10 exciting new YA releases to cozy up with this November
By Lacy Baugher
November 2021 release: Our Violent Ends – Chloe Gong
The highly anticipated sequel to Chloe Gong’s debut These Violent Delights, Our Violent Ends will take us back to 1927 Shanghai, the ongoing blood feud between rival groups the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers, and the forbidden romance between their two leaders Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov.
As the story begins, a new monstrous threat is rising in the city, revolution is brewing in the streets, and Roma believes Juliette is somehow responsible for the death of his best friend. (She didn’t, but it’s easier to keep him alive if he thinks she did.) Though their forbidden love is essentially on life support at this point, the two will still have to figure out a way to work together once more if they want to have any hope of stopping the deadly creatures menacing Shanghai – not to mention the growing Nationalist threat.
Since this series is, in fact, a Romeo and Juliet retelling the odds of Juliette and Roma figuring out a way out of this situation with their lives seem….bleak, to say the least. But in a world where monsters are real, whose to say Shakespeare can’t be rewritten a little bit? Fingers crossed, at least.
The official synopsis offers much more detail about the story.
"The year is 1927, and Shanghai teeters on the edge of revolution. After sacrificing her relationship with Roma to protect him from the blood feud, Juliette has been a girl on the warpath. One wrong move, and her cousin will step in to usurp her place as the Scarlet Gang’s heir. The only way to save the boy she loves from the wrath of the Scarlets is to have him want her dead for murdering his best friend in cold blood. If Juliette were actually guilty of the crime Roma believes she committed, his rejection might sting less. Roma is still reeling from Marshall’s death, and his cousin Benedikt will barely speak to him. Roma knows it’s his fault for letting the ruthless Juliette back into his life, and he’s determined to set things right—even if that means killing the girl he hates and loves with equal measure. Then a new monstrous danger emerges in the city, and though secrets keep them apart, Juliette must secure Roma’s cooperation if they are to end this threat once and for all. Shanghai is already at a boiling point: The Nationalists are marching in, whispers of civil war brew louder every day, and gangster rule faces complete annihilation. Roma and Juliette must put aside their differences to combat monsters and politics, but they aren’t prepared for the biggest threat of all: protecting their hearts from each other."
Our Violent Ends is available on November 16.