Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

35 reviews

nehaslibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

i don’t usually read such books and also hate old english texts but this is an exception; i loved it so much!
i’m still processing the end but i will definitely reread at some point

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Gore, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

gisblanketfort's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I honestly have really mixed feelings about this book. It was on my tbr for months and I was really excited to read it finally. I don't think it met my expectations though.
As a person that loves dark academia (more visually because it has some pretty problematic themes) and has read the secret history I can say that this book was pretty much a ripoff of TSH with different elements. The question is which book to pick up. But I wasn't bothered at first.
My other complaint is the writing and the description of female characters. It was hard to believe that this book was published in 2017 and written by a woman. I was really irritated by the really subtle slut shaming and girls being described as 'gentle', 'fragile', 'small', 'weak' etc. Maybe that is because we see the story from Oliver's POV, but still it was tiring. Wren and Meredith are in this category, without Filippa, which means 2/3 of the girls in the group.
Oliver is a pick me boy. No I will not elaborate.

 
When I was 3/4 done with the book I was so tired and I wanted it to end SO BADLY. It was too painful to see Oliver going with Meredith once again, bc he wanted to run away from his feelings for James. I went on a FORTY MINUTE rant to my sis about it and I think I might have discouraged her from reading this book. 
Now let's talk about the ending. I kinda predicted that Caesar was the answer but still it was a little bit of a shock. The epilogue shattered my little soul. I didn't expect her to kill off James like that( we don't know if he's dead dead but I perceive him as dead). It felt kinda queerbait-y but I'm a marvel fan so I've seen worse. But I liked it and it saved the book for me

All in all, Filippa and the ending kept me from completely dissing this book, it feels like it was written by a man and the quotes are amazing. Those are just half the things I wanna say but that's enough me thinks. 

I gotta give it to dark academia books for murdering the homophobic ones

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexism, Homophobia, and Eating disorder

Minor: Vomit and Gaslighting

prakriti_archit's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

*No major spoilers* A surreal book. A dream, yet simultaneously a nightmare. It was beautifully written and it almost felt like reading about the Marauders era, except they're older and the story is darker. The one scene where they are running through the forest at night, drunk and deliriously happy, is burned into my skull. Not only did the characters follow and fall under the Shakespearean template, but so did the storyline. If you have always liked the general story of Shakespeare's plays, but never really vibed with, or completely understood, the language, then this book is perfect. Its a modern twist on the classics in the best way possible. The only thing that I would maybe pick on would be that  Meredith is portrayed as this absolutely perfect and effortlessly gorgeous "cool girl" *Insert the Gone Girl quote about cool girls* Any problems that she has or is part of usually falls on Richard, not her. The only insecurity she mentions is that people might value her looks over her personality. However, other than that, she is written as if she has absolutely no flaws and everybody wants to sleep with her (and if they say no, they must be lying or surpressing the feeling). But then again it is written from Oliver's point of view who is absolutely infatuated by her, so I guess I can't criticize it too much. It didn't hinder the story, it just rubbed me the wrong way. Also, I have never wanted fake blood spilled on me in a boathouse more than I did while reading this. So clearly, 10 out of 10, would recommend. 

P.S. if you want to add to the experience and like listening to instrumental music while reading, I would highly recommend listening to "You" by Petit Biscuit while reading this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gaslighting

sarahaloyd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder and Forced institutionalization

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Vomit