A Study in Charlotte and The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro (Charlotte Holmes series)

A Study in Charlotte and The Last of August are the first two books in the YA Charlotte Holmes series by Brittany Cavallaro. Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are descendants of the infamous Watson and Holmes. When they meet at boarding school, an unlikely friendship/romance blooms, despite the animosity between their two families. In both books, Jamie and Charlotte take on dangerous mysteries together.

Sex: A character is raped, but the scene is not shown. The books are both told mainly from Jamie's perspective and he shares any sensual feelings he has about Charlotte with the reader. Sex is discussed between male characters pretty flippantly.

Language: Strong.

Drug/Alcohol Use: Charlotte is a drug user, but she does try to hide it and later quits using.

Violence/Gore/Frightening Scenes/Death: There is an attempted suicide. There are several deaths in both books. Lots of violence between characters and suspenseful scenes.

Final Note: As far as the story lines go, I love these books. Jamie is an extremely likeable character and you can't help but root for him and Charlotte. While I found the stories to be enjoyable, a lot of the content and language was mature. Some of that was needed for Charlotte's character development, but it was hard to read at times.

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What is The Rapid Reader?

Hello fellow parents and friends! My name is Danielle. I had the idea for this blog a couple of years ago when I was working in my son's school library. It was a known fact that I was an avid reader of middle school and young adult literature and several parents would ask me about books before checking them out for their kids. (Or buying them at the book fair!) Because I read so much, I've never worried too much about what my kids might be reading. My oldest is only eight years old and anything he's read, I've read already! But what about parents who don't necessarily enjoy reading or have the time? I wanted to offer a resource that gave these parents the chance to make educated decisions about books their kids are reading. That's how this blog was born! Before we go any further, I want to point out that I am strongly opposed to book banning. I believe in freedom of speech and expression of art through literature. But I also feel strongly that kids should ...

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