I enjoyed Beth and Amy so much! I did read Meg and Jo before reading this one. I loved the modern elements of these characters. Even though I have not read or watched the original book or movies, I believe this was a great modern representation of these characters. Now I want to read the original book to appreciate these books and characters even more.

Thank you, Berkley and NetGalley, for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Little Women was one of my favorite books growing up. I haven’t yet read the first in this retelling duology, but I jumped at the chance to read an eARC of this from NetGalley.

While the setting, plot, and characters’ ages are all updated and modernized, the personality and heart of each character are very true to the original characters.

It was hard for me to separate my love for the original from this story initially. But when I was able to do that, I appreciated what the author did.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Cute story but felt it was so heavy on the body image and eating disorder, it felt repetitive. I liked how the mom makes a name for herself and stands up for what she wants.

We’re back with our favorite March sisters as we move on from Jo and Meg to the youngest of the bunch: Amy and Beth. Amy is my personal favorite as I always loved her wit and confidence, Beth I’m kind of meh about but her story of becoming a songwriter was very interesting (love when Nashville is in an book ✌🏼). I also thought this one was interesting because it also brought in the mom’s perspective, which was not in the first one so I thought that it was a nice surprise. Of the two novels this one is my favorite!

This was such a fun retelling. I love Virginia Kantra's writing and this book showcases why. I was hooked from the beginning and found the story very entertaining. I definitely recommend this book!

Little Women has been on my favorite book list since I read the book in my younger years. I definitely had to read Meg & Jo when @virginiakantra released it. Which means, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read Beth & Amy for @BerkelyPub . Both books are a modern retelling of Little Women. I couldn’t be more delighted

In this installment, the focus is centered on Beth and Amy. Beth's devastating illness in the original telling has a modern twist of being an eating disorder. This is what brings her back home to the farm rather than touring with her hunky country singer boyfriend. Amy has also returned home from NYC because of some medical issues her mother is enduring.

I love that Kantra kept the original tendencies and characterizations of the original story. The themes of love, family, and hope that embodies the March family despite all the challenges are still there. It felt like reading updates on old friends.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing, Virignia Kantra, @berkleyromance @letstalkbookspromo and @netgalley for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

The two youngest March sisters are all grown up and reading to spread their wings and leave the nest. The pair embark on separate journeys that takes them all over the world from their small farm in North Carolina to more exotic locales such as Paris and New York. Beth, who has worked had to earn a living from her talents is battling some tough obstacles along the way. Her journey towards unwanted fame has left her unfulfilled, disillusioned, and longing for the comforts of home. She has lost her sense of self and struggles to find the farm girl she seems to have lost along the way. Amy, on the other hand, has worked hard to chart her own course in life that will set her apart from her sisters. While she has found great success as a handbag designer in New York City, she has had far less success in her love life. Still struggling with unrequited feelings for a significant other, Amy finds it difficult to maintain the delicate balance between her desire for fame and notoriety with the distance and stress this puts between herself and her family.
Beth and Amy is a masterful modern day retelling of the classic Little Women, this time focusing on the younger March sisters. Told in alternating viewpoints that allows for greater insight into the thoughts, feelings and motivations behind the main characters actions, the story follows the pair as they set off on their own journeys of self discovery. While Meg and Jo are featured less prominently in the story, they are still a vital piece of the story along with Abby, the matriarch of the family. For the first time ever, Abby is able to tell her story with a modern twist. She knows better than anyone the struggle to maintain your identity while giving so much of yourself to your family and the toll this takes over time, a struggle many will be able to relate to. The story was immersive, drawing you in from the beginning and contained some inventive new twists to help bring the March sisters into the modern world. The characters, from the main to the periphery are well drawn out and complex, extending and adding to the original characters without detracting from or altering from the much beloved classic. I highly recommend Beth and Amy for fans of Little Women as well as those looking for a refreshing contemporary read for the summer.

3.5 stars

Little Women was the first time I saw myself in a book character. Jo March was me idol as a child. I especially loved the Winona Ryder film version of this classic and always felt like Jo March was so me and whenever I envision Jo March, I think of Winona Ryder. Jo March will forever be one of my favorite classic characters and one I strongly identify with where as Amy will forever be the girl who stole Laurie from her! Amy is my least favorite March sister.

I haven’t read Virginia Kantra’s modern reimagined book Meg and Jo yet but it was high up on my TBR list. When this next book on Beth and Amy came up for review, I had to jump at it even if Amy isn’t my favorite. I was eager to see a modern take on such a classic story and see how those timeless characters were portrayed in a modern setting.

For me, books like this can go either way. Classic characters in a modern setting don’t always work for some reason. I think a lot of readers have nostalgia connected to those characters and seeing them in a world that isn’t their norm, makes it hard to connect with them. But I was open to trying this one and seeing where it took me.

Summary
Four sisters face new beginnings in this heartfelt modern take on Little Women by New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra.

Amy March is more like her older sister Jo than she’d like to admit. An up-and-coming designer in New York’s competitive fashion industry, ambitious Amy is determined to get out of her sisters’ shadow and keep her distance from their North Carolina hometown. But when Jo’s wedding forces her home, she must face what she really wants…and confront the One Big Mistake that could upend her life and forever change her relationship with Jo.

Gentle, unassuming Beth grew up as the good girl of the family. A talented singer-songwriter, she’s overcome her painful anxiety to tour with country superstar Colt Henderson. But life on the road has taken its toll on her health and their relationship. Maybe a break to attend her sister’s wedding will get her out of her funk. But Beth realizes that what she’s looking for and what she needs are two very different things….

With the March women reunited, this time with growing careers and families, they must once again learn to lean on one another as they juggle the changes coming their way. (summary from Goodreads)

Review
The first thing I had to do when I started reading this one, was immediately let go of that fact that this was not going to be anything like the childhood classic. I think if readers can get past the fact that this isn’t a modern Little Women, I think they will be fine. Fans will find traits and similarities in this one but that’s about it. Accept it and move on so you can enjoy your book without those expectations. But sometimes that’s easier said than done, I know. This one was enjoyable and I liked getting the know the March sisters in a new way but having Laurie be called Trey was a little jarring. Maybe if I had read the first book then that wouldn’t have been so jarring but for me it was.

I don’t think that these books need to be read in order, but I think it would have helped prepare me a bit more for some of the connections and new modern storyline. I thought the author did stay true to the general characterization of the March sisters from the classic tale. I enjoyed sweet Beth and I actually found that I liked Amy better in this book than in the classic. I think one of the most exciting things in this book was that Beth felt like a more complete character. In the classic she was the least developed (probably because she dies) but in this one she is a lot more developed and interesting while still maintaining the sweet integrity of the classic.

It’s a quick easy read, some parts were a little slow but overall I felt like it flowed well and I found myself finished before I knew it. This book does have an eating disorder component which I think readers should be aware of though, it is a big part in the story so if that’s not your thing then maybe this might not be the book for you, but I thought it was a delight to read and I am eager to read Meg and Jo now and see what their story was like in this new modern world!

Book Info and Rating
Format352 pages, Paperback

Expected publication May 25, 2021 by Berkley Books

ISBN9780593100363 (ISBN10: 0593100360)

Free review copy provided by publisher, Berkley Books, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Genre: retellings, contempo lit, romance

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing group for the eARC.

I am a huge fan of Little Women, so of course I was interested in Kantra's modern day retellings of it. Beth and Amy is the sequel to Meg and Jo which I thoroughly enjoyed. Beth and Amy didn't quite live up to Meg and Jo for me, I really liked it, I just didn't love it. This could be also because Amy and Beth were my least favorite characters in Little Women and also in this series. Jo will forever be my favorite.

"It's a wedding... you're not meant to be comfortable. That's why God invented Spanx."
" 'I'm pretty sure that was Satan' Jo said"

In Beth and Amy, I found Amy's inner thoughts, about Trey and her relationship with and comparisons to her sisters to be extremely repetitive, to the point that her character really began to irritate me. I did like the direction that Beth's story line took and how it ended. I found this to be an entertaining and easy read and would recommend this series to fans of Little Women and HEA romances that are light on steam.

TW - eating disorder

Beth and Amy
Virginia Kantra

Beth and Amy is the follow up book to Meg and Jo, the first book of this series, which is a contemporary retelling of Little Women.

Kantra graced us in this installment, a story that is centered on Beth and Amy. Kantra's take on Beth's devastating illness in the first book, is an eating disorder in this modern twist. Told in Beth and Amy's point of view as well as their mother Abby's, this story was so poignant and heartfelt that I enjoyed so much.

Though many things have changed in this modern retelling, the gist of the story's characters and overall representation remains very nostalgic to me as a reader. I think it's because it covers the overall themes of love, family, and of course the hopefulness that embodies the March family despite all the challenges and difficulties they may be facing.

Highly Recommend!

Amy March is making her own way in the world, or so she thinks. After moving to New York and struggling to launch her budding design career, Instagram influencers and boutiques have finally noticed her chic luggage brand, and sales are booming. The last thing she wants to do is to come home and face her sisters and most of all, Trey Lawrence.

Good girl Beth has finally left North Carolina to pursue a dream of becoming a country music singer. She’s writing songs and touring with Colt Henderson, the biggest star in the business. But when the pressure starts to build and her health suffers, Beth questions her dream, which might not be hers after all.

Beth & Amy continues the contemporary retelling of Little Women started by Virginia Kantra in last year’s Meg & Jo. While I enjoyed Meg & Jo, this second installment is even better. Kantra fleshes out the characters of Amy and Beth with more details and nuance than the original while staying true to their personalities. Likewise, the slow-burn development of Trey (Laurie) and Amy’s relationship delightfully compensates for any disappointment resulting from their hasty marriage in Little Women. Best of all, the chemistry of the sisters and the entire March family remains in tact. I especially liked how Kantra explored the complexities of Marmee and Father’s fraught relationship. Retellings walk a fine line between honoring the original source material and modernizing the story. Beth & Amy is both faithful to the spirit of Little Women but creative enough to stand on its own. I loved it! Beth & Amy comes out today.

THREE CHEERS FOR THIS GEM OF A BOOK!
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I really love the story of Little Women. I love the book, the movies (the original more than the latest), I love when Joey reads it on Friends and has to put in the freezer... I just love it all! So I knew I had to read Virginia Kantra's modern-day retellings!
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I want to note that I haven't yet read Meg & Jo (but I definitely will) and I would advise readers to pick up that one up first as Beth & Amy is definitely a continuation of the story. However, I did still enjoy this book even without reading the first! And if you're familiar with the story of Little Women, you should have no trouble!
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The writing is MAGICAL in this book and I think that's why I loved it so much. Kantra definitely has a way with words and her prose rolled off my tongue. I loved the modern-day details that were added to this classic. Amy has always been my least favorite March sister, but this book had me loving Amy and her story and her sass :)!
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This book deals with some difficult topics (TW: Eating disorder), but I found the story and the message to be inspiring and very feel-good. I really enjoyed every time I picked up the story, comforted by the pretty writing and the familiar details of the March family!
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Get this book on your TBR!

In most Little Women adaptations, Beth and Amy March take a backseat in their older sister’s tale and are limited in their roles. But in Beth and Amy, Virginia Kantra’s new novel, the two sisters come alive and take centre stage in this modern adaptation. As a sequel to Kantra’s first book, Meg and Jo, we meet back with the March family at a new set of crossroads and a different set of voices. A love letter to the younger siblings of the world, this heartfelt adaptation will capture your heart right away.

Three years after the events of Meg and Jo, the younger March sisters are out in the world, making names for themselves. Amy is an up-and-coming handbag designer in New York City, trying to prove to her family and the world that she is a force to be reckoned with. She is determined to escape older sister Jo’s shadow, while constantly reminded of her unrequited feelings and history with Jo’s ex. Beth is out on the road, touring with the famous country singer, Colt Henderson and getting used to life in the spotlight. It should be her dream come true, but the music career is taking a toll on her relationship and health. As they both head home to celebrate Jo and Eric’s wedding, they both are thrown right back into the roles they always played growing up while grappling with who they want to be. Beth and Amy must try to reconcile these new lives, identities, and secrets they are building with the roles that they play so naturally with their family. Their sisters had their opportunity to share their stories, now it is Beth and Amy’s turn.

I loved the first book about the March sisters, and Beth and Amy did not disappoint! It was nice to see the younger two have more of a focus in a Little Women adaptation. Both girls felt so real in the modern age, while also staying truthful to the original material. Unlike Meg and Jo, who felt very connected from the start of their novel, Amy and Beth start off very distant from each other. They were never friends growing up and are still very different, which is evident in their narrations. However, their distinct voices never feel disjointed and their journeys compliment each other very well. Their sibling dynamic is so relatable. However, the roles that are expected of them are such flat representations of who they really are. It was really interesting to see how they responded to those roles and how they influenced their relationships.

Both Beth and Amy are incredibly sympathetic and enjoyable characters because they were given so much more depth than their original Little Women characterisation. They often talk about the roles that each sister fell into growing up, which also happen to be the roles that they play in all adaptations. Beth is the good one, and Amy is the baby. Usually, they are very static characters from Jo’s point of view, and while they felt true to their origins, they had much more agency. The emphasis on the roles they play in their family felt like a direct response to other iterations, poking gentle fun at their usual roles in adaptations.

I never really liked Amy March in previous adaptations but though she was still jealous and a bit spoiled in this adaptation, her motivations and overall personality were much more clear and sympathetic. Beth never usually gets the chance to have a plotline beyond her caring nature and her tragic ending. While she was still always motivated to help others before herself, she has so much more life and autonomy. Kantra took important moments to their characters, such as Amy falling into the lake and Beth getting sick, but adapted it into clever twists and thoughtful growth. She especially addresses Beth’s health issues with incredible care and depth as we see it develop both from Beth’s point of view and Amy’s outside perspective.

One surprise that was a nice touch was the addition of their mother in Abby’s own chapters. In the first book, her life was changing completely with her time in the hospital and her decision to separate from her absent husband. This book explores the effects of that year and what it is like to be the mother to four very different adult women while running a farm and building a life by herself. The town and her family all expect so much from her, especially after she asked her husband to move out. Abby’s reflection on life and her present conflicts create an interesting opposition to both Beth and Amy who are also struggling with independence, desires, and romance.

It can be difficult sometimes to adapt a classic novel into modern times and keep the spirit intact yet also fresh but Kantra delivers. I would highly recommend reading Meg and Jo first if you haven’t already because it sets up a lot of the background for Beth and Amy and you get to know the sisters very differently. Both novels are stories about the ebbs and flows of family, and about staying connected even during times of turmoil. This novel reminds me of a polaroid of a family dinner, where everyone gathers together for a moment of joy. They invited readers in like we are part of the family and treat us to a warm meal of support and hope. It was very sentimental and captured the spirit of Little Women so well. Kantra breathes refreshing life into these classic figures and these modern women are strong, messy, and just delightful to get to know.

If you are a fan of Little Women, or even just a fan of cosy yet realistic hometown family stories, you will love this series!

This review is a hard one to write because my feelings about the original LITTLE WOMEN impact my feelings on this book. So you’ve been warned.

I really enjoyed reading MEG & JO and I was looking forward to reading BETH & AMY with anticipation and a bit of trepidation. Why, you may ask? Because I’m still salty about Laurie and Amy being a couple. I wasn’t on board then and I’m not on board now. And honestly, I couldn’t give this book a fair chance when it comes to that part because I never liked Amy and I didn’t think this was a good couple. What I do think is that Ms. Kantra did a great job at bringing a lot of what the original characters were like into today’s modern world setting. But every time these two were on the page, I just got a bit ragey and it definitely impacted my enjoyment of this book.

That being said, the rest was so good! I loved the glimpses we get into the girls parent’s love life, Beth’s struggle with an eating disorder which was handled well I thought, and the subject of addiction. I wanted more and more of all of this even when it felt like Amy was consuming so much of the pages.

I think one of my favorite things about the way Virginia Kantra did these retellings is that she captures that cozy feeling of LITTLE WOMEN and represents it so well. Family is still central and essential part and I loved seeing the March sisters rally together against anything that’s thrown their way.

These two books are the retellings you didn’t know you needed and I loved seeing this version of their world.

Another great story about sibling dynamics in this modern retelling of Little Woman centering on Beth and Amy.

I enjoyed this installment, the story line was relatable. Amy is a fashion designer and Beth is a singer, both on a journey to pursue their dreams far from each other.

Though I did enjoy Amy’s story a little more than Beth’s, though Beth has a bit of drama that I think was handled well. They both grew as the story went on and both storylines were credible fun and quirky.
A great summer read to add to your tbr.

The sequel to “Meg and Jo,” a re-telling of the adventures of Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters (in a more current time), gives readers the lowdown on the younger girls.
Amy is a fashion designer in New York and not looking to move back to their little North Carolina town. Beth, who is a singer-songwriter seemingly has a wonderful opportunity performing concerts with Colt Henderson, a country singer. Neither is really happy with life.
The entire family is converging on the farm for Jo’s upcoming wedding, so both girls put on smiling faces. It doesn’t take long for Jo and Meg to realize that there is a problem, especially with Beth.
Kantra creates a wonderful story, in keeping with the personalities readers of “Little Women” recall with love, just with a modern twist.

'Little Women' sequel confronts timely challenges in Virginia Kantra's second novelistic reboot, 'Beth and Amy'

The March Sisters have been blended, drawn and reimagined in more ways than Louisa May Alcott ever could have conceived, but under the pen of veteran novelist Virginia Kantra, a sequel to the sequel of “Little Women” is as timely and important today as was the original in 1868.

In Kantra’s 2019 release, “Meg and Jo (The March Sisters Book 1),” the little women are no longer little and unlike its founding work, the overlap from childhood to womanhood is now nearly complete. Independent and grown up enough to follow their own dreams — and make their own mistakes — plans that include things such as food blogging, homemaking in an upscale subdivision and myriad gigs in a gig economy test not only the elder two March sisters, but the strength of family and sisterhood.

In “Beth and Amy (The March Sister Book 2),” the tests continue, but the younger siblings grab the spotlight — almost literally. Beth, “the good girl of the family,” hooks up with country superstar Colt Henderson and develops a non-symbiotic relationship based on the Grammy-winning songs she’s written, while Amy’s success as a New York City fashion designer is threatened by the pull of family, her sisters and what might have been “one big mistake” during a brief romantic entanglement in Paris.

In developing this well-drawn story, Kantra never shies from tough topics. The girls’ mother, Abby, is separated from their father and issues such as PTSD, self-image, eating disorders and emotional abuse permeate the lives of the Marches.

That this is not nearly as depressing as it sounds is due to the viability of the story Kantra musters. Working from solid source material, the novelist populates a world in which Beth and Amy, Meg and Jo, and others in their orbit face and overcome 21st century challenges and concerns without ever losing the touchstone that family trumps all.

That “family” is a malleable conception here is a solid strength of the novel, and one that not only rings true in an increasingly diverse world, but opens the door for Kantra to travel further down the path from the Massachusetts’ home and kinship welcomed by millions more than a century and a half ago.

This was such a fun read and I flew through it.

Since the first book, Beth has been on tour for 3 years and is finally coming home. Amy returned from Paris to sell her purses for her line Baggage in New York City. The reason they are back in Bunyan is for Jo’s wedding to Eric. Will Beth discover who she is and who she wants to be? Will Amy get over Trey?

I love that this book both simultaneously did and did not pick up where it left off. It was fun to fast forward in Jo and Meg’s lives and the pick up with Amy and Beth. Jo has always been my favorite March sister so I was curious to see how I would enjoy a story focused on Beth and Amy. Surprisingly, this book really made me like Amy. I still feel meh about Beth but that’s nothing to do with the story. In fact, I did enjoy Beth’s story a lot but it’s just that overall she’s not my favorite.

In case you didn’t read my review of the first book, this duology is a modern day retelling of Little Women and it is done so well. I love seeing the March sisters brought into the 21st century and dealing with present day problems. If you’ve read the original, you know that Beth dies. Spoiler, she doesn’t die in this version which I very much appreciated. I don’t want to give too much away but I really liked the way they handled a modern day illness for Beth to deal with that didn’t end up killing her off.

The one issue I did have with the book is the time line was a bit confusing. I was never sure how much time passed between the alternating chapters. Sometimes Beth’s chapters would pick up a week after Amy’s ended and sometimes it would pick up back at the beginning of where the previous chapter had started. It wasn’t a major issue, but it did take me out of the story from time to time.

This series is very fun and well done. If you like Little Women you will enjoy this modern retelling. There are a lot of good lessons in this story and the writing is well done. I also liked reconnecting with Jo and Meg. I would definitely recommend this duology and look forward to other books by this author.

I was delighted to get my copy of Beth and Amy because I’d just loved reading Virginia Kantra’s first book about the March sisters, Meg and Jo. Actually I was looking forward to this sequel pretty much as soon as I’d finished Meg and Jo. These two novels are modernizations of the classic Little Women, but retold more as a present-day what-if with the beloved March sister than a beat-for-beat retelling. The characters maintain their personalities, but the setting is realistically modern, so their choices and situations are quite different.

This one focuses on the two younger sisters, and picks up a little while after the first novel. Towards the end of Meg and Jo, Beth gets a country music gig in Branson, and I thought, well, ok, that’s not very Beth-like, but I’ll reserve judgement until the next book. At the beginning of Beth and Amy, Beth’s on tour, with a successful singing and songwriting career, and the fact none of that sounds very Beth-like leads to a lot of the tension in her story arc. Everything made so much sense for our beloved March sister!

I loved every part of Bethie’s storyline, it was such a successful modernization for this favorite character.



Meanwhile, Laurie and Amy getting married has always been kind a sticky spot in the Little Women storyline, even though Jo doesn’t seem to mind and even considers their surprise marriage a good laugh. But dating her sister’s ex feels kind of yucky, and there’s that unpleasant feeling that Amy wanted the Laurence life more than she wanted Laurie.

In this retelling, Jo still has her special friendship with Trey, without ever changing from childhood or even seeming to notice that he’s a man with romantic feelings for her. Their relationship remains important in her life even when she meets and marries Eric. As an adult reader, I’ve understood more and more what Jo saw in Professor Bhaer, and in this retelling, he remains the stable, affectionate center of impulsive, creative Jo’s life. Over the course of this book, Amy’s feelings develop from a little-girl crush on a boy who’s nice to her, into a woman’s love. The novel really shows two important but very different relationships in Trey’s life, without any overlap, which made the whole thing feel much less icky. Also, Amy is developed more and more, finally moving beyond her role as the pretty baby of the family.

This part is a bit of a spoiler, but one of the major themes is about all the March girls coming home as adults, and I really don’t like North Carolina life. This was in Meg and Jo, too, as Jo and Eric tried to figure out their life together, and I just could not get into that choice. If you have a choice between a creative career in the city or hearing people constantly talking super slowly about college basketball, how is that even a choice? Ugh, especially for Amy, who still had a crowd of mean girls from high school (obviously no one was never going to leave NC or move on) in town. UGH NO. Basically, the narrative is leading to a story homecoming and family, and I know where it’s all going, but I’m still thinking up ways the girls can still escape.

Overall, I enjoyed Beth and Amy so much! It was a great reimagining of some of our favorite literary characters, with growing independence and affectionate sisterhood. And, bonus, if you don’t think that moving to small town NC is giving up on all life and joy and creativity, you’ll probably like this even more than I did.

Beth & Amy is the sequel to Meg & Jo, in a modern twist of Little Women. Both younger sisters feel less than their older counterparts. While Beth is timid and hides her pain, Amy is loud and vibrant in her need for attention.
Over the course of the novel, Virginia explores their character arcs as they come into womanhood and how to navigate the world as individuals. The biggest - and dare I say happiest - difference is that Beth did not die in childhood. (Sorry to all the Joeys of the world I just spoiled that for!)
I really loved going back to this world of the March sisters. I found a new appreciation for Amy, the sister I least prefer and a quiz told me I'm most like. Oh, the irony! Beth's POV was my favorite though. I think I was so grateful to see that she had one to begin with that I devoured her parts and wanted more.
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.