Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

These Violent Delights. Gwałtowne pasje by Chloe Gong

86 reviews

graceheartsbooks's review against another edition

4.0

FYI: can’t tag this but trigger warning for insects—especially near the end (I think they’re beetles?). 

All I’ve ever heard about this book is it’s a Romeo and Juliet retelling but I honestly think that does it a disservice (or maybe it’s just the fact that Romeo and Juliet retellings have to bring something interesting to the table since a story that’s been retold many times). I’ve never seen anyone mention that this story involves a supernatural monster and if I had known that I would’ve read it sooner lol

I’m amazed that Chloe Gong wrote this during college—writing/doing the research process to make the story authentic to 1920s Shanghai while also studying as a student. Especially since I’m around the same age she was.

Anyway, the story is much more about Roma and Juliette’s relationship and the mystery surrounding the ‘Larkspur’ which is the monster that is killing Shanghai plus the struggles between current residents and the foreigners that have taken over the area’s local businesses. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the world that Chloe Gong set up. I can’t wait to read the second book.

I was going to rate this 4.5 stars initially but I got into a reading slump so had gap between when I last read a chapter and when I finished the book so it’s getting a 4.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Racism and Blood

Minor: Homophobia, Drug use, Transphobia, and Death of parent

mblanke's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Classism, War, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Grief, and Violence

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

These Violent Delights is a great re-imagining of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet set in 1920s Shanghai, China with Roma & Juliette now at odds against each other after secretly dating four years prior to the events of the novel. Their families head the rival White Flowers and Scarlet Gang, and they can never forget that key piece of their personal identities. I love the subtle (and not-so-subtle) callbacks to the original play through major and minor characters, scenes, and pivotal lines. Those were all written in carefully to tie book into its source material but not pull the reader out of the new historical fiction story. Gong also did a delicately wonderful job weaving Chinese and other world history into the setting and plot by laying the history out whenever relevant to the story or characters but never over-explaining anything. Knowing the history prior to reading this book is not necessary but did add to my experience. The mystery of what causes the madness seeping into the city pushes enemies together for collaboration, and the intense action kept me hooked. Diversity in cast felt authentic to the time period of China's forced spheres of influence from other countries' powers, and the multi-pov storytelling really made certain chapters feel like isolated scenes as in a play. I am excited to read the sequel and the other books in the world of Secret Shanghai soon. The bonus content in the B&N edition was well worth it, too. I loved getting inside Roma's head through his letters from their first romance together, the prequel story of their courtship before is so sweet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Emotional abuse, Blood, Classism, Violence, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Gore, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Cursing, Terminal illness, Racism, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Transphobia, Sexual content, and Drug use

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Transphobia

m4rtt4's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Secret Shanghai is officially one of my favourite world's I've ever visited, and I'm glad to know the story doesn't end here. I enjoyed almost everything — the monster plotline could have been executed a little better — but I'm only taking 0.5 stars off for that. My absolute favourite thing in addition to the dynamic between Juliette and Roma was

everything about the brain-infesting insects (I'm a biology student...), though I must say the science stuff also felt a bit off and/or too modern for the time, for example the term 'viral' wasn't really used until the 1940s, and what were those machines in Lourens's lab, how did they work?

I need more specific answers, I'm curious — in all seriousness, I'm just a nitpicking nerd. Nevertheless, Gong has done an excellent job researching and creating all this, big kudos to her <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Body horror, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Medical content

Minor: Drug use, Transphobia, and Alcohol

readingdragon28's review against another edition

Too much detail on the gore of what happened with the "madness" from the *spoiler alert* nasty engineered insects.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Death, and Blood

jeyjeyyy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Fun book, nothing stood out exactly but I definitely found it interesting. 
I really liked the historical references and it did teach me a lot about society in Shanghai at that time. However, the fantasy plots did not make a lot of sense to me. I also did not particularly care about what was happening. The romance also felt a bit bland, it was really great at the beginning but I found its ‘resolution’ a bit too easy. Kind of felt like the characters lost most of the fun aspects of their personality about halfway through… What I wanted was angst upon angst and enemies and hatred and tensionand a LOT more romance. I did not really get that. This sounds iind of bad but I wnated it to be more… toxic? I mean this is Romeo and Juliet !!
Not to say I didn’t like the book, it was just not my favourite. 
Also REALLY loved the side characters, especially Kathleen and Marshall and Ben. Excited to see more of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racism, Medical content, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Murder, Sexism, Death, Gun violence, and Violence

cnaccarato's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Misogyny, Classism, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Gore, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Sexism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, and Drug use

Minor: Police brutality, Outing, Bullying, Sexual content, and Homophobia

thehannahclaire's review against another edition

DNF @ 50%

LOVED the premise, wasn’t a fan of the execution outside of the discussion of colonialism and race. I really wanted to feel connected to the characters, but I just wasn’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Xenophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Gun violence, and Racism

Minor: Deadnaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Drug use

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a very dynamic book, both the characters and the plot. I knew it to be a Romeo and Juliet retelling in China between gangs. What I didn’t realize before reading it was how much of it revolves around an outbreak. That part of the book feels very fantastical. I also really liked that Roma and Juliet were older and had past history set before the book. 

Dark Romance, LGBTQIA+ Representation, Friends to Lovers to Enemies

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Body horror, Murder, Drug use, Death of parent, Blood, Torture, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Grief, and Death