“They speak of Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai as the ones who dared to dream.”

Shanghai teeters on the edge of a civil war. Power is slipping between the gangs, the nationalists, and the communists. Workers are beginning to rise up and demand to be treated fairly. As heirs to the gangs that rule Shanghai, Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov must find a way to work together if they have any hope of saving the city they love. Juliette sacrificed her relationship with Roma to save him from the blood feud and to ensure that her cousin will not usurp her place as heir. She murdered his best friend in cold blood to ensure that he would hate her, his hatred might not be so horrible if she was guilty of the crime. 

Roma is still in shock from the death of Marshall and he knows it’s his fault for letting Juliette back into his life. He’s determined to avenge his friend and secure the White Flower’s power even if it means killing the girl he hates and loves.

Juliette must ensure Roma’s cooperation if they hope to destroy the new monsters in the city. Communists are pushing the workers to uprising, nationalists are poised to take control of the city, and the gangsters face total annihilation. To restore the city they both love, Roma and Juliette must put aside their differences and fight together, even if it destroys them both in the process. 

The second book in Chloe Gong’s These Violent Delights duology is a thrilling end to Roma and Juliette’s story. The scene building in this book is as incredible as in the first one, the way Gong makes the city of Shanghai seem alive is amazing. All of the characters have amazing development throughout this book; Juliette is slowly starting to think that maybe she doesn’t have to be everything her parents want, that maybe she doesn’t have to do everything for the Scarlet Gang. Roma also had lots of good character development, he grows a lot and learns that friendships and love can be more important than power. Kathleen and Rosalind were actually some of my favourite characters though, they grow and change so much, Kathleen starts to stop pretending to be someone else and stands up for what she thinks is right and Rosalind faces a lot of challenges but comes up stronger on the other side. There are also lots of twists you’ll never see coming. Overall it was a really incredible book and I recommend it for everyone.