Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Last of August

Reviews tagging Rape

The Last of August, by Brittany Cavallaro

9 reviews

lyla_wicks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

although i was very invested in charlotte and jamie’s relationship developing, i found that it got too toxic for me at a lot of points throughout this book, which made it quite a lot harder for me to enjoy. as for the actual mystery, i did find it a bit hard to follow at some points, especially towards the end when everything was ‘revealed’, and feel that this was a bit rushed. despite this, i did have a good time reading this book and am excited to see where the series goes in the next books.

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elizasavannah's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

I really liked the first book in the series, so I was excited to read the next book. I didn’t really love this one. The mystery was confusing, and the resolution of it was even more confusing. It was pretty slow and took me a while to finish, even though I finished the first one quickly. Despite it not being the most enjoyable book, there were still some aspects that I liked, and I am going to read the next book in the series. Overall, it wasn’t my favorite, but it was still a decent read.

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lilifane's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.0

I'm purely reading this for the slow-burn-will-they-won't-they-best-friends-to-lovers trope, the angst and Jamie's humour. That's why I enjoyed the beginning way more than the actual case. I liked the setting in Berlin and the art context, but the rest of the case was just boring.
Hated the ending with a passion.
I'm also a little conflicted about how the rape topic/aftermath is handled. These are teens, of course they don't know how to handle the situation in a healthy way and make lots of mistakes. And I understand why they want to try to resolve the issue on their own, although they are torn between what they want and the trauma. But please, at least consider the possibility of professional help at some point?!

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erin_curry's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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petrarose's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

was good until the very confusing end. i liked the mystery aspect of it but characters seemed not like themselves. the mystery aspect was overly complex and the narrative jumped around in timing and perspective which is a combination that just left me a little lost and feeling like this one was lacking in comparison to the first book. also i know why the author put the family trees at the beginning bc there were too many people to keep track of but appreciate that they all had very different names.

i’m looking forward to reading the next two and hopefully finding out what actually happened in this one.

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ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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.

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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.

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's been far too long since I ventured into Jamie and Charlotte's world. I genuinely, wholeheartedly enjoy the Charlotte Holmes novels, and book two was no less entertaining than book three. They continue the have the Holmes spirit, but in an updated, modernized sense. And they're fun.

I can honestly also say that this series is one of the few where I genuinely enjoy the romance. The flirting is cute, but the messy bits also feel real and possible. The drama isn't unnecessarily heightened... Charlotte's reactions are perfect to her character. Introducing August in this book was a great addition - he's a bit of an anti-hero and I enjoyed his addition to the dynamic duo and the way he always made Jamie a little off-balance. It's very nearly a love triangle, but not exactly. I liked it. I like them all. August, more than anyone else in this book, kept me on my toes and second-guessing.

Charlotte's family is a mess, though. And that's not poor writing or anything, they just are very... problematic, I guess. Reactions and behaviors are so cold and unhealthy as a general rule. I think that it's decent writing - ever the pragmatist, Sherlock Holmes was much like this himself in the Conan Doyle novels, so it make sense that his family is much the same. For the most part, I felt like the setup with both Jamie and Charlotte's families was a bit overlong and things didn't really get interesting until the two set off on their own. This didn't ruin or even deeply affect the book from the perspective of my own enjoyment, but it was a little draggy in the beginning.

The writing is really easy to read - Cavallaro's writing has a fantastic flow. It's very easy to get wrapped up in this book and it was finished before I knew it. I think with a slower pace, this book would have dragged out, but for the story here, this was written very well and was easy to get into. I really like both the narrators as well - the audiobook is fantastic, if you like to ingest your books that way.

Book two in the Charlotte Holmes series was a slam dunk, and I'm looking forward to reading A Case for Jamie!

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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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