start date: 21/08/2021 | end date: 24/08/2021

• I think this might be my favourite book that I've read this year

genre/tropes: ya, mystery, romance, sci-fi fantasy, lovers- to- enemies, historical

summary: a retelling of R&J in the setting of 1926 Shanghai. The characters Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai are part of enemy gangs. In the event of a virus, Roma and Juliette find themselves having to work together.

memorable moments:

• The moment Roma found out Juliette was back (page 45) URGHHH MY FKING HEART
• "If Roma were ever again to run a tender finger down her spine, it would be to count her vertebrae and gauge where he could stab his knife in" AGAIN, MY FKING HEART IT ACHES
• PAGE 260 just hits different
• "It is never as simple as one truth. Nothing ever is" BASICALLY SUMS UP THEIR WHOLE RELATIONSHIP
• "This is why my betrayal was so terrible. Because you believed me incapable of hurting you, and yet I did" PLEASE THIS WHOLE BOOK JUST WANTED ME TO CRY AND READ MORE ROMANCE NOVELS AGAIN
• Page 361 & page 363 WE DON'T DESERVE THESE CHARACTERS AND THEIR THOUGHTS - I'M GOING TO CRY

overall thoughts: Okay friends, I have not enjoyed a YA in awhile BUT my heart felt like it was being wrenched the whole time I was reading this book. You also know, I don't tend to read romance novels but honestly this has revived my cold anti- romantic heart. I am also a sucker for R&J retellings (aka Titanic) so this is probably why I enjoyed this so much. I think it was the perfect mix of mystery, sci- fi, romance, adventure etc. I liked how both characters were written to be strong minded because I didn't want Juliette to be another 'damsel in distress' type. The plot was also well- written; had components of both fantasy and sci-fi which I enjoy. I've spoken so highly about this but one thing I didn't like was the random switching of languages without explanation - like I'm all for multiculturalism but they just had french here and there without explanation and I was like ?? but other than that it was great.

would I read this again? YES, in prep for the next one

would I recommend this? YES