Virginia Kantra | MEG & JO

Plot (via Goodreads):

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:

Okay, so I know you're probably wondering why Meg & Jo is on my blog instead of some crime fiction or serial killer thriller and I'll be completely honest with you - Berkley Publishing reached out to me to inquire if I wanted to participate in a blog tour for this book and when I read the synopsis, it sounded like the perfect read for the holiday season. A novel full of relationships that bind these characters together so tightly and yet still pulls the reader into this dual perspective novel that will keep your heart beating and make you thankful for those that you love. Meg & Jo is the kind of read that you will take with you long after the final pages.

My family and my friends are without a doubt the most important thing to me, which is why I love the holiday season. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy time with them all year round, but something about the holiday season just solidifies my love for my family and my close knit group of friends that makes me really sit back and value them and everything they bring into my life. With such a diverse family dynamic in this modern retelling of Little Women, I found myself immersed in this one early on and felt that the pages were being absorbed quickly. I loved the characters of Meg and Jo and their relationship. The secondary characters helped me with the moments of laughing out loud or getting caught up in the dramatic elements in this novel and I found Kantra's prose to be pure dynamite. At first, I was a little confused as to why Meg and Jo were so prominent and Amy and Beth kind of took the backseat, but if you check out this one, you'll see why.

Reading a novel like this and a thriller are so different because with this one, I felt like we really had to rely on Kantra's storytelling capabilities and her generous way of building these characters off from Little Women and keeping it in a relatable modern day time and these efforts were executed flawlessly. This is 100% an emotional read that will bring you plenty of different emotions throughout its entirety and relies heavily on these dazzling characters to really carry the story to you in their own words. This story was a prime example of why I believe that no matter what genres you love, it really does pay off to step out of your comfort zone every now and then.

Special thanks to Berkley Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4/5