These Violent Delights
Two characters find themselves drawn together by dark attraction, forbidden magic, and supernatural passion despite impossible circumstances. Danger lurks in every shadow as their connection deepens dangerously. Supernatural forces and personal desire create an addictive love story.
Everything You Need to Know About These Violent Delights
Shanghai, 1926. Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai were in love once, teenagers from rival gangs who thought they could bridge the gap between the Russian White Flowers and the Chinese Scarlet Gang. That ended badly. Now Juliette is back from four years in New York, hardened and determined to prove herself as the Scarlet Gang's heir. Roma is doing the same on his side. They hate each other. Or they are trying to.
Then people start going mad in the streets. A strange sickness spreads through Shanghai , victims claw at their own throats until insects burst from their skin. Both gangs are affected. Juliette and Roma are forced into an uneasy truce to find the source of the madness before it tears the city apart. But working together means confronting everything they buried, and the political forces surrounding them, the Nationalists, the Communists, the foreign powers carving up Shanghai, are not going to wait for them to sort out their feelings.
The setting does all the heavy lifting. 1920s Shanghai is richly drawn, the opium dens, the jazz clubs, the colonial tensions, the political factions jockeying for power. Gong blends real history into the fantasy seamlessly. The monster horror element , people literally tearing themselves apart, gives the book genuine stakes and a creeping dread that a lot of YA fantasy romance lacks.
Roma and Juliette's dynamic works because the resentment is earned. They didn't just have a misunderstanding. Real betrayal happened, and they both carry it differently. The supporting cast is strong, especially Benedikt and Marshall.
Graphic body horror (insects emerging from throats, self-mutilation during madness). Gang violence and murder. Political violence reflecting real 1920s Shanghai tensions. Character deaths. References to colonialism and its effects.
The monster in the river is real, a massive creature that parasitises people through the water supply. The insects are its larvae. Zhang Gutai, the Scarlet Gang's own Lord, is working with the foreign powers and has been enabling the spread to weaken both gangs.
The gut punch comes at the end: Roma is forced to betray Juliette to save his cousin. It mirrors their original betrayal but from the other side. Juliette's reaction , cold, furious, done, sets up the sequel perfectly. Marshall and Benedikt's subplot quietly becomes one of the most tense relationship arcs in the book.
If you are looking for a Romeo and Juliet retelling that takes the tragedy seriously, this is one of the best. Readers who loved The Last Magician, Descendant of the Crane, or The Beautiful will find a lot to like. Also a great pick for anyone who wants fantasy grounded in real historical tension rather than a secondary world.
Skip this if you want a light, swoony romance. This is dark, political, and people die.
These Violent Delights is the first of a duology. The sequel, Our Violent Ends, concludes the story. You need to read them in order. Both books are complete.
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