My brain is buzzing. I really loved this.

This book felt like watching a really good episode of Riverdale. Bear with me.
Were the characters pretentious? Of course. Were they privileged and flawed? Yes. Was suspension of disbelief necessary? Yep. Were the "unrehearsed" scenes extremely elaborate and the steamy scenes omnipresent? You betcha. Do we reach a point where the story doesn't matter but I couldn't stop reading? Yep!!!

This was such a fun sad gripping ride. "Thriller" is not the word for it as the "mystery" is pretty obvious. I feel like I've said all the things that may make the book not good, so here's some good things: the characters were memorable, the writing was beautiful, the scenes were evocative and larger than life, the love for Shakespeare seeped through every page, and themes like obsession, found family, casting yourself in a role, and guilt were all explored wonderfully.

Highly recommended if you're literary (and have a few Shakespeare plays under your belt, enjoy ~drama~, and are willing to overlook human behaviour that is so ridiculous that you can't look away. Have some shiny five stars.

(Guess I need to read more dark academia?)

More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/ph6RGiTwc18