Chloe Gong Press Reviews
A deliciously dark twist on Romeo and Juliet that feels vibrant, modern, and wholly exciting. Gong's writing brims with energy. I was swept away to her dark Shanghai from the first page and never wanted to leave! - Natasha Ngan, New York Times bestselling author of Girls of Paper and Fire
Heady, smart, and vicious, These Violent Delights strikes every note with precision, layering romance and politics into a roaring 20s Shanghai of both monsters and monstrous imperialism - Tessa Gratton, author of The Queens of Innis Lear
Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights plants a Shakespearean classic in the rich soil of 1920s Shanghai, allowing her characters to grow, flourish, and steal your heart while warring against their own - Joan He, author of Descendant of the Crane
Gong ensnares readers with a delicious tale of family rivalries and forbidden love all set against the glittering backdrop of 1920s Shanghai. Don't miss this dark and beautiful retelling of Romeo and Juliet! - Emiko Jean, author of Empress of All Seasons
Full of glitter, suspense and gore, These Violent Delights takes readers into the perilous world of 1926 Shanghai . . . Chloe Gong's debut is a terrific, deliciously unputdownable read! - June Hur, author of The Silence of Bones
These Violent Delights combines strong characterisation, skilfully interwoven political insight and an atmospheric portrayal of a Shanghai in the throes of change - Guardian
A lush, wholly original debut that will satiate Shakespeare aficionados and draw those seeking an engrossing, multifaceted historical fantasy - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
A must-read with a conclusion that will leave readers craving more - Kirkus Starred Review
The setting's brilliant, a city split by merchant colonies and divided into gang territories, in a country itself fractured politically and on the verge of revolution - SFX
Filled with Gong's lush prose, These Violent Delights brings 1920s Shanghai to life, along with a romance that is weighed with history - BookRiot
Stylish and engrossing - Popsugar
A rip-roaring, magic-tinged epic of cabarets and speakeasies, dens and divas . . . Gong's vivid Shanghai is a place to get enjoyably lost in - Financial Times
Gong's darkly seductive YA debut transplants Romeo and Juliet to 20s Shanghai for a gripping story of rival gangs, forbidden love and a plague that threatens to tear the city asunder - The i
The Bard would surely approve - The New York Times, Book Review
These Violent Delights is a phenomenal book and a wonder of a debut . . . Chloe has written star-crossed lovers/lovers-to-enemies like I've never read before, and if you love yearning, then trust me: you'll love These Violent Delights - The Quiet Pond
This is the kind of book where I sort of just want to open my mouth and let the words expressing my love tumble out with abandon . . . I truly loved everything about this book - The Elven Warrior
More than anything, These Violent Delights is a rich portrait of a seldom-depicted time and place - NPR
An unforgettable reimagining of Romeo and Juliet - ALA Booklist, starred review
These Violent Delights is a superior fantasy novel; multi-layered, diverse and reflective in its themes, whilst at the same time offering up the kind of darkness, romance and emotion that leaves you yearning for more - not just more of this particular story and its endearing, complex characters - which we've already been promised - but more from Chloe Gong beyond her star-crossed lovers too - Culturefly
Chloe Gong does expertly what all the best retellings do. She doesn't simply transpose her source material into a new setting, she engages with the spirit of the original and in doing so crafts a story that is entirely and beautifully her own . . . I cannot recommend this book strongly enough - Chaipters
Gong's debut is not to be missed. With a dazzling setting, a mysterious series of murders, and diverse, unapologetically criminal characters, this novel ranks with the greatest YA retellings - School Library Journal, starred review
