I was delighted to get my copy of Beth and Amy because I’d just loved reading Virginia Kantra’s first book about the March sisters, Meg and Jo. Actually I was looking forward to this sequel pretty much as soon as I’d finished Meg and Jo. These two novels are modernizations of the classic Little Women, but retold more as a present-day what-if with the beloved March sister than a beat-for-beat retelling. The characters maintain their personalities, but the setting is realistically modern, so their choices and situations are quite different.

This one focuses on the two younger sisters, and picks up a little while after the first novel. Towards the end of Meg and Jo, Beth gets a country music gig in Branson, and I thought, well, ok, that’s not very Beth-like, but I’ll reserve judgement until the next book. At the beginning of Beth and Amy, Beth’s on tour, with a successful singing and songwriting career, and the fact none of that sounds very Beth-like leads to a lot of the tension in her story arc. Everything made so much sense for our beloved March sister!

I loved every part of Bethie’s storyline, it was such a successful modernization for this favorite character.



Meanwhile, Laurie and Amy getting married has always been kind a sticky spot in the Little Women storyline, even though Jo doesn’t seem to mind and even considers their surprise marriage a good laugh. But dating her sister’s ex feels kind of yucky, and there’s that unpleasant feeling that Amy wanted the Laurence life more than she wanted Laurie.

In this retelling, Jo still has her special friendship with Trey, without ever changing from childhood or even seeming to notice that he’s a man with romantic feelings for her. Their relationship remains important in her life even when she meets and marries Eric. As an adult reader, I’ve understood more and more what Jo saw in Professor Bhaer, and in this retelling, he remains the stable, affectionate center of impulsive, creative Jo’s life. Over the course of this book, Amy’s feelings develop from a little-girl crush on a boy who’s nice to her, into a woman’s love. The novel really shows two important but very different relationships in Trey’s life, without any overlap, which made the whole thing feel much less icky. Also, Amy is developed more and more, finally moving beyond her role as the pretty baby of the family.

This part is a bit of a spoiler, but one of the major themes is about all the March girls coming home as adults, and I really don’t like North Carolina life. This was in Meg and Jo, too, as Jo and Eric tried to figure out their life together, and I just could not get into that choice. If you have a choice between a creative career in the city or hearing people constantly talking super slowly about college basketball, how is that even a choice? Ugh, especially for Amy, who still had a crowd of mean girls from high school (obviously no one was never going to leave NC or move on) in town. UGH NO. Basically, the narrative is leading to a story homecoming and family, and I know where it’s all going, but I’m still thinking up ways the girls can still escape.

Overall, I enjoyed Beth and Amy so much! It was a great reimagining of some of our favorite literary characters, with growing independence and affectionate sisterhood. And, bonus, if you don’t think that moving to small town NC is giving up on all life and joy and creativity, you’ll probably like this even more than I did.

Not terrible for a take off on a classic; however, the author trivializes a very serious issue, which is unfortunate. ( )

In the world of Little Women adaptations, many authors/screenwriters get caught in what I'm going to start calling the "Beth trap". In the original, Beth is the "good" sister, which often means she's seen as the "boring" sister, so adapters try to make her more "interesting" (usually while still having her die). Kantra does not avoid the Beth trap, but in her sure hands, Beth is able to be a full character, and a full member of the sisterly quartet (and she doesn't die, either). I shouldn't have doubted Kantra, whose first book, Meg & Jo, was was far and away the best written adaptation I've come across.

Once again, Kantra has embodied the spirit of the original, while bringing the March sisters into the modern era. In this book, Beth and Amy share the spotlight, and we even get some insight into the question of how Jo, Amy, and Laurie (in this book, Trey) all manage to reconcile their erstwhile love triangle. Once again, Kantra handles this deftly and elegantly; everyone's feelings are respected and the reader gets a satisfying resolution too.

Once again, Kantra has given us a good book and a good adaptation, although this one perhaps stands less on its own without Little Women than did Meg & Jo. Certainly, one should read Meg & Jo first. But Little Women fans will enjoy this book alongside readers who have no familiarity with the original. It's sweet, and light without being too light, and generally wonderful. ( )