Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

14 reviews

cnaccarato's review

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

akane_readsyt's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Transphobia, Racism, Police brutality, Child abuse, Dysphoria, and Body shaming

jessiereads98's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

Overall this was really enjoyable. A unique take on Romeo and Juliet, but maybe the best one I’ve read in being both recognizable and tolerable. Chloe Gong successively captures the atmosphere of the setting. There does seem to be the occasional anachronism, but nothing glaring or intolerable. Juliette came off as the badass heroine that YA stories often strive for without seeming flat or cringey. My biggest criticism would be that this is definitely overwritten in parts. There’s many instances where the prose could be simplified and tightened up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Classism, Blood, Colonisation, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Medical content, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Police brutality, Child death, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

julswk's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The relationship between Juliette and Roma does not have much buildup in the book, rather it relies completely on what happened 4 years prior which we only get slight snippets of, but not enough to make me care for the characters.

We are told they're in love but not really shown.

Because of that their relationship falls quite flat.

Juliette's character also relies heavily on the implication that she is ruthless and has a reputation, but I wish the author let her be more violent and unhinged throughout the book. Especially during her fights.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Gun violence, and Gore

Moderate: Deadnaming, Blood, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Police brutality, Stalking, Vomit, and War

ppixxie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This take on Romeo and Juliet is so fun and refreshing! I really loved all the characters, the setting, and the mystery in the book. The romance and tension between Roma and Juliette was fun to read too. Definitely gonna read the second book when I can 😌

I loved the body horror + gore in this book but definitely check people's cw beforehand if you need it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Alcohol, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Racism, Police brutality, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Terminal illness, Torture, Addiction, Death of parent, Classism, and Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia and Drug use

packedjam's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

this book is insane and right up my alley. it’s like if you infused romeo and juliet with the adventurous books i read in my youth and set it in 1920s shanghai. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Genocide, Alcohol, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

Minor: Drug abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Transphobia, and War

lady_moon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

10/04/2022: Oh, the right timing do wonders. I devoured it, despite the slow pace.

Oh, and THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE ENEMIES TO LOVERS, TAKE NOTES PEOPLE. And stop fucking recommending RW&RB, that's an offense to the whole trope

Also, I love Benedikt for no reason but his existential crisis, bye


15/09/2021: It's not you baby, it's me being on the edge of reading slump for more than a month and your slow pacing. And all the hype around you...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug abuse

Minor: Transphobia and Police brutality

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was fine, but it left me feeling disappointed.

First off I will say, I loved the concept of a 1920s Shanghai Romeo and Juliet retelling. The descriptions of the city and events surrounding the characters are great, and you can tell that the author is passionate about this history. The monster story does the job and some of the horror writing is great.

The story and characters were another thing, unfortunately. The book takes way too long, with characters meandering around monologuing while nothing much happens for large amounts of time. Juliette is an interesting enough character (a little too stock YA heroine for me but she's fine) but Roma is like a block of wood. This is a shame because in the play you can call Romeo a lot of things but "boring" isn't really one of them. The enemies to lovers romance is so bland and uninteresting. The word "thudding" is used so often that I want to erase it from the author’s brain.

Things finally come to a head at the end and the final confrontation is exciting (though there are definitely some stupid things that happen because they sound cool, like firing a 1920s pistol underwater) but the author takes a big risk and then immediately backtracks it, which bugged me.

It was fine, if you like YA enemies to lovers and/or historical you'll probably enjoy it, but I don't really care too much if I read the second one or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, Vomit, and Transphobia

charliethebibliophile's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Transphobia, Racism, and Police brutality

nerdybirdy101's review

4.0

I read this book via audiobook. I was interested in this book because of the reviews many book influencers were doing, so while mafia Romeo and Juliet books are not things I usually like, I wanted to give this book a chance. I ended up really enjoying this book! I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars because I felt like there was some lag for me because there was a bunch of drama, then a slow dragging part, and then the ending was fast. I think I needed more of a balance to keep my attention since I am not an avid fan of the themes. The author is clearly skilled and I am very excited to see their future works, definitely am hopeful they will write more historical romance-type books. I do recommend this book because the author is a fabulous writer and they have skills that other people need to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Bullying, Blood, Addiction, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Stalking, Police brutality, Physical abuse, and Murder