I didn't finish this book. It just didn't grab me after about five chapters. Perhaps it was because all of the characters were keeping their problems all to themselves and not talking to each other or asking for help. They were setting themselves up for failure. The relationship between Marmee and Father was particularly aggravating, even if he were probably suffering from PTSD. I didn't really care if they ever overcame their problems.

This was an amazing read! Definitely written by a fan of Alcott, it struck the perfect balance between following Alcott's plot and adding her own spin to the tales of eldest sisters, Meg and Jo. I am interested to see what the plan is for Beth and Amy and hope that Beth doesn't meet the same fate as in Little Women.

In this modern day retelling of Little Women, the author has captured the essence of the characters of Meg and Jo March. Their interaction with their family and friends rings true to their unique personae.

Virginia Kantra shines when writing family relationships, which made me very excited to read MEG AND JO. With foundations in LITTLE WOMEN, this new story focuses on the new March family through the eyes of the two elder sisters. Facing a failing family business, stale relationships, ailing parents, and the desire to handle everything, this is a heartwarming story to share this holiday season!

I enjoyed reading this book, but didn't find that it really stood out to me - which may be exactly what the author/publishing team was going for. It was a perfectly pleasant (if not realistic) retelling of parts of Little Women. I liked how the author chose to focus the story around only two of the sisters, but I found myself struggling with some of the more unrealistic portions of the plot - namely Jo's storyline in a New York kitchen.

Both familiar faithful to the original, and still surprising and totally original. I fell hard for this book, from the characters to the world they inhabited. I would love to read more set in this universe (maybe Amy's story??? and Beth's???). And I can't leave a review of this book without commenting on the absolute off-the-charts swoon factor with Chef Eric Bhaer.

A modern take on the beloved classic, Meg and Jo take a deeper look at the lives of Meg and Jo March. Meg is a mother of twins, devoted wife, and there for anyone who needs her, especially her family. Jo lost her job as a journalist and decided to carve her own path as a restaurant reviewer on her own blog while moonlighting in the kitchen of a famous chef.
Both March women's life do not go the way they planned, but they know how lucky they are to have their family.

I really enjoyed this twist on the classic. It made me look at the girls in a new light. I also really enjoyed how they brought the father's absence and aloofness to the forefront.

I didn't really like the ending plot twist. I didn't think it was needed for the story but enjoyed the story anyway.

Little Women is the classic that everyone is re-reading in anticipation of the upcoming film. MEG AND JO take a classic tale and give it a contemporary spin and it really worked for me!

I received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I am not a romance reader, so my review may be stilted. For the person who loves Hallmark romance this book might be a perfect fit., but it wasn't for me.

I love Little Women and I doubly-loved this NYC/North Carolina reinvention in Meg and Jo. This story focuses on the older March girls, with Beth and Amy appearing like guest stars. Jo is a food blogger and prep cook in New York, while Meg is a stay-at-home mom to adorable twins in North Carolina. Amy's doing a fashion internship in Paris, and Beth is a country singer in Branson, MO??? (What now? The rest of these are so on-target that I'm trying to reserve judgement on this one until I read Beth And Amy).

This review is going to have spoilers, because it's almost impossible to discuss this book without mentioning ways in which it followed and deviated from the original. Anyway, Little Women came out in 1868, which makes it a 151-year-old spoiler.

I just loved the sisters' relationship here, and I absolutely believed that not just that they were really sisters, but the girls took wildly different paths and still called each other every day. I thought Jo's blog was a perfect updating. In Alcott's life, magazine serials were considered pop culture, and sometimes minimalized as lowbrow and easy. just like blogs today. I loved Jo and Eric's relationship, too.

My only concern was a moment where Jo and Eric decide that it doesn't matter whether they live in NYC or North Carolina, as long as they're together. Nope.  Speaking as someone who moved from Brooklyn to Chapel Hill when my Southern boyfriend proposed, OMG, IT MATTERS A LOT. Jo, you deserve better than extra-slow conversations about traffic and college basketball, don't move to North Carolina!

Meg and John's story was believable and engaging, but a bit Romance 101. The basic premise is that Meg is running herself ragged being a supermom when her problems could be solved if only she could learn to ask for help from John, as if assigning the husband chores isn't just more mental load for the wife. I realize that grown men sometimes need to be told to take out the trash and buy milk and whatever, but it doesn't make for an appealing romantic hero. I always thought the modest, hardworking John Brooke was more appealing than selfish Laurie, so I really wanted him to be a great husband too. 

Finally, I was just as sad as the March sisters when Marmee and Father's marital problems are revealed! The modern Mr. March is consistently and realistically inconsiderate towards his wife, leaving her with all the responsibility while he does Important Work, just like in the original story, but modern Mrs. March isn't having it. Plus, Bronson Alcott was off doing charitable works while his family struggled, making this a sick 151-year-old burn.

I loved this retelling, and I'm already looking forward to seeing the rest of the story in Beth and Amy.

This was a great read. A fun and modern take on a favorite classic, with enough of the original's characterizations to be familiar, yet plenty of it's own up to date appeal. This book focuses on Meg and Jo, the oldest two March girls, and their lives as adults. We do get a few glimpses into their girlhood, but the focus is on what happens when the grew up. First person, alternating between the two sisters. I read the book in one night, and I hope that there is a follow up for Beth and Amy.

Did not finish after the first chapter; the book began different than I thought it would so I moved on to my next book.

Little Women is one of my childhood favorites. These characters are special to me and the genre. This book takes those characters out of their place and time and plunks them down in modern NYC and the South. There are nods to the original tale, but this is a story on its own. For much of the book, I felt like my beloved characters had been hijacked to tell this story. The story on its own was fine and I don't understand the appeal of using these iconic characters in this instance.

Meg and Jo is an absolutely delightful, modern take Alcott's Little Women. The novel showcases the life of the elder two March sisters (as the title claims); both are adult now and dealing with their respective work, romance and domestic problems. The beauty of this novel is that while we are hurtled back into nostalgia and reintroduced to characters we've known and loved for decades, Kantra's treatment of it still manages to surprise. It felt like I was meeting my BFFs after twenty years and getting updates into their lives from page to page.
Bravo! Highly recommended.

This book has shades of Little Women, indeed, but can also work as a highly readable and warmly written romance on its own.


While book two will focus on Amy and Beth, we have the central friendship and grown-up lives of Meg and Jo featured here. Kantra focuses on the limitations of recalibrating romance in the marriage of John and Meg who solidly love each other while learning to live within the reality of recalculated expectations and busy with their twins. I confess that this portion of the book read much to me like the scene in Good Wives where John brings a business colleague home without telling Meg who has just burned jam --but again and again. It is definitely a nice slice of realism, but not the most alluring for those who want to escape into romance.


Jo, however, having suffered a few disappointments ( unintentionally hurting her best childhood friend Trey Laurence (two guesses who his counterpart is) and losing her job, is starting a food blog and working as a line cook at a swanky NYC restaurant called Gusto under head chef Eric Bhaer.


The food world and blogging world and recipe world here was fascinating. It is in this city-set portion of the novel that Kantra's voice sparks to life. And as Eric Bhaer's food and passion is fused by recipes from his childhood in Germany, so Jo brings a bit of her Marmie's North Carolinian flavour to local recipes.

I really have to give it to Kantra. Bhaer is a hard character to transpose --to adaptation or to a contemporary retelling-- and yet she surprised me with him.

He is kind, of course, and creates a family of his staff. It is within the walls of Gusto that we see reflected the boarding house scenes Jo writes so familiarly about in Alcott's pages.


The big problem is by having Bhaer in this position of power and as an unofficial patriarch for the kitchen staff, Jo is courted and sleeps with ...her boss.


It has never been my favourite trope ---boss falling for employee---and perhaps I am extra sensitive in the era of MeToo. I also felt the relationship blossomed a little too quickly as did the "major conflict"

All that said, I read this book in one sitting and was very much allured by Kantra's voice. To add, for all of the Little Women adaptations I have read and watched... this one DID surprise me and it does show a close and heartfelt appreciation for the source material.



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With thanks to Netgalley for the review copy.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review Meg and Jo.
Little Women has been around so long that at one point or another we have seen remakes of some sort or another. Meg and Jo is no exception. Virginia Kantra pens a novel of Meg and Jo living in contemporary times with a twist on old issues. It is a thoughtful, sugar coated novel about sisters who come together while living separate lives. If you read the novel without think about the original, I think readers will enjoy it some much more. Meg and Jo is about family, living your best life, and learning that change is inevitable. My only real issue with the book is that the characters seem self-absorbed, but living in the world today most of us are so...personally to me it fits. We are living in the times of Little Women, when women were not "allowed" to do certain things or act a certain way.

Meg and Jo is a modern retelling of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, Little Women. After seeing the trailer for the new movie remake coming out Christmas 2019, I was really in the mood for some classic Little Woman nostalgia. This book lived up to expectations in certain ways, while falling short in others. Let me elaborate.

Meg and Jo is told in alternating POVs between (well, duh) Meg and Jo. I enjoyed that Kantra kept the same general structure for each sister while updating their specific personalities to modern times. Meg is a mother in a happy yet complicated marriage who is struggling with the expectations of motherhood and the SAHM role. Jo is a free-spirited cook/food blogger living in New York City, struggling with the expectations of a successful career. The realistic issues that both sisters grapple with is engaging and the most interesting part of the story.

The family dynamic between the sisters and the March parents is also especially well done. We get a look at what the other sisters are up to when the family meets at the farm in North Carolina for the holidays. I like what Kantra decided to do with Mr. March and his character.

The only aspects of this book that I didn't love: the handling of Laurie and Jo's ultimate storyline is a little wonky. Laurie is really not a likable character at all, and we only get a hint at what's to come between him and the March sister. Jo's storyline is compelling, but I'm still not sure I'm thrilled with her ultimate end. Overall, this retelling does a nice job of updating the roles of the characters while keeping much of the family dynamic in tact. Not all characters are done justice, but it's still an engaging read.

Meg and Jo is a wonderful retelling of their Little Women story. Updated to show both Meg and Jo as adults, living in modern day, with the same issues women deal with daily. Meg is a mom who is trying to be everything to everyone, she hates to disappoint and is her own worse critic. Jo is trying to make a go of it as a journalist in a time where newspapers are failing or letting writers go, so she turns to blogging. This book was great fun to read, as a fan of Louisa May Alcott's books, I highly recommend it, such a great story...can't wait for the next sisters stories.

3.5 stars. This is a modern retelling of part two of Little Women. Although, all of the March sisters make an appearance, the book alternates between Meg and Jo. Meg is a stay-at-home mom to her two-year old twins and struggles with feeling fulfilled in that role. Jo is in New York City working at a restaurant and secretly writing a food blog to make ends meet. Marmee's health problems and the approaching Christmas holiday brings everyone back to the fold. It has been a long time since I read Little Women, which was probably good because I wasn't doing a constant comparison game. I struggled with the first half of the book because Meg and Jo characters read as so stereotypical. As the book progresses, the characters develop and find identities beyond the domestic homebody (Meg) and tomboy writer (Jo) stereotypes. I will add that the pop culture references were fun, but means the book won't have the staying power as Little Women. Overall, it was an enjoyable and satisfying read. I'm invested enough that I will be on the lookout for Beth and Amy's stories!

My problems with this novel probably have less to do with the novel and more to do with me. Had I realized that Kantra was a Romancer author, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up, because I am not particularly fond of romances, and that’s definitely what this is. Fans of the Hallmark channel will love this book, with its nostalgic retelling of one of the most beloved American children’s books, Little Women. Kantra takes the March family out of 19th Century New England and plops them down in the 21st century North Carolina. Beth is taking a break from school to perform in Branson, Missouri. Amy is in Paris on an internship with Luis Vuitton. Meg is married and the mother of twins, living in her small hometown. And Jo, having lost her job as a journalist, is trying to make it in New York as a food blogger, paying the bills by working in the kitchen of the up and coming Chef, Eric Bhaer. Kantra’s retelling is not particularly imaginative, but follows the original plot and character outline of the original fairly closely. Mr. March has a more significant role than in the original (does anyone even remember the girls father?), though even here he is depicted as both physically and emotionally distant. Both Meg and Jo must come to grips with their troubling relationship with their father. Readers looking for a literary exploration of the themes of independence, family, and love that Alcott probed in her book may be disappointed, but readers wanting a heart-warming love story that reminds them of a favorite book from their youth will eat up this modern retelling of a classic.