‘“I cannot fathom it,” she breathed. “You destroy me and then you kiss me. You give me a reason to hate you and then you give me a reason to love you. Is this a lie or a truth? Is this a ploy or your heart reaching for me.”’

These Violent Delights was a spectacular reatelling of Romeo and Juliet, and easily outdoes it’s predecessor. The story itself is set in the lush world of 1920s Shanghai, where gangs, criminals, and new blood rule the city. The plot follows Roma and Juliette, past teenage lovers, and each heirs to their respective rival gangs. Juliette has returned to Shanghai after her departure from the city many years ago—and she’s determined to finally have her father take her seriously as the true heir to their gang. Roma, the son of the rival gang and Juliette’s past lover has been tasked by his father to figure out the mysterious deaths happening in Shanghai. People are killing themselves, and Roma has decided to team up with his lost love Juliette to figure out these strange deaths. Part mystery, part romance, part historical fiction and hints of fantasy, These Violent Delights had many things to live up to, with all these combined genres. But it did so beautifully (and if you have been my friend or following me, you know that I absolutely despise the original Romeo and Juliet story).

I loved so very many things about this story. The world of mobsters in this time-period was so captivating, and the gang politics (especially with the Chinese culture and how it differed from American gang politics) was so interesting to read. Having Juliette be the heir to the Scarlett gang, yet still being the underdog because of her gender, and her having to work towards becoming the heir was also so badass. I also adore stories set in the 1920s period and although this isn’t set in the typical sort of 1920s setting (usually New York or Los Angeles), Juliette is still a flapper girl through-and-through. It was very interesting to read about the differences in cultures as well in this time period between America and China, and especially how Juliette grapples with her Chinese heritage and the new American identity she inherited because she was sent to live there for so long.

The romance in here is also flawless. As I said earlier, I hate the original Romeo and Juliet, and one of the main reasons is because I just hate Romeo and Juliet together (which is…quite literally the entire plot of the story lol). There is no chemistry between them, only lust and suddenly they will drop everything just so they can fuck…it’s just goofy to me. And then they commit suicide all because they want the O. It’s not a tragedy it’s just fucking stupid…but in here it’s less fucking stupid !!! (Shakespeare is probably rolling are in his grave rn, I’m sorry bestie). Roma and Juliette actually manage to have really good chemistry, and a whole lot of sexual tension. We get multiple knife to the throat/gun to throat scenes and it’s beautiful. If these two decided they’d commit suicide just to fuck…well they have my vote. I really think these two work so well together because of their past even if we don’t get to much of it at all. Usually that irks me when authors try to build relationships off of past ones where we see no flashbacks, but it really didn’t bother me. This was just really believable, and you could tell how much these two yearned for the other, but knew that their duty, gangs and family came first (which was definitely a striking difference to the original Romeo and Juliet and I very much enjoyed it). The way Roma acted towards Juliette, and the fact they both just couldn’t stop talking about how the other adored each other in each POV. I genuinely haven’t read this great of a romance in such a long time.

I’m honestly kind of mad at myself for waiting so long to read this. This was my most anticipated book of 2020, and I’m just getting around to it in 2023…like girl you need to get your priorities straight. Anyways, I loved this book, and I was literally crying for almost the entire last half of the book. This was so good, and I cannot wait to read the sequel, but I just know the pain is going to be so raw.

➸ 5 stars
★ listened on audio