Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

308 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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: 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. 

---

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

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

---

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

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

---

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

chemeducator's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder and Homophobia

miyothecat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia

boaabie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

5.0

I haven’t had a book make me emotional in a long time, the ending ripped out my heart and gave me hope, stomped on the hope and breathed new life into it all at once. 
The writing is beautiful, I can only hope to have a small amount of skill this author has to create such beautifully tragic scenes they have

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Alcohol

mj_86's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Infidelity

kristinamv's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder

hdkroon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content and Suicide