A review by laurenleigh
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

When you google “dark academia books,” you get A Secret History, Ninth House, and this. So OBVIOUSLY I loved this novel. Devoured it, really. It was like A Secret History - the Greek studies + Shakespeare. Right up my alley!! Reminded a lot of my acting school days, minus the murder. The narrator, Robert Petkoff, is simply fabulous. I’m going to need M.L. Rio to start writing more novels, please. And I’m also going to need to track down my Shakespeare complete works and do some rereading. 🤓