Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

442 reviews

oakairi's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Bullying, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Sexism, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Misogyny, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content, Blood, and Vomit

dom_brlw's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

3.75

This is a hard book to read. The amount of content warnings alone is a sign of it. It can be so dark at times and the characters are so twisted. This book shouldn’t be read when you are in a bad state of mind, it might make it worse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Death, Grief, Murder, Blood, Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, and Vomit

courtneykfong's review

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

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

jetromeo's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders

tetedump's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Violence, and Vomit

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

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

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

These little assholes were sooo annoying omg. God, I get you're Shakespeare acting students but damnnn I could really have done without every other line of dialogue being a Shakespeare quote. Same goes for the author. This is my only complaint about the writing, but it's a very large complaint. And, ok, I get it "Rebecca, you picked up a book about Shakespeare students, what did you expect?" but I am still allowed to complain. And complain I will. I rolled my eyes so much I feared they would get stuck like that. Otherwise, I think the characters and their relationships had a lot of potential, but I just wished the author would go deeper. Like yea there's this homoerotic best friendship between

James and Oliver

, but you're telling me more than showing me. Same with

Meredith and Oliver

, like I didn't really buy that. And also that whole "Oliver, you're so good" thing, sure he wasn't a terrible person, but I couldn't really see what they were talking about. Like, yes, we come into this group 4 years into their friendship, so I get that there's history, but it's the author's job to convey that and it fell a bit short. 

I guessed the killer immediately. Clocked that shit right away.

"I'm not drinking tonight" *throwing up in the bathroom 3 hours later* "yea I just drank too much" am I some sort of idiot??? James, my darling, I do hope you're still alive but c'mon. Also, fuck! how tragic. Bro, if I was Oliver and I went to jail to save my friend and then he killed himself because the guilt was too much, I'd jump off a cliff fr.

IMO, this book had a fair bit of overall unrealized potential, even though it was enjoyable.

Hm. I think I don't rate books harshly enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder and Addiction

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit