Week 34 Reviews: A RomaJuliette Christmas Special, Our Violent Ends

From Goodreads:

Roma and Juliette being 15 and happy, which was truly a fleeting time. This takes place four years before the events of These Violent Delights, so there are no spoilers.

"The year was 1922, and nothing was impossible."

From Goodreads:

Shanghai is under siege in this captivating and searingly romantic sequel to These Violent Delights, which New York Times bestselling author Natasha Ngan calls "deliciously dark."

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. 

My Review:
Reading these two stories was so fantastic! I loved diving back into this world with the short story, of seeing that time before everything went wrong, and then coming back to just after book 1 ended! The rest of this series was just fantastic to read!

A RomaJuliette Christmas Special, oh, was it so bittersweet! I knew that things would go terribly wrong, because of her Nurse, and then his mom. But this is before that, when they were a little young and naïve, and in love, and that was the part that was sweet!

I was pretty desperate for Our Violent Ends. There was the whole thing with Paul having left a "in the event of my death" note which I was so excited to see play out! And then there was Roma and Juliette's relationship, given that he thinks she killed Marshall. But oh, were the politics causing a lot of problems! 

As things started to intensify, I started to get worried, because the stakes were mounting as the people became angry, and scared. But oh, did that ending hit hard! Absolutely loved it, and how everything turned out-that epilogue, man, that was something else! 

I loved reading these, and I'm so excited to see what Chloe Gong writes next! 

Author: Chloe Gong
Series: These Violent Delights #0.5, 2
Read: August 24th, 24th, 2021
Source: Online, NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing, and they're Historical Fiction 2021 Books and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2021 Books, and Our Violent Ends is a End of Series 2021 Book, Sophomore Challenge Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Chloe Gong, Margaret K. McElderry Books

Published: December 23rd 2020
Expected Publication: November 16th 2021

A RomaJuliette Christmas Special:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Our Violent Ends:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars