#advancedreadingcopy

REVIEW: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster and Chloe Gong for destroying my week giving me a free ARC for my honest review.

My review can really be summed up into one emotional, heart-felt statement that I’ve been screaming at the top of my lungs since about Chapter 5 of These Violent Delights.

CHLOE GONG HOW VERY DARE YOU?! To have the AUDACITY to write a book so devastatingly good... I have lost many nights of sleep over this book and all of your characters now live rent-free in my head forever.

While I probably shouldn’t say this, I’m saying it anyway... Gong took Romeo and Juliet, shook it up, and just made it better.

These Violent Delights takes place in 1920’s Shanghai and revolves around Juliette Cai, the heiress of the Scarlet Gang, and Roma Montagov, the heir to the rival gang, The White Flowers. After completing her education in America, Juliette returns to Shanghai to the rumors of a monster causing madness in her streets. In order to save everything she cares about, she must team up with Roma to solve the mystery of the madness... but to do this they’ll need to get over their past love and current hatred for each other.

If you love slow burn romance, bad ass lead females (who happen to kick ass wearing dresses and a garrote wire necklace), so much diversity seamlessly and easily woven in you’ll wonder why other authors find it so difficult, mystery, and retellings... this book is most definitely for you.

But I warn you... once you come for the plot, you’ll be staying for Gong’s writing and looking forward to whatever she writes next. With descriptions like: “A boy with steel skin and a heart of glass.”, you’ll be swooning over more than the romance!

moodboard: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

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REVIEW: Crown of Bones by A.K. Wilder

I cannot tell you how much I wanted to like this book. I definitely think that Crown of Bones will be liked by many readers, but I am not one of those readers. It was extremely tough for me to get through and if I hadn’t received an ARC and hadn’t be so hopeful that I would like it, I don’t believe I would have finished it. In the end, it took me a month and a half to read, because I continually found reasons to put it down and excuses not to read. 

The pacing, characters, and ending all left much to be desired, with the only saving grace being the unique magic system and some cute moments between the love interests (although insta-love just isn’t for me, so even the romance wasn’t captivating.)

For me, it’s a SKIP IT.