I originally won this book in a giveaway back in November, and I’ve tried (and failed) to finish it three times because it kept putting me in a slump. I figured maybe the audiobook would help, so I gave it one last shot with the ARC… and nope. I made it to 30%—which is the farthest I’ve ever gotten—and I’m DNFing it for good.

This might be the worst book I’ve ever read. I hate the characters, I’m bored out of my mind, and half the time, I have no idea what’s even happening because the story doesn’t flow properly. It just feels like a mess.

Thank you, Kensington Publishing, for the ARC, but this one was not for me.

I loved reading Little Women growing up and also enjoyed this book. I think the new interpretations of the stories we didn't get their individual perspective on in the original book was really intriguing and enjoyable. I do think it put a modern twist on it as opposed to staying true to the time period so I gave it 4 out 5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book, it felt like it was written at the same time as Little Women and I loved having each of the other sisters perspectives. I particularly enjoyed Meg’s story and her part in the book. It was effective being split into separate parts for each sister and has now made me want to reread Little Women! Definitely recommend this one to lovers of classics and if you’ve read and enjoyed Little Women.

SPOILERS

The Other March Sisters had some interesting ideas, but it took way too many liberties with the original story in ways that didn’t always make sense to me. I love that Beth was given a fuller romantic experience— and that it was with a woman felt thoughtful and meaningful. But Jo “misunderstanding” Laurie’s proposal? Infuriating. And revealing that Laurie is gay… only then to tell us that he’s actually bisexual so he and Amy can still end up together felt so convenient that I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes. A retelling can be fresh and progressive and explore queerness without completely warping key character dynamics, and this one missed the mark for me.

I was excited to receive this as an ALC! What a fun compendium to Little Women.

First, let's start with my thoughts about Little Women. I have always loved Jo. I am uncertain if that is an unpopular opinion. I have not much cared Amy. That being said, it felt like Amy was the main character in this book, as the book starts and ends from her perspective. We also get the answer to a question that has plagued me for so long--what makes Amy and Laurie make sense??

Next, we see Meg. She is portrayed as unhappy in her married life as a mother, feeling suffocated by the wishes of her mother. She finds purpose in her herbal business.

After, we see Beth. She is haunted by the death of the Hummel baby. I do not want to spoil Beth's story line!!

We get continual references to Little Women throughout, of course. It was delightful! This books feels indulgent in a fabulous way. It was progressive and modern. We have storylines about birth control, sapphic relationships, bisexuality, and interracial relationships.

TW: abortion

Review will be posted on my Booksta, toomanyfivestarreads, soon.

Christopher columbus!! Where do I start!

Oh Little Women!! I've long been obsessed with the book and the 1949 Liz Taylor adaptation, & in more recent years, the 2019 film adaptation. With that in mind, I can start by saying there's a lot to love about this version, starting with the stunning cover!

So, in this version, Jos' voice is excluded. The book is divided into parts dedicated to each of the three other sisters. As an avid fan I loved revisiting the lives of these beloved sisters, the flow and pace of the story is nice and easy to follow in each section, and it was lovely having a peep behind the scenes of their lives, which till now, have been left to the imagination. It was nice for each sister to have her chance at centre stage. I was kept thoroughly entertained from start to finish ❤️

I went into this story aware it was a retelling, and as a beloved Little Women fan, I tried to keep an open mind. I do think the authors were brave to attempt putting a new spin on a beloved classic, but I did have some issues.

The modern changes incorporated may have worked better if it was a modern retelling/reinvisioning. To alter the sexuality of three of the main characters, for me, was too much of a shift, especially bearing in mind that it was still set in the 1860s.
I was saddened by the negativity directed at motherhood. Being able to experience motherhood, in my eyes, is the greatest gift and should never be taken for granted.
But the character most greatly and grossly misinterpreted was Marmie (paticularly in Megs story) they turned poor Marmie into a total tyrant 😢

In an era of such immense restrictions on women, Allcott had already bravely allowed her strong, characterful female leads to follow their hearts' desires in love and often in life... I thought this was an entertaining retelling, but in my heart of hearts, I'm not sure it was a tale that needed to be re-told.

I loved being transported back to the time of the March sisters and rejoin their lives in a different way! This is a fun take on the sisters and I like that they shared their own stories and perspectives. .

One of my favorite books is Little Women including the movie with Winona Ryder. I really wanted to love this book but I was just annoyed by it. I have now decided retellings are not for me. I felt the part with Amy is annoying and I didn't care for Amy. The part with Meg was annoying and the part with Beth was annoying. Overall I was annoyed throughout the whole book.

Read if you like Retellings.

Rating: 3.5⭐️ rounded up

Thank you to the authors and Kensington for the ARC!

I was happy to return to the March sisters as I, like many others, greatly enjoyed Little Women. I enjoyed getting the perspectives of Meg, Amy, and Beth, especially Beth as we get the least of her in the original story. I also enjoyed exploring the complexity of Meg’s emotions given she is so steady within the family.

That said, the sisters’ perspectives seemed quite cyclical, pondering the same issues and emotions repeatedly. Some additional complexity would be appreciated.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.
This was a great book. I loved Little Women as a young girl
The narration was good.

as a massive fan of little women, this title obviously caught my eye and i was so glad to receive an arc of it!

naturally, the beauty of a story told over one period of time from one point of view is that it’s up to your own imagination what happens after the ending or what’s really going on with the other characters. i was a little hesitant about this book attempting to decide what the story looked like from the other sisters’ perspectives but for the most part (and reserving the right to disagree) i enjoyed this read and love any chance to think about and adore the march girls. i love that each sister had a different writer and different audiobook reader, so their unique voices came through a bit. beth’s portion of the tale was my favorite, but i’ve always had a soft spot for her. i liked the different things going on at this point in history that all the sisters’ povs were able to explore—it was fun to see references to contemporary artists or literature or movements. the authors did a great job of developing the audience’s love for each sister for her own strengths (and even weaknesses). i didn’t love every liberty taken or the way every plot point was portrayed from the different perspectives, but overall this was a fun read and a clever premise!

(i unfortunately just refuse to accept that laurie was not confessing his love to jo and she completely misunderstood.)

This was a fun reimagining, but it didn’t quite get there for me. On its own, it was decent, but it reads like fan fiction but if the fans didn’t really like or understand the original. I usually love a good feminist spin, but this missed the mark.

As a longtime fan of Little Women, I was so excited to dive into The Other March Sisters, and it absolutely did not disappoint! Each story gives a fresh and deeply moving look at Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, making me see them in a whole new light. It felt like rediscovering old friends in the best way.

What made this experience even more special was the audiobook. The narrator was phenomenal—capturing each sister’s voice so perfectly that I felt completely immersed in their world. The emotion, the warmth, the personality—it was all there, making the stories even more vivid and engaging.

A huge thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy! If you love Little Women or just enjoy beautifully narrated historical fiction, I can't recommend this enough. It’s like stepping back into the March family’s world, but with new stories to fall in love with!

I honestly enjoyed this more than I expected to, and I think that is mostly because the characters felt so familiar and nostalgic. It was so nice to spend time with them again and learn more about them individually. I appreciated that each sister was featured in their own section of the book but we got to see their stories unfold side by side. The audio was very well done and I enjoyed having multiple narrators. Read when you want to revisit old friends through a new story.

I ADORED this book. I've been a long time lover of "Little Women." I honestly would consider it one of my all time great books. I always love reading retellings and commentaries on the story as a result because I love seeing what new things can be added to a story that's over 150 years old. I think that THE OTHER MARCH SISTERS adds something different than any of the other offshoots of LITTLE WOMEN that I've ever read, though because it barely includes Jo in the narrative. I'll be the first to admit that Jo is and has always been my favorite sister, but even I can admit how much she controls the narrative. What THE OTHER MARCH SISTERS seeks to do is give the other March Sisters just as much control over their own narrative.

It shows Amy's courtship with Fred Vaughn and her real feelings about her roll in the family. It also gives more detail about how her romance with Laurie evolves. I thought the Amy chapters were stunning, such lush and lyrical writing. I could so clearly see her existing amongst these great cities. As I've gotten older, I've gained more appreciation for her character, but this book definitely gave me a lot of sympathy for the way she's been painted by Amy haters for the past 15o years.

Meg's chapters were by far my favorite. I feel like Meg gets the least amount of attention in relation to her sisters. She was the "perfect" daughter who led the "perfect" life. THE OTHER MARCH SISTERS breaks down that perfect life and really shines light on how discontent Meg really was. I was also surprised by how perfectly* Marmee was characterized in Meg's viewpoint. Reading about Meg taking her agency back and getting to experience her own life for the first time brought me such joy. I could talk about these chapters for so long, but for the sake of brevity, I will move onto Beth's chapters.
*I say perfectly a little ironically because Marmee definitely became the antagonist of Meg's story and I found myself feeling such strong anger because of her actions.

Beth's chapters were definitely my least favorite, but not for the same reason that I've seen a lot of people hating on them. I loved that we took quiet, little, perfect Beth and gave her gumption. I loved that we explored a same sex relationship and what that would have looked like. Little Women is such a queer coded classic and it blows my mind that people are so offended by the fact that the authors of this book saw that and wrote a narrative for it.

I genuinely loved this book so much. I also listened to the audiobook and it added an amazing layer to the story. The narrators were all picked so perfectly and really reflected the characters' voices so nicely.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ALC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 5
Pace: 4
Narrators: 5
Plot development: 4
Characters: 5
Enjoyability: 5
Ease of Reading: 5

Overall rating: 5 out of 5

The premise of this book is that the original was written by a Jo and Marmie apologist. This book follows the other sisters' perspectives during the middle of the book. It starts with Amy when she is in Europe, connecting with artists and reconnecting with Laurie. (I found this to be the weakest section, very lacking in nuance in the writing, so keep going if you're irritated by the writing in this part.) Then we see Meg figuring out marriage and motherhood, then Beth making connections outside of the sick room and then back to Amy in Europe. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't share more specifics but there are interesting plot lines relating to women's health, and homosexuality as well.

This book was very fun to read, gave me lots to think about and felt closely aligned with the spirit of the original book. I found myself wanting a friend to read it so that we could talk about it together, which is a great sign.

With that said, it's not a perfect book. I've already mentioned the writing in the Amy section, and I felt that the negativity toward Jo and Marmie in both sections lacked nuance. I'd be interested to know the way that the three authors divided work--did they each write one sister? Did they collaborate on all sections? I'm wondering if this contributed to the unevenness.

Still, after Laurie shows up in Amy's section I was hooked and basically read it in one sitting.

Overall. recommended, please read and talk to me about it!

Thank you to RB Media for giving me this ARC for unbiased review.

The Other March Sisters holds up to its description by painting a detailed, wholesome, and interesting portrait of the "other" three March sisters. Epstein brings us into the lives of Amy, Beth, and Meg in a way that the original (and also many of the film adaptations) are not able to. My favorite focus was on Beth, who I believe is the most overlooked sister and who is largely considered to be "babied" sometimes in the original Alcott text. In Epstein's book, Beth is courageous and thoughtful, and refreshingly, is not a "back row" character.

This serves as a companion/retelling to the beloved Little Women (which heavily focused on Jo), instead telling the stories of Meg, Amy, & Beth near the end of the events of the original Little Women. While Jo is away in New York, the other sisters are forging their own paths: Amy exploring art in Europe, Meg navigating motherhood and married life with a growing gardening business, & Beth, who feeling left behind, forges new friendships as she teaches piano. Together and apart, each March sister has a story to tell, and now, we’re hearing what each one could’ve been.
I really love that each sister got her own author and own narrator. It helped bring a personality and authentic story to each one of the March women. I was a little surprised in the direction some stories went (like a dark, unlikable side to Marmee) but otherwise enjoyed this retelling of one of my favorite classics. Each narrator brought Meg, Beth, & Amy to life.
Thank you to RBmedia for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

As a lifelong admirer of Little Women, I was intrigued by the premise of The Other March Sisters and its attempt to revisit Alcott’s beloved world through a new lens. However, while the idea had potential, the execution left much to be desired.

Unfortunately, The Other March Sisters struggles to recapture the kind of magic present in Little Women. Rather than enhancing the original, it often feels as though it diminishes what made Little Women so enduring.

While reimagining classics can be a worthwhile endeavor, it must be done with care, respect, and a clear purpose. In this case, the novel feels less like a tribute and more like an unnecessary revision of something that was already beautifully crafted. For readers hoping to revisit the warmth of Little Women, this book may ultimately be more frustrating than fulfilling.