I really enjoyed this re-imaging of The Great Gatsby. Jillian Cantor flipped the narrator from Nick Carraway to the women that were involved with Jay Gatsby; Daisy Fay, golfer Jordan Baker, and Myrtle and her sister Catherine. She also reimagines the ending, and makes a bit of a mystery involving Gatsby's death. Daisy is a beautiful young socialite from Kentucky, who is greatly affected by a family accident. She meets Jay Gatsby as a young girl and falls in love with the handsome soldier before he is shipped off to fight in WWI. When family circumstances change drastically, Daisy is compelled to marry for money, and ties herself to rich Tom Buchanan from Chicago. Jordan is a golfer and Daisy's closest friend, but she has her own secrets in this novel. The other woman we hear from is Catherine - the sister of Myrtle that eventually is one of "Tom's women". Full of secrets, lies, and intrigue. Very entertaining.

Oh what an absolutely phenomenal, memorable historical fiction read! Beautiful Little Fools was unique and incredibly well-written, and receives a standing ovation from me.

This book is the famous classic The Great Gatsby reimagined and flipped around and told from the perspective of the women! Wow!

This story proves what a master storyteller that Jillian Cantor is. There’s mystery here, there’s intrigue, and all of that glitz and glamour of the Roaring 20’s here, as well as a compelling storyline that keeps you turning the pages as you uncover the death of Jay Gatsby. I loved the whole range of characters within this story and the atmospheric setting and time. My only negative here is that the book ended too soon!

Whether or not you’re an existing fan of classics or The Great Gatsby particularly, this is sure to be a winner for you! It checks all of the boxes for what makes a perfect historical fiction. The story is so creative and I just can’t get over what Cantor did here.

Many thanks to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the gifted e-copy!

Were you one of those people who was required to read The Great Gatsby in high school? If not, you were one of the lucky ones. I found that book so incredibly boring. Beautiful little fools, however, is absolutely amazing. IT’s the story of the great Gatsby, but told through the perspective of the various women in the story.

The story of beautiful little fools is told through 4 points of view.

Daisy, who fell in love with jay Gatsby when she was young, and even thought she would marry him. When tragedy befalls her family, she forces herself into a marriage of convenience to Tom Buchanan.

Jay has gone off to war, but promises himself that he will become worthy of daisy.

Catherine, who meets jay when he returns from war, has a sister who is in an abusive marriage. Catherine determines she will never allow herself to fall for someone like that, decides to stay single. She and jay begin a sort of “friends with benefits” relationship, which ends suddenly when daisy moves back to town.

Jordan, daisy’s best friend from childhood, hides a secret of her own. In the war-torn 40’s, Jordan has made a name of herself in the world of women’s golf, and she’s finally able to support her ailing father, but her secret threatens to steal all of that from her.

Detective frank Charles, who is investigating jay gatsby’s death, meets with each woman separately, and tries to determine how jay died, and even though he’s convinced that each woman is lying, he can’t tell why, or about what. All he really knows is that they have secrets, and he finds it his job to figure them out before his retirement.

Like I said above, I was not a fan of the great Gatsby. I thought the story was shallow and trite. I didn’t enjoy reading it and have never read it since high school.

Beautiful little fools, however, is different. It’s told from a different perspective, and told with such heart, that it’s difficult not to absolutely fall in love with the story.

Daisy’s character is so hard not to love. She very much makes mistakes, with her marriage to Tom at the top of the list. She never really loves him, and he’s a dickbag. I don’t usually cuss in my blog posts, but if you read the book, you’ll see it fits. I absolutely hated him, and for sure wished him down an elevator shaft.

I really felt for Daisy. She was in such a difficult situation. Most of it she put herself in, such as choosing to marry Tom when she didn’t really love him. I’m not condoning what Tom did to her, because as I established earlier, he’s a dickbag. Daisy kept hoping he would change, and gave him plenty of opportunities to do so, but he kept up his horrible ways, eventually putting Daisy in a pretty serious depressive state.

Jordan is another of my favorite characters. She struggles with her identity through much of the book, and because of the time and culture she lives in, she becomes ostracized when she tries to be herself. I know many people who have struggled with this same thing, even during modern times, and I always feel for them. Jordan is one of those characters that you just want to grab hold of, give a huge hug, and promise that everything will be ok.

I wouldn’t call this book a quick read, or a slow and steady. I was able to read it in a few days, and at times I found it hard to put down, but it’s one of those books you will either devour quickly, or relish over a few days. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in your experience either way.

I found the story satisfying. I’m not going to say too much about the ending, because I hate spoilers and would never do that to you. I found enough closure in the ending that I felt it was the perfect way to close out the story, and I didn’t feel like it warranted a sequel.

Overall, Beautiful Little Fools was a beautiful story, told in a wonderful way. I’m so thankful I received this book from Netgalley and had the chance to read this gorgeous story.

If you enjoyed the great Gatsby, you’ll love this book.

If you didn’t enjoy the great Gatsby, you’ll enjoy this book.

I truly believe that despite your feelings about the inspiration for this story, you’ll get what you looked for in this book. It’s well worth your time, and I highly recommend it.

I love "The Great Gatsby", so I went into this book with high expectations. It surpassed all of them! I couldn't put it down. An amazing take on a wonderful story.

📖: Beautiful Little Fools
🖊: Jillian Cantor
⭐️: 2 / 5 stars
🎧: “Love Is the Drug” by Bryan Ferry
✨: For fans of Gatsby retellings, 1920s historical fiction, stories of old wealth vs. new wealth, semi strong female leads (or at least females who run the story)

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the ARC!

I don’t know why I keep reading Gatsby retellings and expecting to like them, because I’ve yet to meet one I have.

This book simply read like a fanfiction rendition that followed the same plot of the original book. While the addition of a new character to the plot did change the narrative of the story of the bit, the story, by and large, remained the same with very little individual take on the story. While I did enjoy the focus on the women of the story, and their development was present, the characters maintained the largely unlikable personas, and the new twists on them did not warm them to me (besides Jordan Baker). The plot moved steadily, however, and Cantor is not an untalented writer - hence why just 1 star wasn’t given). I simply just do not feel she brought anything unique or new to the Gatsby story to make it worth recommending to anyone else.

I enjoyed this Story and have mentioned it to several friends. Gives a different side of the Great Gatsby.

I received an ARC and highly recommend this book.

Although I've not read The Great Gatsby since high school, I am pretty confident I enjoyed this spin on the story more than the original! The story opens with the shooting of Jay Gatsby As we discover the backstory of the women in his life, we realize that any of the women could have been the one who held the gun. Daisy Fay is beautiful but realizes in order to survive, she must "marry rich", despite having feelings for Jay Gatsby, who didn't have money at that point. However, Gatsby never stops thinking of Daisy, and once he's made his fortune, he re-enters her life, and tries to get her to leave her husband for him. Jordan, Daisy's best friend growing up, aspires to be a professional golfer, but she has secrets of her own. Although Daisy finds her wealthy man to marry, her happiness is short-lived, as she quickly learns her husband has a wandering eye, and has no problem acting on those urges. Jordan does make it as a professional golfer, but then is banned from the sport. The third possible suspect is Catherine, whose sister has a deadly run-in with Gatsby. Each woman has a valid reason for killing Gatsby, but which one pulled the trigger? Or did someone else shoot Gatsby? Enter detective Frank, who has found a diamond hairpin at the crime scene, and is certain one of the 3 women is guilty. I found this to be a quick read, and was kept guessing until the end as to who was really the guilty party. This book was released in Feb 2022 - I highly recommend! Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC; all opinions are my own.

The Great Gatsby is my favorite book and movie, hands down. I will consume anything have to do with it or even the 1920s in general. I had high hopes for this book & it still blew me away!!!

This is a retelling of The Great Gatsby from the perspectives of Daisy, Jordan, and Catherine. Out of the three Daisy is the most developed character. She is a selfish woman who believes in marrying for money rather than love. I did not like Jordan’s characterization. It felt unfaithful to the original book. Catherine was a character I thought did not really have much personality and did not need to be in the book. The male characters are all villains and are unlikable. Therefore, this is a very feminist take. The writing is very beautiful. It lacks the charm of the original, but it was nice getting the backstories of the female characters. Therefore, I recommend this for fans of the classic!

Love this lighthearted female focused interpretation of The Great Gatsby. It was wonderful to read a story that included more background into each of the female characters lives.

Beautiful Little Fools is the story of who killed Jay Gatsby, The story is told from the point of view of several characters who ultimately played a big roll in the outcome. I fell in love with the story of Jay Gatsby all over again. This book is fabulous and I highly recommend for those who loved The Great Gatsby and the 1920s era.

The premise of Beautiful Little Fools is enriching and intriguing. The death of Jay Gatsby as a murder-mystery? Yes, please! However, it doesn't really play out as such. There's not much wonder about the whodunnit. Conversely, there is plenty to make it an enjoyable historical fiction.

Rating: As a Sequel 3/5 As a Stand Alone 4/5

It's been a while since I read The Great Gatsby and there was a lot that I forgot so I read a couple of chapters along with this. The author takes some parts of Fitzgerald's work and retells it from the points of view of Daisy, Jordan Baker and Myrtle's sister Catherine. The story is all about obsession. Jay with Daisy, Tom with Daisy, Jordan with golf and Daisy and Myrtle with Tom. The men wanted to be in control of the women. Jordan has a secret that could ruin her life and her career. Catherine had a casual relationship with Jay. I didn't find any of the characters likeable and the men were despicable. Even Jay saying he loved Daisy really just wanted to control her. I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for providing me with a copy.

Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books of all time: the splendor, the scandal, the unrequited love. Behind Jay gatsby’s handsome eyes was a backstory. A backstory that surrounded around Daisy. I loved Daisy Buchanan in the original and wanted to know her more. I do adore Fitzgerald and also love reimagining of the novel. And this reimagining was beautifully written, passionate and a wonderful read🤎

Jillian Cantor writes this novel as a love letter to the story of Gatsby showing us a backstory and making me see these beloved characters on a different way. I loved every page. @jilliancantor

Read this book in a matter of hours because I was hooked on the investigation, on the characters and on the story. Brilliantly and beautifully written.

Great Book! Fascinating characters, engrossing storytelling and intriguing plot. I loved the book and the cover is as dramatically awesome!

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and the publisher. This is my honest and personal review.

This is a re-telling of the Great Gatsby, told by three women: Daisy Buchanan, her childhood best friend and professional golfer Jordan Baker, and Catherine McCoy; the sister of Myrtle Wilson who is the woman hit and killed by Gatsby's car. It follows the original story, but shows some different perspectives, and also sheds some light on the plight of women in those days. Good story, fun to read, especially if you're a Gatsby fan. #beautifullittlefools #jilliancantor #bookstagram #booklover #lovetoread #readersofinstagram #greatgatsby #bookreview #bookrecommendations #tbr #bookloversofinstagram

I am a big Great Gatsby fan - it's one of my favorite books of all time. I was excited to read this one and was not disappointed. The back story of the major characters - Daisy and Jay was interesting to read.

The author stayed faithful to the original story and incorporated many of the events from Great Gatsby into this book. It felt like a great companion book at the same time being a standalone story and not taking anything away from the original. I enjoyed going back into the Gatsby world with this book and learning more about the characters.

I recommend this book to any Great Gatsby lovers or even just to fans of the time period.

I can definitely see how the audience for this book would be but it was not me. I will likely recommend it to Book Riot readers, though.

I enjoyed the new perspective on the familiar story of Gatsby. The character development seemed flawed at times. Additionally, I found the men were one-dimensional.

This story was such a treat! I like everyone else came for the Gatsby references but boy there was so much more. All three of the main POVs (Daisy, Jordan, and Catherine) are wonderful to read. I connected with each woman, understood why she did what she did (not that I agreed!), and felt strongly for each of them by the end of the story. There was never a moment when I was bummed to move into the next POV because they're equally awesome.

The prose is enjoyable to read and the pacing is absolute perfection, neither too fast or too slow, the whole way through. I had such a hard time putting it down because it was just a solidly good read. I *loved* the ending for each POV. It fit the circumstances and the characters' journeys so well.

I'd absolutely recommend this book to any reader. You don't even need to have read The Great Gatsby; it's been decades since I have and I don't feel like I missed out on anything. If I'm completely honest, I enjoyed this novel more than the original Gatsby. It's just a really good story, through and through, and I think anyone would like it though historical fiction fans will really dig it.


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.