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Book Ramble - A Study in Charlotte

Hi everyone! Welcome to Nox Reads, I'm "Nox", and this is my book ramble about A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro! I am rating this a GET ME ALL THE MERCH!

A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes, #1)

"The two of us, we're the best kind of disaster. Apples and oranges. Well, more like apples and machetes."

TRIGGER WARNING: This book has mentions of r***, drug use, and murder. While there aren't explicit scenes detailing the first trigger, there is a character who struggles with the aftermath of it. One of the characters uses drugs and it's mentioned quite a bit in the story, and the murder is a large part of the story, and told in detail.

Song I Listened to While Writing: Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco

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S P O I L E R - F R E E  T A L K 

I've wanted to read this book for a long time. I'm a huge fan of Sherlock, mysteries, and retellings, so the fact that an author put Sherlock and Watson in a modern setting had me intrigued.

First things first, this story isn't a retelling of any of the Sherlock Holmes books. Charlotte and Jamie aren't Sherlock and Dr. Watson, and I think that's part of why I enjoyed it so much. I came to the book expecting them to be written as carbon-copies of their Victorian counterparts, and while there are many traits they have in common (which seem to be just inherited or family-taught values), Charlotte and Jamie are completely different characters. To me, that made me want to read them even more.

When Jamie and Charlotte first meet, they don't get along. They spend time actively avoiding each other until the murder of a classmate forces them to work together, and once they do they have this dynamic and friendship that's amazing to read. Their backstories are complex, and despite the book being written from Jamie's point of view, Charlotte's backstory is just as important, especially for the plot. Also, the interesting thing about reading from Jamie's point of view is that we learn more about Charlotte as he does. We want him to learn more. We feel the same way he does about her past. We're as surprised or concerned as he is when he learns x,y, or z about her. We're cheering and rooting for him to be part of her life because in a way it makes us a part of it.

Also, Jamie Watson is one of my newest fictional character crushes. I love him.

The relationships between different characters are so well developed, and I love that. Even though Jamie and Charlotte's is the main one, there's development between Jamie and his dad, Charlotte and Lena, and so many others. If you care about characters, I feel like this is a good story for you. The characters aren't just one trope after another. They're multi-faceted.

My main problem with the story is when we learn who the murderer is and their motivation. I can't really get into it without spoiling it (so if you head to the spoiler section, you'll find my mini-rant about how frustrating this was to me). Yes, it made sense that this was the murderer, but the motivation was thrown at the end with some exposition and it irked the heck out of me. Which is disappointing because the way the murders were set up was the most interesting thing about the plot.

I've said all that I can say without spoiling the story. I loved this book so much, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. I'd say the book was better than I anticipated, and this was a story that I've been incredibly eager to read for months. I highly recommend reading it!

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S P O I L E R - T A L K 

To me, the most interesting part of the book was that the murders were staged. I've never read any of the stories that the book talked about, but after reading this I want to check them out. Maybe I need to read more Sherlock Holmes. You could see though that there was a lot of effort put into this story, and into these murders, and so that makes me incredibly annoyed that the murderer had such stupid motivation!

Oh my goodness, I think I wanted to scream when Byrony (which out of curiosity, how do you pronounce that?) started ranting about how Charlotte ruined August's life and hers by default. Lady, are you really that obsessed that you're targeting two seventeen-year-olds, one who had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH AUGUST! I mean, I understand. She thought that the love of her life killed himself because of Charlotte. But what did Jamie do to deserve getting roped into this? And she orchestrated the r*** of a teenager, and later poisoned Jamie! All because she wanted Charlotte to suffer. I give her credit, she doesn't do things halfway. She goes all in. I'm so glad that August escaped from her though.

Also, my absolute favorite part is the epilogue. I love that Charlotte interjects and corrects Jamie on certain parts, and she comments on his love for the X-Files (which sounds like fun so Jamie Watson, if you're real, my number is ***-***-****). It was great to finally read some of it from her perspective.

Oh, and I ship Charlotte and Jamie. I ship it like FedEx.

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Thank you for reading! As I said before, I definitely recommend reading A Study in Charlotte! If you read it, who's your favorite character? Mine is Jamie, but I do love Charlotte.

Have a great day!

~Nox

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