If We Were Villians by M. L. Rio

🎭 If We Were Villains

✍️ By M. L. Rio

A vividly immersive dark academia thriller — perfect for fans of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and morally gray friendships.

What if the role you were born to play was the one that could destroy you?

After serving ten years in prison for the murder of his best friend, Oliver Marks is finally free. But freedom comes at a cost: Detective Colborne, the man who put him behind bars, wants to know the truth before he retires. And this time, Oliver is ready to tell it.

Ten years earlier, Oliver was a promising Shakespearean actor at the elite Dellecher Classical Conservatory, where he and six classmates were inseparable—onstage and off. Their tight-knit bond was built on talent, obsession, and performance. They always played the same roles: the villain, the hero, the temptress, the tyrant. Until one day, the casting changed—and so did everything else.

What began as friendly competition soon twisted into rivalry, jealousy, and manipulation. The line between performance and reality blurred. And when tragedy struck, it wasn't just a role someone played—someone died.

Now, as Oliver retraces those days of stagecraft, secrets, and Shakespeare, the question remains: Was it all an act? Or was the darkness always real?

🔮 Tropes & Themes:

• 🎓 Dark Academia

• 🩸 Murder Among Friends

• 🎭 Shakespearean Parallels

• 🕰️ Dual Timelines (Then & Now)

• 🖤 Obsession, Betrayal, and Guilt

• 📚 Art Imitating Life

• 👥 Morally Gray Characters

🌟 Perfect for Fans of:

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

• Babel by R. F. Kuang

• Theater, tragedy, and poetic prose

• Books that ask: Can we ever escape the parts we’re given?

Suspenseful, lyrical, and utterly devastating, If We Were Villains is a haunting portrait of friendship, ambition, and the dangerous power of storytelling.

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