Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

30 reviews

rosegoes3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

Is it pretentious? Yes. Theatrical? Undeniably. This book captures what I love about theater, becoming fully invested in it. I couldn’t put it down. It’s complex and as it unravels it is increasingly clever. The inclusion of Shakespeare is masterful. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

b0ygenius's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

jesus christ where do i start. this book is marketed as being similar to the secret history and i LOVED the secret history so i really thought i would like this but …. oh my god i hated it. it’s so bad. the idea is kinda good in theory but the execution is just terrible. like i really cannot think of a single aspect of this book that i liked. the only thing is that it was easy to read i guess ? like i read it pretty fast. but i think that’s mostly because i didn’t want to dnf and i wanted to get through fast so i could move onto something better 💀

the characterization is so bad and since this story seems like it is supposed to be character driven it is a huuuuge issue and i think this is really what ruins the whole story. all my other complaints are just the nails in the coffin that is the terrible characterization. the amount of characters in the friend group we follow is way too many and it feels like there is no time taken to really let us get to know any of them. they all have one and only one personality trait and everything they do is centered around that one trait. meredith’s is repeatedly being called a slut and her only defining characteristic (at least, in oliver’s eyes) is her body which made me deeply uncomfortable the whole time. and speaking of that her relationship with oliver was so bad i really could not stand it they had no chemistry at all.

the plot was just so bad too. it was way too predictable and just fucking dumb so many parts of the story made me literally roll my eyes because it was just so bad. the prologues of each act were terrible who let those be kept in it just completely draws you out of the story while adding absolutely nothing to the plot.

the writing is terrible.. the shakespeare quoting was unbearable i usually like pretentious things but i just could not stand this it was so forced and unrealistic. there are so many times where it is blatantly obvious the author was trying to be deep but failed miserably and it just came off as cheesy and it was unbearable. there is zero nuance in anything in this story everything is so surface level. there is ZERO suspense like this is marketed as a mystery/thriller but nothing is mysterious bc anyone with half a brain could guess the ending and nothing felt suspenseful.

anyways this is so rambly and bad but i just want to be done writing this and i never want to think about this book again in my life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Eating disorder

parkergeist's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, and Murder

talonsontypewriters'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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Transphobia, and Vomit

Slut shaming. Overdose (non-graphic, non-POV character). Date rape/assault "jokes"; various bigoted comments and similes (one use of the G slur, "sex change" joke, descriptions such as "like a slave trader at auction" and "savage tribal drum beat"). Weird handling of EDs and addiction.

lizzieinmt's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Finally a dark academia novel that holds its own next to The Secret History. This book emotionally destroyed me in the best way. I found that I quickly cared about the characters and they became very real. The setting and descriptive writing were gritty and felt so real, and all the lines of Shakespeare's words that the main characters used in their everyday language let us have glimpses of the depth of their range of emotions.

as we fell into act five and everyone really started to come apart it was so terribly sad, although I had guessed who had killed Richard from the beginning the entire truth of it was devastating. And I feel that it presented some difficult and deeply sad circumstances that really people could find themselves in. And watching the growing attachment between James and Oliver was gorgeous

  I'll absolutely read this book again, and although it was very sad, the themes of passion in art and the strong bonds of found family really made a lasting impact on me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Physical abuse, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

ka_ke's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

It’s been a long time since a book has given me chills by just thinking about it. The characters make the plot feel real, the incorporation of Shakespeare is impeccable and the ending, is tragic. If We Were Villains is definitely a new favourite of mine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol

beca_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

If you like the Secret history or the Riot club your going to like this book. We follow a group of pretentious students at an elite Arts conservatory in America. The book starts with the main character Oliver being released from Prison for murder, we see him go back to the school with one of the detectives and over the course of the book discloses what truly happened. Oliver and his friends are studying Shakespeare as actors. They spend their time acting and reciting the works of Shakespeare. Each year they are given the same roles, but this time they are changed which causes unease and leads to a series of unfortunate events with one of them winding up dead. They then spend the rest of the book convincing the police and themselves that they have nothing to with the death. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Blood

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Blood, and Medical content

valpuri's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Outing, and Sexual harassment

inkslate's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Outing

Minor: Vomit

triptych_turning's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

I absolutely adore this book. I literally cannot even articulate my feelings for this book because I love it so much. I absolutely, one-thousand-percent recommend it to anyone and everyone. Please read this book. It's so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content