Early Review – A Little in Love by Susan E. Fletcher (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: HIstorical Fiction
Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Chicken House
Release Date: August 25th, 2015
ISBN-13:978-0545829601
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC through Amazon Vine
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. This was a well done retelling of Eponine’s story from Les Mis. This was a sweet story set in a harsh time. For those of you who already know the story of Les Mis you know that this is also a tragedy.

Those who are familiar with the story or musical of Les Mis already know the story. Eponine is the daughter of an innkeeper and his wife, both of whom make their living by preying on and thieving from others. At a young age the young Cosette comes to live with Eponine’s family and Eponine is forced to treat Cosette as a slave in order to garner her parents’ good will. As time goes on Cosette goes to live elsewhere and Eponine’s family falls deeper into poverty. Eponine’s only times of happiness are those spent either in the company of or watching Marius.

This story was well written and a quick read. I would think of it as a light young adult retelling of Les Mis. Fletcher does an excellent job of portraying poverty of the time but never gets too gritty about it.

I think my favorite part of the book was how Eponine was portrayed. Fletcher really did an excellent job of showing Eponine’s unique ability to find beauty and hope in the darkest circumstances. This made Eponine a very hopeful and engaging character in an otherwise dark and tragic story.

The story does focus mostly on Eponine’s obsession with (and honestly stalker like behavior toward) Marius. So keep that in mind if you are picking up this book, it definitely has a more YA romance focus than anything else.

Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend to those who enjoy historical fiction and/or the Les Mis story. It was a fairly light read and focuses more on Eponine’s love for Marius than anything else. I did really enjoy how Eponine’s character is portrayed with the wonderful ability to find beauty in the darkest of circumstances.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge