In this alternate reality of Little Women, Jo March has just published her first novel and the publishers are clamoring for more stories about Jo and her sisters. They want Jo to write about the sisters meeting young men and getting married. But Jo isn't even sure how her real life is going or what she wants from life, so how can she write about the fates of all her sisters? Jo and Laurie have always been best friends, but writing her next book brings up some emotional questions between the two of them and their relationship starts to change.

This was like reading about an alternate reality inside a pocket universe inside another dimension. The original Little Women is already kind of an alternate fictional reality, because L.M. Alcott based her characters on herself and her sisters. So there is the real world Louisa May, and the fictional Jo. And this book has a fictional Jo and a book Jo, but the book isn't the same as the other book that Louisa May wrote because Beth didn't die in that other other book, and Meg never even met Mr. Brooke in the other other fictional reality. Yeah. It takes some mental calisthenics to keep track of four different storylines.

I have always loved the original Little Women, so I came into this already loving the characters. I tried to keep an open mind about this retelling, not expecting every little thing to remain true to the original, but just wanting a fun time to reimagine a beloved story. However, I was disappointed.

The dialogue is boring. I mean, mind-numbingly boring! In one scene, Laurie literally repeats the exact same phrase THREE times. If he said it twice, that would be fine. I get it. He's repeating himself to make a point. But three times is just too much. Every scene was just so boring. And there is some cursing in the dialogue that was completely out of place.

I did not care for the way the characters were reimagined. Meg was too meek. Amy was bratty, but not in a cute way. Beth is already dead in this reality, but Jo has kept her memory alive in her writing. And Jo is sort of lackluster. Her passion and mischievousness are there, but it lacks the charm of the original. Laurie is an idiot. I'm just not impressed with these characters.

The plot is super slow. In the first several chapters, nothing happens whatsoever. The whole first 100 pages could have been condensed to 30 pages.

I made it to page 79 and gave up. I DNF'd it. The main idea sounds like fun, but the writing did not live up to my expectations.