Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

My Year of Dark Academia is Off to an Uneven Start

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

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Lately I’ve been finding myself drawn to dark academia, so I thought this year I might embrace it and go whole hog. I started the year off with two very different dark academia novels–one that I mostly enjoyed, and one that I didn’t really enjoy at all. First up, I read A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. Effy is an architecture student at a prestigious college, but she wants to be a literature student–only women aren’t allowed to study literature. Her favorite author is Emrys Myrddin, […]

Atmospheric, but Not Much Else

Graveyard Shift by M. L. Rio

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This was my first M. L. Rio book, and it seemed like it would be so interesting: A group of late shift workers who meet up in a semi-planned way for smoke breaks in a dilapidated cemetery. An unexpected open grave. A mystery that unfolds over the course of a single night. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work for me. It’s hard to pin down the genre. It’s a horror book, but without much horror; a thriller, but without much thrill; a mystery, but one that’s […]

“Hatred is the sincerest form of flattery.”

If We Were Villains: A Novel by M.L. Rio

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“If We Were Villains” tells the story of Oliver Marks, finishing his ten-year sentence in prison for murder, met at the gate by Joseph Colborne, the detective on the case. Never believing Oliver was guilty, Colburne wants to know what actually happened all those years ago, back when Oliver was a lower-income student on scholarship at the Dellecher Classical Conservatory, an exclusive and cliquish art school. In on an acting scholarship, Oliver joined the acting set and their obsession with all things Shakespeare, where he […]

It was a relief and a horror to be known so perfectly.

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

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I’m not sure if I can categorize this book as dark academia, but the characters and the story remind me so much of what I enjoyed about “If We Were Villains” and “The Secret History,” it is impossible for me not to draw parallels between them. All three stories are linked by a sudden and violent death, and how those left behind cope with their secrets. Paul is a seventeen-year-old who has recently graduated from high school. He lives with his mother and his two […]

“When did we become such terrible people?””Maybe we’ve always been terrible.”

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

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Other nights, when he thought I was already dreaming, he slid out of bed, took his coat and shoes, and disappeared into the dark outside. I never asked where he went, worried he wouldn’t ask me to follow. ― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains “Do you blame Shakespeare for any of it?” The question is so unlikely, so nonsensical coming from such a sensible man, that I can’t suppress a smile. “I blame him for all of it.”― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains […]

Shakes Fear

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

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I’ll say this much for If We Were Villains: I finished it. Might sound simple but in this moment, that’s not easy to do. I’m not finishing much these days. If it doesn’t grab me off the bat, I’m probably going to sulk with it for a while. And it took me three full tries to get into this one. But it kept me going to the end (an end I hated but hey! I finished it!). I will give credit where credit is due: M.L. […]



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