The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Our Violent Ends

Series: Secret Shanghai

Author: Chloe Gong

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Romance

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

The year is 1927, and Shanghai teeters on the edge of revolution.

After sacrificing her relationship with Roma to protect him from the blood feud, Juliette has been a girl on the warpath. One wrong move, and her cousin will step in to usurp her place as the Scarlet Gang’s heir. The only way to save the boy she loves from the wrath of the Scarlets is to have him want her dead for murdering his best friend in cold blood. If Juliette were actually guilty of the crime Roma believes she committed, his rejection might sting less.

Roma is still reeling from Marshall’s death, and his cousin Benedikt will barely speak to him. Roma knows it’s his fault for letting the ruthless Juliette back into his life, and he’s determined to set things right—even if that means killing the girl he hates and loves with equal measure.

Then a new monstrous danger emerges in the city, and though secrets keep them apart, Juliette must secure Roma’s cooperation if they are to end this threat once and for all. Shanghai is already at a boiling point: The Nationalists are marching in, whispers of civil war brew louder every day, and gangster rule faces complete annihilation. Roma and Juliette must put aside their differences to combat monsters and politics, but they aren’t prepared for the biggest threat of all: protecting their hearts from each other. -summary from Goodreads

This book was an amazing conclusion to this duology! The characters, storyline, and world were just incredible.

Our Violent Ends jumped right back in from where we left off in These Violent Delights. It started roughly four months after the events of the first book, but it was a very seamless transition. Chloe Gong was able to maintain the energy and feeling between the two books, so that this book felt like the perfect continuation.

There was a lot going on in this book, similar to the first book. There was a slightly different feel to this book though. The first book was chaotic, and while this book was also chaotic it was just conveyed slightly differently. You could kind of tell that the story was wrapping up. There were still a lot of storylines, which was a lot of fun to read. There was the gang side of things, as well as the political side of things. There was also the romance, friendships, and family side of the story.

Chloe Gong nailed describing the complexities of these groups and their relationships. It was really wonderfully conveyed, and I was put in the middle of the world. The world was made even more complicated by the addition of the political factions.

There was a monster in this book, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that was the focus. While the previous book was all about hunting down the monster and stopping the madness, this book there was some of hunting down the monster, but it kept getting interrupted with blood feud and political business.

I loved the entire Benedikt arc. He is absolutely my favorite character, and he really showed up this book. I especially loved the parts concerning Benedikt and Marshall. They were amazing! Benedikt was such a realistic character, and he was struggling this book. I meant to mention it for the last book, but Benedikt has some common OCD symptoms. It isn’t confirmed if he does, but I loved how it was hinted at. I also really enjoyed seeing Benedikt and Roma together. I am a sucker for family relationships, and this book has some really strong moments, especially between these two, that I just adored.

I really enjoyed the description of grief used in this book, especially for Roma and Benedikt. After what happened to Marshall in the last book, Roma and Benedikt are in mourning. I love the contrast between their grief, but both were valid and realistic.

I still loved Roma and Juliette! They belong together and I loved their entire storyline in the book. In this book their romance was a little more center stage than the previous book though. They are just amazing together and I loved every scene of them together. Especially because most of the story was told from Juliette’s perspective and she knows things that Roma doesn’t, which just added to the tension.

We got to see more of Kathleen and Rosalind, which I enjoyed. They are interesting characters, and I want to know more about them. I wish more time was dedicated to them because they really are so interesting, especially Rosalind.

The ending was amazing. We all know how Romeo and Juliet ends and this book, at the very least, follows that storyline perfectly. I, personally, refuse to believe that they’re dead, but who knows.

This book also packed an emotional punch. I am not just talking about the ending. So many things came to a head or were revealed. All of these parts were excellently written and beautifully done.

Our Violent Ends was a thrilling, emotional conclusion to a young adult Romeo and Juliette retelling!

Quotes

“What good was jabbering on about it, as if discussing the matter would increase one’s immunity? If it was supposed to be a coping mechanism, then Benedikt supposed he had never been much good at taking advantage of coping mechanisms anyway. He only knew how to swallow, and swallow, and swallow, until a black hole had grown in his stomach to suck everything away. Until it was all pushed somewhere else, and then he could forget that he never knew what to do with himself during the daylight hours anymore.”

“He wanted to scream at Juliette until his lungs grew hoarse. Only he knew that if he screamed I hate you, what he really meant was I love you. I still love you so much that I hate you for it.“