not a single coherent thought in my mind right now because those last 100 pages took away the bit of sanity i had left. foul lady fortune was an absolute joy to read while also having readers at the edge of their seats and drawing conclusions at every given turn. something about gong's characters gets me so instantly attached, one will come to empathize and love rosalind lang a lot for the most part in understanding how her guilt affects her and motives especially after the events of our violent ends and with being endeared by orion hong, as he is a fellow spy playing fake husband to rosalind, his persona being so charming. particular scenes between rosalind and orion make me lose my mind with their fake marriage dynamic, the amount of hilarious banter they have and the way orion comes to care so much. i honestly adored the entire cast of characters with two familiar faces from the these violent delights duology... oh how i’ve missed celia and alisa so much they are everything to me. there’s also newer faces of orion’s siblings oliver and phoebe and their friend silas, providing insight for the different factions. multi-perspective books are much satisfying to me getting to see situations through different sets of eyes every few pages! i agree with other reviews that this was more entertaining and had certain strong points where tvd duology lacked, despite ove still being a huge favorite of mine from my memory of reading that one. though with this one, as much i said i love enjoyed the multi-pov one thing was the plotline at times being hard to follow with the different perspectives with the fantasy mystery and spy mission adventures atmosphere. but nevertheless i was hooked completely with the characters and the time period atmosphere based off real history of china’s civil war of nationals and communists.

refraining from speaking more for the sake of spoilers, but chloe gong has done it again i fear with this novel being a delight yet thrilling and mysterious keeping readers gripping to its pages. i can’t believe i have to wait for the sequel after that mind-blowing ending, need answers immediately to the amount of questions i have...

buddy read with kez, nat and sara (:

4/30/22 —   Huge thanks to Riveted by Simon Teen (Simon & Schuster) for providing me with a physical advanced review copy through the Yallwest Book Festival !!