Charlie is every dark romance writer’s nightmare— and he can be yours too! It’s Me, Charlie by C.M. Guidroz is an extreme horror novella that reminds us all to be careful who we speak to online. I’m on a splatterpunk role this month (kicked off by 100% Match, another incel-vibe), and this was a fantastic addition. You ready to get into it? Let’s dive in!
What Is It’s Me Charlie About?
Charlie is looking to be your next book boyfriend. And he’ll do pretty much anything to impress you. Anything.
Charlie met Jessie on Instagram, and he views her self-published dark romance as the ultimate ladies guide. First, you kidnap her. Then, you tie her up and force her to drink… questionable liquids. And then true love, hopefully. He’s been pretending to be a woman online to gain her trust, but when Jessie is finally at her most vulnerable, Charlie knows it’s time to strike. His plan is perfect (he studied, after all). The time is right. And while this goes disgustingly wrong, we get to go along for the ride.
Are you ready to meet Charlie?
IMPORTANT NOTICE RE: VERSION
I wanted to mention that the copy of this book that I reviewed is the one that was available in May of 2025. From what I can tell, this book was poorly edited when it was originally released. If you check on Goodreads, there’s tons of reviews complaining about spelling/grammar errors. Many of these issues have been fixed in the re-release. Additionally, there’s a new/extended ending in this version.
What I liked…
It’s Me, Charlie was a fun read. Maybe ‘fun’ isn’t quite the right word. Disgusting, troubling, nasty? Yes. If you’re into splatterpunk or extreme horror and like to read books that make you squirm, you’ll like it. But this book is a bit more than just a gory read. One of the things that immediately stood out to me about this book was the author’s choice of wording. As an ex-dark romance author and an eternal dark romance reader, the terms in this book absolutely made me squirm. There’s so many terms used in (dark) romance that get recycled here in such a fantastic and twisted way. There’s scenes where Charlie is clearly committing a grotesque act, but as he’s narrating the story in his head, he’s using these terms he doesn’t quite grasp. He’s certain that he’s the bad boy in these dark romance novels. And that all women who are reading these are desperate to be abused by him— I mean… worshipped. Honestly, though, the word choice in this novella was absolute perfection and it cut me to my core. Of everything, that was the most memorable part of the book to me.
…And What I Didn’t
I will say, it really kind of bothered me that we didn’t get to know Jessie a bit better over this story. I recognize that this is a shorter book, and that there’s only so much you can do in a novella. And I also recognize that this could have been a deliberate choice by the author. We’re viewing Jessie through Charlie’s eye, after all, and it makes sense that she’s so two dimensional. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel that it would have hit that much harder if we had spent more time growing connected to Jessie. [SPOILER WARNING] The entirety of this book is Jessie being tortured, and when she finally realizes that there’s only one way out of this situation, she changes tactics. She tries to butter him up before absolutely fucking destroying him, and while I adore a good revenge arc, I still think it would have meant more if we got to spend actual time with Jessie.
Final Thoughts
Have you read It’s Me, Charlie? Let me know what you thought about this extreme horror novella, and let me know if you have any others I should check out!