Review of "Charlotte's Ghosts" by L.P. Simone

Audiobook Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Paperback Score: 92/100 (9.2 out of 10)

Ghosts are fascinating!

Yes, ghosts can be scary, but have you ever thought about the fact that these ghosts were once people--human beings like you and me who once loved, feared, slept, ate, and dreamed of better days?

Charlotte's Ghosts is a surprisingly warm and cozy middle-grade ghost story, especially considering that it explores/touches on topics like war and slavery in America. Something we deeply appreciated is that this book is not intended to shock or scare anyone, it's better than that. It's more tactful than that.

Rather than cheap scares or attempts to keep your children up at night, this book sets out to tell a story and to humanize characters who are no longer permanently in the realm of the living. It features two young protagonists from two completely separate time periods (modern and Civil War-era). However, their stories and arcs overlap and intersect in remarkable ways. The two characters from two separate times have so much in common! They are parallels and, at times, foils of one another. This is a powerful reminder that some things are universal among people throughout time.

Charlotte's Ghosts follows Charlotte "C.C." Cross, a 7th grader new to Manassas who is learning how to carry her father’s absence, and Jeremy Turner, a teen from 1861 whose life was shaped by the Civil War. C.C. is curious, steady, and brave in everyday ways. Jeremy is quiet, dutiful, and brave in the ways history demands. One looks forward while the other looks back, yet both want the same things: to protect the people they love, to do what is right, and to say the goodbyes that heal. Their chapters echo each other, one among buses and track meets, the other among fields and farmhouses, and that echo gives the story its heart. When they finally listen to each other, courage grows on both sides of time, and the ghost story becomes a story about empathy, memory, and connection.

As alluded to before, despite Jeremy being a ghost, his tendency to suddenly appear and disappear isn't portrayed as creepy or particularly scary. Instead, it's portrayed as concerning, sad, and mysterious. Jeremy's ghost constantly seems like he's lost or looking for something, perhaps his black Labrador which mirrors C.C.'s own (Jeremy's dog is named Blue and C.C.'s is named Beau) and/or his home and mother. Jeremy isn't a malicious ghost. A part of C.C. (and the reader) is drawn to his mystery and feels a strong sense of pity, sympathy, and empathy toward him. C.C. (and the reader) want to solve his mystery and want to help him. And that's a powerful thing. You should want to help a major protagonist. You should want them to be succeed.

So, yes, this is a bit of mystery book! C.C. becomes a bit of an amateur sleuth/investigator as she tries to uncover the mystery behind the vanishing boy who often appears to people with black Labradors.

Now, in all honesty, some of the mystery is taken away due to the simple fact that we constantly cut to Jeremy's past and what really happened to him. In all honesty, though... we didn't mind that. In fact we liked it.

It's ok for C.C. to discover things for herself. That's a part of her arc.
But it's great for the audience to gradually learn about what kind of person Jeremy was and what he and his family went through during one of the country's darkest times.

Both things can work at the same time. And, for the most part, they do.

Now, it has to be briefly mentioned that C.C.'s life and story are nowhere near as compelling or interesting as Jeremy's, which can sometimes make the narrative seem unbalanced. This is a common issue with books with multiple major perspectives since readers are naturally going to gravitate to one perspective over the other(s).

The audiobook somewhat alleviated this because the narrator for C.C.'s sections is absolutely phenomenal and a joy to listen to. We'll get to that soon.

Anyway, we'll give the author some credit for working with C.C.'s sections. Though she might not be as interesting as Jeremy, C.C. is still a compelling, relatable, and likable main protagonist. C.C. is dealing with a profound sense of loss following the death of her father in Afghanistan, which really hits home. The War on Terror impacted practically everyone in the country, some more than others. C.C. and her family were among the least fortunate, with a beloved member giving the ultimate sacrifice.

One of our favorite scenes in this entire book is when C.C. is thinking about if her own father might be a ghost like Jeremy, wandering the desert in Afghanistan, lost, unclaimed, unmoored. It's a really painful and emotionally impactful thought!

Oh, and the author also does a good job at making C.C. seem like your average, relatable middle school girl. She has to deal with unreasonable expectations at school along with the putrid smell of boys abusing Axe body-spray and girls obsessing over Sephora cosmetic products. This really makes her seem real. We sorta wish she wasn't called "C.C." but... what can you do?

Something else we really appreciated about this book is that, unlike some other Civil War books we've read over the years, it doesn't seem to pick or choose a side in the war. There aren't good guys or bad guys, there are just Americans stuck fighting and killing each other over disagreements. We love that, despite being a southerner, Jeremy is deeply angered about being called a "Reb" (rebel). We also see that the Union troops are sometimes rude and even try to take Jeremy's beloved horse from him, the horse his family is relying on for their livelihood. We know that the Confederates supported slavery, but many of them are also conflicted. This book is so tactful and balanced, perhaps more so than any other Civil War book we've read.

Ok, so about the audiobook... It's better.

Now, what makes it better?
Well, the narrators, Alec Simone and Amelia Meyer, are excellent.

Amelia Meyer is the standout in this audiobook. She elevated it to another level!
Meyer was assigned to narrate C.C.'s timelines, and she makes them seem so much more pleasant to hear/read about. Amelia Meyer has this pseudo-seductive, unmistakably-feminine way of reading. It's alluring like... well, a sprit of perfume from Sephora! You have to hear it to believe it!

Jeremy's sections are read by Alec Simone, and he's great as well!
In fact, Alec Simone is really good at expressing those tense scenes in which crying, shouting, and intense emotions are involved. For example, he really brought that dispute with the Union soldiers over the horse to life. Now, there are times when the delivery seems slightly choppy and the volume seems to rise and fall—almost like things were edited together at separate times—but it's really not that big of a deal. He did great.

So, while Amelia Meyer was great at conveying how introspective and reflective C.C. is, Alec Simon is good at conveying tension and emotion in truly dark and troubling times.

Lastly, we wanted to talk about how this book really shines as a coming-of-age story. Both C.C. and Jeremy are coming into their own. C.C. is rising past a profound loss and trying to perform as a student-athlete. Meanwhile, Jeremy is trying to prove that he can be the man of the house and that he has the courage and bravery that all of these older soldiers do.

Check it out on Amazon!