Even though it was sitting on the bottom shelf in the bookstore, the simple yet expressive cover still caught my eye. I could tell it was going to be a mystery thanks to the woman holding a magnifying class right on the cover that basically screamed "Nancy Drew." Being a huge Nancy Drew fan since I was a kid, I quickly flipped the book over to read the synopsis. I wasn't disappointed.
"A Study In Charlotte" by Brittany Cavallaro is a fictional tale about the great-great-great-grandson of the one and only John Watson, Jamie Watson who gets a scholarship to a prep school in Connecticut. It just so happens that the great-great-great-granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes (who Jamie Watson has admired from a safe distance since he was a child) also goes to this extremely random American school.
Throughout the book, Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for a murder and they're working to prove their innocence while also catching the killer. I was really excited to read all about this little Watson and Holmes story, but I was also extremely apprehensive.
I've read enough YA books to know that when there is both a girl and a boy protagonist, they usually are in love at the end. Maybe I wouldn't have been so bugged if it didn't happen every single time. Do YA authors know that straight boys and straight girls can be partners and even really good friends without being romantically involved? It's true! I've seen it been done.
The whole time I was reading the book, I was just hoping that they wouldn't end up together. This fear reminded in the back of my head and even hindered my enjoyment of the mystery. Every time Jamie would think about how he liked how Charlotte smelled or the way she looks at him, I wanted to barf. Am I being melodramatic? Yes. I'm just really frustrated, alright?
Anyways, Jamie writes about how he knows him and Charlotte can "never be together" so much that you know they're going to be together. After I got halfway through, it would have been more surprising if they didn't get together in the end. It was just really disappointing because I wanted to read a mystery about some pals solving a case and having a good time.
Even though the romance really ruined a lot for me, it doesn't change the fact that it was a pretty good book. The characters a really well written, which could be really hard to do. Charlotte was raised as a kid to be as much like Sherlock as possible, leading to her having insecurities about having visible feelings. Don't get me wrong, she still acts a lot like the original Holmes, but her character is self-conscious about her "flaws" and it makes her realistic. In short, she's not a complete sociopath.
Jamie's character is also interesting. He's a bit dramatic and has a lot of feeling, but his character is consistent. He had been daydreaming about adventures with Charlotte since he was young, even though he wasn't allowed to interact with her. So, it does make sense that he talks about her romantically the moment they first meet, but it's a little overbearing.
Despite everything, I really did enjoy reading this book. That's really the whole point of reading a book.
