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These Violent Delights Book Review
“Astra inclinant,” he would whisper into the wind, so heartachingly sincere even when quoting in Latin, “sed non obligant. The stars incline us, they do not bind us” Chloe Gong’s debut Young Adult novel, These Violent Delights, was a glittering gem of a book. The book oscillates between the historical fiction, fantasy, and romance genres. My good friend and fellow senior English Major, Emma MacKinnon, recommended this book to me, and I loved it. Gong’s novel is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with Juliette Cai, heir of the Scarlet Gang and Roma Montagov, heir of the White Flowers gang in Shanghai during the 1920s. They belong to rival…
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To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Book Review: Love Letters in the Teal Hatbox
“I like to save things. Not important things like whales or people or the environment. Silly things. Porcelain bells, the kind you get at souvenir shops. Cookie cutters you’ll never use, because who needs a cookie in the shape of a foot? Ribbons for my hair. Love letters. Of all the things I save, I guess you could say my love letters are my most prized possession. I keep my letters in a teal hatbox my mother bought me from a vintage store downtown” – Prologue to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. The premise of YA romance novel To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before written by Jenny Han…
