Only Charlotte is a good historical novel set in the south after the Civil War has ended. The topic is interesting and reminded me of a gothic novel that may not be appealing to all readers. I found it intriguing and I enjoyed it.

A beautiful historical romance set in 1800s New Orleans. The book has one flaw...it is too wordy in places and slows down the reading flow. Those parts are quite boring.

I ended up DNF the book at 10% in. I were just bored and slightly confused? The characters didn't interest me and i felt meh about it all.

BORE, YAWN, SNOOZEFEST

I feel like I have just wasted three days of my life. And I usually don't feel that way when I read. But this... There was absolutely nothing about this book that I liked.

WHAT I DISLIKED

Pace: One thing that made this a complete bore was without a doubt the pace. It was just way too slow, nothing happened of any significance. It was supposed to be a mystery but the only thin mysteries about it was why I even bothered to keep on reading.

Shifting narrator: Even though the main character of this book is Gilbert, a young widowed doctor in New Orleans, the story is narrated by his sister, Lenore. That leads to some really awkward and cringeworthy phrasing at times as well as whole chapters where Lenore suddenly refers to herself in the 3rd person. Or are those chapters just not told by her? It is never really explained at it felt weird and strange. It didn't nothing good for the story.

The Winter's Tale: I love Shakespeare. And I love when books reference other books. Especially when they are books (or in this case, a play) that I am familiar with. But here's the thing - emphasis on reference. This book refers to the Shakespeare play The Winter's Tale over and over and over and over and over and over times infinity it started to seem. It was beyond annoying, because I felt like I was missing out on something, not being familiar with that particular play.

Characters: I won't go too much into details here, because there really isn't a whole lot to say about these characters. They are flat, boring and lifeless. That's it.

Clichéed ending: This book was a mystery and therefore there was, of course, a culprit. And, sadly, there was also the clichéed reveal of the culprit in the end, where the culprit dramatically gives a grand speech about the motives behind the crime. Yawn.

Plot: This plot was so thin I could see right through it. And the main character, Gilbert, played absolutely no part in the unfolding of the plot or the solving of the mystery. Really, he, as well as this book, was just plain pointless.

Lenore James is a good natured woman. She has outlived three husbands, is financially independent, fair and non judgemental and worried over her brother Gilbert. He has tragically lost his wife and child and now seems enamoured by the young woman Charlotte Eden. Herself married with two children and whose husband is very much part of New Orleans society.

the story revolves around Charlotte and her supposed death under mysterious circumstances whilst at a weekend with mutual friends (of her husband). Gilbert as the doctor was brought in to take the body away and prepare it for burial. That the husband did not accompany the doctor gave us the first inclination that things were not quite what they seemed and when Charlotte is found to be alive and has to be given some kind of place to recover apart from her husband and children, this is where the actual story unravels.

New Orleans society was lax and amongst this circle of society rather immoral. The Judge who overlooked all legal matters of the area was corrupt so that there was no way that Gilbert could bring about a case against Charlotte's husband. It was a very cliquey society a sort of old boys network which worked well for them against all outsiders.



The story was slow paced but descriptive of the society in which Lenore and Gilbert lived and was interesting for its depiction of New Orleans society from their viewpoint.

It was the front cover that initially drew my attention to this book. Historical fiction and historical romance is one of my all time favourite genres and so glad that i had the chance to read this book. It did take me a little while to get into the book, turning the pages. I think it is worth a read and i would certainly read more by Rosemary Poole-Carter.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review.but was soon

FTC Disclosure: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What a funny book! It's weird but also mysterious but also a bit much as far as negative content went for me personally but also filled with real (messed up!) people ... and I'm still not sure I understand it. The plot was so twisted and convoluted. The writing was ... eh.

I wasn't sad I read this book, but it wasn't a quality book at all. :P Does that make sense? Eh, sometimes you just need a book to read for no reason!

The positives:

1. Charlotte and Gilbert actually both seemed like decent people. Actually, they were both pretty moral - at least in their actions if not in their feelings - which I wasn't expecting. I feel bad for Charlotte, and I empathized with the poor dear.

2. The author did a good job with all the twists and turns! I admit I had no idea what was going to happen. Not predictable at all! I applaud your talent with the plot twist, Ms. Poole-Carter. You're epic! Keep plotting.

3. I wasn't too bored, though I confessed that the bogged-down writing (talked about later) got me skimming a couple times.

The negatives:

1. The writing was quite frankly ... impossible to follow. Between mistakes and the constant rabbit-trails, I felt strongly that it needed at least a line editor if not developmental. A couple more drafts! I understand that not all authors (not sure of the publishing situation) can afford an editor, but it seems that at least a beta-reader or five could've helped out. ;)

2. The narrator often gave information she could not have known. The way she stated things left me wondering if she was speculating or this was really what happened ... as well as how she came by the info! With such an already convoluted, rabbit-trailed storyline, told in retrospect by an outside source, this caused a lot of unnecessary questions

3. This wasn't a Christian novel, so this is personal preference, not a problem with the book, and it didn't decrease my rating any more than it already would have been. But, for my young Christian friends, there is some cussing in this novel as well as taking God's name in vain. It's not frequent, but it's there, esp. towards the end when tensions are high. There was no outright sex scenes, but sex was mentioned/talked about quite a bit, and sometimes it was a bit crude/much for me.

Review by Kellyn Roth, Reveries Reviews

FTC Disclosure: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Only Charlotte by Rosemary Poole-Carter. Top Publications, 2019.

This intriguing and unusual story is one of good and evil set in 1880s New Orleans. When a young, recently widowed doctor moves to live with his sister, he – Gilbert - becomes smitten by Charlotte, married to an architect and the mother of two of his patients. After he is called out to the plantation of an eminent judge to deal with her body, he digs into possible motives that the judge and his equally corrupt and unappealing guests might have had to murder her.

I like to read historical crime and romance fiction. Though this book is both, it is like nothing I’ve read before.

The plot is a series of unexpected events, not a familiar formula. The settings are easy to visualize, the characters are developed to the point that readers will like, love or hate them as the author intended, but not quite well enough so we can predict what they will do. I was surprised by the crimes of some and didn’t identify the villain until the end.

This book is written mostly from the perspective of Gilbert’s sister Lenore, and - I understand - in the vernacular of the period. This contributed to the overall mood and was not awkward or distracting.
I read this book from beginning to end almost without stopping, and warmly recommend it.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of Only Charlotte free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I usually love historical fiction, but Only Charlotte by Rosemary Poole-Cater is not my favorite. Set in New Orleans in the Reconstruction Era, it is the story of Dr. Gilbert Crew's entanglements as told by his sister Lenore. Gilbert is a young widower, having lost his wife and child in childbirth. His sister, Lenore, insists he move to New Orleans for a much needed change of scenery. Gilbert is ask to attend to Charlotte's infant son. Gilbert has an instant attraction for Charlotte Eden, wife of a local architect. Gilbert's scruples keeps him from acting on that attraction. When Charlotte, who is visiting the nearby plantation Testament, is pronounced dead by another physician, Gilbert is instructed to take her body back to the city. An accident on the road dislodges both Gilbert and the box containing Charlotte's body, and Gilbert discovers that she is alive. He hides her at Lenore's house until he can find who tried to kill Charlotte. After a most convoluted tale, seances, trysts, other murders, the truth of the matter finally comes to light. Lenore's vocabulary through out the book takes the reader back to the 1800s, so your vocabulary may be challenged & broadened while reading this book. I was never tempted to stop reading Only Charlotte, but three stars is all I could give it.

Great story! Gets better each time I read it. Wonderful characters. Looking forward to the next book.