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qkat's review
3.0
I enjoyed certain parts of this book, however some parts were quite slow. I didn’t hate the story, but it did seem a little juvenile at times. I will continue the series to see what happens next.
dembury's review
2.0
Why has it been like 3 months since I've read a book I really enjoyed? :/
I'm just fully going with the Goodreads ranking on this, 2 stars being "It was okay". I thought the overall idea was cool: the modern day descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson teaming up at their preppy boarding school to solve mysteries. But Jamie Watson, the narrator (save for one lone Charlotte Holmes chapter) is whiny and full of himself, and listening to him in audiobook format was ROUGH. Jamie constantly takes things that happen to other people (including a rape) and only views them through a lens of how it affects him. Seriously, at one point someone attemps to murder a student, and one of Jamie's immediate thoughts is along the lines of "Why do bad things keep happening to ME?"
The mystery was surpisingly lackluster. It felt uninspired, and manages to make the story seem like a badly written episode of a CW tv show.
I wish there had been more Charlotte Holmes POV! Because we only get to see her through Jamie's eyes most of the time, she is presented is such a flat, overly-glorifed way. But the solitary chapter from her head was really good! However, even with hearing books later in the series get more of her, I don't think I'll want to keep reading this series. There are just way better Holmes stories out there (ahem, "The Beekeeper's Apprentice"!) and I'd rather just enjoy those.
I'm just fully going with the Goodreads ranking on this, 2 stars being "It was okay". I thought the overall idea was cool: the modern day descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson teaming up at their preppy boarding school to solve mysteries. But Jamie Watson, the narrator (save for one lone Charlotte Holmes chapter) is whiny and full of himself, and listening to him in audiobook format was ROUGH. Jamie constantly takes things that happen to other people (including a rape) and only views them through a lens of how it affects him. Seriously, at one point someone attemps to murder a student, and one of Jamie's immediate thoughts is along the lines of "Why do bad things keep happening to ME?"
The mystery was surpisingly lackluster. It felt uninspired, and manages to make the story seem like a badly written episode of a CW tv show.
I wish there had been more Charlotte Holmes POV! Because we only get to see her through Jamie's eyes most of the time, she is presented is such a flat, overly-glorifed way. But the solitary chapter from her head was really good! However, even with hearing books later in the series get more of her, I don't think I'll want to keep reading this series. There are just way better Holmes stories out there (ahem, "The Beekeeper's Apprentice"!) and I'd rather just enjoy those.
k_shanahan's review
3.0
I don't know if it was a problem with the pacing of the story or with the character development, but relationships and opinions seemed to change much too quickly and suddenly without much adaptation for all characters. Still a fun book with a sequel that I'll read.
katiefayslacker's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
mllejoyeuxnoel's review
5.0
I totally loved this book! I've always been a fan of the Holmes/Watson duo and dynamic, and Cavallaro does it well. My favorite iteration has always been the House/Wilson relationship; this retelling had a similar vibe, with much more action and suspense than a typical episode of House! I will definitely being seeing this series through to the end.
starfleckedsoul's review
5.0
First and foremost, I read this book merely because I answered a quiz on EpicReads suggesting that my dream guy is Jamie Watson from 'A Study In Charlotte '. After which, I took the time to have the books downloaded, and stored in my phone for at least two months. For the record, I also didn't have much knowledge about Sherlock and Dr. Watson, but I was willing to read something fresh for my taste.
This is, in fact, my very first mystery read and I can assure you that I do not regret an ounce.
The story starts off with Jamie Watson, whom we learn is a descendant of Dr. John Watson, and goes to the same boarding school as Sherlock's descendant, Charlotte Holmes. From Watson's perspective, we learn a lot about how much of a detective Charlotte Holmes is, that she is not a widely-accepted individual in their school, and that she is far from the typical school girl most of us expect from a YA novel. Aside from knowing Holmes, of course, we also got to see James growing and developing as an individual and as a character. I can say that despite of the kind of life he's now aware he's living, he still has the capacity to dream of things normally, as one would. Lastly, we get to learn that it is true that a person could soften a very sharp iron.
Aside from the character developments, I would like to commend how well the plot was woven together. My guesses were correct, yet how the plot unfolded is still a shock to me, and that's what's important.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. To. Everyone.
This is, in fact, my very first mystery read and I can assure you that I do not regret an ounce.
The story starts off with Jamie Watson, whom we learn is a descendant of Dr. John Watson, and goes to the same boarding school as Sherlock's descendant, Charlotte Holmes. From Watson's perspective, we learn a lot about how much of a detective Charlotte Holmes is, that she is not a widely-accepted individual in their school, and that she is far from the typical school girl most of us expect from a YA novel. Aside from knowing Holmes, of course, we also got to see James growing and developing as an individual and as a character. I can say that despite of the kind of life he's now aware he's living, he still has the capacity to dream of things normally, as one would. Lastly, we get to learn that it is true that a person could soften a very sharp iron.
Aside from the character developments, I would like to commend how well the plot was woven together. My guesses were correct, yet how the plot unfolded is still a shock to me, and that's what's important.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. To. Everyone.
reeyabeegale's review
3.0
2.75 stars.
I love mysteries, I love murder plots, so I was very excited when I learned about this trilogy (?). However, A Study in Charlotte left me disappointed. The writing style was confusing, it kept on jumping from one thought to another, it felt like the book was missing some of its pages.
I love the mystery in the book, but the process of getting there, it wasn’t entertaining and it wasn’t as thrilling as I hoped it would be.
I bought the second book thinking I would enjoy this, so I might as well just read it too (but not in the near future).
Up to this day, the best YA “Nancy Drew” type of book I’ve read is Kara Thomas’ Prep School Confidential trilogy — it was thrilling and intriguing!
I love mysteries, I love murder plots, so I was very excited when I learned about this trilogy (?). However, A Study in Charlotte left me disappointed. The writing style was confusing, it kept on jumping from one thought to another, it felt like the book was missing some of its pages.
I love the mystery in the book, but the process of getting there, it wasn’t entertaining and it wasn’t as thrilling as I hoped it would be.
I bought the second book thinking I would enjoy this, so I might as well just read it too (but not in the near future).
Up to this day, the best YA “Nancy Drew” type of book I’ve read is Kara Thomas’ Prep School Confidential trilogy — it was thrilling and intriguing!
bambiann's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse
Moderate: Murder and Rape
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
4.0
It looks like I'm totally into retellings of classics and even more it looks like I have come to like Sherlock retellings without ever having read the original novels, nor having seen the BBC series. I'm always fashionably late to those kind of parties. I'm quite sure that by now I have a very complete image of the world of Sherlock Holmes and at some point I'm gonna order the original books to see how much of it is really there. It will be a nice experiment.
Just like this book was a really nice experiment! In this case we are following the adventures of another Holmes and another Watson. They have never met before, especially since James Watson's mother kept him as far away from Charlotte Holmes as possible, but when they end on the same school, it's of course finally happening. The result is an interesting tale. It's both a mystery and a sort of romance and it feels like a great hommage to the source material.
We only see Charlotte Holmes through the eyes of James Watson, but she's quite an intriguing character. She has been trained to think and be like the detective making her family famous and although she's is clearly not as robotical as him, she did inherit a few of his traits. She's smart, she hides her emotions behind a mask and she has some issues with drugs. However, it's not hard to understand why James is so intrigued by her.
And it's not hard to understand why she might be intrigued by him either. Especially since he clearly brings his own set of skills to the mystery solving. The mystery is quite well done too. Although there were hints towards the killer, we don't get all the pieces of the puzzle until the very last moment. Of course, the direction is kinda clear, however, how all of this is connected to the Moriarty's takes a while to come to light.
And since the case is actually only partly solved, as there is clearly more hidden beyond the surface, I can't wait to read the next book in the series!
Just like this book was a really nice experiment! In this case we are following the adventures of another Holmes and another Watson. They have never met before, especially since James Watson's mother kept him as far away from Charlotte Holmes as possible, but when they end on the same school, it's of course finally happening. The result is an interesting tale. It's both a mystery and a sort of romance and it feels like a great hommage to the source material.
We only see Charlotte Holmes through the eyes of James Watson, but she's quite an intriguing character. She has been trained to think and be like the detective making her family famous and although she's is clearly not as robotical as him, she did inherit a few of his traits. She's smart, she hides her emotions behind a mask and she has some issues with drugs. However, it's not hard to understand why James is so intrigued by her.
And it's not hard to understand why she might be intrigued by him either. Especially since he clearly brings his own set of skills to the mystery solving. The mystery is quite well done too. Although there were hints towards the killer, we don't get all the pieces of the puzzle until the very last moment. Of course, the direction is kinda clear, however, how all of this is connected to the Moriarty's takes a while to come to light.
And since the case is actually only partly solved, as there is clearly more hidden beyond the surface, I can't wait to read the next book in the series!