the only thing i really got from this is that i dont understand shakespeare all that well. i blame my filipino public school education tbh. but also: this really read like a debut novel, for better or for worse. i would probably read m.l. rio's future novels though, because i feel like this book really had the potential to be something i could have loved, had it focused a little bit more on the Tenderness aspects lmao. also, maybe i'm just dumb, but i found some tiny parts of the book to be kinda problematic :/ also did not really reach a point wherein i really truly cared about the characters, which is pretty important seeing as how this is a very character-driven story. ANYWAY this review is very rambly but in summary: my dumb brain doesnt understand shakespeare, and i needed this book to just a little bit more Tender and uh Gay