#These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

[samreadsalotofbooks]

Book Review 10/25/2022: These Violent Delights (SPOILERS!!)

I feel like I should start off stating that this book lives up to it’s name. It is pretty violent. There’s murder, gore, parents being abusive, gang violence, mentions of communists, just a lot of violence in general to be honest.

This novel was a spur of the moment buy in October 2021. Before this moment I’ve never heard of this book. Let alone the author. So, I went in without knowledge of what this is about. I did read the first paragraph before deciding to purchase it. That first paragraph had me hooked, so I bought it. A week or so later I found out it has a sequel.

Shanghai 1926 reimagining of Romeo & Juliet. Scarlet Gang (Chinese) versus White Flower (Russian). Cai family is Scarlet Gang. Montagov family is White Flowers. Of course there’s a blood feud between the two families with a mix of betrayal, romance, and supernatural lice like creatures.

Yeah, you read that correctly. When these lice like creatures burrows into the human, the human goes mad. This madness causes the victim to claw their throat out. It’s a concept that I hadn’t read (not that I can remember at least) before. It’s different but I liked it.

I can’t stand Juliette’s cousin Tyler. He irritated me to no end. I think he’s the only character that made my blood boil. One duo I truly loved was Marshall Seo (Korean) and Benedikt Montagov. At least I think Benedikt is a Montagov. Also up until chapter fourteen I had thought these two were in their thirties. It’s their mannerisms that led me to this conclusion. Turns out Benedikt is NINETEEN. I think Marshall is either one year younger, the same age, or one year older. I’m not 100% sure because I already forgot.

Speaking of ages I’m not sure how old Juliette is. I’m sure it’s mentioned somewhere in the book, I just can’t remember. If I did the math correctly Roma is nineteen. I admit I panicked when a semi steamy scene between Roma and Juliette happened. I still panicked even after I figured out that they’re both 18 or 19 years old. I just, I dunno, I don’t feel comfortable reading steamy scenes of characters that still have the word teen in their age, I feel so much worse when the characters are minors. I personally don’t feel comfortable about that.

That steamy scene made me tear up a bit. Just to clarify both of them did consent. It’s just the conversation they were having while they were holding each other. Four years prior Roma had some of her people killed. This is the betrayal I mentioned. Juliette confronts him about it. In that moment all he could say was he had no choice. Later on, during a second confrontation, it’s revealed that Roma was ordered, by his father, to kill Juliette. His father found out about their romance. Then he was given a choice. Attack Scarlet Gang or kill Juliette. Of course he chose to attack because he loves her too much.

The way Juliette had betrayed Roma was just as harsh. Before departing for America, she gave the address of where his mom resided to Scarlet Gang members. With that information they had gone to the address and slit the woman’s throat. To save face White Flowers told everyone that an illness killed her. For four years Roma had no idea that it was Juliette who gave the address. When she confessed to this my heart broke for Roma.

So, about supernatural stuff and madness. Turns out the lice like creatures come from a monster. When it’s revealed who the monster is and who Larkspur is I got mad at myself. The reason is because ALL THE SIGNS WERE THERE!! Somehow my brain didn’t register any of them. For real, Paul Dexter made it way too easy for Juliette to find Larkspur. Then he had the audacity to say he loves her and that all he was trying to do was impress her. Qi Ren turned out to be the monster. He seemed to accept his death in the end. This would imply that he didn’t want to hurt people. Maybe he was just following orders.

The chapter before the epilogue was intense and heartbreaking. This is when Juliette confesses her betrayal. Marshall “dies”. That destroys Benedikt. They are my favorite duo, but I wonder if there will be romance between them. I’ll find out in the sequel, I hope. Otherwise I’m gonna throw hands with the author. (Obviously that is a joke and not meant to be taken seriously.) I do hope the best for all of these guys. Except Tyler, he can step on a lego. Or I hope he steps on a lego with his bare foot.

This book was a fantastic read to me. I recommend it to the world.

[asoftepiloguemylove]

i think my body is falling in pieces i think my blood is passing me by

Micah Nemerever These Violent Delights / I.B. Vyache Excerpt 07.01.21 / Silas Denver Melvin excerpt from Grit: A Poetry Collection / Christa Wolf excerpt from Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays / Ethel Cain Family Tree (Intro) / unknown / Fiona Apple Left Alone / Richard Siken The Worm King's Lullaby / Gwen Benaway Holy Wild

i. Micah Nemerever, These Violent Nights

[ "I don't think you've ever felt anything that didn't hurt you. / We've found each other, out of everyone else in the world. Does that hurt, too?" ]

ii. I.B. Vyache, Excerpt 07.01.21

[ "It's time to forgive my hands for being hands. I'm going to hate myself a little less tomorrow. I'm going to hate myself a little less tomorrow." ]

iii. unknown

[ "have you shot a gun? is your blood authentic? is your blood authentic? is your blood authentic? can you prove it to me?" ]

iv. Christa Wolf, Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays

[ "You looked at me / (did you still see me?)" ]

v. Ethel Cain, Family Tree (Intro)

[ "The fate's already fucked me sideways / Swinging by my neck from the family tree / He'll laugh and say, 'You know I raised you better than this' / Then leave me hanging so they all can laugh at me" ]

vi. unknown

[ "I fight. I resist. It doesn't even matter what I resist; there is simply something in me that tends to resist things as they are. I have been fighting since I was very small." ]

vii. Fiona Apple, Left Alone

[ "[Chorus] / How can I ask anyone to love me / When all I do is beg to be left alone?" ]

viii. Richard Siken, The Worm King's Lullaby

[ "Someone has to leave first. This is a very old story. There is no other version of this story." ]

ix. Gwen Benaway, Holy Wild

[ "I am tired of explaining the fire, / it burns because it must." ]

[thebenediktmontagov]

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

The mc of Taming of the Shrew is Katherina Minola and Roma and Juliette’s daughter is named Katherina Montagova/Mai I’m just saying

[rainmidnight]

being in a small fandom means there aren't that many active accounts posting, and the ones that are active regularly reblog each other's stuff to the point that it's normal to see their urls on my dashboard only to find out under the suggested profiles section that i was never actually following them in the first place

[writergracethepanda]

One of my favorite things about Roma is that he simultaneously completely expects BenMars to happen and is also completely shock when Benedikt comes out to him.

[dorianlovesliterature]

I feel like we as a fandom under appreciate the fact that Marshall and Juliette have scheduled gossip sessions

[marsneedstherapy]

the real unanswered question of the secret shanghai universe is wtf happened to Lord Montagov

[lurkingsomewhereinsecretshanghai]

just something i made just now :3

Juliette :

Roma:

Benedikt:

Marshall:

Alisa:

[thatnimrodmusician]

thinking about roma "what is a montague?!" montagov and juliette "there are italian communists!" cai

[romajuliettemai]

These Violent Delights Exclusive (Letters Only)

let me know if you also want me to post the Romajuliette Christmas story! @argikiya is this good?

Art by the lovely @artbysmashley!!

[hazellevessque]

“I can excuse murdering my mom, but I draw the line at murdering my best friend.”

-Roma Montagov, at some point

[thebenediktmontagov]

juliette

benedikt after the 18384838 fake deaths

juliette and marshall

fhh spoilers

silas

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

So Chloe just posted this. Katherina has a sister named Betty. Betty Montagova. Bianca Minola. Like Taming of the shrew. I am clawing at the walls.

[duke-is-the-shit]

True love is actually when Benedikt wasn’t able to eat anything because it wasn’t made by Marshall

[writergracethepanda]

Marshall: Don't joke about murder. I was murdered once and it offends me.