If We Were Villains lured me in, like a fish to a hook, by appealing to my dark academia loving heart. Shakespearian aesthetics, academic setting, homoeroticism, a secret society whose members communicate (pretentiously) through literary quotes, characters doing morally dubious things at odd hours, a devastating murder, and M.L. Rio has set the scene for an exhilarating, unsettling, and devastating thriller. In short, I was never going to surface from this story with my emotions intact. The book opens with Oliver about to leave prison after a decade, serving time for murder. Detective Colborne - the police officer who arrested Oliver, has never really believed his story. Now he is about to retire, he asks Oliver if he will finally tell the truth about what really happened all those years ago. I think what made me love this read so much is because i was sharing every thought and question, suspicion with my loves. The experience was without any doubt ten times better than if i have read this beast —full of Shakespeare rep and references — alone. Im glad it was as an educating as an addicting read. STILL THINKING IT’S A MACBETH FANFIC THO!!!!

If We Were Villains - Wikipedia

The degree to which the character dynamics affect this plot is just so so amazing. There is a genuine actual love triangle, as in every branch has some weird tension. (Actually, I don’t know how to make a love dynamic of this friend circle. Help them.) Bloody, melodramatic, suspenseful debut... This novel about obsession at the conservatory will thoroughly obsess you."

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drama students at an Elite Arts University are in their final year. They are as close as 7 people can be, they fight, they love and above it all they are obsessed with the works of Shakespeare (bear this in mind if you don't like Shakespeare as there are loads of quotes and sections in here). M.L Rio’s plume is without contest deadly addictive. While reading and trying to dissect every complex character encountered during the course of this insane retelling, we keep swaying between hate and love, frustration and compassion. We question the gravity of their actions and the sanity of their thoughts. However, we don’t quite lose hope or faith on their souls. The obnubilating —unanswered— questions that were creeping like a sword of Damocles over the heads of our 7 talented characters; kept the story enticing and the obsession to satisfy the "unknown" alive. Who was the culprit? What was the triggering event that derived the trajectory of their promising futures into a grayer one, painting them as criminals, liars and void bodies?

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio | Goodreads

The question is so unlikely, so nonsensical coming from such a sensible man, that I can’t suppress a smile. “I blame him for all of it,” I say. And each act, to me, really highlights a different Shakespearean play, that really sets the tone for what is unfolding in that act. From A Midsummer Night's Dream, to Julius Caesar, to King Lear, to Romeo and Juliet, to so many more; the honoring, appreciation, and celebration are all there and it truly makes for a read like no other. This book is a love letter to theater. And this book is structured so perfectly, written so expertly, that I really think that R.L. Rio crafted something beyond genius. considering this perfect storm of elements, it’s not surprising when life and art get blurred and one of them ends up dead. but is it the result of an accident or murrrrrderrrr? the events of that night are murky, but our verbiage-spouting narrator oliver marks confessed to the murder and has spent the past ten years in jail. his release coincides with the retirement of detective colborne, the lead investigator in the case, and oliver is ready to tell colborne exactly what happened that night. his way. his whole world is falling apart & once he realizes he can’t stop it or fix it or change it, there’s only one thing left to do”The detective assigned to the murder investigation. Colborne visits Oliver regularly in prison because he does not believe he is responsible for Richard’s death. He quits the police force before the start of the novel and uses this information to convince Oliver to tell him the truth about what happened. We are swept up into the students' world of parties, drugs, obsessions and secrets. And honestly? It is so addictive - there is this underlying theme of darkness, we know something bad is going to happen, it's just a matter of when. Which of us could say we were more sinned against than sinning? We were so easily manipulated - confusion made a masterpiece of us.” Oliver is for sure the main character, and this book starts out with him getting out of prison ten years after the events of that frightful night. And he is finally telling the story of what actually happened. This book is also broken up in five acts, but we get to see the events of what really happened that night, a decade ago, and we get to see the ramifications of how that altered everyone’s lives in present day. it's okay to press pause and try again later if you're not liking this one. as a mood reader, i had to be in the perfect mood for this book or it wouldn’t have hit the same.

If We Were Villains: The sensational TikTok Book Club pick

Friends, I feel like this is a book that won’t be for everyone, but if it is for you then you will love it with the sum of your being. This was perfection for me, and completely made my October this year. If you’re looking for something haunting, and thrilling, and so very atmospheric, then please give If We Were Villains a try. And that last line? It is going to haunt me forever with its beautiful perfection. James - Oliver's roommate and best friend. He's popular, a great actor, and usually gets the great, tragic hero roles. If We Were Villains is the story of a tightly knit group of seven lyric-mad Shakespearean thespians who seem to prefer each other’s company to anyone else’s, thereby offending the rest of the world. But as these things so often go, something dark and sinister soon sews hatred in them, and wedges its way between them. The friendship, once beautiful, begins to hold something worth fearing. At some point, our merry band of thespians become less friends and more things for each other to hit. Filippa is the only one of the three girls of the group whom I actually love; she’s always seen as the extra – she is too volatile to fit into a category so that gives her the ability to play many roles, on- and offstage; Beware of the ones who seldom speak because they are the ones who held many secrets and truths; But that is how a tragedy like ours or King Lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last minute.”

Although there are seven main characters, they share their lives with an eighth person, William Shakespeare. As Oliver notes in Act 2, Scene 8, Shakespeare felt like their older and wiser friend, one they could not see but whose ideas were always in their heads. He cites a line from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, “Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy” (3.2), to punctuate the thought. They speak and think in the language of Shakespeare on stage, in their classes, and in their personal lives. It is not too much to say that they cede parts of their identities to the Bard, assuming that this is a fair and reasonable bargain to make with genius. Yet, as undeniably powerful as Shakespeare’s works are, the worlds he depicts are full of dark passions. To immerse oneself in his tragedies, as the group does for their final year, is to constantly confront the worst elements of the human psyche. As the novel makes clear, this can be dangerous, perhaps especially for people who have yet to reach full maturity. When Oliver sacrifices his future to rewrite the ending of a personal tragedy which he understands as Shakespearean, he exemplifies the ease with which a young and good person can be swayed to make questionable choices by imagined intimacy with genius. Oliver confronts James during the intermission of Lear, and James reluctantly confesses. As Richard stormed out of the Caesar cast party, he assaulted Wren, who was trying to calm him. Wren then begged James to go after Richard, fearing he would hurt himself. James searched for him by the lake, only to realize Richard had been following him the whole time. Richard began to taunt and threaten him, eventually making a homophobic remark in which he accused James and Oliver of being in love with one another and threatening to drown James in the lake. James then grabbed the nearest item — the boat hook — and hit him with it. James also admits that Filippa knew about the murder, and it was she who burned his bloody shirt in the fireplace.