Charlotte Says
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Proof courtesy of Stripes (released 7th Sept 2017)

The much-anticipated prequel to the bestselling FROZEN CHARLOTTE, a Zoella Book Club title in Autumn 2016. Following the death of her mother in a terrible fire, Jemima flees to the remote Isle of Skye, to take up a job at a school for girls. There she finds herself tormented by the mystery of what really happened that night. Then Jemima receives a box of Frozen Charlotte dolls from a mystery sender and she begins to remember - a seance with the dolls, a violent argument with her step-father and the inferno that destroyed their home. And when it seems that the dolls are triggering a series of accidents at the school, Jemima realizes she must stop the demonic spirits possessing the dolls - whatever it takes.


If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know how excited I've been for Charlotte Says, since reading Frozen Charlotte as part of the Zoella Book Club late last year. I'm a huge fan of horror and the lovely people over at Stripes publishing know how much I love Alex Bell, so I was thrilled when they told me they were sending me a proof of the long awaited prequel to Frozen Charlotte, Charlotte Says. I love origin stories but horror origin stories? I was sold from the get go.

Charlotte Says tells the story of how the Frozen Charlotte dolls came to be and let me tell you, this book was (for me, personally) leagues above Alex's previous books, in terms of writing and scare factor. If you're faint hearted or struggle with light horror, I would certainly not recommend picking up this book because it's graphic. Extremely. I would also give this book a trigger warning of abuse, there are various types of abuse within this book and they are explained in a considerable amount of detail; so I guess it depends on how sensitive you are to these issues.

Let's crack on with the story, shall we?

Jemima has just lost her mother and stepfather in a tragic fire and wants to start afresh, away from all the terrible memories. She moves to the Isle of Skye to become a teaching assistant at a boarding school for young girls. She's told that no one has managed to last more than a month in this position and it soon becomes clear why...

Miss Grayson is the headmistress of the school and she reminded me of a less comedic, more groomed version of Miss Trunchbull from Matilda. I was simply terrified of her. Miss Grayson treats Jemima like a student and enjoys every chance she gets to ridicule her and dock her wages, but I wish that was the worst part of Miss Grayson. Boy, do I wish she didn't get worse than that...

Jemima is really struggling without her mother and tries to push what happened in the fire to the back of her mind. Then a box with familiar handwriting shows up from someone she believed to be dead. It contains Frozen Charlotte dolls and memories start resurfacing that she can't shut out anymore.
The Frozen Charlotte dolls start to wreak havoc on the school and Jemima starts to fear what she has let in. Unexplained noises, turn into unexplained accidents and unexplained accidents, turn into unexplained deaths...

Jemima must find a way to stop the dolls before it's too late for the girls at the school and to do this, she must remember what really happened on the night of the fire because she's not as innocent as she likes to think...

My Alex Bell reviews are always full of ellipses because it's so hard not to spoil anything and I want to talk about certain aspects of the book so badly. As I said earlier, this book is probably scarier than any book I've ever read and the detail of some scenes (FINGERNAILS, ALEX) had me gagging. Trust me, I'm not complaining. I was desperate for more. (I'm sick with horror, I know! Ha).

The Frozen Charlotte series is incredible and I've already expressed to Alex how much I'd love another because there is so much you can do once you've created an enemy that never truly dies. I'm so excited for this book to be unleashed into the world! Give it a read, if you dare.