I adore Little Women, so I had high expectations for this book. They weren't met.

Belittled Women isn't a retelling of Little Women, but rather takes place in a family who makes their living doing a Little Women reenactment. The protagonist, Jo, hates doing the reenactments, the book, and her family. I will say that I think this is the first time I've read a modern take on a classic that so clearly hates its source material—the sisters here are all absolutely terrible to each other

It's all quite predictable, and the characters really aren't interesting enough to carry the story when the plot isn't able to. It was a painful reading experience, and I would have DNF'd it partway through if it hadn't been an ARC.

It's getting 2 stars; I can't honestly recommend it, nor can I think of much more to say. The premise should have been so much fun, but the book as a whole just didn't work for me.

I had a harder time getting into this one. An overzealous mom who named her
Daughters after the little wome.n. Forced them into shows. Pulled them from school. There's sibling banter which is silly but Jo's disdain for her
Family and her mother's unreasonable requests just did t sit well with me. Cute take on a classic book though! Even if it just was used as the springboard and not the framework.

Not my cup of tea. I thought it would be but it is not.

Thank you #Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this!

I was really excited for this one since it related to little women but ended up DNFing. I thought some of the characters were unlikeable/annoying and it made it hard to want to finish the story.
I wish there would have been more dimension to the characters to really be able to relate and understand them more.

This is supposed to be a Little Women variation but it’s everything that goes against what Little Women stands for. I had to DNF at 26%.

1 star for the unexpected and unwanted crude language and character actions. I cannot recommend this title to my Little Women friends.

Looking past my own disgruntlements though, I can see that the author did pull together a unique plot that intertwines elements of the original Little Women into this story, while not replicating the plot as a retelling.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me free access to the digital advanced copy of this book.

This was a funny and witty read, with homage to Little Women as the characters also point out the flaws in the original story. Definitely a unique story!

This book was good. It is not a retelling of Little Women if that’s what you are you looking for, look else where.

My biggest con for this book is I feel like the family was to harsh on Jo. Not in a constructive criticism way or in a way that is witty banter, just mean.

I liked that the book had funny, whimsy moments as well.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

Sigh.

First, this is not a retelling but rather an inspiration with some similarities. Although this isn't a retelling, Sellet walks in dangerous territory by attempting to draw from a story so many love and know and she fails at it. I am not a huge fan of Little Women so I didn't come to Belittled Women with lofty expectations or prepared for judgement and yet it was inevitable.

Jo is the only character who feels fully fleshed out, everyone else feels like a poorly designed prop. The setting feels like a decision that was quickly made with no real thought; nothing about the story really uses the setting of such a particular place and it begs the question: why choose Kansas?

There were multiple times where I was prepared to DNF but I pushed through for the sake of reviewing but it was like pulling teeth. The conversations between the characters are boring and so badly written.

This was not for me and I imagine it will be the same for many people even if they don't come to the book with expectations from Little Women.

In Belittled Women follows Jo Porter who has had enough of Little Women. Being named after the literary character wasn't humiliating enough but her mom is leveling it up by turning their old house into a tourist attraction. Now Jo, and her siblings, Meg and Bethamy, are spending all summer acting out moments for Little Women Live! So when a famed photojournalist arrives to document the show she gets a glimpse of another life. Plus, the photojournalist has a teenage son to the annoyance of her best friend whos the boy next door. All Jo wants is for someone to see who she is. It is a charming and one-of-a-kind story. Jo and David's scenes together were some of the best. They play well with each other.
I enjoyed Amanda Sellet's writing, lots of wit, banter, and drama. One thing that bothered me was Jo's family doesn't treat her the best, and then out of nowhere, they are all getting along, being nice with no apologies or anything; I wasn't a fan of that. I need apologies or something to make up for the way they treated her.
I wanted to read this as it sounded cleaver and a neat take on the world of Little Women. I can see what the author was going for and parts of it I like and others were just ok. This isn't a retelling but there are a lot of similarities. I don't think you need to read Little Women to enjoy it or understand all the cross over but it does have a fun and nostalgic feel to it if you have read it.
A hilarious yet romantic story about finding oneself.

This is a modern take on the classic Little Women. I enjoyed the original when I was younger, but this just missed the mark for me. I didn't really find any of the characters likeable and it dragged quite a bit. I am probably just not the intended audience and think my students may still enjoy it.

Thank you to Netgalley, HarperCollins, and Clarion Books for allowing me to read this book.

I was really excited to read this book, despite never reading Little Women. I did not enjoy this book. I might have enjoyed it more if I had actually read Little Women. But then the writing style did not mesh with me.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. I love Little Women. Now, this isn't a retelling of Little Women. So don't think that. I liked Jo. But holy hell batman was her people mean to her? There was a lot less love between sisters in this one. The middle seemed to be a little drudgey but the slow burn was pretty worth it. Which I'm not generally a fan of.

If you like Little Women, you might catch more and make more connections to the OG book than if you haven't. But you might still be able to find a smidge of it if you haven't... Maybe. I liked it is what it boils down to.

I would love to discuss this but I will be holding my review until the HarperCollins Union demands are met, and workers receive a fair salary, diversity issues are addressed and union workers are given more security.

I think this book has a specific audience but I'm not sure I'm a part of it. I liked the heroine but her family drove me nuts. I grew up with a family that constantly did wrong by me and never apologized for it so seeing her run back to her family's loving arms and them pretending like they weren't awful to her raised my blood pressure. It's fine overall, but I think maybe I'm not one for family stories anymore. Also if you're expecting Little Women retelling, temper your expectations! This just gives nods to Alcott's original book.

Thank you HarperCollins Childrens Books and NetGalley for the ARC of Belittled Women by Amanda Sellet. Little Women and all the books about them are some of my favorite to read. This one did not disappoint. Three teen girls are forced to live their mothers dream of always being the March family. They even all have their names. Joe is just as fiery as her book character and is constantly pointing out how they are all so much different than the book characters. In true teen girl fashion, boys and crushes are imminent and it will definitely cause a shake up in their family. But will their mom ever let them go of them so they can live their own lives?

This book was really working to maximize unlikeable characters and to minimize meaningful plot.
2.5 stars rounded down.
No further review because HC needs to negotiate with the union.

I feel like along the way of reading, the plot was a bit hard to follow. There was a lot of dragging on that made following the plot a bit challenging. The first book, which focused on the cousin's of Amy, we were able to see this new perspective and new environment. of the family. However, I would catergorize this as a subtle romance, but we did see Amy (FMC) go through many different challenges.

I still enjoyed this book and reading Amanda Sellet's second book, and will definetly be looking forward to her next book!

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. This has a definite young adult writing style, which I don’t mind. I really enjoyed the humor and literally LOL’d quite a few times, There are two mains romances; I hated one and loved the other. The sisters seemed a little under-developed and one-note, but the main character was terrific. Not so much a retelling of little women, but about a family that runs a little women tourist site. Read if you like YA, and the tie to Little Women.