Tag: Chloe Gong

Our Friend is Here! An Interview with Chloe Gong, Author of These Violent Delights; On Growing as an Author and Person, Writing Historical Fantasies, and Foul Lady Fortune

CW @ The Quiet Pond2 Comments
Our Friend is Here! An Interview with Chloe Gong, Author of These Violent Delights; On Growing as an Author and Person, Writing Historical Fantasies, and Foul Lady Fortune

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

A little over a year ago, I had dinner with Chloe Gong and the friend who connected us when Chloe was back home in Aotearoa (New Zealand). At the time, These Violent Delights hadn’t released yet and we yarned about books, upcoming debut life, and all the other things that friends talk about over pasta and ice cream. Then, I told Chloe that, one day when she comes back home, we’d go out and celebrate all of her successes. Because of how the world is right now, travel is hard – and I don’t think we’ll get the chance to celebrate in-person for awhile longer. But, even though Chloe can’t visit me in Aotearoa, she can, however, visit me at the Pond – which brings us to this truly exciting and wonderful post today.

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Book Review: Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong – An Explosive, Terrifying and Satisfying Conclusion to the Dark Romantic Story of Roma and Juliette

CW @ The Quiet Pond9 Comments
Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong
Synopsis:

NOTE: The blurb below contains spoilers to These Violent Delights.

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.

I was provided an early copy of the book by the author. This has not influenced my opinions of the book. This book review is based on the early copy, and may differ from the final version.

When I was a few chapters away from finishing Our Violent Ends, I swear, and I say this without hyperbole: I think my feelings actually shut down. I was stressed, I was so tense that I had to get up and pace while reading, and I was literally sweating. By the end, I was a numb and absolutely wrecked mess – but I was also, funnily, a satisfied mess.

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Let’s Go on a Pond-cation: A These Violent Delights-themed Virtual Tour through Shanghai with Chloe Gong and Xiaolong

CW @ The Quiet Pond2 Comments

Xiaolong the axolotl, wearing big glasses on her head, holding a suitcase, and a camera around her neck.Let’s Go On a Pond-cation is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond that celebrates and highlights worldbuilding in stories!

In our Pond-cation posts, the Pond friends and authors team up to take all of us on a virtual vacation through the real life places in books or the places that inspired fictional places and worldbuilding. Find out more information about this guest feature here.

It’s pretty clear that all of us at the Pond are huge fans of These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. We had the honour of hosting the exclusive cover reveal and we also highly recommended the book in our review. Today though, we have Chloe visiting us at the Pond again in a new Let’s Go On a Pond-cation post, where Chloe and Xiaolong take us on a virtual vacation through Shanghai, the setting for These Violent Delights.

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Book Review: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong – A Brutal Yet Tender Retelling of Romeo and Juliet Like You’ve Never Read Before

CW @ The Quiet Pond16 Comments

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong.

Synopsis:

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

CW’s Review:

I was given an ARC of this book by the author; this does not influence my opinions outlined in this book review.

How do you even begin to write a review for one of your most anticipated reads of 2020 that didn’t just exceed your expectations, but its story stabbed you in the heart, sucked the lifeforce and tears out of you, and made you ache and feel horror all at once – and by the end you wanted to thank Chloe for it?

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