First things first: Don't read this expecting it to be similar to If We Were Villains!!

The only thing that felt similar was a gripping atmosphere. Apart from that, I wouldn't have been surprised if you told me this was written by a different person. The writing felt very different from what I remembered IWWV feeling like. Which isn't that surprising considering that M.L. Rio wrote these a long time apart and Shakespeare isn't involved. So yeah, if you want to like this, don't expect is to be similar or you'll be very disappointed.

I am happy to say that I wasn't! I liked it a lot actually. I found the premise and the setting very intriguing, as well as the characters. Despite the short amount of time I spent with them, I still got to like them all and would've loved them to be the cast of a whole novel. 
The mystery was very fun to uncover - I don't know what else to say about it, but it was a great idea and well done. However, I am torn about whether I would've liked this to be longer. I think one could've told this with a bit more meat to the bone (Idk if I remember this saying correctly, English isn't my first language). On the other hand, I think M.L. Rio was right to not make this too long because that would probably have dragged and include unnecessary stuff. ... As said, I am torn. 
All in all I had so much fun reading this though, so I honestly can't complain.

Also, I think the Author's Note and the essay in the end add some context and suddenly make this story quite a personal one to the author on some level. It adds to how I perceive the story at least. Oh, and I'll listen to the playlist for sure. I've never heard of any of the songs on it and am very interested.