Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - If We Were Villains

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

47 reviews

coffe4mari's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

Content Warnings

graceclawson's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

Okay. So we have the Secret History but instead of the Classics, we have a bunch of theater kids who can quote Shakespeare better than any twenty-one year old would ever be able to. I thought the plot and the writing were good, but if you took out all of the quoted Shakespeare half the book would be missing.

Content Warnings

carajewels's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

i have so many thoughts for this book, the first being SECRET HISTORY TEASE!! a tight knit group of twentysomethings a bit too immersed in academia and suddenly one of them dies and everyone is wondering what happens? yeahh i think ive seen this before! of course, books can take inspiration from others, and for what it’s worth this book didn’t feel like a complete copy of TSH, it felt more heavily inspired. i definitely think there were direct nods to TSH (greek students, bacchanalian parties), however the story clearly diverged from TSH numerous times.

personally, i couldn’t stand the tension between james and oliver. these bitches are so obviously in love!! and we have to wait the WHOLE BOOK for them to admit it??? and see them pretend to be straight in the meantime? why? i don’t get it it’s not like they’re homophobic, they’re clearly accepting of alexander. additionally, gwendolyn is supposedly this all-seeing figure that can psychologically rip them apart in her classes, yet she is painfully oblivious to the romance b/w james and oliver, which everyone else seems to have picked up on. it’s just very convenient that she never brought it up in front of them.

i loved the constant, almost overbearing use of shakespeare! at first i didn’t want to read this book until i was more well-read on his works (i’ve only read R+J, hamlet, and macbeth) but the book was perfectly readable without that knowledge. however, i’d love to reread it after reading more of his works to understand more. i love that ML Rio has a masters in shakespeare studies, there were definitely references that she put it in that i didn’t understand.

i’m conflicted about the characters. james and oliver were the ones i was paying keen attention to the entire time because i could tell from the first chapter they were in love. i couldn’t stand seeing oliver and meredith together, and meredith’s character i liked as she made me sad. i could see she is very lonely and felt the need to be with oliver because of that, but their romance were the worst pages of the books. wren i don’t really know that much about, she’s blonde and the best actress and in love with james? aside from her fainting i don’t think her character served many purposes. alexander and colborne were probably my favorites as they provided much needed comedic relief numerous times (idc that colborne was the cop investigating the crime that’s my king), and filippa was also a favorite of mine as she was so no-bullshit. i loved how in the end she finally spoke of her family, information she had always withheld until oliver was incarcerated.

Content Warnings

star_oats's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

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

1.0

Wasted my time with this book. I had to slog through the endless sexism and slutshaming only for none of them to have any semblance of character depth and development and for the plot twist and ending to be so underwhelming.

Content Warnings