Book 5 - Shakespeare and MURDER

Title: If We Were Villains: A Novel

Author: M. L. Rio

Genre: Thespian Thriller

I must say, before I started this book I was apprehensive about the whole Shakespeare thing - that these characters lived and breathed the stuff (the man?), and that I would either miss a lot of the author's meaning/clues or just be totally thrown out of the book.

Happy days - not the case at all!

Okay, sure, there are some longer Shakespearean passages that I ended up skimming for tone instead of reading outright, but Rio employs contextual cues that ensure the reader gets it. Much appreciated, my friend.

This book reads almost like a snowball. It slowly gathers speed until, seemingly all of the sudden, you're hurtling forward into space. The characters are well-developed, the are tender and sharp and fraught with tangible emotion, and the plot, while at times predictable, took enough surprising twists and turns to keep that snowball going. Rio did this really cool thing where the performances the acting students have to do over the course of the novel - and their 4th year at Dellecher art school - melt and become critical to their real-life situations. It could have been overdone, or cheesy, but it was just really, REALLY cool.

Just Too Nice

My biggest issue with this novel is actually the main character. The main characteristic of the protag is that he is good. He's kind, he's selfless, blah blah blah. This goodness was embodied perhaps a bit to the extreme. A girl swoons, he's there to catch her. Someone has a harsh word for him, he immediately wonders if they are okay. I mean, power to you, but I did roll my eyes a couple times.

What I did really like about the protag though is that, along with his angelic temperament, he is suuuper naive and therefore not a dependable narrator - let me tell you, I LOVE AN UNTRUSTWORTHY NARRATOR. Love them. When it's done well, it is so frustrating and thrilling and awesome. So well done on that one, Rio.

Rating 🃏🃏🃏🃏 /5

Would recommend and would re-read!