Reviews

Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra is a modern reimagining of Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott. Little Women is my absolute favorite book which is why I was curious about Meg and Jo. I wanted to see how an author would modernize this treasured classic. Let me state that this was a mistake on my part. I wish I had looked up the author and noticed that she writes romance novels. This book focuses on Meg and Jo. It is told from their perspectives in alternating chapters. Jo still wishes to write, but newspapers are letting staff go. For some reason, Jo was hired at Gusto by Chef Eric Bhaer to work as a prep cook. I found this particularly odd since Jo disliked the domestic arts. Jo has a blog titled Hungry which provides an insider’s view of the city’s food scene. She does it anonymously which Jo is glad she did after hearing what Chef Bhaer thinks about food bloggers. There is an attraction between Jo and the chef which develops into something more until complications arise. Meg is married to John Brooke and they have very busy twins. Meg quit her job as a loan officer to be a stay at home mom at John’s urging because his mother worked two jobs and was never at home for him. While Meg loves John and the twins, she is dissatisfied with her life. Meg comes across as whiny (it is unattractive). She likes things done a certain way, so she does it all herself but then complains that she does not get help from hubby. Meg makes some poor choices. I did not like how Meg was portrayed at all. The story is set in Bunyan, North Carolina so there are stereotypical Southernisms in the story (“Bless her heart” was a repeated phrase). I especially disliked how Mr. March was portrayed in this book. It was unappealing and disappointing. Abby March, the mother, is one who does not like fuss (as we are told repeatedly). I missed the warm, loving Marmee from Little Women. Beth is a singer who performs in front of audiences at Branson (can anyone see the shy Beth doing this) and Amy is an intern at Louis Vuitton in Paris (I could see Amy doing this). Laurie is called Trey in this version and let me just say he is nothing like the kind boy next door from the original. Meg and Jo comes across as a typical romance novel. It lacks the warmth of family, sisterly bonding, love, and compassion that was present in the original Little Women. The author was brave to tackle such a difficult project, but I feel she missed the mark. There is a preview of Amy & Beth at the end.

issianne's review

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3.0

3.5. This was a solid retelling of "Little Women", in terms of Jo and Meg. Alright, I'm going to get a bit rambly...
At first, I was kinda bored by Meg's chapters, but she ended up being so endearing. She and John had some of the sweetest moments in the book, and I loved seeing their interactions and communications.
Jo can be a little bit insufferable in the original and in this one, but for the most part, her storyline was enjoyable and interesting. Though, I do feel like we lost some of the best bookworm and literature-snob moments from Jo. I don't *love* the plot device the author used at the end of Jo's story, but I'm trying to get over it (if you've read it or read some other adult romances, you know what I'm talking about).
Overall, this book was super easy to read and set up some nice intrigue for the next book. In the true spirit of being an Amy, I'm very excited to read from her perspective.
ALSO, I would like the author to apologize for not only giving Laurie a f***boy name like Trey but for truly translating 19th century f***boy into a current one. He better redeem himself in the next one; he had me cringing so hard in this one.
I loooooooved the inclusion of the dad being a crap dad. "Little Women" is female centric that Mr. March becomes obsolete during most of it, and Kantra really latched on to that and ran with it. She saw the opportunity to explore why Marmee was such a large part of the girls' lives instead of their father, and I really appreciated.

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