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These Violent Delights (These Violent Delights, #1)

Chloe Gong

Start date: May 1, 2022

Finish date: May 31, 2022

Discussion: Series

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the series BOTM
[close] Won the poll for the series BOTM

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Series

* New Series- One Dark Window
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last updated Oct 28, 2025 05:06AM

* Continuing Series- Fearful by Lauren Roberts
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What Members Thought

Feb 13, 2022 Danielle rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, 2022-4-5-stars, 2022-feb-read, 2022-feb-scribd-reads, 2022-audiobook-read, 2022-read, 2022-scribd-reads

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 4.5 stars

Major plot spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.

Initial thoughts:

That was some ending. It was quite the adrenaline rush with lots of action and twists along the way. It was also very heartbreaking too. Something I hope that both Juliette and Roma come out of this together, but this being a Romeo and Juliet retelling I don’t know. It was such a sucker punch to the gut as they were ripped away from one another once more. I need to read the next one immediately because I need to know wh 4.5 stars

Major plot spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.

Initial thoughts:

That was some ending. It was quite the adrenaline rush with lots of action and twists along the way. It was also very heartbreaking too. Something I hope that both Juliette and Roma come out of this together, but this being a Romeo and Juliet retelling I don’t know. It was such a sucker punch to the gut as they were ripped away from one another once more. I need to read the next one immediately because I need to know what happens next.

Review:

What immediately drew me to this story was the fact this was a Romeo and Juliet retailing set in 1926 Shanghai. The elements of the original story was there, but there was a unique flavor it to set it apart from the original, which I really appreciated. I liked the little variants that Chloe Gong gave it to make it her own as she told the romance of Juliette and Roma. Even though this one wasn’t overly romantic, I could still feel the love between Juliette and Roman as the worked together to save their gangs from the “madness.” The longing was there. The betrayal was there. The enemies to lovers vibe was there with every interaction that they had. But with every encounter they had, the anger lessened, the truth was revealed, and love came bounding to the surface until things blew up in the end. It was angsty. It was heartbreaking. At times it was very painful as they navigated together. And I am rooting for them all the way in the next book.

Another thing that I loved was how atmospheric this story was. I felt like I was right there with them in Shanghai as they described the different cultures and settings and just the whole political field at that time. I was just immersed in it all and with each part of the city that was shown I felt even more embedded into the story. I loved all the culture that played out here. It felt very international with all the different groups like the native Chinese which was the Scarlet Gang and the Russians who were the White Flowers plus there were British and French individuals in the story and had their own parts of the city. I just liked all of those aspects explored and see how it played out in the context of the story. I also thought it was interesting with the whole communism thing coming into it and how that played a role in the story. It was a big threat for both gangs, which lead to even layers of conflict that had to be dealt with. It was just a really good overall experience with the history in the culture of Shanghai at that time. I really enjoyed that being explored.

The “madness” that was the biggest conflict reminded me so much of Now dealing with COVID. There was this contagion affecting so many people and what is spreading through Shanghai like wildfire like Covid did for the rest of the world. It was scary how similar the two things felt. Juliette and Roma were trying to stop it from affecting there are gangs that seemed be the hardest hit. Then throw in the vaccines there as well, and it eerily gave me the vibe of times that we have been living the last two years. I didn’t necessarily want read about that particular thing that has been so prominent in our current day of life. I wanted more of escape from that. I just didn’t want that vibe. Hence why I didn’t give it a five stars.

Now the “madness” was different though too. It came from a monster that released all these disgusting little bugs around the city. It was gross especially what happened when they were infected by these bugs. It was very disturbing and very hard to read at times. Though this was the driving force to getting Juliette and Roma together again, it was a lot. Something you should not read while eating.

I loved the characters of Juliette and Roma. The world that they were thrown in birth was both bloody and full of sacrifice especially when it came to their love for each other. They just wanted a better world where they could be together, but couldn’t be. So, each of them did horrible things in order to survive or save one another, leading to betrayals that left them heartbroken. They were both bad a**es in different ways and showing their strength accordingly even though they care and feel very deeply about things. They had so much heart, intelligence, and strength. I was rooting for them all the way. I want them to succeed together. They both fit each other so well. It was a tragedy that they were in this situation where they couldn’t help but get blood on their hands while trying to help their people as much as they could. They really were in a rock and a hard place on both sides even though they are both heirs to their respective gangs.

Overall, this was worth the hype that it had been given on social media. I was so glad that I decided to read this Romeo and Juliet retelling set in Shanghai in 1926. There were just so many interesting aspects between the culture, the gangs, the international feel and the whole communism aspect that is coming into play into China. I was immersed into the world very easily with just the descriptions as well as the people and the languages and just all the goings-on in the city. I found it very intriguing and interesting as the story played out. The whole “madness“ thing was a little triggering just because it reminded me so much of Covid but it was necessary to happen in order to bring Roma and Juliette back together again. It was quite the driving force and bringing them together even if their gangs refused to help one another to work together to solve this problem. It was up to Juliette and Roma to do it, which brought on a lot of feels a lot of angst, the betrayal, feelings and just pain overall as they worked together after their failed romance in the past. And there was a lot of tension which I really really enjoyed happening as they worked to solve the problem but the more time they spent together. The more feelings came up and the intensity just increased which I really really adored so much. I was pretty impressed especially by the ending. The ending just really knocked it out of the park for me. I can’t wait to read the next one and series because I need to know what happens between Roma and Juliet as well as Shanghai as a whole during this “Madness” continues on. ...more

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