Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

260 reviews

courtneykfong's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Death, Drug use, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

Minor: Eating disorder

celadore's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, Vomit, and Alcoholism

lizziaha's review against another edition

4.5

Reading this book traps you in a spiral, coiling tighter and tighter until its inevitable end. The tension builds and builds and builds and builds and snaps in the most gloriously messy Shakespearean way. I actually wish I knew more about Shakespeare after reading this book. I feel like I missed references. Not just in the direct quotes, but in the roles the characters play, in the narrative structure, in relationships, in the ending. I suspect this book, as good as it is as a first read, will fare better for me as a reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Physical abuse, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Bullying, Eating disorder, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit and Homophobia

adyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

This book is like if the breakfast club was made up of a bunch of pretentious (but loveable) Shakespearean theater nerds and also it was a murder mystery. 

Vibes were exquisite, made me want to read shakespeare, loved the characters, plot made sense without being predictable. The pacing was also great, I think this would be a good book to get out of a reading slump. Only reason it’s not 5 stars is bc I’m stingy with 5 stars and it didn’t have a deep personal impact on me lol

The ending

was a bit confusing, but it’s kind of impressive if a book can make me do research on Shakespearean plays after I finish it, right?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, Alcohol, Murder, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Transphobia

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

Compelling story and characters. I found the writing style a little verbose at times and must admit to skimming the Shakespeare quotes a few times which is the only reason it's been knocked down on review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Self harm, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Death, Murder, Eating disorder, Suicide, Sexual content, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Bullying, and Suicide attempt

alaskanfae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit

anni_o's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked it! I am not a Shakespear Fan and I did not know beforehand that this book was so committed to the bit. I did start to wonder if there were actual real life people who spoke like this...
Anyway! Overall the story was very compelling, and towards the end I was truly glued to the page. I do enjoy a good murder mystery! I also liked the resolution, though;
 

I would have liked to actually know what made Richard like, freak out like that so much. I would have loved to find out what made him escalate. Can't just have been Shakespear or smth. That boy needed therapy badly. I did like that it was a tragedy through and through. You saw it coming and until the end you have a hopeful lil spark going 'I'm sure they'll all be fine'. V nicely played. 

 
One star taken because the citations were really getting on my nerves by the end and I guess I'm really not enough of a theatre nerd for this. I did enjoy myself though. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Murder, Grief, and Vomit

A lot of Shakespear. Like a lot. Only read if you like, really love Shakespear. I'm serious.

lizzym126'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Bullying, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Suicide, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

mimpart's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

My favorite book of the year so far. Incredible suspense, fantastic characters, really amazing plot development and twists in the pacing, love the ending. I kept getting mad at myself for not finishing the story to see how it ends. A must-read for the poetic at heart, the Bard enthusiasts and the dark academics

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Cursing, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Gore, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

athenian_frog's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.0

Was the policework a little unbelievable? Yeah, maybe. And sometimes these guys felt a little pretentious with their reasoning. But I had a hell of a time reading about these nerds perform. And the relationship drama? My God. It was almost funny watching three characters do the emotionally strained tango on the last year of Shakespeare school.

The other thing is that I wish there was more to Richard. And that we got to hear more about Oliver's family. Oliver was alright but he really shouldn't have been so shitty about some things, like someone having an eating disorder. I could see why the other cast members liked him but he had some iffy moments. I found the twist culprit to be REALLY easy to predict, I literally put together EXACTLY what happened like a little bit post murder, but I still had lots of fun.

If youre scared about reading without knowing Shakespeare I think you'll be fine. I've read like ONE work and I was able to get through this p easily. Once or twice I googled some of the characters they mentioned that I wasn't familiar with.

Oh btw I rlly liked Fillipa and Oliver just being supportive friends to one another. Felt like a nice break every time I read them being kind to each other.

I liked having the ending feel a little open. But, again, I wanted the characters to feel a little more fleshed out before the end.

Overall I'd give this like a 3.8 but I'll round it to a 4. I got through it fairly quickly.

Some spoilery notes:

-Idk I feel like I would have understood Oliver taking the fall more if he spent more time with James. I know he already had James first before Merideth in his head but you have to have a GREAT explanation for me to understand you doing 10 years in jail for a guy...

-I wish Filippa and Wren had been written a bit better to stand on their own? Instead of just as supports to other characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide

Minor: Eating disorder