Review by Daniella Diogo
Margaret K. McElderry Books, February 28, 2023
240 pages, Hardcover, 24.99 CAD, ISBN 9781665934510
Young Adult, Ages 14+
Fiction, fantasy
“You’re Juliette Cai.”
“I’m not Juliette Cai.”
Yulun frowned his brow in sheer disbelief. “You cannot possibly still say that when-” “It’s Juliette Montagova.” She lifted her hand and waved her fingers, flashing her gold wedding ring while she continued onward and exited the living room. “I’m a married woman. Roma, come help me get the knives, would you?”
In that moment, as Roma pushed off the wall and followed her obediently, he fell in love all over again.
Have you ever watched Romeo and Juliet and waited the entire play hoping that the ending would be different this time? After the crippling heartbreak, faked deaths, real deaths, and gang wars of the Shakespeare retelling These Violent Delights come two novellas with the happily-ever-after both characters and readers deserve.
In Gong’s A Foul Thing, retired gangsters and allegedly deceased heirs, Roma and Juliette, settle into a peaceful life where the only threats are shirts held to ransom for kisses. Every time Juliette rests her chin on his shoulder or Roma braids Juliette’s hair, it’s like little literary band-aids over the hurt and pain I experienced from the last book. This novella is a little bite-sized piece of domestic bliss. Of course, it’s not all peace and quiet—is it ever? We also have an illegal weapons ring, a mysterious murderer, and an experiment causing local girls to drop like flies. Unable to abandon their old ways, Roma and Juliette take on this one last mystery to see if they can save this city better than they could Shanghai. In solving this mystery, they risk blowing both their covers and their newfound peaceful lives.
Roma and Juliette aren’t the only ones with a well-earned happily ever after; fan favourite couple, Marshall and Ben, masquerade as private investigators in a Murder on the Orient Express likened novella called This Foul Murder. Lives are at stake. Love must be hidden. One train, with more than a dozen passengers, and only one person is to blame. This novella targets readers like myself who loved Marshall and Ben’s blossoming relationship in the first books. Gong finally gives them an uninterrupted story separate from the overshadowing romance of Roma and Juliette. As a die-hard Barshall fan myself, I found peace within the quiet moments they shared. This novella quieted the hundreds of questions I had about them following the first books.
While I enjoyed spending more time with these characters, the second novella didn’t quite meet my expectations. The time jump from where the first book ended and when the novella began left much to be desired. All the big events of Marshall and Ben’s relationship were merely grazed over to instead focus on the mystery on the train which wasn’t what I was reading for. This novella is marketed towards readers that love Marshall and Ben’s relationship and who want to see more of them fumbling through new love, but I felt that it skipped much of that.
I was beyond excited for a chance to revisit my favourite world and see more of my favourite characters. However, with both novellas, I found that the writing did not measure up to the quality of the scenes that made readers fall in love with the couples in the first place. I found that these short stories bear more of a resemblance to fan-fiction than to Gong’s usual writing. That being said, it is clear Gong loves her characters dearly and wanted to write them a soft, fluffy happily ever after.
While I was left wanting more from these novellas, my reading experience was overall an enjoyable one. I was glad to see more of my favourite characters and be able to watch their relationships blossom in a different environment to the hectic, fast-paced one we see in These Violent Delights. Plus, after all the readers were put through during the trilogy, a soft, peaceful extended epilogue may be all some fans are looking for anyway. Despite my criticism of the writing, I will absolutely be at the front of the line to pick up the next book by Chloe Gong.
Daniella Diogo is an undergraduate at UBC majoring in Psychology and wishing she was in Creative Writing. Since she can remember, she’s been an avid reader and writer, her favourite genre being YA Fantasy and Romance.
YOUNG ADULTING 