I was hoping I'd enjoy this book but I just realized that this genre does not work for me. I am sure someone else would enjoy it if they are a fan of the genre.

Positively delightful Little Women retelling! Not as inventive as I hoped since so much was about the original Little Women, but it was beautifully written and romantic. I loved the way the ending came together.

I do think the Little Women purist may hate this one but for what it’s worth, I thought it was charming in all the best ways.

*clean and totally appropriate for the YA crowd

I picked up "Jo & Laurie" by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz on a whim, partly because I loved the Little Women 2019 adaptation and partly because I was a fan of Melissa's Blue Bloods series. Unfortunately, this book was a disappointment.

The plot was slow-moving, and I found myself struggling to stay engaged with the story. While I enjoyed the characters of Jo and Laurie, their relationship lacked the spark and chemistry that I was hoping for. Additionally, Melissa's writing style that I once loved in her Blue Bloods series just didn't seem to translate well with this type of novel.

Overall, "Jo & Laurie" didn't live up to my expectations, and I would only recommend it to die-hard fans of Little Women who are looking for an alternate take on the classic story.

First off anything Little Woman I’m here for! Second and it’s about Jo who I adore! Third… Melissa Del La Cruz perfection! I loved this book. Loved seeing where Jo and Laurie could have possibly ended up. Both emotional and satisfying if your a fan on novel this will for sure not disappoint.

This was quite the sweet story. To me it felt true to Little Women, as if the characters really lived on in this book. However, I did find the pacing to be quite slow, which I found a bummer. All in all it was really lovely, though!

I was waiting on this!!! I love retellings, regardless of it being a reimagining or a sequel to a classic-- I'm there! I loved Jo and Laurie and I don't care if it's bad of me to just want to see their romance and see how their HEA ends up! Love, love...LOVE THIS!!!

This book was beyond adorable. If you are a fan of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel “Little Women,” then you will truly enjoy this romantic retelling. Stohl and de la Cruz did a lovely job of creating an alternate ending to one of the most famously heartbreaking romantic endings of a book.

This had so much potential, but yet another book left me disappointed and let down. It was cute and quaint. That’s about it, pretty boring and dragged on, nothing too special about it.

Overall this book wasn’t one I found engaging but I do think some others might like it. I’ll say it’s around three stars.

A perfect retelling of classic and beloved characters! Fans of Little Women will find this delightfully true to the original cast of characters. Stohl and de la Cruz capture the magical writing style of LW and stay true to the original tone of the story.

Jo & Laurie is the book all fans of Little Women need! If you've read or watched the Little Women movies, and have wanted to see more of Joe & Laurie, you will love this book. This book takes Jo and Laurie's relationship to another level. We get a closer more intimate look at the dynamics of their relationship. It also focuses a lot on Jo's writing career. It was great to go inside Jo's mind as she was writing her book (a sequel to the book she writes in the original story). Jo & Laurie made me feel every emotion possible...and I loved it! I cried my way through the last few chapters. This is a heartwarming and touching story.

I thought this book would be interesting because I loved Little Women and I’m Team Jo&Laurie but unfortunately this book did not work for me. It felt drawn out, there was very little conflict, and the stakes did not feel high enough to make me want to keep reading.

This is the book I wanted and more; this gave me the ending I’ve wanted all along. I loved seeing the development of seeing Laurie and Jo and the struggle she had trying to create an sequel and also trying to allow herself to love.

In the classic tradition of fan fiction, we finally receive the “ship” many of us have wanted since first reading ‘Little Women’. Perhaps it is human nature to want a happy ever after for the characters we grow to love, and luckily the two authoresses have the skill to take up Alcott’s tale and provide such a conclusion.

I've taken so long to write my review because I'm still shook and confused by what I read. It read more like fanfiction than a published book. I was not a fan of what was going on with the characters as it felt cringe-worthy the more I read. I did not hate the story, but I certainly did not love it.

This book was such a delight! I loved the authors writing style, the format of the book and the characters!

I know this is crazy, but I hadn’t read Little Women before! Even thought I haven’t read Little Women, I truly enjoyed this book and I didn’t feel lost at all.

This book is a fictional sequel to Little Women from Jo’s perspective!

Jo and her sisters are brave, strong and I especially enjoyed when they went to New York City. Learning about this time period is so fascinating to me and the epilogue of this book was well written with more information about Louisa May Alcott!

There were a few parts where I thought it drug on but overall, this book was entertaining and made me want to read more about the March sisters! 👏🏻

Such a lovely story! Its traditional love story between two childhood friends. This is great for readers that love the good old love story. The timeline is similar to the one of Little Women. I enjoyed the twist of the story. however some parts were a little bit boring. The banter kept me going. The sisters had a great dynamic! This was my first read by this author, I was pleasantly surprised with the story! Looking forward to more.

This book was a bit of a dream come true for me. I always wished that Jo would have accepted Laurie’s marriage proposal in “Little Women”. I suppose its the hopeless romantic in me that says “Marry Your Best Friend”. So I already was going into this book with happy expectations.

I was surprised by some of the negative notions that other readers were giving without having read the book. I suppose they found the prospect of Jo and Laurie being together diabolical...possibly a destruction of character and disrespectful to the original work, but I find this not to be the case.

I loved that this was not “Jo & Laurie” in the Little Women novel but more of the “real” Jo and Laurie who inspired it. Jo March had written the successful first half of the well known novel and is now given the task to write the sequel and she has reservations of marrying off her beloved characters (all of which are based on her real life family and friends). She doesn’t see her book counterpart getting married to anyone, let alone her best friend. Yet the real Laurie is hopelessly in love, and can’t understand why he and Jo can’t be together.

I feel this did the original writing justice, it felt like I was reading a work of the 19th century (and I mean that in the best way possible!) The writing was beautifully descriptive and classically romantic. If you are a Jo & Laurie shipper like myself, this is a sweet book you’ll likely enjoy!

Little Women is one of my most-loved classics, and I’ve staunchly been among those who’ve loved the original ending. That being said, I couldn’t help but be infinitely intrigued by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz’s YA reimagining: Jo & Laurie. The story picks up as an alternate ending to Little Women, where Laurie and (Jo’s youngest sister) Amy don’t end up together. Instead it’s delicious romantic tension between Jo and Laurie as the story unfolds and culminates in… the happily ever after so many in the fandom have been wishing for?

Well, you’ll have to read to find out. And whether you’re a purist Little Women fan (like me), have been wishing for that alternate (Jo hearts Laurie) ending, or just need a bit of romance in your life, Jo & Laurie is one of those rare crowd-pleasers. The love story of two of literature’s most beloved characters: fiercely independent Jo and boy-next-door Laurie. But just to reiterate, I’m forever team Amy and Laurie. Ha.

What’s more to love? Jo & Laurie (told from Jo’s point of view) is set between the publication of her first-ever book, Little Women, and its sequel, Good Wives. Jo is now a successful author; Little Women is out in the world and selling like hot cakes. Her publisher (like Louisa May Alcott’s publisher in real life) wants another book. But not just any book, a happy (societally appropriate) ending for the Little Women of Orchard House. And thus, the story of Jo & Laurie also affords us a glimpse of Jo’s (at times, dark) struggle to write Good Wives. For Jo (as it was for Louisa May Alcott), it’s a balancing act of writing while navigating public wishes and publisher’s expectations while remaining true to her characters and herself.

4.5/5 stars!

This was a leisurely and fun read overall. However, I can't say I was a huge fan of how these authors sorted and moved around the original Little Women story to make it more romantic. I liked the concept, but with a well-known piece of literature, it's hard not to compare it to the original story.

I loved how creative this story gets. The whole premise starts with the fact Little Women was written in two parts. The story starts off with Jo's trip to New York, but it's under much different circumstances than what was portrayed in the book. For the most part, the story holds the essence of Little Women in its hands, but rearranges the events of the novel to make it more this creatively specific one. You can see the parts of the book played out, but with the changes Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz put into it. For example, Behr is a character created by Jo rather than being the man she meets in New York.

It also changes the dynamic relationships between the characters. Marmie feels like a different character who's husband prefers to be away than to come home after the Civil War. Meg would prefer to marry for money before finally agreeing to marry John Brook. Amy gets as sick as Beth, but doesn't succumb to the same reality. Even Jo and Laurie's relationship changes. These little changes made the story more interesting and different, but also messed with my head a lot.

I definitely felt a bit obstinate about seeing these changes, but once I got used to them then it read like a fun little historical fiction based off of Little Women. It took me a while to stop comparing the two books to each other and once I did, I actually liked it. I would say go into reading this book with the expectation that it will be different. I know there are some die hard Little Women fans out there who may not like this book because of the changes. But if you're willing to keep your mind open, I think you'll find a fun little story that feels like an offshoot of the original.