Dear Charlie by N.D. Gomes

Dear Charlie by N.D. Gomes
Release Date: October 20, 2016
Pages: 222
Rating: 💜💜💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

At sixteen, Sam Macmillan is supposed to be thinking about girls, homework and his upcoming application to music college, not picking up the pieces after the school shooting that his brother Charlie committed.
Yet as Sam desperately tries to hang on to the memories he has of his brother, the media storm surrounding their family threatens to destroy everything. 


This book has the potential to become massive if only the right people picked this book up and read it. People like Cait, Jesse, Kat and Christine who have the power to make people read books (I know there are other people but these were the only people I could think of). Because oh. my. God. This book was incredible.

There have been several books that have focused on school shootings, but this is the first one I've read about the family of a shooter. This story really displayed the trauma that the families of shooters have to go afterwards, the way the media twists stories and the mess that shooters leave. It was incredible to read this different perspective and see how everyone else is affected.

I loved the fact that none of the characters in this book were perfect. Usually writers make the characters too perfect and forgiven but N.D Gomes did not shy away from making his characters normal human beings. He made you feel sorry for Sam from the first chapter, before you were even connected to him. Sam was trying to hold everything together for his family, without having anyone to help, which obviously meant that he was bottling up all his very negative thoughts which is not healthy! Izzy, the main girl,  was always changing her personality to fit in with her current friend group and so no one ever knew what she is actually like. However, the best character in this book was Charlie because nobody knew why he decided to commit this shooting and honestly that is such a true message about school shooters. No one ever finds out why they did it, they can only speculate.

The writing style was a little simplistic but it worked for the story. Everything that was written was chosen carefully that you felt so wrapped up in the story and Sam's life. Every little thing that happened in the book felt like it was happening to you which made this story that little bit harder to read. And this ending was the best ending I've read all year. Without spoiling too much it showed the growth of every single character in this universe and the changes that they just had to accept. Seriously, it was just such an incredible ending.

I would highly recommend everyone picks up this book and gives it a try. The best thing about this book is that is quite short so you should be able to fly through it without much troubles. And trust me this book will fly by as soon as you start reading it.

Five characters who should be leads

Top Ten Tuesdays are run by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish!

My interpretation of this week's topic was a little more inventive than usual. I decided to pick five characters which I think would be good as the lead roles in a film.

The biggest challenge with this topic was not only picking extroverted, confident characters, but also some of the characters who are bit quiet and withdrawn. I'm quite happy with my pick though, even if it is going to be a TFT (Top Five Tuesday)!

1- Julie from Code Name Verity: She is literally paid to act everyday, so she already has the training for it. I think she would be perfect in a film because not only is she confident, but she also has a dramatic flair that all actors should have.

2- Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices: It might just be me who gets this vibe from him  but I think Will could be the main male part in a film/ the annoying guy who reads a lot. (Although that is basically what he is in TID so maybe not..) He is also very cute so that's a plus!

3- Hamlet from...Hamlet: I'm picking Hamlet purely because he is one of the most dramatic characters I have ever read about and I think he would be a drama queen in whichever film he is placed in.

4- Cinder from The Lunar Chronicles: She would obviously have to be put in an action movie because she is so bad-ass and would be able to do all her own stunts. She isn't necessarily the most confident character out there but she doesn't have to be to be awesome.

5- Magnus Bane from The Shadowhunter World: Magnus has that cool fashion sense that most actors seem to have. He is also a very dramatic person, and is very good at acting (seriously, that guy deserves a medal)!

Do you agree with my list? Which characters do you think would be good actors?

And leave a link to your TTT down below so I can check it out!

And until next time, keep reading!

November TBR

November is always a strange month because nothing seriously exciting happens this month. It is basically the month filled with anticipation for the start of the Christmas season. In England there is Bonfire Night (my favourite holiday of the year) but apart from that there isn't anything massive that happens.

My theme for reading this month is... Shadowhunters. Guess what I'm reading!

1- City of Lost Souls
2- Clockwork Princess
3- The Bane Chronicles
4- City of Heavenly Fire

As you can see I'm only planning on reading the Shadowhunters series this month as I realised most of my unread books are from this series. Hopefully they're all excellent reads!

What are you reading this month? Have you read any of the books on my list? Let me know in the comments below!

And until next time, keep reading!