Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - The Last of August

I am sad to say that this installment fell short of the first one. There were a lot of ongoing subplots and mysteries that weren't developed as fully as I would have wanted. Besides that, it seemed like all of the concurrent mysteries were meant to overlap and connect at some point, but when they finally do it is very confusing. I actually had to reread the last few sections a second time to make sure I followed. The Holmes and Moriarty's have a long bitter relationship and that is the main point of contention that drives the plot forward. However, by the end it's difficult to tell who needs more therapy because both families are messed up. It felt sloppy and rushed and I would have preferred to spend more time wrapping up the plot, but still enjoyable once I was able to tie all the threads together.

Despite shortcomings in the plot, I appreciated the character development for both Charlotte and Jamie. Charlotte has to grapple with her past trauma and how that affects her ability to enter into a romantic relationship with Jamie. Jamie has to deal with his feelings of inadequacy and jealousy around Holmes that are due to him often selling himself short. He is respectful of her boundaries and abstains from being affectionate with her more than he would want to; however, t is clear that his romantic feelings for Charlotte are strong. I think some people may argue that he idolizes her, but I beg to differ. Jamie and Charlotte argue a lot and he sees her flaws and likes her anyway. I really like their relationship dynamic overall. Other characters observing them see them argue a lot and even comment on it, but in a way it is how they communicate. Their arguments can be very angsty when they are serious, but we get both of their perspectives and it is clear that their inner insecurities are what are causing the miscommunication. I know this will probably annoy some readers, but I would kindly remind them that this is often the cause of conflicts in real life relationships. In addition, they are teenagers who are both still trying to figure things out, so that also helped make me a lot more empathetic towards them. Charlotte in particular is bad at expressing her emotions and it is greatly out of fear of ruining what she has with Jamie. I feel that this made her more human this time around and helped me understand her as a character better.

Spoiler

I should mention that despite Charlotte's character growth, the amount of lying she was willing to do to cover up for her family shows that she definitely still has a lot of growth to do. I'm hoping that we get more insight into what has made her so severely loyal to her family in this unhealthy way. It sees like she did not have the most loving childhood and does not truly understand what true love looks like (platonic or not). I am looking forward to that being explored more in the next book.

I'm looking forward to see the continued progression of the relationship between Charlotte and Jamie. Not this author's best work, but I'm hoping it gets better as the series goes on.

Content Warnings

gracefulbooks's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This story takes place after the events of the first one where a murder has happened at a boarding school where both Sherlock Holmes great great great granddaughter Charlotte and the great great great grandson of Jon Watson, Jamie Watson. The two team up as they are both suspects in the kid's murder and work together to clear their names.

In this installation in the series, we follow Holmes and Watson as they stay with Holmes's family for the Christmas Holiday, and while there her uncle Leander suddenly disappears and they are once again tasked with figuring out what he was investigating leading up to his disappearance and saving him as well. All while Holmes's mother is also suddenly ill.

I will say I had such a hard time with the first book in this series. I liked it enough but I still struggled a bit and especially disliked it when it became a thing where Watson and she would become lovers. I just genuinely wanted a legit male & female friendship that was nothing more than that. That opinion kind of made the start of this book dreadful for me. I really did not like them as a pairing in that sense and it was as if Charlotte was ALL Jamie thought about for the first quarter of this book and it made it SO hard to get into-I genuinely just don't get it. I don't want the romance there, though I will give Cavallaro some credit because it became more tolerable as this book went on for me. Especially when we saw it from Holmes's perspective because it felt more genuine than Jamie's did for me.

He reads as though he is a massive fan of Charlotte and thinks for some reason he has a chance with her despite her giving very few hints if any at all that she is into him. It just is weird to me and I don't like it. It didn't feel like it was healthy though at some point in the book it felt more....okay? To me??

Moving past that whole shebang I want to say the mystery here felt a bit more put together than the one from the first book. I was able to follow it a bit more and didn't feel like the conclusion was completely far-fetched as I felt the first one was personal and after reading this I kind of understand the first book a bit more. We get more insight into the messed-up relations between the Moriarty's & the Holmes's and what exactly caused a lot of what happened in the first book and what happened in this one.

The motives felt more put together here and that made me appreciate the mystery a bit more.

Spoiler

Though to be frank I still don't understand the whole forgery plot line but I guess the Moriarty's just wanted more money and that's why?

The story also kind of shows how messed up things can get when you think so linear as the Holmeses seem to and I appreciated that aspect here.

I personally left this book wanting to continue the series which I wasn't expecting because I was planning to DNF this series but the way it ended I don't think I can willingly do that now. I would also like to acknowledge that I think Cavallaro tried to rectify some of the problems readers had with the previous book and she actually allowed us to partake more in the mystery-solving process. I appreciate that effort a bunch.

Content Warnings

mmc27's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is moderately fast-paced leading it to be an easy read. The storyline picks up after the first book, as it is the second in a series; it builds upon the storylines, characters, and backstories that were established in the first book. This book introduced a new mystery for Holmes and Watson to solve that still intertwines the already established characters. I appreciated the character's thoughts were written and expressed in an easy way to understand and to help the reader gauge the turmoil and mention that this book posses. This book had a darker tone that progressed along with the story.

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