This was such a fantastic way to bring the entire Shanghai world to an end!

Full of action, twists, and tension, Foul Heart Hunstman was such a fun read!

I absolutely loved the appearance of past characters and to see the series come together as a whole.

It truly couldn’t have ended in a better way! I loved it so much!!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster CA for the chance to read and review :)

“You are nobody.”
“Excuse me?” A wave of irrational anger overrode the pain of her landing. “I am your wife.”

4.5 stars

The stakes are high at the beginning of this conclusion to the Secret Shanghai universe and I was on the edge of my, metaphorical, seat the entire time.

"If anyone played their hand wrong here, this was international war."

There were so many things going on, so many bad guys and plot lines, but I wasn’t confused so that shows how well everything was laid out in this book.

I loved Rosalind and Orion, Fortune and the Huntsman. Every time we learned more about the villain, I won’t say who because of spoilers for Foul Lady Fortune, I wanted to both strangle them and cry for Orion.

I loved Celia and Oliver, they were adorable, and Oliver’s sacrifice in the middle (not sacrifice as I’m dead though 😅), perfection. I think that was absolutely amazing and it showed Celia that she was wanted and loved.

Alisa, Phoebe, and Silas were also great characters, perfectly spy-worthy and drama filled. I would like a series on Alisa next please 🙏

So, if you like:

Murder and mayhem
Amnesia-ed MMC
Demisexual, Bi, & Trans reps
Spies and assassins
A country at war
Betrayal and twists ALL THE TIME
A love story that will push you off a cliff

Then read this book. I mean…don’t start with this book, start with These Violent Delights, but you’ll get here eventually AND THEN you can read this book!

There are also some long-awaited cameos in this book and yes, I loved every second of them.

💘Foul Heart Huntsman💘

When I was approved for an eARC of Foul Heart Huntsman I was ecstatic! I read Lady Foul Fortune at the beginning of the year and quite enjoyed it so I was excited to see how the story would end. Since this is a sequel I will keep this quite brief to avoid spoiling any of the series.

Foul Heart Huntsman had a lot of exciting moments but there were also parts of it that really dragged. It felt at times like a long book. However, I enjoyed spending more time with the characters of the Secret Shanghai gang and going along with them on their story full of twists and turns.

Thankfully I found a really detailed plot summary for Lady Foul Fortune because I forgot how much plot had been jammed into that book so it was a bit hard to follow FHH at times. I should have re-read LFF first but I just had no desire to at this time, especially so soon after my first read through. I sometimes felt like this duology had too many different plot points going. The conclusion of the series was quite satisfying. However, there was one minor epilogue eye roll, but it was a plot point I don’t particularly enjoy in any book.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and fun read. If you’ve been enjoying the Secret Shanghai series I would recommend picking this duology up. I think I personally preferred the original duology more.

A huge thank you to @netgalley and @simonschusterca for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Foul Heart Huntsman is out on September 26th!

⭐4/5 stars⭐

I will read anything that Chloe Gong writes at this point. They way that she takes her story base from something we have knowledge of, and twists it into this incredible book, I am a huge fan. She can do no wrong in my eyes.

We have two spies, one carries a deep secret ... maybe the other one does too? There are so many sides and so much going on - buckle up for a great read!

Full of action and intrigue all the way to the end; Foul Heart Huntsman is a worthy successor to Foul Lady Fortune.

It was lovely to see Rosalind and Orion and all their friends fighting for each other instead of fighting each other because of their differing politics. That being said, it dragged a little in the middle as there were just so many competing subplots. However, I did enjoy the ending even if it was a little neat. They all deserved a break, good lord.

4/5 stars

Something about this didn't work for me. I really enjoy the world and characters, but there was almost something flat in the writing. I was excited for the many reveals but they didn't deliver when they happened for me. I am happy that Roma and Juliet came back from the dead officially but even they didn't save it for me

I will always love Chloe Gong. This second installment of this series has only convinced me to remain steadfast in my love for her.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

*SPOILERS BELOW*

So overall, Chloe Gong has a huge issue with undermining her own narrative through plot twists to pander to her readers. We’ve seen this with the OG Violent Delights duology, Immortal Longings, and now with Foul Heart Huntsman — which is an absolute disappointment because I actually did enjoy FLF.

While there are a lot of examples I could talk about, in particular, I think bringing back RomaJuliette was an absolute mistake for her narrative because it really undermined the stakes and the emotional weight of her book. In this book, they only appear a handful of times just to act as convenient plot devices for the main cast of characters. They come and go with seemingly little mention by the MCs and they just feel quite out of place tonally considering the slight genre shift between this duology and these violent delights.

This also translates to a wider issue with the cast. It’s quite exasperating continuously picking up on the paper-thin veneer between a character and their intended purpose in the book, making them feel incredibly one-dimensional and unvaried.

In addition, to echo several other reviewers, the book was WAY too long for the plot that it did include, making for a boring and honestly forgettable read. This consequently made it a slow-moving and humdrum reading experience and I honestly ended up skimming the last 15%.

And while Gong has great ideas, the execution always falls flat. To preface, the end of FLF essentially set up the next book through Orion’s kidnapping/brainwashing surprise plot but I was really disappointed by how his character arc was handled in FHH. Specifically, his character arc really didn’t go anywhere, the effects of the brainwashing had very little implications for the overall narrative before this plotline was switched for an amnesia one.

However, that’s not to say there weren’t elements of FHH that I did enjoy. Separate from every other writing aspect, I think Gong DOES have talent in her prose and it does reflect her skill through her novels.

I also think overall Gong did a decent job balancing her large cast of characters and their respective POVs (though it was kind of frustrating how she would bounce between almost every character’s POV, leading to minimal character development).

Overall, this will definitely satisfy a large majority of readers but personally, I can finally say Gong is not for me.

This book was everything I wanted from it and more. It far far exceeded my expectations and I could be more happy with it.

This book perfectly concludes the story of the characters from These Violent Delights and Foul Lady Fortune. Seemly blending the two together for a great conclusion to the Secret Shanghai world.

I enjoyed These Violent Delights with the banter and childhood romance between Juliette and Roma. But I just loved Rosalind and Orions story so much more. The undying love and loyalty they have for each other. After everything that happened to them they never gave up on each other.

Sometimes with having such a large cast of characters it’s hard to make a satisfying ending for each of the characters without having some plot holes in the story. But Chloe executes a perfect ending for each of the characters that is a happy ending and makes perfect sense based on where they all end up.

I’m gonna miss reading about this characters but I cannot wait for the new stories Chloe Gong has coming. And I can always come back and reread them over and over again.

I cannot recommend this book or these series enough. Defiantly give them a chance and check them out if you enjoy fantasy, historical fiction, plot twists, romance that doesn’t take away from the plot and greatly developed characters.

[arc review]
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Foul Heart Huntsman releases September 26, 2023

2.5

With Orion subjected to the mind control of his mother’s experiments, and Rosalind’s cover blown as Fortune, the Nationalists no longer have a use for her in the covert branch and are looking to cut their losses with High Tide.
Grasping at straws to be of use and to reunite herself with her fake spouse whom her heart uncharacteristically pains for, Rosalind essentially volunteers herself to go on a national tour.
This then puts into place a new mission for Oliver and Celia to trail after Rosalind, in the hopes that she’ll lead them to Orion.
At the same time, Silas is ever furiously working to uncover the identity of Priest, and Phoebe has orders to look further into her mother.

It feels very bittersweet to have concluded the Secret Shanghai series… that being said, this felt like a <I>filler</I> book and not a <I>grand finale</I> book.

FHH didn’t quite have that gripping energy that I wanted. The pacing was slow, and the stakes felt quite low as well — even though Oliver sacrificed his safety for Celia, and Orion’s memories were wiped — there just wasn’t enough urgency.

As readers, we’ve known that Roma and Juliette survived, so I was really just biding my time until the big reunion of the original TVD cast happened (very lackluster unfortunately).
With the events written in LVC, and the mission where BenMars were tasked in locating Lourens, I really thought they would have played a more integral part to the story, but alas, this was still very much focused on Rosalind/Celia/Alisa/the Hong siblings.

I mentioned this in my review for the short story of Priest & Shepard, but I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that Phoebe and Silas were so incredibly close to each other, yet he wasn’t able to pick up on her code name?

I just expected so much more from this and it felt so half baked with silly logic thrown in here and there like the fact that because Rosalind and Celia have the same blood type, and Celia and Oliver have the same blood type, it <I>must</I> mean that Rosalind and Orion have the same blood type, too. Like how fucking stupid? Sure there could be a chance, but it doesn’t always work that way. Not all siblings share the same blood types.

So much of the "plot" hinged on Rosalind/Celia and Orion/Oliver doubling as look-alikes, and it became so muddled!! And the fact that they're both siblings dating siblings.......

I hate to say it, but Gong really sacrificed quality for quantity in 2023 :/

★★★★★
-
I missed the characters so much, this was such a wild ride! Every part of the book had me sitting at the edge of my seat, there was a lot of action going on which kept me interested and wanting to continue. I love that there were many different POVs, usually it would be confusing for me if a book has too many POVs, but this wasn't confusing for me at all. I love all the different POVs because we get to see the romances happening between the other characters. The little tidbits of Silas and Phoebe's romance had me kicking and screaming, I need more of them 😭

I don't want to spoil, but I screamed when certain characters made reappearances in this book. The last bit scared me, but otherwise I'm very satisfied by the ending! Foul Heart Huntsman is the perfect conclusion to the Secret Shanghai universe (all though I won't oppose to Chloe Gong writing more spin-offs in the future), I'm sad that it's time to say goodbye to the characters 😞

💌 thank you simon and schuster for sending me the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!