeing the halfway mark on my ipad and thinking ???? when will things move along?

but when things got going, i enjoyed it a lot. i don't care for the r&j romance or story in general but i guess that's the point of a retelling! (also i love marshall <3)

i'm def gonna end up reading the sequel because ... i don't wanna leave myself hanging lmao i just hope it picks up quicker than this one did

river

taking off a point for the existence of paul dexter and tyler cai. reparations.

These Violent Delights

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