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A review by francestal
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.0
“Shakespeare is real, but his characters live in a world of real extremes.”
So painfully messy and I can’t decide if it leaves me with a positive or negative impression of the book. Coming from someone who hadn’t seen a phrase of Shakespeare since a few years ago in high school, this was so hard to get into. If you’re an avid Shakespeare fan, you might feel at home and even blissful with all the quotes (they literally speak maybe 75% of the dialogue in Shakespearean lines). I’m fifty-fifty; part of me is thinking, “Wow, there’s probably so much hidden between these lines…” but also the other part of me is snorting, “Why does this feel like Mandella and Michael in 10 Things I Hate About You?”
The thing I didn’t like most about this book is that the characters are stereotyped so hard. I understand it was the premise of the story (difficulty separating the character from the artist on and offstage) and that the author writes it into her blurb, but it was to a fault and they felt locked into a box. And when this book is advertised as a mystery, the predictability of the characters and plot stripped it bare and it fell flat. Another thing: agreeing with one of the reviewers below, the last line had me staring blankly at the page and going, “Really?” Still, I breezed through the book. Page turner yes, but messily predictable.
The thing I didn’t like most about this book is that the characters are stereotyped so hard. I understand it was the premise of the story (difficulty separating the character from the artist on and offstage) and that the author writes it into her blurb, but it was to a fault and they felt locked into a box. And when this book is advertised as a mystery, the predictability of the characters and plot stripped it bare and it fell flat. Another thing: agreeing with one of the reviewers below, the last line had me staring blankly at the page and going, “Really?” Still, I breezed through the book. Page turner yes, but messily predictable.