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

5.0

Beautiful and tragic, moved me to tears. My best read of the year, one of my new favorites of all time.

To quote Hadestown:
“It's a sad song
It's a sad tale, it's a tragedy
It's a sad song
But we sing it anyway”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gore, Alcohol, Addiction, Violence, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Minor: Eating disorder

This is a dark academia book. The dark doesn’t stand for aesthetics, it stands for death, always has. People die, people try and fail to cope with that however they can, *if* they can. Discussions of obsession, grief, and what those will drive people to do are explored in this book.