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I both never mean to get so behind on my ARCs for review or to get so far ahead that I’m telling you about a book that’s more than a month away, but here we are. Y’all are more used to the former than the latter, but today, I’m bringing you reviews of two books that are already out and a review of a May release. Whoops!

First up, I have my review of The Other March Sisters by Linda Epstein, Ally Malinenko, and Liz Parker, which came out in February from Kensington and is currently on Kindle Unlimited. It’s a reimagining so to speak of Little Women and I’m really excited to share my review, mostly because it means I’ll hopefully manage to wrangle my thoughts on this book into some semblance of coherence. I read it both as my e-ARC and my ALC from Netgalley. Then I have my review of My Big Fat Fake Marriage from Charlotte Stein, which I actually read mostly via my ALC that I got through Netgalley. It came out this month (March) from St. Martin’s Griffin. And then finally, I read Audre & Bash are Just Friends by Tia Williams, which comes out on May 6, 2025, which isn’t too far away! It’s from Little Brown and features the daughter of the main character from Williams’ adult novel Seven Days in June. So let’s get started with these reviews, shall we?

The Other March Sisters
by Linda Epstein, Ally Malinenko, and Liz Parker

The Other March Sisters shares insight to what was going on with Meg, Beth, and Amy while Jo was in New York, a part of the sisters lives that was heavily glossed over because Jo wasn’t around to really write about it. It’s written in sections, so you read about Amy’s life, then Meg’s life before moving to Beth, then finally back to Amy. The book does rely on you having some background level of familiarity with the overall story, but I would say watching the movies would work if you’ve not read the book. I have read the book, but it’s been too long, honestly.

Essentially, we’re reading about Amy in Europe being courted by… Frank? Fred? One of them, for sure. She’s also engaging in her art and trying to learn as much as she possibly can. Then she hears from Laurie and he’s upset about something that went down with Jo. Her story takes us around Europe with Amy trying to figure out if she’s going to do what Marmie wants her to do and marry well or if she’s going to choose herself and pursue her art. I liked Amy’s section, though I didn’t always love her narrator. I had to adjust to her narration style both times as we both start and end with Amy.

With Meg, her section was hands down my favorite. I could have read an entire book about Meg and what her plot line has her pursuing. Basically, we start out with her being really unfulfilled by her life as a mother to twins and a husband who basically just keeps going to a friend’s house after work and who got super mad at her for spending money on a dress. She still has her best friend who gifts her a book about herbs and a nice dress and somehow this turns into Meg starting to garden and make things from the herbs that she’s growing there. She also gets into an argument with Marmie that really changes how you wind up thinking about Marmie, alongside what Amy’s storyline entails. I absolutely adored Meg’s section.

Then, with Beth, we’re following her while she’s still at home, without her sisters. Her health is still very up and down, but there’s a new woman in town and Beth is immediately fascinated by her. This winds up with the sweetest sapphic love story between them that I absolutely adored. Also, Beth is angry, but tries so hard to still be sweet and I really enjoyed seeing that side of her too.

Overall, I think that this book does a truly fantastic job at what it set out to do, but I found myself truly just wanting an entire book about Meg along these lines, which sort of interfered with my enjoyment of the entire book. But if you’re a Little Women fan, you should definitely pick this one up! And then come back and share with me your thoughts. As for whether or not you should read it with your ears or your eyeballs, I think my solution of doing a mixed read was a great solution because some of the narrators worked better for me than others. But as always, I love the ease of reading with my ears so I did mostly listen and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have done so.

My Big Fat Fake Marriage
by Charlotte Stein

Connie is fairly convinced that all men are terrible, including the nice ones. Maybe, especially the nice ones. And her neighbor is the nicest of all the men she’s ever met, so he clearly has something dangerous about him. Except it turns out that the only really dangerous thing about Henry is that he’s genuinely a good man who accidentally lied about having a wife. And when Connie meets the man who caused Henry to come up with this lie, she finds herself protectively pretending to be Henry’s wife.

I listened to this on my six hour drive from my parent’s house to my house and I loved it so much. I had the absolute best time, giggling and laughing along with the audiobook. I was stressed and giddy and joyful and so excited for Connie to manage to rid herself of her mother’s toxic voice in her head that kept her from really enjoying living her own life. This book was an absolute delight, but I enjoyed it so much, I actually don’t have a ton to say? It just… It was a really fun fake romance that became not fake so fast, but the two of them are so silly and stuck in their own heads that it took them FOREVER to realize it wasn’t fake. If you’re looking for a fun time, I’d recommend picking this one up.

Audre & Bash are Just Friends
by Tia Williams

For the target demographic this book will hit really well, but for me, this book called me old in so many ways! For real, though, I wanted to read this because I really loved Seven Days in June and was so intrigued by Audre and the relationship she and Eva had. And I really did enjoy this book, despite how old this made me feel!

Set in New York City and taking place over the summer between Audre’s junior and senior years of high school, Audre & Bash are Just Friends takes the list trope and runs with it in a way that I truly delighted in. An untrained but highly educated therapist to her friends, Audre is convinced that maybe her advice would hit better if she spoke from a little more lived experience. Her best friend, Reshma, winds up giving her a list of five tasks to complete and Audre decides Bash Henry, enigmatic and charming with dozens of tall tales surrounding him, is the perfect person to help her check off her five tasks. And they’re just going to be friends. Not even friends. She’s hiring him as her “funsultant.” Except, obviously, they do become friends. And then, well, you can imagine. 

I loved the way Audre dealt with her panic attacks and not being perfect. I even liked how her 3-3-3 made her panic attack worse in one of the scenes because SAME. I appreciated how her relationship with her mom was handled. I should also be clear though, we do get periodic chapters from Bash and even some from Reshma. I didn’t mind those, but to me, Audre was the star of this book and I didn’t really understand why we randomly got Resume’s perspective. As someone who came into this book having read and loved Seven Days in June, I was saddened at the start of this book by how Eva and Audre seemed to be on very different pages, but I also liked seeing how their parent/child relationship evolved throughout the book. I did think the ending was a little abrupt, but all in all, I would absolutely a million percent recommend if you have an older teen in your life or if you also enjoyed Seven Days in June and want to know more about Audre.

Closing Thoughts

This was a super solid group of reads and I’m really glad I was able to get them reviewed for y’all. I have plenty more reviews coming your way in April (hopefully) so let me get back to reading to make sure I can make that a reality. If you’ve read or are looking forward to reading any of these books, let me know in the comments!

xx