All your Jo and Laurie ship dreams come true

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

I could gush and gush about this novel. I’m going to be really honest here, I have not read Little Women. But I did grow up seriously loving the 1990s movie. Don’t come for me, die-hard Little Women fans! I promise it’s on the list. But, as this isn’t a review of Little Women, my thoughts are relevant here, right?

Is Jo March not the dream character? She’s got wit, she’s clever, she has a best friend who is not only supportive, but also just perfectly in love with her. She has flaws. She’s a real character that even as a young child I could relate to. But one thing that haunted me for years was Jo and Laurie. How, HOW, could Laurie end up marrying Amy?

It never made sense in my brain, and I basically just pretended that wasn’t the case. It appears that the authors of this book, Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz, are kindred spirits.

This book is kind of meta when I try to explain the setting, which I tried to do for my mom today and I found myself getting lost in my own description, but I’ll do my best.

When Little Women was originally published, it was published as two separate novels. So this novel takes place in between them. Now, Jo & Laurie is different in that it is a universe that acknowledges the writing and publishing of Little Women. Its discussed how Jo takes creative license with her characters. Yes, the book is based on her family but some tales are exaggerated or some are entirely fictitious. The thing that isn’t engineered are the relationships of the March girls. There is indeed a Laurie and he is indeed a fixture in the March household, an extension of this family.

I felt that Stohl and de la Cruz captured the feeling of Little Women completely. The captured the personalities while slightly tweaking them to suit their narrative. They gave us what we wanted without violating the integrity of Alcott’s beloved bestseller.

This book was like a comforting escape just when I needed it most. It ticked all my nostalgia, feel-good boxes.

Happy Reading!-Angela
@book.addicts.anonymous (Instagram)
https://www.goodreads.com/aaangelaaa (goodreads)

Think “The Holiday” except, with your grandma…

Once upon a time I religiously listened to a few Book riot podcasts. It became an obsession; I sifted back through to episode one and meticulously documented every book mentioned. It didn’t even matter if it sounded interesting to me or not, if they suggested it, I had to write it down. I had pages of a notebook filled with an overwhelming amount of books.

I think it was actually contributing to my anxiety – the idea that there are so many stories to read in the world and I only have a limited time here with them. It can be a bit depressing and weirdly makes me think of my own mortality. So during some konmari-ing I scrapped the list, deleted the Goodreads shelf, and unsubscribed from the podcast.

The other day when I was just looking for something to listen to while crafting my family’s Halloween costumes, I decided, what the heck, I’ll turn on a book riot podcast, I”ll try not to let it get me consumed and just listen for if a book REALLY caught my attention.  Lo and behold, a recent release, The Switch by Beth O’Leary was mentioned.  The podcast hosts described it as adjacent to the movie, The Holiday.  And that pulled me right in.  

So we have Eileen Cotton and Eileen Cotton, grandmother and granddaughter, although granddaughter goes by Leena (so that at least clears up some confusion).  They’ve decided to switch places.  Leena will go to her grandmother’s house and take over Eileen’s duties and responsibilities. And Eileen will head to London to take on the adventure she never had in her youth.

The Cotton ladies, Eileen, Leena AND Leena’s mom are struggling in their own ways. Last year, Leena’s younger sister passed away from cancer. Leena’s been slowly breaking but trying so hard to avoid it. Her mom is just another mess that Leena can’t handle dealing with on most days. At least she has her grandmother and her reliable boyfriend, Ethan.

But in the best feel-good fiction way, there is healing, slip-ups, meet-cutes. Leena expects her grandma’s sleepy little town to be easily handled. All of her grandmothers “big tasks” should pale in comparison to the real-world things she deals with at her high-stake job in London. Except… when it isn’t.

Eileen on the other hand, is a fierce personality. She comes to London and owns that city. She has quickly befriends Leena’s best friends, gets started on the online dating scene, and brings life to Leena’s apartment building.

There are so many things to love about this book. The focus on the familial relationships between mothers and daughters. Dealing with grief and the different ways we cope. The budding romances. Just, ugh, so many great feel-good things.

So if you are needing to fall headlong into a feel-good story right about now, I highly recommend this one! It’ll surely have you grinning throughout.

Happy Reading!
-Angela
@book.addicts.anonymous (Instagram)
https://www.goodreads.com/aaangelaaa (goodreads)