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A review by dembury
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
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.