I have never read Little Women, but it’s been one of those books that’s always been on my radar. So when I saw Meg & Jo I thought, could this be my chance to get into the Little Women fan club? Unfortunately not yet.
Summary
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 and secret food blogger.
Meg appears to have the life she always planned–the handsome husband, the adorable toddlers, the 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.
One thing’s for sure–they’ll need the strength of family and the power of sisterhood to remake their lives and reimagine their dreams.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Meg & Jo starts with a fantastic premise and goes downhill. From the title you might think that this book focuses mainly on Meg and Jo, and you’d be right. But the synopsis made me think this book was going to focus on all of the sisters. So before you embark, just know that it is going to primarily focus on Meg & Jo and you won’t know too much about Amy and Beth. Since I haven’t read Little Women I’m not sure if this is true to the original or its strength as a retelling.
That being said, what stuck with me was that people’s marriage is not what you think. That’s an easy thing to say because whose marriage is exactly what you say, but it’s more than just the realities of everyday, it’s also the ways our flaws stop us from being a great partner. In some ways, this is incredibly realistic because not only does it talk about this image we have of our parents, but also what it takes to bridge this gap. But I gotta say that most of the men in this story frustrated me and the ones that didn’t, didn’t have enough depth.
I ended up liking Meg more than I thought since I thought I’d be initially more in love with Jo. But I think that the way Meg is trying to hold everything together and be the perfect mother/wife really resonated with me currently. Wanting the image of being happy, but realizing that we are probably leaving our cup empty. While we don’t want to let people down, there’s a big difference between that and between sacrificing ourselves.
Overall,
Meg & Jo is not, by any means, a terrible book. It just didn’t resonate with me. It didn’t have as much depth as I was anticipating and I really wish we could know more about the other sisters. I also found their interactions with the other two sisters was really limited. The love storyline was lacking in some areas and I felt like it was very tidily resolved. But if you’re just searching for a read where you can kind of escape or if you’re a Little Women fan, then let me know what you think.
Find Meg & Jo on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound & The Book Depository.