Thank you so much @NetGalley and @hodderstoughton for gifting me a copy of Our Violent Ends by @thechloegong in exchange for an honest review.

🇷🇺 Mini Review 🇨🇳
Y’all!!! These books were soo dang good! I know I’m pretty late to the party with this duology, but I’m so glad I finally read it. 🥰

I don’t want to say too much since it is the last book in the duology. I hate spoilers, so I wouldn’t want to give anything away, especially if you’re like me and haven’t picked this series up yet. But I will say that I absolutely loved it!!

I actually had no idea that this was a Romeo and Juliet retelling. This may be the first one I’ve read, and it’s my new favorite kind! I now want to cuddle up in my blanket and watch Leo and Danes as Romeo and Juliet. 🥰

I loved Our Violent Ends. It was the perfect sequel, and I loved it a tad more than the first. The characters are so dang good! 😍😍

Okay, reasons why you have to read this series asap…
✨The story takes place in the 1920s in Shanghai.
✨There is a blood feud between a Chinese gang, Scarlets, and a Russian gang, the white flowers.
✨Roma is the heir of the White flowers, and Juliet is the heir of the Scarlets.
✨It’s a friggin Romeo and Juliet retelling!!!
✨These characters are so good!
✨There’s some crazy mayhem going on that needs to be figured out.
✨You will constantly be on the edge of your seat since you know how the original ends.

If you love Romeo and Juliet then I def recommend this series to you!!!!
I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was the perfect ending to this duology! The first book fell a little flat for me in places but I could not put this one down at all it was just go go go the whole time. I love every one of these characters and each of their stories was so amazing to read about.

The absolute yearning between Roma and Juliette killed me the entire time. It was so beautiful and there were so many good lines and scenes between that were the perfect amount of angst that I love.

The writing was even more beautiful than the first one. The setting is so aesthetic and original. The characters are so distinct and individual that you’re attached to each one.

I will always recommend this duo to people and I cannot wait to read what’s next from Chloe!

This book was a wonderful and thrilling ending to Our Violent Delights. It was a fast paced page turner that kept the reader captivated and engaged throughout. Chloe Gong is such a wonderful writer despite her young age, and you know she has a bright and successful career ahead of her.

I cannot wait to read what she writes next, and continue on following her career.

Our Violent Ends, by author Chloe Gong, is the second and final installment in the authors These Violent Delights duology. This story picks up 4 months after the ending of These Violent Delights. The story once again alternate's between Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov heirs of the Scarlet Gangs and White Flowers. The blood feud between gangs has taken a toil on everyone involved, but Juliette can't let her guard down with her cousin Tyler chirping at her heels waiting for her to make a mistake that will bring her down.

On the other hand, Roma is seeing blood after the loss of Marshall Seo at the hands of Juliette. It had been only three months, but Roma has changed. From the bodies piling up farther and farther inward into Scarlet territory lines, as if the White Flowers were testing the limits they could encroach upon. It was unlikely that Roma had sought out Scarlets specifically for vengeance killings—he didn’t have it in him to go that far—but each time a conflict erupted, the message left behind was clear: This is your doing, Juliette.

Ever since the city caught wind of a confrontation between Roma and Tyler Cai, the blood feud has shot into its most terrible heights. Neither gang needed to worry about their numbers being picked off by the madness anymore. Now the White Flowers were pressing down on the Scarlet Gang with a renewed urgency, and the Scarlet Gang were fighting back just as hard. They had to. No matter how carefully the Scarlet's cooperated with the Nationalists, every single person in this city could feel something shifting, could see the gatherings grow larger and larger each time the Communists attempted a strike.

Then comes the blackmail letters saying that the blackmailer has the recipe to once again unload the monster who terrorized Shanghai and put everyone on edge. It isn't just one gang over the other that the letters are being sent. It's both of them which finally leads to a semi-armistice between the gangs with Juliette and Roma taking the lead. But someone doesn't want them to be successful. At every turn, there is someone there to thwart their efforts. To make matters even more disturbing for Juliette, her cousins Kathleen and Rosalind are blurring the lines as to which path they will eventually take.

There are many different sub-plots going on in this book. There's multiple power struggles, multiple love stories, and multiple battles and enemies. The ending was also a huge disappointment, not very memorable. I kept waiting for the author to say, Just Kidding! But with a title like Our "Violent" Ends, you can pretty much expect anything to happen which it does. Again, I say this, the author does a fantastic job of incorporating actually history into this series. She really understands the nuisances of how the people of Shanghai, and China as a whole, were dealing with both Communists and Nationalists wanting to take over the country and kick out all foreigners who split the city and country into chunks of their own.

We are not worthy of Chloe Gong’s impeccable writing style. The sequel to TVD did NOT disappoint. More action packed, more emotional, more powerful… I hate that the story is over, but I’ll cherish these books for years to come, in this life and the next. 🖤

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was hooked by Roma, Juliette, Ben, Marshall, and Celia when I read These Violent Delights earlier this year and it surprised me because I am not usually a Romeo and Juliette fan. The world sucked you in and the detail was wonderful! I did feel like there was a bit in the middle where it dragged but the tension between the MCs and then Marshall's whole situation kept me invested. Overall, the characters kept hold of my heart and the ending was satisfying!!

Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights was one of the buzziest debuts of 2020, an innovative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in a version of1920s Shanghai that's teeming with gangsters, monsters, and complex politics. To say that expectations for its sequel were sky-high is something of an understatement - but I'm here to confirm that Our Violent Ends will delight everyone who loved this series' first installment.

Though OUr Violent Ends is a Romeo and Juliet retelling - and does incorporate many key elements from Shakespeare's tragic love story in surprisingly smart and interesting ways - Gong's sequel shines when it strays from the proscribed path.

This sequel includes perspectives from characters beyond Roma and Juliette and is at its best when using secondary figures like Rosalind and Kathleen to explore larger questions of family and assimilation in the story. (If only because it acknowledges that Juliette is afforded a certain level of freedom and agency as a rich gangland heiress that the other women in this story are not.)  White Flower member Benedikt Montagov is also given a satisfying personal subplot of his own, and even Roma's sister Alisa gets several moments of her own to shine.

Our Violent Ends also deftly weaves in a story of revolution alongside its gangland drama as the workers' protest against imperialist rule and gang occupation swells in numbers and the Nationalist Army draws ever closer to Shanghai, intending to unite the country by force if necessary. And as Roma and Juliette's relationship grows ever more complicated, they'll have to decide not just what they truly want, but what they're willing to sacrifice to get - and keep - it.

Gong's writing remains as rich and evocative as it was in her first novel, and her incorporation of perspectives beyond her lead romance makes for a story that feels much broader in scope than its predecessor, turning Our Violent Ends into a story that's about more than just Romeo and Juliet.  I A romance that's also a political drama, an unflinching critique of imperialistic colonialism, and an exploration of the socioeconomic consequences the Romanovs and Cais are helping to visit upon the very people they're claiming to protect, this is truly one of the most thoughtful and original takes on Shakespeare's classic tragedy that you will find on bookstore shelves right now. Plus, the ending is chef's kiss perfect: Bittersweet, hopeful, and a deftly-crafted end to a story that nevertheless feels like it will continue well beyond the lives of these characters.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Simon and Schuster! All opinions are my own!

Shanghai is still under siege, and Roma and Juliette are struggling to stay afloat in the midst of the chaos. What will it take for them to protect one another? What will it cost them in the end?

I don't even know where to begin about how much I love this book! The world that is created is so vibrant and dazzling that I really did feel like I was experiencing it alongside Roma and Juliette. Everything about this book just grabs you and pulls you right into Shanghai, and I never wanted to leave.

And please don't get me started on how much I love the characters. They are so real and raw that it's hard to not love them. Everything about their stories was relatable, even for someone who is not a 1920s Shanghai gangster. They had so much heart and soul, and there was nothing I wanted more than to race through Shanghai beside of them and protect them at all costs.

I adored everything about this duology, and I can't wait to see what Chloe Gong writes next!

If you like fantasy, you will not want to miss out on this duology!

I definitely enjoyed this book more than the first. It made the comparisons to Romeo and Juliet make sense. I think it was a worthy conclusion to such a sought after series. I am excited to see where this young author goes in her career!

Chloe Gong is back with the breathtaking conclusion to her bestselling debut These Violent Delights. There is no doubt that this sequel lives up to its name; Our Violent Ends is a deliciously violent, thrilling end to the series.

I read These Violent Delights in late December 2020, and even though I remember enjoying it, most of the details were a blur in my mind before I started this sequel. (Except, of course, that ending!) So I went into Our Violent Ends carefully, wary that I wouldn’t be able to understand what was going on. However, I didn’t need to worry; right from the first few pages, I was enthralled. The sequel provides just the right amount of background for readers of These Violent Delights to eagerly slip back into the story. What’s more, Our Violent Ends takes everything I loved from These Violent Delights and goes even further to perfect these elements to an even higher level. It’s obvious that Gong has grown as a writer, and that makes for a captivating sequel.

Our Violent Ends unfolds precariously, its plot a nerve-racking, rapid series of events that explode in a final climax. I found These Violent Delights to be slow in terms of pacing, but I was surprised by how well the pacing is done in this sequel. I stayed up late every night reading Our Violent Ends, promising myself just one more chapter until I found myself reading hours past dark. This is a story that unfolds with so much tension that you want to absorb it all as quickly as possible, and I wish I could experience it again for the first time. I also love how balanced it is; I either found myself laughing or tearing up while reading because the humor is as perfectly written as the darker parts of the novel.

Yet the two hearts of Our Violent Ends, the ones that propel the story forward, are without a doubt its characters and setting. Frankly, I would die for the entire main cast of These Violent Delights. Gong knows how to write perfect characterizations. The character’s motivations are clear on every single page, so much that you can tangibly feel their emotions weighing down on you. There is Juliette Cai, who must keep a truth from surfacing at the sake of her own reputation. A struggle I had with These Violent Delights was the fact that I found Juliette a little underdeveloped, but in Our Violent Ends, much of the story is from her perspective, and her internal conflict really shines.

And then there is her lover, her enemy, Roma Montagov, who has faced a massive betrayal that goes against everything he believed. Benedict is in even further grief, but his grief has been whittled into sharp anger. Kathleen is learning more about herself and realizing where her true loyalties lie, and Rosalind becomes a sort of a mystery until more about her own motivations is revealed. And two of the most precious characters: Marshall, who must stay in hiding and watch his loved ones grieve him, and Alisa, who throughout the entire story all I wanted to do was give a hug to! These individuals and their tangled webs of relationships are the heartbeat of this novel. When reading Our Violent Ends, I was constantly filled with a warm love for them, not only one or two but the entire cast.

This duology is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, and I can say without even having read the original classic that Gong’s rendition perfectly captures the tumultuous feelings of the classic. Even though I didn’t love Roma and Juliette’s romance as much as I thought I would in the first book of the duology, their romance arc in this novel had me gasping and crying. Gong also uses many of my favorite romance tropes with Roma and Juliette, which were an absolute delight to read! I also adored Benedikt and Marshall’s romance, their scenes together were so precious.

But if the characters are the forces that move everything forward, the setting is the rich backdrop, the lifeblood. Shanghai in 1927 may not be alive in a real sense, but is definitely a vibrant entity, a city that lives and breathes on its own. An element I loved from These Violent Delights were chapters in the omniscient point of view that centered the setting, almost allowing it to have its own point of view, so I was glad to see that these continued in Our Violent Ends!

And the setting is only added onto by the commentary on politics in Shanghai during this time period. This was heavily present in These Violent Delights, and it is all the more there in Our Violent Ends; with this sequel, we see the gangs losing power and other groups taking higher positions in the city, groups like white foreigners. What is even more pressing than the foreigners, though, are the divided Nationalists and Communists, and their tensions that spark great danger. All of these warring groups rip the city apart in a plot that includes real historical events like the Shanghai Massacre.

The only thing that kept me from rating this book a full 5 stars was the ending. While, yes, it was every bit the wild, heart wrenching conclusion that I expected, I was also left expecting a little more. A few plot threads felt unresolved and rushed, so I would have loved to have a lengthier epilogue that answered some of my questions about what really happened.

My small issues with the ending aside, this sequel demonstrates Gong’s talent, making me even more excited for what she publishes in the future. Our Violent Ends as a whole has so much to offer, from a heartbreaking lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, a crew of characters that each feel so real, political conflict against the backdrop of 1920s Shanghai, and a crew of characters will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

A masterpiece. I am broken, but I am okay with that. Such a beautiful ending to a beautiful duology!

“There will be hatred. There will be war. The country will fight itself to pieces. It will starve its people, ravage its land, poison its breath. Shanghai will fall and break and cry. But alongside everything, there has to be love - eternal, undying, enduring.”

For readers who loved These Violent Delights, you will equally love this. While the monster returns and Roma and Juliette must team up again, this book feels anything but formulaic. The stakes are higher, the intrigue more intense and the historical setting takes center stage. While I usually avoid tropes, I am here for all of them in These Violent Ends: enemies to lovers, spies and intrigue, drama and insider betrayals, secret agendas and unpredictable allies, faked deaths, reinvention of a Shakespeare classic, the full immersion in the 20’s Shanghai political upheaval and monsters wielded as assassins with a Jekyll and Hyde quality. I. Am. Here. For. It. All of it. This book is so good it encourages a reread of the original to decide which of the two is better. I appreciated the development of supporting characters Katherine, Rosalind, Benedikt and Marshall, the cinematic feel and focus on people deciding who they want to be in the world when burdened by expectations, responsibilities, and tragedy. Not Just forbidden love, drama and violence but also razor sharp, smart and insightful. An absolutely fabulous read. Gong’s writing is both beautiful and engaging. I am an absolute fool for a great genre mashups in historical settings featuring strong but flawed characters fighting unthinkable evil. This duology is now part of my favorite collection that already includes The Diviners and Dread Nation. Put this and any upcoming books from Chloe Gong on autobuy for your personal and teen library collections.

CW: violence, depression, faked suicide

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon Teen for the opportunity to preview this title.

I loved These Violent Delights. But I adored Our Violent Ends. While in These Violent Delights, I was more obsessed with the characters, I was equally obsessed with the characters AND plot in Our Violent Ends. It truly was the best of both worlds. Simply put, Our Violent Ends is one of my top favorite books of this year.

Like I said, I was obsessed with the characters from very early on in book one. After how that book ended, I had no doubt that this book was going to hurt them and me in ways I could only imagine. I was correct. It only occurred to me part way through that I was indeed reading a Romeo and Juliet retelling that could end in a number of possible ways, which made me incredibly anxious the rest of the book.

We hit the ground running in Our Violent Ends. There's a lot of build up in the first book that allowed for this one to take off and pull me in immediately. I didn't want to put it down from the moment I began. The angst was on point. The plot was engaging. The characters were phenomenal. At this moment, I truly have no negatives I can think of regarding this book (hence why it's a five star read for me).

Another thing I noticed while reading this book was that it was so quotable and full of beautiful writing. Yes, the story was engaging. Yes, the characters were incredibly. Yes, my emotions were at a high. But the writing itself, separate from all of that, was so beautiful. I cannot wait to reread and annotate all my favorite lines and passages once all my preordered copies arrive.

Our Violent Ends is easily one of my top favorites of this year. As sad as I am that this duology is now over, I cannot wait to revisit it in the future and I'm equally excited for Chloe's next duology featuring a character we met here. I have a few ideas as to who it could be and I am hoping that I'm correct! And while this book did hurt me in many ways, I was left at the end with feelings of awe and hope. And that was beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this, but I honestly don't think this needed to be a duology. Chloe Gong's writing is great as always, and I still loved Juliette's character, the setting, etc. And of course, the romance between Juliette and Roma is unparalleled. However, I found myself growing bored and wanting the book to be finished, which did not happen with These Violent Delights. Maybe I was just not in the right mindset or mood to fully enjoy reading this; I'm not sure. Still, I enjoyed this enough to give it four stars.

I loved this so much! While I enjoyed These Violent Delights, Gong took it up several notches for the duology’s conclusion.

In Our Violent Ends we get more banter, romance, and violence, of course! The plot kept my full attention from start to finish. My favorites romance tropes are enemies to lovers and star crossed lovers. We get both of these in this book and I was here for all of it! I didn’t know if we are getting a tragic or happy ending and was at the edge of my seat to find out!

Chloe Gong never disappoints. Our Violent Delights is, just as the title says, a delightful read. Roma, Juliette, and the rest of the characters have perfect chemistry that makes OVE so compulsively readable. Thank you for not breaking my heart too much, Chloe.

Our Violent Ends concludes the These Violent Delights duology perfectly with dramatic flair, heart-pounding suspense, and an unwavering message of hope. A perfect conclusion to the story and a perfect five star book (and less than 10% of what I read earns that rating)!

The story picks up a few months after the end of the first book and we immediately see Roma and Juliette still struggling with the fallout. The fear of the monsters and conflict within Shanghai has not ceased either. Though things seem to have returned to normal, there's tension simmering below the surface just waiting to burst free.

When the truth they dreaded turns out to be true - the monsters are back and deadlier than ever - our gang heirs team up again to take them out. But this time is different. As the return of monsters sparks the tensions between the social classes of Shanghai reaching a boiling point, the stakes are higher with their blood, loyalty, freedom, and hearts on the line.

Roma and Juliette continued to be fascinating characters and their role reversal was absolutely captivating. They both struggle with a sense of betrayal and their inability to stop loving each other was poetically beautiful, angsty, and gripping. Their loyalty to their respective gangs continued to be tested against their love for each other, but also their personal beliefs as the events of the story unfolded and it became clear there was a lot more at stake than turf wars between two gangs.

This was how you do a sequel right. I was sucked into the story from the first page and could not put it down. It kept me on the edge of my seat and my heart was in my throat, keeping me breathless, the last 25%. The expansion of the monster mystery tied in seamlessly to the conflict between the warring political parties and social unrest in the city. Something the story did incredibly well was communicate hope as a central theme. For both Roma and Juliette to dare to hope for love and for the people of Shanghai to hope for a better future.

I would recommend this duology to anyone who likes morally gray characters, enemies to lovers, scheming manipulations, and well crafted characters that will consume you.

I received an early copy of this book from the publisher and preordered my own copy. All thoughts are my own and I chose to review voluntarily.

The continuance of our doomed lovers' story begins as the last one did: with deception and betrayal, both to each other and to themselves. Roma and Juliette are forced into this game of secretly working together, harboring secrets, and risking their status within their gangs to fight a larger enemy. However, the players in this game are much larger than they could have ever imagined.

Despite knowing how this original tale ended, I was left dumbfounded by the conclusion of this version, and SHE WAS VIOLENT Y'ALL. I definitely underestimated how closely Chloe Gong would follow the classic based on the twists in the subplot, but in reality, she uses that to give our beloved characters so much more dimension. It forces you to ask yourself, what exactly are they sacrificing everything for? Is it for each other, for their gangs, for their city, or are we watching them slowly exhaust themselves and get to a point where they throw all of that out the window?

The core of this entire story is of course rooted in love, but the love Roma and Juliette have encompasses so much more than each other. Our Violent Ends sums up what it's like to love: chaotic and thrilling, while simultaneously being covered in a sense of calm through it all. All I can say is, to read or not to read?

the tensions of political unrest
Our Violent Delights is the thrilling and heartbreaking conclusion to Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights duology. Picking up in the aftermath of book one's events, the story follows Juliette and Roma as civil unrest and the threat of madness continues to loom over Shanghai. The sequel truly takes all the tension from TVD and raises the bar to another level as the cast of characters grapple with their dividing loyalties and the shifting political atmosphere of the city. So much happens but there's also this underlying sense that time is running out which makes the reading experience unforgettable.

This duology takes the themes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette and offers a fresh new commentary on the changing political ties of Shanghai with the brewing war between the Nationalists and Communists. I particularly loved this aspect of the story because we're so often painted very black and white views of socio-politics that we don't often get to explore the heart of why these drastic shifts occur. Getting to see the struggle of the people, how power is manipulative and desperate, and also the racial roles that seemingly predetermined the victors from the start, were all aspects of the story that made it more than a retelling.

fighting for hope
I cannot talk about this sequel without mentioning my absolute love for the characters. As most of the internet is aware, Roma and Juliette have such a complex (and perfect) dynamic that walks the fine line between love and hate while managing to wring all the emotions from the readers. Personally, I knew I was going to adore the duo but it was the cast of side characters that captured my heart. Marshall and Benedikt, Kathleen and Rosalind, even Lourens and dare I say Tyler - every character was able to become more developed and fleshed out and together they really brought this story even more to life.

This is a story that I know I'll be able to revisit many times. As this is a highly praised and beloved duology, I did feel the hype getting to me at times - raising my already sky-high expectations and I would love to come back in a couple years and reread the story maybe with less pressure to absolutely adore this and see how it holds up in my memory (hands down think it will blow me away the second/third/etc. time around). Chloe Gong is an absolutely masterful writer and if this duology is any indication of her talent, I absolutely cannot wait for her future works.

Don’t you love that feeling when an anticipated book soars beyond your expectations? (in a very good way) Our Violent Ends, the sequel These Violent Delights and the conclusion of the duology, does just this.

I was a bit worried about diving into Our Violent Ends having read the first book more than a year ago, and me being me with a pretty terrible memory. However, it felt easy to jump straight into OVE without even rereading the blurb of TVD. Naturally, OVE follows some important threads set up in the first book, but the sequel also takes a different enough path, plotwise, that readers don’t need to remember a ton from These Violent Delights to read Our Violent Ends.

It was, of course, great seeing our beloved and chaotic characters back in their element. The familiar characters became even more so, and you can see how the setting is a character itself and how it changes in OVE. Other (newer) characters did feel a bit two dimensional in comparison to those we got to know in TVD. Their motivations, unfortunately, didn’t entirely convince me as a reader.

I appreciated how Chloe balanced historical context with her own story. Among this history, readers witness the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers break down as a new threat arrives on the scene. Our Violent Ends is a book you might want to savor and take slowly at first, but then the plot and the tension makes you keep reading until the very end. Throughout, you’re just asking yourself, “Who’s going to survive?” “What will happen next?”

And, well, that ending shall I say.