Published: February 14, 2017
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Series: Charlotte Holmes #2
Genre: Mystery, Young Adult
Pages: 317 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 3.0/5.0
Synopsis:
Watson and Holmes: A match made in disaster.
Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are looking for a winter-break reprieve after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But Charlotte isn’t the only Holmes with secrets, and the mood at her family’s Sussex estate is palpably tense. On top of everything else, Holmes and Watson could be becoming morethan friends—but still, the darkness in Charlotte’s past is a wall between them.
A distraction arises soon enough, because Charlotte’s beloved uncle Leander goes missing from the estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring. The game is afoot once again, and Charlotte is single-minded in her pursuit.
Their first stop? Berlin. Their first contact? August Moriarty (formerly Charlotte’s obsession, currently believed by most to be dead), whose powerful family has been ripping off famous paintings for the last hundred years. But as they follow the gritty underground scene in Berlin to glittering art houses in Prague, Holmes and Watson begin to realize that this is a much more complicated case than a disappearance. Much more dangerous, too.
What they learn might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other.
I very much enjoyed the first Charlotte Holmes book earlier this year and decided to go ahead and check out its sequel. Once again I decided to go with the audio version, which has great narration and would definitely recommend. I have to say though, this book didn’t live up to my expectations at all.
While not a bad book and certainly very entertaining, I thought the characters took a definite turn for the worse. Jamie turns into a desperate, unlikable bung hole and honestly, Charlotte wasn’t much better. Those two simply can’t communicate and all their interactions were just painful. There were ups and downs, but overall I was irritated by their characters.
The storyline in this particular book fell flat for me as well. Yes, the setting was interesting and a few minor characters were introduced that added some pizzaz but it just felt lacking. It’s been about a month since I actually finished this, so the details are growing too fuzzy for me to give specific examples (terrible of me, I know).
I am uncertain about whether or not I will continue on to the third book, but if any of you have read it I’d love to hear your opinion. The ending of The Last of August was rather shocking, and the synopsis of the next book was interesting, but then again so was the synopsis for this one.
Powder & Page 
So I searched for the first review and the difference between how you wrote about that book and how you write about this one is really clear. I’d be hesitant to read another if it’s going to be like this one though.
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I’m seriously considering not continuing with the series because it fell so short in my opinion. If I run out of audiobooks I want to listen to I may pick up the next one at a later time.
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