The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature in which I highlight books I got over the last week that sound like they may be interesting—old or new, bought or received in the mail for review consideration. Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included, along with series information and the publisher’s book description. Book images are affiliate links to Bookshop, and I earn from qualifying purchases.

A couple of books I preordered and am very excited to read arrived last week!

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong Box Set

These Violent Delights Duet by Chloe Gong

This lovely hardcover box set contains the New York Times bestselling novels These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends. This duet was just released last week, following the second book’s publication last month.

The publisher’s website has excerpts from both books in this set:

This series is complete, but Chloe Gong is also writing a spinoff duology set during the 1930s. The first of these books, Foul Lady Fortune, is scheduled for release in fall 2022.

And if you missed it in April, Chloe Gong also wrote a Women in SF&F Month guest post about “Mary Sues” in YA SFF, “The Mary Sue Club Is Still Taking Applicants.”

 

A hardcover boxed set of Chloe Gong’s New York Times bestselling These Violent Delights and its sequel, Our Violent Ends—the lush fantasy duology reimagining Romeo and Juliet in 1920s Shanghai.

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But something is brewing in the shadows, and as the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

This heart-stopping hardcover boxed set includes:
These Violent Delights
Our Violent Ends