If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

"Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail - for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless."

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If We Were Villains is a mystery told from Oliver's perspective. Oliver has spent 10 years in prison for a crime he may or may not have committed and on the day he's released from prison he tells the detective the whole story, as Oliver knows it, about what happened the year that everything went wrong at his prestigious art school. The story follows a troop of fourth-year Shakespearian theater actors through their last year and the drama and crimes that ensue.

This book was amazing! I will be upfront that I'm not well versed in the world of Shakespeare, but it didn't even matter. This book was so poetic and atmospheric, set at a school in a tower they commonly refer to as "the castle" and a feeling of dread for these characters followed me through this whole book. I listened to the audiobook of this one, read by the wonderful Robert Petkoff, who did a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life.

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“For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me.”

― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains

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Nearly from the beginning this book pulled me in and refused to let go. The drama between the characters is so elegantly spun, that even though these characters were a bunch of pretentious brats that talk to each other in their own versions of Shakespearean verse, I was right in the middle of it and deeply worried about what was going to happen to this tightknit group. Part of this was due to the story being told from Oliver's point of view. Oliver is known as the "nice" one. And the juxtaposition of this information, with knowing that he's in prison for a crime is so intriguing. I needed to know what happened, and like a train wreck, I couldn't look away.

I highly recommend this one if you're a fan of Shakespeare, mysteries, or intense interpersonal dynamics and crime.

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Genre: mystery, thriller, lgbtqia+

Representation: bi, gay

Content Warnings: Death, Depression, Drug overdose, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Injury, Murder, Physical abuse, PTSD, Racial slur (use of Romani slur), Self harm, Slut shaming, Substance abuse, Suicide (mentioned), Transphobic comment, Violence