Leave It to the March Sisters by Annie Sereno was a fantastic piece.
And I can’t express enough just how much I enjoyed read this fresh new rom-com.
This book was a fast read and I loved reading it.
The writing was done exceptionally well.
Annie Sereno pulled me in with her enjoyable characters and flawless writing.
This is a cozy read that I would definitely recommend.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Forever for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This had potential to be good. But it wasn't. It mentioned Little Women too many times for any of it to feel like a "natural" adaption. When the two MCs finalllllllly get together? It was so hurried that I didn't even realize they were even leaning towards making a move on eachother. It tries to be dual POV often and that doesn't make any sense because the male MC is keeping thing from the female MC that he never explains to the audience or even her. I was angry that it was so long and also angry that the plot at the end felt so rushed.
This fell so flat for me especially because I love Little Women.


Thank you to the publisher, author, and Net Galley for the ARC.

A cute somewhat-retelling of Little Women. The storyline was intact, but I tended to forget the characters were in the 30s because their dialogue read like they were in their 20s. That's my only criticism.
College professor Amy has been in love with Theo forever. They had an almost-moment years ago and now there's distance between them, caused by a rift Theo has with Jo.
Lots of angst and at times it reads like a YA novel instead of an adult one.

“Little Women” is one of my all time favorite books and I immediately gravitate to any “retelling” of it. The 2019 movie version made me finally see the beauty in Amy and Laurie so I was beyond excited when I read the blurb of this novel.

Amy has always had a crush on Theo, her sister’s best friend and through circumstances neither one saw coming they end up as roommates. This book is a slow burn. Amy and Theo have history and their past isn’t easily forgotten.

I throughly enjoined this book. Thank you NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an ARC of this book.

I have long loved Little Women, from book to all the movie adaptations. And Amy March has always been my favorite. It’s ironic because of all the sisters I’m most like Beth, with bits of Jo and Meg. But Amy? Not sure if I’m anything like her. But oh have I loved her! I always admired how pragmatic she was, yet how she still dreamed, how self-aware she was of her society and how proactive she was in ensuring her place in it. Yet...also how she too wanted to fall in love and be loved in return. I think Amy is massively underrated so when I read that this book would center on an inspired by Little Women Amy, I had to immediately try for an arc.

I am so glad I received one!

I enjoyed this— it isn’t without faults, which I’ll get to further down— but I loved feeling this take on an Amy that felt familiar but was her own original character. This isn’t exactly contemporary Amy March, in fact Little Women is frequently referenced as a known book, but rather an inspired by Amy March protagonist through a modern lens.


》Amy《

As I mentioned: I love Amy. I love her be she Elizabeth Taylor, Kirsten Dunst, Florence Pugh, or Amy Marsden. I love Amy. In this iteration we meet an Amy who is following her pragmatic mindset in advancing a career that will benefit her, but she has squashed her true desire and dreams of art. And of love. This book is her recovering both and I really admired her coming into that realization and that push she gave herself towards long-held goals and love.


》Theo《

We do get Theo POVs! I don’t believe there are as many as Amy’s, but we get a decent peak into his mind and where his heart has always lied. I enjoyed getting to experience his perspective throughout the story.


》The Romance《

The romance did well with its chemistry and compatibility between the characters. But with the already held feelings between the two, it felt less slow-burn and more a giant pause that stunted any forward movement for a bit too long. I wanted them to realize how right they fit! I do find their romance sweet, but not overly satisfying as I desired. I've always been team Amy/Laurie, let the record show!


》Off Beat《

For me the biggest issue I had with this work was how it went from even pacing for the majority of the book to completely uneven and rushed towards the end. Once feelings were expressed and the natural next steps expected in a romance book developed, the pacing became off. There would be an obstacle, one you’d expect would incur consequences, groveling, pain, basically angst..and it was resolved in a few lines. Any big action towards an obstacle/problem/betrayal was remedied far too quickly. It gave me whiplash. There wasn’t an expected climax, just a few whimpers of a bumps along the end. The resolutions came too quickly, and it frustrated me because the potential in their set up was fantastic.

Also both characters at time slacked urgency, which may seem to clash with the above, but for example, the book begins with Amy finding out her boyfriend cheated on her. It happens right at the start. She basically shrugs it off. He cheated, even if there was no love between them, the nonchalant attitude was puzzling. It was an attitude carried occasionally throughout the book at times where I wanted an urgency to be displayed in feelings. It was a mere shrug and moving on.


》Leave it to Amy《

I had gripes, I wish things had developed better, but I came for a story that uplifted Amy and that’s overall what I received. The underrated March sister gets her due. Amy is a fascinating character in every adaptation (or inspired piece) and it really makes me happy to see a work like this give her her time to shine.

She deserves it.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

As someone whose favorite book is Little Women and Amy/Laurie being my favorite literary couple, there was a lot here that should speak to me. Unfortunately, this one was not for me.

The pacing of this was really off. It felt like it took forever to get to the actual story, and even then it didn't really go anywhere, and then all of the sudden the big "bomb" (which I knew from the start) was dropped 90% into the book and was then resolved far too quickly.

A lot of this book felt...well, lifeless to me. I didn't really care about Amy or Theo and I didn't think they had any chemistry. Their first on page kiss made me feel absolutely nothing, their sex scene (if you can really call it tha) was....bad. I just felt no chemistry between the two, so it made everything pretty boring.

Additionally, they read way younger than they were supposed to be. I often forgot that they're supposed to be in their mid 30's (Amy is 34) because they came off SO much younger. Their characterization would've made more sense if they were in their mid or possibly late 20's.

If I read this as a fan fiction, I'd probably say something like "That wasn't so bad. It was mildly entertaining!" but as a published book I can't get behind it

As someone who loves Little Women — and whose favorite March sister is Amy March, I was super excited to read an ARC of Leave It to the March Sisters! I loved the yearning and pining between Amy and Theo, and while some of the characterization deviated significantly from their Little Women counterparts, I did really like the characters in Leave it to the March Sisters. That being said, I felt like Amy often read as much younger (in her mid 20s, rather than her 30s), and I wish that there were less secrets/less miscommunication.