obsessedwallflower's reviews
260 reviews

Bridge of Souls by V.E. Schwab

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4.5

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

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3.5

Meet Me In London by Georgia Toffolo

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3.5

Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong

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adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

Thank you, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, for the eARC of Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong, in exchange for my honest review.

As soon as I finished reading These Violent Delights back in August I knew I needed to get my hands on the sequel ASAP. This duology is a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920's Shanghai, where two rival gangs are struggling to keep their hold on the city amidst the constant influx of foreigners and the rising power of Communism, all while a monster's threatening the city and spreading a deadly illness. In the middle of this feud, we have Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov, heirs to the gangs, sworn enemies with a very complicated past.

I adored every bit of the first book (you can read my full spoiler-free review right here), so I started reading the sequel as soon as I could, and it was somehow better than I expected. Knowing where the first book ended, I was afraid Our Violent Ends would be a bit repetitive and follow the same structure, but I'm so happy I was wrong.

This book expanded on the world and politics a lot more, some of my favourite things from These Violent Ends. Chloe Gong makes Shanghai feel like a character and her descriptions are so vivid I could feel the tension of the political climate as if I were there. The stakes are much higher in this second book, making every plotline feel like it could blow up at any point. You feel the tension in the air and know that nothing's safe.

I somehow managed to fall more in love with every character, and I adored every romance we have. I feel like with enemies to lovers stories, I really have to believe in their situation to buy it, and that 100% happens with this story.

These books have been my favourite of the year so far, simply because I could not stop thinking about them. It's been over a month since I finished Our Violent Ends and I already want to reread both books. They are so rich in their descriptions, so detailed and intricate that it felt like a movie going through my head (I'd love to see an adaptation of this in the future). I got so attached to every character and cared about every single one because they were so well written.

I also loved the direction the monster's story went in. As I said, I was worried it would get a bit repetitive, but Chloe did an amazing job in keeping book one's plots while reinventing them and expanding their scope. I did see some of the twists coming (I can't remember the last book I read where everything came as a surprise) but this did not hinder my enjoyment of the story at all.

Overall, I loved every bit of this book. The action, the characters, the romance, the writing. I was constantly at the edge of my seat and couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen next. Everything was exactly what I wanted from it and Chloe Gong has established her place as one of my favourite authors. It was heartbreaking, heart racing, and a brilliant conclusion to the story. I can't recommend this series enough.

Our Violent Ends is out now everywhere books are sold, so please go make your way to 1920's Shanghai. I hope you're as enthralled by this story as I was.

Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.75

As a fan of Crazy Rich Asians, I knew I needed to read Kevin Kwan's new book as soon as possible, seen as I loved his debut series so much.

Sex and Vanity is set in two time periods. We first find ourselves in Capri, following Lucie Churchill's trip for a friend's wedding that's punctuated by a very heated encounter with George Zao. And then it's five years later, and Lucie's fancy New York life is again turned upside down by him. It sounds like everything I love. I'm sad to say, however, that I was thoroughly disappointed.

I actually really enjoyed the bits in Capri. The lavishness of the wedding, the description of the island, and the writing were all very entertaining. The characters felt a bit annoying but they still had room to grow. But by the end of the book, most of them hadn't.

I felt very conflicted with Lucie as a character. There were moments when she was brilliant and we could see that her pretentiousness was just a façade she'd been putting up all her life, due to her blue-blooded American family. But ultimately, I still feel like she was very stuck up and judgemental. At the same time that she loathed her American family for commenting on her Asiannes, she was also very racist towards her Chinese roots. And the constant racist comments and racial slurs from the characters (mostly in the New York part of the book) felt unwarranted and unnecessary when they weren't accompanied by real growth on anyone's part.

It felt like Kevin Kwan was writing this novel and, with 50 pages left, suddenly remembered that the main character needed to start accepting herself. It didn't feel natural like her mother's development did. Marian gets in contact with a woman who's very proud to be Chinese, and throughout the book starts going back to her roots. I wish Lucie's development had been as gradual and as well done.

Speaking of, Marian and Rosemary were my favourite part of this whole book (I also really liked Freddie, Lucie's brother). I loved seeing these two characters find such a true friendship later on in life, and Marian reconnecting with her Chinese side, which had been suppressed all these years due to her husband's family. That combined with Freddie's chill nature was a breath of fresh air amidst the superficial characters.

Another thing that didn't feel natural was the romance. I felt like even though these characters had great chemistry, we never really get to see their relationship develop, not even in Capri. We get a few bonding moments between them, but nothing that tells me why they are falling in love. George is too perfect, and although he was also one of my favourite characters, he never feels real because of this. And, in the second half of the book, the romance interest doesn't show up nearly enough to make their connection make sense. When they meet again after five years I wanted more interaction between them to make me truly care and root for this couple, something to make me believe they were in love and not simply infatuated with each other.

Overall, this book just felt like it had a lot of great ingredients that weren't mixed very well. The character development was harmed by the constant name-dropping and descriptions. I couldn't connect with any characters, didn't care about any of them. And seen as the plot of this book is basically non-existent because it's all about the characters' relationships to each other and to themselves, that really hindered my enjoyment of the story.

What I can't seem to wrap my head around is the fact that, in Crazy Rich Asians, there's a lot of name-dropping and descriptions of grandeur, but they were better intertwined with the story. I cared about the characters because they were fleshed out enough for me to do so. So it pains me that Kevin Kwan didn't manage to achieve this again. I know I shouldn't compare this to Crazy Rich Asians, seen as it's its own different story and all. But when an author writes such a successful and well-done series about rich people's antics, I can't help but compare it to his other book about rich people's antics.

I'm just generally very sad I didn't love this as much as I expected it to and, although I enjoyed the first half very much, it's not enough to make up for everything I didn't like about this book.

Disclaimer: even though I was sent this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I had already gotten the book for myself, so technically, it wasn't gifted.

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