I suspect many Louisa May Alcott aficionados get nervous every time they hear about a remake of Little Women, or a "contemporary retelling," like Virginia Kantra's Meg & Jo. I know I do, and I almost didn't pick up this book because I was concerned about the damage it would do to my favorite book. I need not have worried. On the contrary, Kantra got it just right. I can easily imagine that this is the book Louisa May Alcott would have written if she lived in the 21st century.

Which means, of course, that it's a really good book, in addition to preserving the spirit of Little Women. The characters, their struggles and triumphs, and their family bond (since this is still the March family) spring off the page. I felt so connected to the characters that I was a little bereft when the book ended, and I was thrilled to see that Kantra has a sequel, Beth & Amy, coming soon.

I would recommend Meg & Jo to anyone who was looking for a good story, whether or not they've read Little Women. Many kudos to Kantra for this wonderful book. Jo March (the original) would be proud.

What a great story! This is the first book that I've read from this author and I definitely want to read more. It was a great take on a re-telling of Little Women. Highly recommended!

This is the first book I have read by Virginia and she definitely has me hooked!! I can't believe no one thought of writing a modern day Little Women before. Then again, I'm so happy that she was the one to do it. I have to stay I was a little hesitant about it -- thinking it could go very wrong. But was thrilled I can say that there was not one thing wrong with it!! There were times I was so lost in this book I forgot it was based on Little Women and I think that's the best thing I can say about it!!

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A smart, modern, and sincere look at the lives of four women trying to live their lives the best they can.

MEG AND JO reimagines the March sisters as they could be in this era. Kantra holds to the fundamental ideals of the characters from Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN but manages to make these women her own.

Where I think this book shines is when the author develops and embraces her story as well as allowing her version of the characters to come through. She may be taking from a beloved literary classic, but the Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth we meet are different from those you know. I almost want to say that you should forget about LITTLE WOMEN when reading it and enjoy the journey these sisters are on. The relationships are complicated, and the interactions are honest. It is the candid nature of the storytelling that I loved so much.

Kantra weaves together a tale of love and heartache with wit and realism. These little women are making their mark and in a completely new way. I truly enjoyed spending time with them.

Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra is a modern retelling of the classic Little Women. It is a tough task to retell such a well-known classic book and update it to modern era and appeal to lovers of the original.

The characters of Meg and Jo are the focus of this retelling, and the March sisters are all grown up and living separate lives. Meg is a mother of twins, while Jo is a secret food blogger in New York City struggling both as a journalist and and working in a restaurant. Beth is taking a "break" from school while Amy is working in fashion.
When their mother gets sick, the March sisters reunite in North Carolina for the holidays. Similar to the classic tale, this plot also is about siblings who help one another and are clearly better together than apart.

This was a very heartwarming read just in time for the holidays. Virginia Kantra added her own spin to the story while still keeping the elements that make Little Women so dear to my own heart.

I did enjoy this retelling of the classic but some aspects did get in my way. The author tried to give it a North Carolina "southern" feel and I felt it was overdone and unnecessary. The plot went in a direction that was expected and predictable. I also did not care for the personality of Meg in this retelling. She just seemed too bossy, too much of a know-it-all.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the classic Little Women and is looking to relive moments of it in a modern setting. A great read for the holidays if you want to give yourself the feeling of family, love, and kinship.

The publisher generously provided me with a copy of the book upon request on NetGalley. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

This book was very delightful! I appreciated how the story was original and completely its own, while still holding the heart of the characters true.



This story is told in alternating perspectives with Meg and Jo. Meg is married with twins and living in their hometown, not too far from their mother. Jo is an aspiring writer living in New York who was recently fired by her newspaper and is now working in the kitchen of a well known restaurant. When their mom gets sick, both girls have to re-evaluate their Christmas plans and decide what’s important to them.



I loved the differences between Meg and Jo’s lives. It made it easy to keep track of each of their chapters as well as felt like I was getting two stories in one. I thought I was going to prefer Jo over Meg just because I’ve always been one to like Jo. I relate to her love of books, independence, and desire to be a writer. But in this retelling, I think I preferred Meg’s story! I liked that she was dealing with normal relationship difficulties as well as finding herself. Jo, who was also finding herself, did so by sleeping with her boss which is not something I could relate to. I also was not a fan of her friendship/possible relationship with her male best friend. It was very underdeveloped and unnecessary.



I also liked the dynamics between all the sisters, including Amy and Beth. I re-read Little Women a few years ago and I think Kantra did a great job capturing their key personality points and the relationships of the family members. I think that aging the characters so they are young adults also really helped to make this story work. Each of the women are finding their way in their lives and seeing how the dreams they had as children work out in their adult lives.



I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately and this was one of the few books I’ve read recently that I found myself wanting to pick up and keep reading, over watching TV. It moved quickly and held my interest. Even though it wasn’t a fast paced book with a million things happening and the drama of “what will happen next???” it had just the right amount of everything to make a solid and engaging story with likable characters.

The writing in this book is solid and enjoyable. I loved the characters and getting to see them modernized. I liked that Kantra chose to replicate the characters and not necessarily the plot line. There is a sequel following Amy & Beth and I am already looking forward to reading that one! If you are fond of the Little Women characters, I would definitely recommend checking this book out.

This is a modern-day retelling of the literary classic, Little Women. In this version, Meg is a married, stay-at-home mom with twins, and Jo is working as a line cook at a restaurant while she waits for her food blogging career to take off. When their mother gets sick, they both have to return home to North Carolina to help her out. (Their two younger sisters are only minimally featured in the story, but I hear there’s a sequel coming next year that focuses on them.)

I’ve never read Little Women all the way through, because I find it dreadfully boring. 😬 But I know a lot of people love this book—like LOVE love it. I was hoping that author Virginia Kantra would be able to spice up the story a little—and, in all fairness, she does, to some extent—but it wasn’t enough for me.

Many of the themes present in the first book are here, as well: the importance of sisterhood and the message that family always comes first. But it drove me crazy that both Meg and Jo always seemed to be playing second fiddle to the men in their relationships—Meg in her traditional marriage to a basic AF brosef, and Jo in her annoyingly clingy and insecure relationship to her boss at the restaurant. I couldn’t believe how much these women deferred to the unremarkable and unworthy men in their lives. I mean, we’ve all been there, but, ugh, it was pathetic.

So I’m sorry to say Meg and Jo just didn’t do it for me. Since I never loved the classic in the first place, I probably wasn’t the target audience anyway. But if you love Little Women, I’d still give it a shot.

A delightful modern retelling of the beloved classic “Little Women”. Virginia Kantra Took on the tough task of taking this cherished classic and giving it a modern feel and I think she did a remarkable job of it. Admittedly I read LW over 35 years ago and if I’m being honest I’m not even certain I finished it. I think the fact I do not hold the original in high esteem really allowed me to appreciate this book on its own. Retellings can be tricky you have to honor the original while making the story your own, and I think any author who takes this on is very brave. Having said all this I think you can absolutely read this without having read the original I think it stands extremely well on its own merit. A lovely story about the strength of family, the power of love, The need to know how to express yourself, all wrapped up in a pretty Christmas bow.

This book primarily focuses on the older two March sisters Meg and Jo. Meg is the responsible sister now living the life she thought she always wanted. A stay at home mom with two adorable toddler’s, a lovely home, and a devoted husband. Jo is the fierce independence sister who now lives in NYC. She recently lost her job as a journalist and now is a popular food blogger working undercover at a popular restaurant. I could relate to and see a little of myself in both of these characters. Admittedly Meg drove me a bit nuts in the beginning, she was such a martyr and a control freak, the girl really needed just to chill out.Jo had some frustrating qualities as well she seem to have a hard time accepting help from others, but she didn’t feel the need to micromanage everyone else’s life either. When their mom gets sick all the girls including Amy and Beth come home to help out. My favorite part of the story was definitely the dynamics between all the sisters. Not having a sister myself I find this to be such a wonderful and complicated relationship. This was a buddy read and the discussion definitely got interesting when it came to the men in the story. We were all in agreement that Mr. March was terrible, he had this amazing wife and these incredible daughters and showed none of them any respect. The other men in the story I think some of us found a little more palatable than others. My favorite hands-down was Chef Eric, I mean who wouldn’t love a man that can cook!?! This is the perfect December read with the strong emphasis on family and festive holiday vibes.

This book in emojis 👭 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 👩🏻‍💻 👨🏻‍🍳 🤼‍♂️ 🎄

*** Big thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***

I just could not connect with this one. I felt the characters were very unlikeable and wished that it stayed closer to Little Women.

A modern day retelling of Little Women, partially (there is an upcoming novel called Beth & Amy that I'm sure will advance the story.) - I have to be honest when I say I never gave Meg one moment of thought, always seeing Jo as the central character, so Meg's story was interesting to me with her epic sense of responsibility. Jo's story was also interesting as a food blogger in NYC, with a pretty memorable love scene, but it was a little hard for me to think of the March sisters as anything but chaste! The relocation to NC instead of Concord was an interesting choice, and the modernization of the father was pretty realistic. One big difference for me is that I root for Laurie in the original, but not here (he's called Trey in this retelling.)

I just realized how fitting it is that we're reviewing these two books together! Meg and Jo is also inspired by an existing story and this one, as you can probably guess, is Little Women. I have a soft spot for both the classic and 90's film version so I was excited to see how Virginia Kantra would modernize it. And I was surprised by how much I loved her take on these four very different women, their relationships with each other, and what the March sisters would look like in the present day. Even though we get to see all four women, the book alternates between Meg and Jo's perspectives. Meg has settled down with her husband and kids in North Carolina, which is where they all grew up, and puts 100% into being a stay-at-home mom. Jo, on the other hand, immediately raced off to New York to pursue her writing dreams but things haven't panned out the way she hoped and she's now struggling as a prep cook and secret food blogger. When their mother gets sick, it spurs Jo to go home for the holidays, along with her other sisters. It was so interesting to be inside Meg and Jo's heads as their lives were dissolving into chaos. Jo March is such a vivid character to me but I always remembered Meg as the older, more serious sister who I felt faded into the background. But here, the author added these complex layers to each and I found myself relating to both women in different ways. We learn of the pressure Meg feels as the eldest and as the one who "stayed behind" but at the same time, she owns her choices and is doing exactly what she wanted to do. With Jo, we see more of the insecurity behind the brashness and I was far more invested in her love story here than I was in the classic. But most of all, I loved the entire family dynamics – messy, complicated but unconditional.

Which March sister do you relate to most? | It's always been Jo March (in the classic at least!).

Meg and Jo took a little bit for me to get into, but once I did, I found myself enjoying and relating to the sisters.



Ms Kantra does and excellent job of letting us see into the lives of both the oldest March sisters as they work to support their Mother through a health crisis and find their happy.



I appreciated the hard look at marriage, motherhood, and evolving dreams that we saw from different points of view. Struggles, the need for communication, and a good support network come through very clearly.



This well written story may start slowly, but it picks up and pulls the reader in. The overall feeling of the book is one of warmth and family.

Meg & Jo is a modern, partial retelling of Little Women. I have never read or watched Little Women and only have the vaguest idea of what it's about so I don't have that for a point of comparison. (But can anyone tell me if their dad was really that awful in the original?)

This is a hugely character driven novel, which I don't normally like, but the writing was absolutely amazing. The story is told in alternating chapters between Meg's and Jo's point of view. Since it takes place from roughly Thanksgiving to New Years and has a huge focus on family, it's a perfect read for the holiday season. I loved how well developed both Meg and Jo were and I loved the subtleties in each of their personalities. I just wish that some of the some supporting characters had been as well developed. After this I'm really looking forward to reading Beth & Amy.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Audio: dual narration, enjoyable narrators

I ended up enjoying the modern tale of family, work, love, and siblinghood but I struggled when comparing it to Little Women itself. For me, this story was entertaining as a stand-alone contemporary fiction novel, but it just didn’t work with its goal of retelling of Little Women.

A lot of this is just coming from my own personal preferences but I struggled to connect and didn’t love the changes to the storyline that happened. I also fully admit that I have rarely enjoyed a retelling(I am talking to you, Eligible, by Curtis Sittenfeld!), so maybe I am just not a good candidate for these types of novels! I do have to say, I admire anyone that takes on the retelling of a classic and I enjoyed Virginia Kantra’s writing style very much.

So the book was totally fine…I liked some of the characters more than others (which often happens for me with family life fiction) but I just didn’t love this because of what I was hoping it would be.

I must admit that Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra has me in a bit of quandry. I enjoyed this book – it was engaging, captiviating and overall a great book! Ms. Kantra did an excellent job and in truth, I read it in one afternoon ’cause I couldn’t put this book down.

So why the angst?

I’m a bit old fashioned and while I loved reading Ms. Kantra’s book, I was surprised by a tiny fleeting feeling of loss for the the sweetness, innocence and beauty that I so love in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I had to sit with this for awhile before writing this review.

Final thoughts?

I found I truly enjoyed Meg and Jo and while it is a much more modern than my favorite classic, it is still about family, love and togetherness through thick and thin.

I received this book for free. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are my own. Thank you to Berkley Publishing, Ms. Kantra, Netgalley and Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Meg and Jo is a contemporary retelling of sections of Little Women. At first I thought it would be a telling of the original novel from the point of view of Meg and Jo, but so much is changed that turned out not to be the case. The characters seem reinvented, not much like the originals, with their inner monologues described for the reader. The book takes place much later, with the sisters all out of the house and attempting to make it on their own. The book was an easy read and fun, except the father was not at all like Alcott's father figure. This father was shown to be mean and condescending, which was difficult to handle.

As a life-long lover of Little Women, I was excited for this modern retelling. Typically when I approach retellings and continuing tales of beloved stories, I keep my expectations low, as I have been burned before. I felt that Kantra did a good job keeping the spirit of the March family while putting them in a modern context, and I am looking forward to see how she further develops Beth & Amy in the sequel.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

I have a secret...I've never read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Shocking I know! I've seen the movie with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder about a zillion times but somehow the book has eluded me. It is sitting on my shelf and one of these days I do play to read it. Of course when I saw Virginia Kantra's latest book, I knew I had to request it and I'm so glad I did...I absolutely enjoyed this one and now I'm more determined than ever to finally pick up Louisa May Alcott's book.

Meg & Jo is inspired by Little Women - it is not a retelling and I loved that. It has a modern edge to it, so if you are familiar with the story at all, you will see shades of it, but it definitely has its own spin on it. The story focuses on the strength of family and the bonds of sisters. Alternating between Meg and Jo's perspective, we see them navigating life, both the ups and downs, and how they handle a challenge they weren't expecting. I definitely felt both characters grew as they dealt with all that was thrown at them.

I loved the relationships between the sisters. I found it real and relatable. Having two sisters myself, I am always drawn to books that delve into family relationships and I feel this one really gets to the heart of it. There were times I felt I could relate to each of the two sisters for one reason or another.

For some reason, when I think of Little Women, I think of the holidays and so I think this is the perfect book to read around the holidays as well. And, in case you are wondering, there is a sequel in the works for the younger sisters...we will be getting Amy and Beth's story at some point and I could not be happier!!! And of course, let's not forget about the new movie coming out on Christmas Day...will you be going to see that? I will, but probably not the day it comes out.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴--𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘨, 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘑𝘰, 𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘈𝘮𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘩--𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴. When Jo followed her ambitions to New York City, she never thought her career in journalism would come crashing down, leaving her struggling to stay afloat in a gig economy as a prep cook & secret food blogger. Meg appears to have the life she always planned-handsome husband, adorable toddlers, house in a charming subdivision. But sometimes getting everything you've ever wanted isn't all it's cracked up to be. When their mother's illness forces the sisters home to North Carolina for the holidays, they'll rediscover what really matters.

I really liked this retelling, Meg & Jo were my favourite sisters in Little Women, and it was cool to have a reread with a modern setting. I think if this would have been any other retelling I wouldn’t have loved it so much, but Little Women is so near & dear to my heart growing up I feel pretty fond of this story too.
I read this for the buddy read hosted by @beritaudiokilledthebookmark , & I think because of my nostalgic take & recollection of the times of the original, I didn’t find Megs expectations & choices as problematic as some others did who haven’t read LW. Her attitude is a little outdated because it matches how it is in LW, but sometimes her language & attitudes to other situations were very modern, & didn’t quite fit- but I don’t think I’d have noticed without the group chat.
Over all I enjoyed it and this was my first fluffy Christmas read for 2019 🌲

I grew up reading Little Women. It is a classic book. Of course, I have also watched the different movie versions as well. My favorite is the one with Wynonna Rider, Claire Danes, and Susan Sarandon. So, it was a little hard for me in the beginning to separate myself from the imagines of the March sisters as I knew and loved them growing up.

In this book, the March sisters are living in a modern world. Meg is married to John caring for her twins, DJ and Daisy. Than there is Jo. She is a blogger and also works in a restaurant as a prep cook. She falls for her boss. Finally, there is Amy, who is a jet setter and Beth, who dreams of making it big in the music industry.

There were many similarities but at the same time differences in this book. I did like this modern twist on the March sisters. However, I still could not stop but compare this book to the original. Meg and Jo are the main leads of this book like the title suggests. My favorite was Jo. Meg was kind but a bit whiny about missing her life "before kids" but at the same time she would complain how she would not change a thing about her married life. Amy was still spoiled. Poor Beth, she was still kind of left with not much of a starring role.

This book does have a happy ending like the original and maybe even hints at more to come.