For Jo and Laurie Shippers
I was really looking forward to this book when I first heard about it. I’d always loved the Winona Ryder and Christian Bale version of the Little Women movie and thought they were destined for each other. They chemistry was spectacular and it was always a disappointment when their story’s ending wasn’t together.
The next version of Little Women I loved was 2019’s telling by Greta Gerwig, skillfully intertwining the author’s true intention of Jo ending up unmarried, like she was, and balking at the conformity of the time, while slipping in nuggets of wisdom about women’s opportunities at the time, loneliness, and love.
I just finished the original book Little Women, which had all of the heartwarming content I loved about the movies with more short stories, much more character development, and a dose of good values and Christianity.
Then came Jo and Laurie, and despite my initial excitement about the book, after the perfect reimagining Gerwig did infusing the author’s real thoughts on Jo's character getting married, I just fell out of love with the idea of this couple together and was not the right reader for this story right now.
The writing and plotting of the story was very similar to a romantic YA contemporary. Both coauthors are well practiced in character description, plot and pacing, and coming up with new context for the story based on the real author’s life. I do think they slipped in a few too many frustrations about the publishing industry, reader expectations, and writing as a whole from their own experiences, and it just didn’t endear me to Jo as she was on deadline for her second book.
The new character of Harriet, the trip to New York and meeting Dickens, Amy’s sickness, all added a lot to the story in terms of pacing. I thought the narration was interesting as it switched perspective from Jo to Meg to Laurie as the viewpoints were needed to progress the story.
Ultimately if you’re looking for Little Women fan fiction and love Jo and Laurie together and like a historical romance, this is the book for you.
The next version of Little Women I loved was 2019’s telling by Greta Gerwig, skillfully intertwining the author’s true intention of Jo ending up unmarried, like she was, and balking at the conformity of the time, while slipping in nuggets of wisdom about women’s opportunities at the time, loneliness, and love.
I just finished the original book Little Women, which had all of the heartwarming content I loved about the movies with more short stories, much more character development, and a dose of good values and Christianity.
Then came Jo and Laurie, and despite my initial excitement about the book, after the perfect reimagining Gerwig did infusing the author’s real thoughts on Jo's character getting married, I just fell out of love with the idea of this couple together and was not the right reader for this story right now.
The writing and plotting of the story was very similar to a romantic YA contemporary. Both coauthors are well practiced in character description, plot and pacing, and coming up with new context for the story based on the real author’s life. I do think they slipped in a few too many frustrations about the publishing industry, reader expectations, and writing as a whole from their own experiences, and it just didn’t endear me to Jo as she was on deadline for her second book.
The new character of Harriet, the trip to New York and meeting Dickens, Amy’s sickness, all added a lot to the story in terms of pacing. I thought the narration was interesting as it switched perspective from Jo to Meg to Laurie as the viewpoints were needed to progress the story.
Ultimately if you’re looking for Little Women fan fiction and love Jo and Laurie together and like a historical romance, this is the book for you.