Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

If We Were Villains. Wenn aus Freunden Feinde werden by M.L. Rio

267 reviews

teamoneil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Suicide

leonietis's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

 If I wanted to read Shakespeare, I would read Shakespeare. 

In the very beginning, the characters had to share their insecurities. Merediths insecurity was that she didn't want to only be seen as sexy. But the poor girl can never be mentioned without her "alluring" nature being brought up. In fact, a few pages later it's said that all the characters have called her a whore in some shape before.

Don't even get me started on the "party animal, substance abuser, makes straight men question their sexuality" gay stereotype. The only purpose of Alexanders character is to provide drugs to others and be a poor attempt at comic relief.

The entire story felt very queerbait-y. As soon as Oliver starts thinking about his feelings towards James, he immediately looks for Meredith to have sex with.

 

 This author didn't bother to write a good book, so don't be bothered to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Suicide

andrewhatesham's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Despite being predictable, this was very engaging and entertaining. Reading along with a book club was fun! You don't need to be very familiar with Shakespeare to follow the plot, I've never read anything by Shakespeare and was not confused at all. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Medical trauma

juliapeculiar's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was interesting enough to keep me reading, but I still had major problems with the book, some of which are just personal taste others actual things that could've been better. 

Personally I just don't vibe with dark academia that much, which I kind of knew going into this book. The constant talking of Shakespeare annoyed me and didn't resonate with me at all ESPECIALLY the detailed descriptions of the characters on stage. 

Also I felt like the characters were extremely one-dimensional, a big problem I had with Meredith. Why do we have to read lines and lines about her sex-appeal and how no one can resist her, this is literally all there is to her. The author chose to write her like that and fail to see any reason for it. 

Also

the ending with where Oliver "loves" James seems so out of place and a little like queerbaiting but maybe I just fail to see the bigger picture. I felt like it was an unnecessary add on.

 

What the book did well is having just enough tension from the start to make you want to find out what happend - so I was quite entertained, but sadly the book just didn't stand out to me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sealbrecht's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Vomit

elise_ngzy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Couldn't put it down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Minor: Sexual content

cturn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Characters- 8
Atmosphere - 8
Writing - 8
Plot - 10
Intrigue - 10
Logic - 8
Enjoyment - 9
CAWPILE score - 8.7

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual content and Murder

mikathereviewer's review against another edition

2.0

First of all we have plays, mention of poetry and of course acting. 
Personally, the touch of a play while reading was really cool. We get dialogue only, acts and more. The last play I read was really fun so seeing one now again makes me remember that I didn't read them in a while. 
The acting was relatable as I am or rather was an actor myself. That's also the reason I wanted to read this book. Not 'cause of the Shakespeare and other historical stuff but the acting. 

Some parts were actually crazy/interesting to read about as the book didn't really had the 'it was boring/too slow' problem.
Some examples:
Scene I Act IX was so crazy. Like it felt like real betrayal but also not. And what did James even imagine? What was that aaaah. 
The II. Act was so sad. Especially scene II, I feel so bad for James.

I also think that Oliver has some character depth (Especially in the III. Act as we get to know his family)

The whole drama was the only reason I was still indulged into reading this. It kept me reading.



Since I didn't read the book for the historical stuff I got a bit irriated by the fact that Shakespeare got mentioned often. And with often I mean very often. I get it that's the theme/topic for Year 4 and our protagonists also play historical figures, but honestly it could have been mentioned a bit less and more story instead. It got too much that I, at some point, skipped the Shakespeare parts. 
Also the book isn't very original if over 50% of it is just Shakespeare. 

Never have I ever as an actor reinterpreted/recited my lines as first of all no one would understand, except me and secondly that's usually a thing poets do and not actors. The kids in this story did this and it made me feel weird. Just use your official lines and learn them properly. 

The characters were so weird sometimes and before someone tells me: Some theatre kids are actually weird. Yes SOME and that's no excuse to include only weird characters. 

We never got an explanation why Richard was so mad at some point. Never. Why was he? That apparently didn't happen the years before so that must have triggered something, but we never get any explanation. The other character also have no depth and they all fell flat (except Oliver, as mentioned above)

Meredith was such a useless character who was only depictured as a wh0re the whole time. 

They did use for real, without jokes, as sexual orientation 'sexually amphibious'

The ending was so predictable. It was right the person you would feel suspicious at first. The ending is nothing shocking. 

31. July 2024

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Alcohol

kale_af's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content and Suicide

mainereading's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved this book so much and the writing was fantastic! I can't believe this was her debut novel. If you're a fan of The Secret History by Donna Tartt or even if you didn't like it but liked the idea of that book, you might really enjoy this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder and Suicide