This book was okay.

The premise was amazing. A Romeo and Juliet retelling in Shanghai? Yes! The Roaring 20s? Absolutely!

But I wouldn't have known this book was set in the 1920s if I didn't already know about the Communists in Russia and in China and if Juliette hadn't mentioned her "signature finger waves" in her hair 500 times. This book doesn't really describe the world around Juliette. It just plops you into it. Usually that's a fun way to get to the action, but there are things readers need to understand about this world to really feel the tension. I doubt Gong's intended YA audience is made of high school history teachers with the necessary background.

I also didn't understand the need for the "monster". There's plenty of intrigue without the unexplained magical realism. Perhaps I just don't get magical realism because I rarely find a book in the genre that's more than just okay to me. I also found the cliffhanger ending to be more of the same as the rest of the book. It didn't grab me.

But the biggest issue for me was that this is a Romeo and Juliet retelling. Where's the chemistry? I love the history that the author writes for these two characters, but my goodness, Roma needs to be fleshed out more. These two spent most of the book apart. But that' didn't build tension or longing the way I had hoped it would.

Maybe this was a case of wrong reader for the book or wrong book for the reader. It's not a bad book, so if you think 1920s Shanghai with opposing gangs and a Romeo and Juliet retelling would interest you, give this book a shot. You might love it.