I have watched booktubers rave about If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio. I haven’t seen anyone critique or offer anything negative about this book. As such, this book has appeared on several dark academia-recommended reading lists. While I’m not a big Shakespeare or theater person, I couldn’t pass up on the premise. I am in the minority here because while I liked If We Were Villains, I rated this book lower than most reviewers.

Oliver Marks is released from prison after ten years for a murder he may or may not have committed. Detective Colborne picks Oliver up from prison and comes up with a compromise. Before he retires, he wants Oliver to tell him the truth of what happened ten years ago. Since he’s retiring, it’s not like he will take any action no matter what Oliver tells him. Oliver agrees and directs Colborne to his former college campus, an elite liberal arts college where he and his friends studied Shakespeare. In between auditions, Oliver reminisces about his friends and the moment everything changed for them.

If We Were Villains is without a doubt a dark academia thriller. I loved how the college campus is described and how Oliver and his friends live in a tower. It’s completely unrealistic, but I don’t care. With thrillers, I expect to finish these books within a day or two. If a thriller is slower-paced, I will probably rate it lower because it took me longer to finish. If We Were Villains does not fall into this, I ended up reading 200 pages in one sitting and could not be bothered to do anything else until I finished this book.

If We Were Villains has an average Goodreads rating of 4.15 stars which is pretty high. While reading this book, certain things stuck out to me that bothered me. Starting with the characters, I didn’t like how Meredith, one of Oliver’s friends, was portrayed. Meredith is described as being eye candy for almost every single male character. If I had to read another section about how Meredith was curvy and how her clothes looked on her body, I was going to lose it. To give this book the benefit of the doubt, some of these descriptions were during the college’s plays, but still, we get it, she’s curvy. What bothers me is that’s all I know about her. I don’t know much about her personality, or hobbies, she’s attractive, and that’s it. It feels like a tired trope to see female characters written this way, so to read it in this context, I was over it. On top of that, the other two female characters, Wren and Pip, were overshadowed by Meredith, so I didn’t know much about them either.

Besides Meredith, Oliver ends up beginning a relationship with her. However, Oliver has feelings for James. This book does a bait and switch of hinting at Oliver and James’s relationship, but never allowing it to happen. It’s interesting because theater brings so many people with different identities, so I find it strange how Oliver is paired up with Meredith when their chemistry feels forced.

The last thing I will mention is the ending. If We Were Villains has one of those endings that completely shifts the entire book into two pages. It’s hard to discuss without spoiling the book, but I found the ending unfair to Meredith. The ending is left open to interpretation which is fine. I prefer books to have everything wrapped up at the end, but that’s just me.

It makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy this book. I liked If We Were Villains although, I disagree with other book reviewers who would put this on their favorites list. I’m glad I read this, I don’t think I need to own a physical copy of the book. I would consider reading from this author again. I rated If We Were Villains three stars on Goodreads.