As a young girl I read a lot of the 'classics'. All of Jane Austen, most of the Bronte sisters and a fair deal of Louisa May Alcott. Little Women wasn't my favorite Alcott book, Jo's Boys was, but I did read the unabridged version several times. The sisterly warmth and support was something I sought at the time, being the oldest in my family. For me Little Vampire Women, one of the new mash-ups of classics with paranormal bent, failed in that regard. There is something more than a little disturbing in reading about previously sweet-natured and selfless Beth talking about munching on bunnies.

It's hard to ignore the pang of irritation whenever Beth would complain (vampire Beth is apparently less passive than human Beth), or Jo would grumble about 'those humans'. The charm of observing the Marchs' plight as they struggle to overcome the many obstacles they are faced with is lost because their reason for being in such a state is less because they have no choice and more because they choose to be different from everyone else and thus are treated that way.

Taken on its own, without knowledge of its source material I think Little Vampire Women is better off. It's an abridged version of the classic to begin with, so its much shorter than the original and the dialog is updated for a more modern approach. The historical 'footnotes' that Messina includes are hilarious and sometimes what the March girls get up to is highly entertaining. ( )

Quite a funny twist of a read. I like a good mash-up once and a while and Little vampire women is one of my favorites so far. At some moments the original novel sounded better with the inclusion of the blood sucking women once written up as demure and innocent by Louisa May Alcott. Most of the book was great, some parts were slow and confusing, but eventually sped up to a pace more enjoyable. I would recommend this book to both fans of the classics and to new young adult readers, very fangtastic read! ( )

This was an interesting mash-up of an old classic and a favorite topic these days – vampires. Having read the original when I was a young adult, I was fascinated by the addition of the new text and storyline meshed so brilliantly together. Like the original, there were parts that suffered in the details, but it was still a great read with lots of humor. I believe this book will interest a young reader to read the original and hopefully other classics, as well. ( )

You know for the bad rap that the mashup books tend to get, I actually enjoyed this YA one. Though the story is stagnant in some places, overall the vampire aspect of the book does not read like a "re-do"...it reads as if this was the way the story was always suppose to be. Certainly recommend for a read through whether you've read the original story or not....you'll gain a new perspective on a classic novel and still have some fangish fun along the way. Happy reading! ( )