I've never read little woman before so I have no reference for the story. Takes place right after the North freed the slaves of the South during the civil war. It definitely gives you a perspective that is not taught in school or widely known among whites. It talks about where they lived and how they felt in a way that I had no knowledge. It was a very good story and very informative. The narration was good.

I really enjoyed seeing the perspective of a group of black women living in a free people colony in NC toward the end and after the Civil War in this reimagining of Little Women. I appreciated that the author didn't stick to all of the original story lines, but kept the characters true to who they were in the source material. She also included nods to certain key events in the original which was fun to discover as I listened. The appreciation of the culture and authenticity of the black experience during this time was evident in the writing, and as a white reader I very much appreciated seeing how white people who thought they were helping really weren't. There is definitely a lot to learn from this book and I am glad I was given the opportunity to listen to it.

In addition, the audiobook narrator was fantastic and really brought the story to life.

Morrow takes the classic tale of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and transfers the story of sisterhood to four recently emancipated slaves. The new March sisters are growing up, find their place in the world, and searching for love. Morrow’s take on the story gives voice to young African American women during The Civil War, a voice that isn’t normally represented. The book tells a new story of love and family while staying true to the spirit of the original novel.

I have not read the original book, a little women. However I have seen the movies. I never took to them. This was a remix with the perspective of black folks. It was a interesting idea. Definitely better than what I think of the original.

this was so delightful!

It turns out I'm a sucker for YA historical fiction by marginalized authors and this one really hit the spot. Being a Little Women retelling, So Many Beginnings obviously had incredible family dynamics that I loved reading about. I was completely absorbed by the world of this story and was invested in all the characters and their individual ambitions and lives. I also really enjoyed the way Morrow included discussions about race relations (during the period this book is set in, although they still apply to today) in a way that got the message across but never felt overly heavy-handed.

Although part of me wishes this book were a bit longer (only so I could spend more time with these characters), I think the pacing was done well and the way it concluded was very satisfying and not at all abrupt.

Overall, would highly recommend checking it out (the audiobook, narrated by Adenrele Ojo, was also wonderful)!

This is so good! It’s one of my favorite reads of 2021. I love Little Women, and this is such a great remix. I’m already recommending it to people, and it hasn’t even been officially published yet. It’s for all of those historical fiction fans and anyone who wants a story of family and love.

I love the original Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and i love watching all the different interpretations of her work as well whether in print or in film. This is the first one that I have seen that has called itself a 'remix' and I really like that distinction because this story is not a retelling of Little Women or anything like that - this is something that is both new and fresh while still familiar in some way.
Not all of the characters from the original Little Women appear in this book - most notably Professor Bhaer, Mr. Brooks and Laurie's grandfather. There are characters that fulfill similar roles to Mr. Brooks and Laurie's grandfather - relationship wise in the book, but they are not identical and I enjoyed the characters that the author decided upon. There was not Professor Bhaer character at all in the book and his and Jo's story was not in the book which I was sad about because I love that love story. However, I also really enjoyed this telling of Jo as an asexual character with a platonic companion in Laurie.
I have never liked stories where Jo and Laurie end up together romantically so I am glad that the author avoided that, but their friendship in this book is an amazing thing.
All of the sisters and truly incredible and each one of them is true to the original sisters' personalities but in a way that recognizes how this new setting and story-telling would change them.

I listened to the audiobook which was great and the narrator was fantastic, but I would personally probably prefer to have and read this book in print versus listening to it because it took to long for me to listen to it and if I read it I would have probably reread it like 5 times by now.

I absolutely recommend this book in whatever format you prefer to and I will definitely be looking forward to what this author does in the future.

I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

This was such a wonderful and necessary spin on Little Women. Bethany has proven herself a masterful author who manages to tell us the traditional Little Women story with all the beloved characters and yet making the story more beautifully and politically complex than the original with the Civil War as a backdrop. When we talk about modern classics, this is definitely one.

With So Many Beginnings, Bethany C. Morrow takes the well-known, well-loved story of Little Women and, as the series name says, remixes it. The March sisters are still living through the midst of the US Civil War, but as Black girls (and in the South), their lives and experiences of that time are wildly different in many ways than those of Alcott’s characters. It’s a carefully wrought depiction of a long-missing perspective on an often-fictionalized era. (For one pretty significant example, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only reader who didn’t know anything about the Roanoke Island Freedmen’s Colony before reading this book.) Though a retelling, it obviously puts new twists on the old plot and characters; I especially appreciated the choices made in Beth’s and Jo’s journeys.

I was lucky enough to listen to an audio ARC, and Adenerele Ojo’s narration provided excellently varying but never caricatured voices for the different characters, something that feels extra important for such a character-driven story.

Warm-hearted and wholesome, though nevertheless honest and clear-eyed about the realities of the period, So Many Beginnings is a story about family, about home, about starting anew and looking forward.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Please tell me this has already been optioned for a movie! In the 21st century when more of us should be willing to see the US through the eyes of people who have been disenfranchised for generations, this book will make us look closer and think deeper about our history through the lens of fiction.

This is truly a remix of Little Women with Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Each sister comes of age in similar ways to the original story. However, the difference in circumstances allows the reader to see both the North and the South through the eyes of formerly enslaved people.

This book will be on display in my high school library. I will be recommending it heartily. I’m hoping for enough budget to get the audiobook too.

The audio version has a lovely lilting quality to the narration. Adenele Ojo and Bethany C. Morris used distinct voices and expressions throughout. I truly did not want to stop listening and finished the day I began. I sincerely hope that the Author’s Note will be included in the final audio version. The information included there is so important.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was good! Arguably a better version than the original. It had great history built in and I really loved learning about the past important historical points. It really is a great version of this classic story.

I've never read or watched any version of Little Women, so I've got nothing to compare this remixed version too, and I don't think they should be compared. But I also don't have any warm fuzzy feelings toward Alcott's version.

The bond between the March sisters is strong and perfect and beautiful. I loved all of them for different reasons and in different ways with Jo being my favorite. Jo is a writer, as I am, and though it's state, Jo is definitely somewhere on the aroace spectrum, and her relationship with Lorry (I listened to the audio, so I have no idea if that spelling is correct) looks like what we'd call a queer platonic relationship today. I loved, loved, loved seeing aroace rep and the fact that it's historical makes it so much better.

I had never heard of the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke or colonies like it. The politics of the time were delved into, as was some philosophy, and I love seeing that in historicals as it reveals so much about that particular time period, but it also always reveals much about our current time as we seem to always be discussing the same issues.

This was so good, and I hope there are many more remixed classics.

It was good. I have read and watched so many adaptations of Little Women as it has always been my favorite. This one was worth the read and I liked the racial spin to it, but so much of the internal pondering and dialogue could have been cut down. I found my mind wondering as they kept going over the philosophical side of the issues. I do appreciate this side of the civil war and freedom from slavery being portrayed that isn't well taught (or taught at all?) but there was so much of it when I really wanted more story and less of a lesson.

This was a Netgalley ARC that I listened to.

I was intrigued to see what the author would do to keep close to the original Little Women and yet freshen it with a new twist. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed! Keeping characteristics of the original, Ms. Morrow brought new meaning to these characters. New worries, new life, new reasons.

I enjoyed this book so much and the writing was done so well that I got through it in a workday. I fell in love with these characters and I loved their voices! I loved the world created, the lives, and the feeling that this was an entirely different story, yet still reminiscent of the original characters.

I most definitely recommend this book! Thank you so much for the opportunity to be one of the first to read this story!

Read this if:
🌟 You’ve read Little Women
🌟 You HAVEN’T read Little Women (like me)
🌟 You hated Amy and Laurie
🌟 You hated Beth’s death
🌟 You have a heart ♥️

Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review. This was my first audiobook and I LOVED it! I finished it in two days and I’ve already started my next audiobook. This is definitely something I’ll continue.

I was eager to get my hands on this one because, as you may know from one of my earlier posts, I was lucky enough to interview Bethany for school and she was such a powerful force I found myself at a loss for words! She’s brilliant and inspiring, and she happened to mention that she writes a clean first draft and this book was virtually unchanged through the editing process. After listening to it, I’m dumbfounded. It’s so rich and complex, and the reimagining of both Little Women and the time in history when black slaves were finally emancipated was devastatingly touching.

Can you improve upon a classic? I think so! Focusing on the family when all the girls are a little older than the original Little Women novel, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy each had their own talents and storylines that I found lovely and exciting. I don’t typically like historical fiction of this kind. I never read the original book (but I’ve seen the movie). I don’t read Jane Austen or many period pieces. But this story was just something else.

Our history is too white. There are more voices to be heard. Read or listen to this book.

I was a little apprehensive about this book, while at the same time desperately wanting to read it, because I've greatly enjoyed Bethany Morrow's other works and Little Women was my absolute favorite book growing up. I can't even count how many times I read it while dealing with middle school and high school stress. And I can now say without hesitation that this retelling knocks it out of the park.

One thing Bethany Morrow does especially well here is remaining true to the heart of the original story while still crafting it around a different family with a vastly different history and set of needs. Their desires, though, are very familiar. Meg wants a husband and family of her own, Jo wants to write and retains her tempestuous nature, Beth is sweet and gentle and loves to sew, and Amy is headstrong, a bit spoiled, and talented at art (dancing, in this case). But above all of those things is their love for one another and their closeness as a family.

I got hints of Jo being asexual here which really resonated with me and I found it very true to both this Jo and the original Jo. I am glad that this Lorie was willing to let Jo love him in her own way and not try to change her.

I think the choice to turn the March family from a poor Northern family with their father fighting in the Civil War to a formerly enslaved black family fighting to gain their freedom was brilliant. Their struggles and disagreements and love -- everything about them really -- were given a much deeper meaning and resonance. Beth's mysterious disease not occurring in white people so of course their doctors were perplexed. The way Amy was spoiled made so much more sense when taken with the fact that the entire March family were trying to give her the childhood none of the rest of them were allowed to have. Jo's book-in-progress being criticized not because she is a woman but because she dares to write intellectually instead of using the broken English and dialect expected of a formerly enslaved Black woman. The struggles are the same. The meaning and depth in every action and conversation are just. So much deeper. I'm in awe.

That last line of the book was utterly perfect and made me cry it hit so hard. Just. Beautifully crafted.

I also learned SO much while reading this book. I grew up in North Carolina and had no idea the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony even existed. Much as I have recently learned a LOT of things about the history of this country and its treatment of Black people that I never learned growing up.

This is a case where I think the audiobook narrator actually detracts from the story being narrated. This book deserves 5 stars absolutely, but I'm only giving the narrator 3. She spoke too slowly, with a somewhat odd lilt that made me a bit twitchy as I listened. I ended up speeding it up to 1.5x speed which at least made it go faster. Once I gave up on the audio and started reading my enjoyment of the story increased greatly. I wish I'd read it from the start because I think I'd have loved it even more and gotten more out of it.

*Thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan Children's Publishing Group, and MacMillan Audio for providing an e-arc and audio arc for review.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an ALC of this book.

Content Warnings at end of review.

In this Little Women retelling, Bethany Morrow sets the March family in a recently emancipated Black Freedmen's Colony during the civil war. The sisters have their own struggles for independence, freedom, and love, but face them as a family.

I thought this story was extremely heartwarming and endearing. Can I just say that I love Jo and Laurie. I also headcanon Jo as asexual even though the word is never used in the book. I loved their relationship the most by far!

I really like that this book took a classic novel and remixed it into something that explored not only coming of age, but also what it meant to be a recently freed slave during the Civil War. I thought this book did a great job with the plot and setting! I do wish that the writing had been modernized, but other than that, I don't have complaints!

Pub Date: September 7, 2021

Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Chronic illness
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Violence and Gun violence

*I recieved an audiobook ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!*

I love adaptations/retellings of Little Women, but usually they disappoint (the Greta Gerwig film being the exception). They often sort the four sisters in caricatures: Meg wants to marry, Jo is defiant, Beth is perfect and can do no wrong, and Amy is annoying.

I am here to say that this story does not do that. At all. Each sister was fully fleshed out; she had her own flaws as well as merits. Because this is a remix, it is I particularly love how Beth's story was handled (the sections that focused on her were some of my favorites). On top of that, we meet a wide variety of characters, and we often get a quick, but thorough, dive into who they are. Even if they were in the story for only a chapter or two, I felt as if I had sat and enjoyed a coffee with them as they told me about their life.

Sometimes the writing style can end up a little "preacher"-style, but I didn't mind it at all. It felt necessary, particularly because a lot of people may come into the book not knowing what the freed-people colonies of the Civil War, such are Roanoke Island, were.

One thing that I will say is that this book is very character-oriented. Yes, there was a plot, but a lot of this book was spent dissecting the March women, their relationships with their sisters, their relationships with the other people in the colony, and their relationship to the old world of slavery and the new world of freedom. I loved this aspect, but someone who is into more action/plot-heavy material may not want this.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I would definitely recommend reading it (or listening to it!) once it releases!

So Many Beginnings follows the classic sisters we know and love: Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy. Only this time the story has been remixed to set the sisters, now recently emancipated in the midst of the Civil War rather than after it like the original story. Meg, the teacher, is dying to get married. Beth, the seamstress, tries to find the good in all things. Jo, the writer, is the voice of Civil War Era Blacks. Amy, the dancer, is spoiled but always speaks her mind. Together they navigate their personal lives coupled with the weight of the crimes committed against their people. The story is slightly changed from the original, but I think Morrow does a really good job of staying true to the characters. The change that surprised me most, which I won't spoil here, was a pretty dramatic change made to the story that had nothing to do with changing the race of the characters. All in all, this was a unique perspective on a classic story that couldn't have come at a better time.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Adenrele Ojo, narrator of the audiobook, did a great job. For the older sisters, they sometimes sounded alike, but that's not really unbelievable for sisters. However, I loved the way she read Amy, forever and always my favorite little woman. She really brought Amy to life, so that was a lot of fun to hear. I definitely recommend this audiobook.