Blog Tour: Jo and Laurie + Giveaway

Hey everyone!! I’m super excited to share a blog post about Jo and Laurie! I was lucky enough to be included, and receive an early copy to review, and I even have a giveaway for you all to win your own copy of this awesome book! There is also an awesome pre-order campaign, so keep on reading to learn more about that.

About the Book:

Bestselling authors Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz bring us a romantic retelling of Little Women starring Jo March and her best friend, the boy next door, Theodore “Laurie” Laurence.

1869, Concord, Massachusetts: After the publication of her first novel, Jo March is shocked to discover her book of scribbles has become a bestseller, and her publisher and fans demand a sequel. While pressured into coming up with a story, she goes to New York with her dear friend Laurie for a week of inspiration—museums, operas, and even a once-in-a-lifetime reading by Charles Dickens himself!

But Laurie has romance on his mind, and despite her growing feelings, Jo’s desire to remain independent leads her to turn down his heartfelt marriage proposal and sends the poor boy off to college heartbroken. When Laurie returns to Concord with asophisticated new girlfriend, will Jo finally communicate her true heart’s desire or lose the love of her life forever?

About the Authors:

MELISSA DE LA CRUZ

She is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series andthe semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour,Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue,CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and Fox News.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!). She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter.

MARGARET STOHL

Margaret Stohl is a #1 New York Times bestselling nerd, world-builder, video game creator, comic book writer and festival founder.

As an award-winning young adult author, she has been published in fifty countries and thirty-two languages and has sold more than ten million books worldwide. Beautiful Creatures debuted as the Amazon #1 Teen book of the year; seven of Margaret’s books have reached bestseller lists around the world.

She has published fifteen novels and graphic novels, as well as contributed to several games and countless comics since her debut. Her last book, Cats Vs Robots: This is War, was a family affair, illustrated by her child, the artist Kay Peterson, and co-written with her husband, Lewis Peterson. It also starred three of her family’s five cats.

After Beautiful Creatures was released as a feature film from Warner Brothers and Alcon Entertainment, Margaret began working with Marvel on her bestselling BlackWidow: Forever Red duology; in 2017 she began writing the ongoing Mighty Captain Marvel comic, followed by the acclaimed Life of Captain Marvel miniseries, where she established a new origin story for Carol Danvers in preparation for the theatrical debut of Brie Larson as “Captain Marvel” for the MCU.

When not roaming the halls of Seattle game developer Bungie-where she oversees the creation of new global IPs-Margaret can often be seen at a Comicon or at one of the teen and youth book festivals she co-founded, YALLFEST (Charleston, SC) and YALLWEST (Santa Monica, CA), the largest in the country. Wherever she goes, you can find out more about her (and invariably her cats) at @mstohl on twitteror margaret_stohl on instagram or margaret_stohl on snapchat or at mstohl.com.

Review:

So I had really mixed feeling about this book initially, but I ended liking it more than I thought I would which was a super nice surprise.

Things I liked:

I loved how this book made the original story of Little Women the story the Jo was writing in this book! I was wondering how the authors would explain the difference between their imagining of Jo and Laurie compared to what really happened in Little Women, and I think this was the most clever way to do it!
I also love how Jo was based off of Louisa May Alcott herself! I loved the authors note and the historical context in the back of the book explaining the parallel of Jo’s character in this book and the actual author of Little Women herself
I loved recasting the March family! They are truly such a joy to read about, and I especially loved Megs character arc in this reimagining!
I really enjoyed seeing how Jo in this book seemed independence as a woman in the 1800s. She was just as strong and independent as she was in Little Women

Things I didn’t like:

This book, while entertaining, read a lot like fan fiction. The writing was easy enough to read, and there weren’t any spelling or grammatical mistakes like in fan fiction, but the whole premise and execution just felt like fan fiction (which it basically is). I kind of wish the authors were just loosely inspired by the relationships and character dynamics in Little Women and wrote a complete original story with similar elements instead of a reimagining.
I also felt like some plot points were completely unnecessary, like Marmie and the girls Father’s relationship on the rocks, or the fact that Amy also became dangerously sick

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, but I don’t think I can give it more than three stars given the content in the original Little Women. Amy and Laurie are just endgame, and I truly believe that Jo and Laurie were only meant to be friends.

Favorite Quotes:

“Afraid? Of what?”

“Of love, Jo. Of feeling it. Of giving it. Of getting it.”

“‘Promise me Jo,’ Beth had whispered. ‘Stay here. Stay in the world of the living. Keep the silence away. Promise me, Jo. You must live. You have so much to live for. Keep writing your way back to the light.’”

“Every cell in her body was screaming at her to flee, but every beat of her heart was telling her to stay. And now she knew. She did belong to him, because he belonged to her, and they belonged to each other.”

“Because it was always our story. It just never had the right ending.”

“You have to be brave. You have to make your own way. Your own choices. Just as you always have.”

Pre-Order Campaign: