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These Violent Delights (These Violent Delights, #1)

Chloe Gong

Start date: January 1, 2021

Finish date: January 31, 2021

Discussion: BOTM

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What Members Thought

Oct 20, 2020 Lia Carstairs rated it really liked it

Shelves: enemies-to-lovers, romance, fantasy, arc, retelling, diverse-fmc, friends-to-lovers, young-adult

What.
Was.
That?!?!

Seriously.
What the hell was that cliffhanger?!?!
All that work and then that happens??? omgomgomg-

Chloe Gong really knows how to deliver an ending. I just love how she ends the book in the middle of a climax?!?! (She even added the "To be continued" at the end as if knowing that her readers would be begging for more aghhhh and I unknowingly fell into the trap)

I could honestly just feel the beginning of despair swallow up the characters and horror dawn on them as they ...more

295 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2021 krista ☽✧ rated it liked it

Shelves: enemies-too-lovers

“Memories were beastly little creatures, after all—they rose with the faintest whiff of nourishment.”

unpopular opinion alert , dont kill me people. i expected this too blow my mind away but it didnt. iIt was just a like. which is not bad but not super good like i thought it would be so yeah. * little dissapointed noises *

These violent delights is the debut novel by Chloe Gong. The story focusses on two gangs that both live and want to rule Shanghai in 1926. We have Juliette Cai who is the he “Memories were beastly little creatures, after all—they rose with the faintest whiff of nourishment.”

unpopular opinion alert , dont kill me people. i expected this too blow my mind away but it didnt. iIt was just a like. which is not bad but not super good like i thought it would be so yeah. * little dissapointed noises *

These violent delights is the debut novel by Chloe Gong. The story focusses on two gangs that both live and want to rule Shanghai in 1926. We have Juliette Cai who is the heir of the scarlet gang the current ruler of shanghai who wants to do anything to protect her gang. And we have Roma Montagov who is the heir of the other gang in shanghai ; the white flowers. These gangs are enemies of each other. Juliette and Roma once had a romantic forbidden relationship bus trough betrayel this was destroyed. But once the people of both gangs start rippin their own throat out because of a mysterious disease which may be caused by a monster both heirs have to work together again to explore the truth behind these mysterious suicides and the monster. I raded this is a retelling from Romaeo and Juliette which I never read so I don’t really have to say anything about that or if it is done well oops.

I felt like this book is definitely really focused on the plot of the book and about the events that are happening and finding out more about this monster and the politics in the world of the two gangs. I really enjoyed the plot and I always love mysterious plots where things happen and we have to find out what these things are with the charracters. I liked the horror that came with it because well Krizzie likes horror and gross details. But I did expect this to be more character and romance focused then it was. At least for me it felt more plot focused. I personally couldn’t really connect to the charracters as I like to have in a story. I feel like they wherent explored in depth enough maybe. I just felt like I needed more of them and more in their depth if that makes sense. I do feel like Juliette is a interesting morally grey ish main character that has more side’s to her. Because I could not connect to the charracters as much as I wanted to I also did not connect to the romance as I wanted too. I also feel like the romance definitely isn’t here much , it felt a little too less for my taste and I did not really feel much with it because there just wasn’t much. I did like the romance as it developed more towards the ending. I did really enjoy the plot twistst in the end of the book and HA Lia warned me and yes there is a cliffhanger in here and I need information , now ?!
There is also a hint of a LGTB + rep in this book between Marshall and Benedikt which I am here for.

This book also deals with a lot of history of the reality of this time period. There is white colonization in here which was done well and made me think you see how the white culture want to steal shanghai , this country away and make it their own and let the culture and people of the land disappear. Which is disgusting.

Overall i thought i would totally love this book and that did not happen. I enjoyed it but it did not blow me away. I enjoyed the plot and i liked the charracters but i didnt felt really connected to them and feel like i need more. Also the romance was less focus in the story , it is more a plot based book. and i also couldnt really connect to the romance as i wanted too because it felt too less for me. Enjoyable book but it didnt blow krizzie away as she expected too. ...more

119 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2021 akacya ❦ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audience-young-adult, format-ebook, ownvoices, asian-authors, retellings, own, genre-fantasy

imagine the bare bones of the classic romeo & juliet story: two kids whose love, due to family reasons, is star-crossed fall in love anyway. now imagine romeo & juliet are in shanghai in the 1920s, and are the children of the leaders of rival gangs. and a virus is running rampant. there you have these violent delights.

this story was incredible. chloe gong brought so much originality and creativity into both the classic story of romeo & juliet and the characters. there was never a dull moment in ...more

21 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2021 Kaya Lynch added it

Shelves: loved-it-so-much, endings-that-destroyed-me, gorgeous-covers, urban-fantasy, favorite-characters, cinnamon-rolls, otps, rep, new-releases-2020, historical

thank goodness i only have two more days to wait for the sequel because WHAT THE MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP WAS THAT ENDING

15 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2022 human rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-hype-is-strong-with-this-one, historical, read-in-2021, retellings, swooooon, cover-love, drama-to-rival-my-mothers-soaps, my_preciousss, audiobook, mystery-or-thriller

what is there to say about this book that hasn't already been said? even if i were to sing it's praises for a week i wouldn't be able to get to the crux of what makes this book so enjoyable.

i absolutely adored this, from the characters and their relationships (!!!), to the historical setting, and especially the plot. everything was developed just right and written so well that i was completely drawn in and immersed the entire time i listened to this book. AND ALL OF THE ROMEO AND JULIET REFERENC ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2021 inês rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021

"Memories were beastly little creatures, after all - they rose with the faintest whiff of nourishment."

These Violent Delights takes you on a grimly journey through 1920's Shanghai - with a fantasy twist to it. Its intrigue is filled with political and cultural endeavours, with its main theme being a dangerous chase after a mysterious monster.

Many other deals decorate the narrative well: the true cost of colonization and globalization, the widespread tool of different political and gang partie ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 05, 2020 Kelsea Janae Hamm rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020-reads, series-and-trilogys-read-2020-2021, series-duologys-trilogys-read-in-20

A Romeo And Juliet Retelling Yes Please !!!!

I Loved This Book And I Cannot Wait For The Sequel I Wanna Know What Happens Next

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2021 Lyn rated it liked it

+ the author's take on colonialism
+ a historically correct depiction of Shanghai
+ the realistic depiction of sexism and patriarchy
+ the politics and family drama
+ the writing is breathtakingly beautiful omg
- the slow pacing didn't work well for me. It diminished the angst and yearning between Romeo and Juliet from the original play and I couldn't care less about them.
- I couldn't care less about the side characters either.
- Fantasy? Hm. Romance? Hm. The book is more like a historical gangster d ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 20, 2021 Rachel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

After nearly a month I finished this out of sheer stubborness

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 05, 2021 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, mystery-thriller, dark, historical, romance, retellings, east-asia, aesthetic-covers, haunting, owned

As someone who had lived in Shanghai for while, I wanted to read something set in the city that I called home for more than half of my life so I decided to pre-order These Violent Delights. In addition to the fact the story is set in Shanghai, the premise also piqued my interest: this is a dark & clever Romeo & Juliet retelling, set in 1926 Shanghai with a lot of gangsters and political tension. While it's marketed for YA, These Violent Delights contains a lot of elements reminiscent to urban fa As someone who had lived in Shanghai for while, I wanted to read something set in the city that I called home for more than half of my life so I decided to pre-order These Violent Delights. In addition to the fact the story is set in Shanghai, the premise also piqued my interest: this is a dark & clever Romeo & Juliet retelling, set in 1926 Shanghai with a lot of gangsters and political tension. While it's marketed for YA, These Violent Delights contains a lot of elements reminiscent to urban fantasy and horror - so it's really important to be aware of the potential triggering content (as written in Chloe Gong's official review) in the book if you decide to read it.

In the following paragraphs, I'm going to summarise a couple things that really stood out to me & what I would want to see more in the sequel:

+ I think the diversity representationof the characters and historical research are very well done in These Violent Delights. Shanghai in the 1920s was a very metropolitan and international city - and there are cultural references + context laced throughout in a way that felt believable. This cultural breadth is also shown in the diverse cast of characters.

+ I'm normally not a really big fan when there are a lot of horror elements in a novel, but I didn't really mind them in These Violent Delights. These elements eventually made a lot of sense and I am also fascinated by how Chloe Gong made the connection between the monster and the political tension. While the story is set in historical Shanghai, the underlying messages of factionalisation and prejudice resonates deeply in the current political atmosphere. In terms of the writing, I found the novel quite easy to get into so kudos to Chloe Gong for instilling important central themes without overcomplicating the proses!

+ Character-wise, I found Juliette Cai's narrative quite intriguing. I know that YA tend to recycle enemies to lovers trope a lot, but throughout the novel I grow to admire not only her fearless personality but also her fascinating moral complexity. If there's a thin, thin line which draws the boundary between love and hate I think Juliette Cai's narrative demonstrated this really well: her internal struggle of choosing between her family vs Roma is also something that gave me an impression.

- I personally think a few chapters in the first half of the novel could be trimmed. While I appreciated and applaud the cultural background given in these chapters, I felt like there were not enough action (for a mystery novel) at the start e.g. I initially had to push hard to get to that point where everything started picking up. The pacing do pick up later in the novel and I found it hard to put down since then.

- While the mention of the madness was brought up multiple times throughout These Violent Delights, I think a few could be cut to provide more elements of surprise.

- On the other side of token, I feel like there could be a bit more emotional explorations between Roma and Juliette to provide a smoother transition from enemies to lovers. While I found Juliette's narrative gripping I didn't feel quite the same with Roma's POV so hopefully that's something I want to see more in the sequel.

Nevertheless, this is a very solid debut novel. The best retelling is the one where an author makes use of the essence of their inspirations and creates something entirely new: These Violent Delights qualifies as one of these retellings which introduces us to the fantasy alternate historical Shanghai. For its diversity and gripping themes, I'll definitely look out for the sequel! ...more

1 like · Like · see review