Title: Jo & Laurie
Author: Margaret Stohl & Melissa de la Cruz
Published: June 2020, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Reads
Format: ARC E-copy, 384 pages
Source: Netgalley via @mbc_books
Summary:
Bestselling authors Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz bring us a romantic retelling of Little Women starring Jo March and her best friend, the boy next door, Theodore “Laurie” Laurence.
1869,
Concord, Massachusetts: After the publication of her first novel, Jo
March is shocked to discover her book of scribbles has become a
bestseller, and her publisher and fans demand a sequel. While pressured
into coming up with a story, she goes to New York with her dear friend
Laurie for a week of inspiration—museums, operas, and even a
once-in-a-lifetime reading by Charles Dickens himself!
But Laurie
has romance on his mind, and despite her growing feelings, Jo’s desire
to remain independent leads her to turn down his heartfelt marriage
proposal and sends the poor boy off to college heartbroken. When Laurie
returns to Concord with a sophisticated new girlfriend, will Jo finally
communicate her true heart’s desire or lose the love of her life
forever?
My thoughts: This book is inspired by Little Women. I admit, I’ve never actually read the book, but have seen the movies countless times. Do I plan on reading the book – of course. I own a copy and have it sitting on my shelf but it’s just one of those books I just haven’t gotten around to yet.
I enjoyed this book. I found it to be charming and very in the spirit of the Little Women I had grown up with from the movies I watched. Maybe if I had read the book I would have felt differently, but I felt the authors weren’t trying to rewrite the entire story but rather just give us a what if look at one portion of the whole.
This is actually the second book I’ve read recently that takes a different look at Little Women, the other being Meg & Jo by Virginia Kantra, which is a modern retelling of the story. It’s fun having all these different retellings/re-imaginings of this wonderful classic and all it’s saying to me is that I really need to read this classic and the sooner the better!
