This book was absolutely incredible. I sped through it and I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I loved all the characters so much and they complemented each other really well. I loved the found family vibes and I desperately need a sequel.
This book was told from the FMCs (Anna) perspective and follows her journey as she must work with her ex (Paris) to save their rival courts. This book had true enemies to lovers vibes and multiple knife-to-the-throat scenes. The tension between the two was incredible and I loved the yearning. I also loved the banter. There were multiple kiss scenes but no explicitly spicy scenes. The plot was also very intriguing and there was a great balance between the romance and the main storyline. There were multiple twists and turns and they were all unexpected. Especially the ending, which nothing could have prepared me for.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. (Sorry it's a little delayed.)

First of all: I was disappointed there was subterfuge/false advertising in terms of the summary the book presented and what I got--1) it describes "Midnight Court" and "Dawn Court," which brings an expectation of fantasy, but there's no magic in this book at all; 2) the mains' ages are not detailed, but they are 18 and 19 and this is a solidly YA book, which is not something I was expecting either. I think this book has an audience for sure--but it should have been advertised as *YA* *contemporary* espionage romance, and not the contemporary romantasy vibes I got instead. Related to the solidly YA part--the mains definitely act their age, and I'm generally tired of reading about contemporary teenagers. Overall, I don't think I was the right audience for this book, and I'm disappointed the summary hoodwinked me into thinking I was. Yes, it mentioned Shanghai and London, but plenty of books have contemporary locations with magic on the side and I'm still annoyed by the "courts" fantasy hoodwinking.

Secondly: if you're going to do lovers to enemies to lovers, don't give us whiplash with both sides doing a third act betrayal and making it lovers to enemies to lovers to enemies. It's just exhausting for the reader and I'm tired of third act betrayals.

Thirdly: I went into this book thinking it was a standalone, and got extra whiplash with the cliffhanger at the end that suggested it will have a sequel (or multiple sequels). I like setting my expectations straight (series or standalone) at the start of the book, and that also jostled me.

On the flipside, I did enjoy the unique plot and the espionage (though the mains felt too young to be successful at it). I really liked the East vs West comparisons, but I wish we had seen more of the Midnight Court.

Overall, I liked the book, but I don't think I'm the right audience for it and not sure that I would read any sequel(s) in the future.

I think this book was made for a younger audience than myself, but was still enjoyable for me. It had a beautiful cover, so extra points for that, but as for the story, it was a bit predictable and the cliffhanger was something that didn't really surprise me. Overall, an easy read but not one I would pick up again.

Some books make you want to ignore your responsibilities to read and this book was exactly that for me. From the first chapter, I was hooked, trying to sneak in a quick chapter on my breaks at work. By the end, I had two thoughts. First was wow 5 stars. Second, I need more. A sequel, a companion series, a second gen spinoff, whatever Melinda Gong will graciously give me. I start my praying and begging today.

The enemies to lovers back to enemies dynamic and history was equal parts toxic and entertaining. The banter and humor - chef's kiss. I was actually laughing out loud. The cast of characters was so beautifully put together, I can't imagine the book without a single one of them. I loved how each person was valued and not just a side character specifically for Anna and Paris.

As much I loved and adored this book, I could tell it was a debut. The writing style felt a little simple at times and could use some more time describing the settings and time. The world building could also use some more development - which could possibly happen with more sequels. I was fine with what was given, but I know there are readers out there that want more explanations and details. The pacing was spot on, when the new plot threads emerged, it felt natural stemming from the initial infiltration premise rather than dragging it out for the entire story. The twists and reveals were well timed, keeping me invested and flipping the page.

That ENDING?!! I can't believe Goodreads has this listed as a standalone, because I am no where near emotionally prepared to leave this world behind. Melinda Gong started something that I feel can benefit from more sequels, hint hint.

For a debut, this was a good starting point and I am excited to see how Melinda Gong develops as a writer. As I always say, not only do I support women's rights, I support their wrongs. So for my girl Anna, she will have my support.

Not gonna lie, I was initially interested in this book because of the beautiful cover. I love when Asian culture and history are interwoven into a story. I found the characters likable and the plot interesting. The cliffhanger was a little predictable but still enjoyable.
#ThisWretchedDawn #NetGalley

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but the main character made it very hard to do. Maybe if I was a young teen I would have devoured this, but I ended up DNFing at 60%. I loved the Chinese elements and the cultural references, but sadly this book just wasn't it for me.

DNF at 30%.
I feel extremely saddened that I have to DNF this novel but I do not think I can continue reading. It is disappointing because this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year but everything fell very flat. The world building, the court, the spy school. It does not make sense.
Maybe I’ll try it again in psychical format but I will most likely not.
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to have gave me an E-ARC.

I started this book and pretty quickly became very frustrated with the main character, and found the world building pretty shallow and derivative.

I would have eaten this up as a teen. Definitely has I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Ally Carter) vibes but edgier with the spy school and the boys in the friends group were basically The Raven Boys (Maggie Stiefvater) but I was okay with that.

Basically, in an alternate history the two major world powers are the Midnight Court (China) and the Dawn Court (Britain). Everything else is mostly the same (they even have Percy Jackson) but the two courts are at each others throats with a "Cold Peace" that is threatened when someone steals the vial of poison that can kill the Dawn Court Family. As this spoils the Midnight Court's plan to restart the war on their terms, Anna is sent to go to Dawn Court Spy school to "help" recover it but really she has orders to kill her ex-boyfriend, Paris, the Dawn Court Prince. Oh no!

The worldbuilding was a little thin and there was absolutely no magic so anyone who, like me, saw the word "court" and expected the Fey, well, there's not. But Anna was very much a teenager and acted like it, which honestly I appreciated. She has panic attacks after killing someone in self-defense! Yeah, she talks a big game and keeps holding a knife to Paris' throat but that's how you say "I love you" in an enemies to lovers romance, okay?

This was a fast paced read and book 1 of at least a duology. I sped through it in a few days. Overall it does feel a little melodramatic like those CW teen shows but I loved those as a teen so I expect teens will like this. It's also under 350 pages which is another plus for teens or even adults who don't want to commit to a 500+ page book that seems to be the norm in the YA space. I am looking forward to book 2!

Content wise: Some violence, a few f-bombs and other mild swearing, 2-3 scenes of intense kissing and 1 fade-to-black scene.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

This Wretched Dawn
follows Anna, a Midnight Court
envoy with a secret mission:
spy on and kill Paris,
the Dawn Court prince
her ex.
As they unravel a deadly
mystery together,
old feelings resurface
, and loyalties blur.
Slow-burn romance
meets high-stakes
betrayal in a richly imagined
world.

I’m not sure how to rate this title, as it has some great features but I felt it lacked just a bit of polish. I had very high expectations for it, and to be fair all the elements I had been looking forward to were indeed there.

The synopsis of the book sounded amazing: two enemy courts, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers trope, a spy academy, poison, a FMC torn between duty and love… Give me all of this!

The pacing was good overall, though a tad jumpy. It’s easy to read, correctly categorised as YA. Twists and turns throughout were unexpected, with a dramatic climax.

Overall the characterisation felt both perfect and slightly flawed.

Perfect because the teenagers act and feel like… actual teenagers. A bit goofy, insecure, eager, prone to dramatics, occasionally callous… The FMC was bordering on obsessive with her crush (again, this felt so very realistic for her age). The description of her panic attacks, as well as her anxiety about her family’s expectations, again felt on point. This was just fabulous, as my pet peeve is 18-year-olds acting as 30-year-olds. Gong wrote this when she was 19, and she perfectly captured these characters.

The banter between them is especially well executed and I truly enjoyed it. I also felt the romance was spot-on: lots of longing, a fair bit of miscommunication and just a dash of passion. I liked Paris a lot, he reminded me of the leads in C-dramas: a bit mysterious, brooding, not great at communicating but ultimately devoted to the FMC.

What I liked less: here we have a girl who has been trained “to kill a man in 164 different ways” ; who in the second chapter essentially plans to kill her ex ; who will shoot a fairly random character, more or less in cold blood (we then learn he’s her first kill)… And yet she constantly panics about the various dangerous(ish) situations she finds herself in, despite the likelihood that reacting to these situations should have been part of her training. She also displays so much naivety about human nature, she comes across as very sheltered ; in short, her personality and backstory just do not fit well together.

Several aspects of the universe also felt a step too unrealistic for me - I am happy to suspend disbelief, but things have to be coherent within the general context. A spy school that everyone seems to know about? That kids from both factions attend together? (So they all know each other’s faces, what a fantastic idea for when they’ll later spy on each other’s court!) Not to mention everyone and anyone seems to be accepted there (Josephine??).

It could also have been made a bit clearer since the start that this is indeed an alternate reality to ours, where pretty much everything is the same (down to specific pop culture references), apart from the existence of the Courts.

And on a minor note: both the UK and China use the Celsius temperature scale. Given the 1st person POV, it’s the one that should have been used here. This really should have been picked up by the editor, it was pretty jarring.

On the other hand, I LOVED the Chinese elements. In fact I would have enjoyed more of them: I was hankering for more descriptions of Shanghai and even more cultural references. The ones that are present are skilfully introduced. Some of them subtly reference colonialism, in a way I found quite thought-provoking.

In fact, the best part of the book for me was the Shanghai Court / London Court enmity. I actually wish this was exploited further, in particular I kept hoping for more background and history to provide some context. I’d love to know how the courts were established, what led to the war, etc. The East/West duality and relationship was a great premise, I am really crossing fingers that this is ramped up in the second book.

And there we have it: at the end of the day, would I read the next tome? Yes I would, which does say something about this story.

To sum up, I’d say this book is kind of what you’d get if you dropped a Chinese Mia Thermopolis in an alternate reality’s spy school, and added a dash of Romeo and Juliet angst. If all that sounds good, and you can overlook a few clunky bits, you are likely to enjoy it.

I am certainly very interested to see what Melinda Gong does next!

Urban fantasy with a fascinating concept. The Day Court of London, and The Midnight Court of Shanghai have a tentative peace alliance that’s about to shatter. Caught in the middle as two opposing sides of the same coin are Anna and Paris; one a spy for the Midnight Court and one a prince of the Day Court, who also happens to be half Midnight Courter. Their friendship blossomed into a romance as they grew up together in the Midnight Court, but soon after Paris is returned to the Day Court, a tragedy wrenches their relationship apart and makes him Anna’s sworn enemy. Unfortunately for her she now has to work together with him on a government assignment on behalf of both Courts, while simultaneously plotting against him and his family. The balance of the traditional and modern in the respective Court cultures was a nice touch. I liked the idea of an alternative timeline where both country’s monarchies still reigned, and the futuristic city structures like the espionage school, Eladine. I also liked that we had a protagonist that was admittedly bad at her job. You don’t see that often and it added something unique to the story. However, the plot and world building needed a lot more development. There’s heavy reliance on deus ex machina, and you have to suspend your disbelief a lot. I ended up having a lot of questions throughout the series. Why were these specific cities at war? The rest of the country doesn’t seem to be involved. We are told Paris was born from a union between the Day Court king and a Midnight Court noble, but he also has older and younger siblings. Was this an affair or has the king had three different wives? If the protagonists’ mission is sanctioned by the government, why do they have to sneak around Court property when the king already knows what they’re doing? If admission to Eladine is exclusive, why are there so many students? Wouldn’t training that many people in espionage be dangerous in the long run? The ending was also quite confusing to me. Perhaps the sequel will provide more information. This is a closed door book. Thank you to the Turner Publishing Company and NetGalley for the eARC.

DNF at 6%

Sadly, this is not the book for me. I found the writing to be jarring and odd turns of phrases kept pulling me out of the story (she gets out of bed and says that her legs haven't breathed in two days. what exactly is that supposed to mean?)

Besides that, I find that the world seems to be not quite clearly developed, and already at the 5-6% mark I felt like the story was underdeveloped and yet overexplained

Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This book... wasn't for me. As much as the premise sounded interesting, the writing style, characters, and world building were lacking. Unfortunately, it was a slog to get through.

I did like the incorporation of the Mandarin language and the mention of fun weapons! I did get a Chloe Gong feel, especially at the beginning so that was exciting. The cover and the page art was nice.

The plot/conflict didn't feel substantial, the world building felt lazy and unnecessary (would've loved to understand more of the setting like the espionage school), and I was lost in all of Anna's thoughts. It felt like the author was waxing too much poetic through her mental thoughts and especially about the love interest, Paris. I didn't feel any chemistry between them and I wished there was more use of flashbacks to understand their previous relationship rather than reading Present!Anna's thoughts about the misunderstanding between them. Even though she spent a good portion of the book harping on their separation, I'm still kind of unsure the cause of it. I wish the author spent more time on the transitions between time and place and generally more description of what was physically happening. The care she took into Anna's present interior thoughts could've been spread to other aspects of the novel. The character voices and tone didn't feel consistent at all which kept taking me out of the book. Also the random paragraph breaks between words in a sentence slowed the pacing down immensely; it didn't add anything to the story. I especially hated that and the use of incomplete sentences like having a sentence start with a verb before moving into a dialogue tag. Very frustrating writing style to me especially because it didn't feel intentional in the story.

There are parts of this book that absolutely caught my attention like the overall plot and having the academy setting. I also was a fan of the two court system and it made it easy to understand what was going on.

There are a couple parts which I felt like could've been developed more such as the worldbuilding. There wasn't a lot of reasoning behind why and it was very surface level about the two courts. Also, I wish the FMC was a bit less 'obsessed' with the MMC. I feel like she should've stood her ground a bit more.

Overall it was an easy read, I love a good school setting, romantasy, and betrayal but I definitely would've appreciated some more developing in the characters and the world.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book! While the story did drag in some parts, the author kept me interested. Anna is a quirky character on a path of self discovery and tormented between duty and her morals.

Slow burn, enemies to lovers, rival courts, YA, found family- some of my favorite tropes!

The ending was so good!

Thank you to Netgalley, Turner Publishing Company and Keylight Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

This Wretched Dawn by Melinda Gong is a first person-POV YA romantic contemporary fantasy set in Shanghai and London. The Dawn and Midnight Courts of the magical world have been at odds for centuries. When a disastrous attempt to bring them together resulted in a massacre, their poor relationship only grew worse. Annabella Liang of the Midnight Court is tasked to find a missing potion by the king of the Dawn Court to prove her people are not responsible, but she's paired with Paris, who is a child of both courts and her former flame.

The Midnight Court being set in Shanghai and the Dawn Court being set in London made me wonder if the concept is based on the saying ‘The sun never set on the British Empire.’ Shanghai was, at one point, a port for the Empire and many Brits did go through there as the Empire was expanded. It's never explicitly stated if all members of the Midnight Court are of Asian descent, but Paris does have blonde hair but several features of the Midnight Court as well, so it could go either way since sometimes biracial children are white-passing.

Anna and Paris’ relationship is very complicated. We get the one bed trope with them, but it creates further issues instead of bringing them closer. They are still attracted to each other, but because of the last time they saw each other and how poorly it ended on top of the knowledge that they are supposed to kill each other, it's hard for them to move past it all and give their relationship another chance. But it’s hard not to root for them because that admiration and yearning is still there.

The magic system is fairly soft as we don’t really see it that much beyond potions or antidotes. The courts have been at war for centuries, but we don’t know the full extent of that war or how it impacted the world around them. Swords, guns, and other weapons are used and both courts teach weapons classes, though in different ways, as the Dawn Court cares more about accuracy and the Midnight Court cares more about the art of fighting.

Content warning for mentions of child death

I would recommend this to fans of YA contemporary fantasy who like an enemies-to-lovers second chance romance scenario and readers of fantasy who want something set in Shanghai and London

Thank you Netgalley and Turner Publishing Company for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, the cover gave me Shanghai vibes already!  The story is like a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but with a dash of espionage and dark academia even.  It did remind me a lot of Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights, and if I'm  being completely honest, I liked TWD better✌️ I enjoyed the forbidden love affair, the espionage, even the dark academia vibes.  I just wished there were more of them, you know?  It felt as if we only dipped our toes in these tropes,  and I wanted them to be all in.  It was marketed also as a romantasy, but for me there were not many fantasy elements in the story.  The ending was a little confusing, but I have high hopes for the sequel, because I feel like I might just get what I'm looking for in the next book.

2.5 (round to 3) The tension between the characters had potential, but I never fully felt invested. More backstory might have helped. Also, compared to other fantasy worlds, the world-building felt less developed and less immersive.

Thank you for the arc!!

this one was kinda interesting. the romance is absolutely well done and if you just close your brain this one is absolutely awesome. but the worldbuilding falls apart with even the slightest blink. 3.5 stars, rounded up. tysm for the arc.