#SPOILERS but omg james does get exactly whats implied. and omg

[bellshazes]

just watched feng shui, it was really good

YAYYYYY the one act today was so good and picked up at the end of the short and let me tell you it just gets better. it's getting developed into a full multi act play next season so expect me to bring it up again one year he ce

[lavenderoatmilklatte01]

Why I didn’t like If We Were Villains

*WARNING: major spoilers within. Proceed with caution.*

I was so, so excited to read this book after seeing it all over the internet. While the book had an amazing premise, there were quite a few reasons it left me feeling disappointed. Of course, these are just my opinions, and I would love to hear others reviews of this novel:) lets get into it!

1: The Characters

The book has quite a few central characters, each of whom play an important role in the conflict and events of the novel. Despite the importance of these characters, the majority of them were not fully fleshed out, and came off as very flat and generic. Whether it be love or hate, you want to make your readers feel something for the key characters in your story. With the exception of Oliver and James, I found myself not giving a fuck about any of the characters, which really took away from the storyline. The rest of the gang are very surface level, and I felt I had little insight into them as individuals. With Oliver being the narrator, we are bound to know more about him, but I have read many books that do an excellent job of fleshing out even minor characters.

2: The Ending (Spoilers!!!)

Quite frankly, it was the ending that made me flat out dislike the book. It is heavily implied that James faked his suicide, which feels like a low effort, cop-out of an ending. I believe the author wanted to end the novel with James’ suicide, and couldn’t bear to do it at the last second. Not only does James faking his suicide create a lot of logistical issues, but it robs the story of the perfect Shakespearian ending! Give us the tragedy!

3: Controversial Opinion- It feels like a TSH copycat

I hate to compare the two works, but I was definitely left with the impression that the author wanted to imitate TSH, which ruined a lot of what could have made the book an amazing, unique story! There are others on here who have compared the two stories far better than I can, so I won’t go into too much detail. I think the author of IWWV wanted to create the same tension and immersion as in TSH, but failed to grasp what exactly makes TSH so unique. I think if ML Rio had chosen a different conflict than “group of students tries to cover up murder of their friend”, the book could have been far better. 

Omg that felt like such a rant. There were things I really, really loved about this novel. I loved the Shakespearian elements, especially the Macbeth scene. I think if the author had fully fleshed out the setting and characters, and committed to the tragic ending, this book could have had the potential to be an amazing work of art.