A review by thaliareads
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What happens when life begins to mirror fiction? This book explored what happens when a group of acting students began to get too deep into their characters, especially when these roles are challenged by unexpected casting choices. 

I really didn't know what to expect from this book, but what I found was far from what I could have imagined. The world is brought to life by the dialect of the characters, not just normal talking, their speech is woven with lines from Shakespeare. In addition, I felt like the way the characters mimic their Shakespearian roles is obvious without being too much. 

Overall, it was an entertaining mystery with a really nice structure and pacing and all the Shakespearian references you could want. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Eating disorder

Overall, this book has a lot of drug and alcohol use and abuse - including addiction. Additionally, the murder mentioned in the description is described in vivid detail. It is for sure a little gory, but it typically felt like it wasn't gratuitous because the other character's grief and horror needed to be properly framed. There are some mentions and brief descriptions of a couple characters who were abused. The abuse is not described, but the resulting injuries are. One of the main character's siblings struggles with an eating disorder, but it is only mentioned briefly a couple times when he is actually home.