These Violent Delights

Fantasy is not my preferred genre, but the idea of fantasy with a Romeo and Juliet retelling aspect sounded really intriguing. I can say after finishing it that I liked it well enough, but I do not think I will continue the series.

There is nothing wrong with this book or the story it tells. There is also nothing that makes it stand out to me. It is set in 1920s China where two rival gangs rule Shanghai. The two young heirs, Juliette and Roma, are from these opposing gangs and have a love/hate relationship. They must work together in the book to find a cure to an infectious madness that is spreading through their city.

Honestly, there is not a lot of fantasy in this book. The only fantasy aspect is the monster that supposedly spreads the madness. It reads more like a very fictionalized story about a volatile time period in China. The Romeo and Juliet aspect is not very prominent, in my opinion.

The characters are okay. They do not stand out to me as either likable or unlikable. They just are. The two characters I find most interesting, Kathleen and Marshall, are secondary characters with more diversity to their personalities than the main characters.

I rate this as a 3 star read because it is not going to be memorable for me, but I do not dislike it.