These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (These Violent Delights # 1)

Young Adult. Historical Fiction. Romeo and Juliet. Shanghai. 

Started: 1 October

Finished: 7 October

Summary:

    After four years in America, Juliette Cai is ready to fully take on her position as heir to the Scarlet Gang. Though her entitled cousin is jockeying for her spot and her father isn't relying on her as much as she wishes, Juliette knows that she is what's best for the future of her gang, and is committed to earning it. Then Juliette witnesses the aftereffects of a mysterious illness causing people to rip out their own throats, and is tasked by her father with figuring out what the cause is. But Juliette's search forces her to suddenly come face-to-face with Roma Montagov-- heir of The White Roses, the Scarlet Gang's biggest rivals — and her ex-lover. 

    In this rich story that explores the story of Romeo and Juliet — if neither of them had died — in 1920's Shanghai, Chloe Gong creates a world teeming with possibility and monsters. 

Thoughts:

    This book wasn't super exciting to me at first, but I ended up liking it quite a lot. 1920's Shanghai was violent and gleaming, and I really liked the gang war. Juliette was also super likeable — murderous, yay — which was cool, because sometimes YA protagonists get very basic. It wasn't that Juliette wasn't predictable, just that she wasn't predictable in the same way as everyone else. She was angry and a killer and ambitious without feeling guilt for it, which was nice. The side characters were also great. Trans rep, a gay relationship that I'm very excited to see finish playing out in the next book, and almost a full cast of characters of poc: yay representation. Roma/ the romance was the one part of the book that I thought was not good. He was super basic and there was no real chemistry, which was disappointing. The ending was wild, though, and I really really want to see where the next book goes.

Words:

     Dendrites (n) extensions of nerve cells

     Dorogaya (n, Russian) sweetheart 

     Pastoral (adj) associated with country life 

     Amalgamation he) the action, process, or result of combining or uniting