Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

34 reviews

nicoleanthony's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Addiction, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Gore, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Murder

litliz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dysphoria, Grief, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Vomit, and Cursing

Minor: Eating disorder, Confinement, and Homophobia

kazli's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

3.25

A bit predictable, the ending made it worth it.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicide, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

imaginationindex's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Physical abuse, Suicide, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

nenya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

This was absolutely incredible, I literally devoured this book so quickly - it‘s very addicting. 
It is structured like a Shakespeare play and incorporates a lot of his plays into the plot as well as the characters dialogue, which makes it even more intriguing. The characters themselves are at once love- and hateable and you end up not really knowing if you should be rooting for them or not since they‘re doing a lot of morally very wrong stuff (you end up rooting for them anyways). The ending also really packed a punch with some predictable elements but some totally „I did not see that coming“ kind of twists - it also had me sobbing in the middle of the night.

At first I thought this would be too similar to „The Secret History“, which in some cases it was, however it was unique enough to be appreciated on its own. (However the inspiration is quite obvious)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Body horror, Drug use, Addiction, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

kitanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Suicide, Drug use, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Blood, Bullying, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Alcohol

sennaje's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Alcoholism, and Grief

codyemma's review

dark sad tense

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Addiction

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide

takarakei's review against another edition

Tbh I was just not invested in the characters and was only mildly interested to know how Oliver ended up in prison. This book just wasn’t for me: imo if you are not a Shakespeare fan then I think you’ll feel like you’re missing a lot from this book. 
A friend told me the ending and I’m glad I didn’t continue with it

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Violence

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Blood, Gore, and Vomit

recycled_personalities's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I do recommend it. There’s one outdated term that used near the beginning of the book that stopped it from getting a higher score. But it’s a compelling mystery, with a side of tragic love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Addiction, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship