4.5/5 stars.

I would have liked this better if Uncle Alec was in it less, he sometimes gave me the creeps. But the cousins were adorable and so was Rose. Creepy skeleton chapter was 10/10.

well

I read this several years ago on my kindle
read the sequel
forgot about it
remembered it again last night
and stayed up till 1:30 reading this and the sequel
I swear it's such a good book xD I can literally relate to Rose bc most of my friends are boys xDD
--
June 2020: ... this is q frankly just a bunch of ""life lessons"" written into a book. Am I surprised? No, not really, just mildly amused. It's basically just... the model girl doing everything perfectly. Still, it's Alcott; it was written in another time altogether, and again it holds a lot of memories for me.

4.5 stars

Sweet, charming and a bit bland. Would have enjoyed it more as a kid.

I wanted to like this. I really did. But I just didn't, it was too preachy and the kids (except for Jamie, he was adorable) didn't feel very realistic, even for those times.

I remember enjoying this as a child and reread it recently. Very Victorian and somewhat preachy but wears moderately well.

Rose is an orphan who discovers she has quite an extended family when she goes to live with her aunts and then her bachelor uncle Alec. She meets her seven cousins, who are all boys and daunting at first, but soon win her over. It's a bit sentimental, but I enjoyed the antics of the cousins, and it's a sweet story at heart about the importance of family. There are a few instances of preachiness, about smoking and unwholesome books and such, but it's a product of its time period.

This is a pretty tale from Alcott, author of the classic Little Women. When held in comparison to this better-known classic, there lacks the same characterization and overall arc to the story, instead consisting of several small stories that only connect to one another in that they take place in the year after the main character, Rose, comes under her Uncle's care after being rendered an orphaned heiress. That said, the book is simple, pretty, and highly moral, as Alcott is want to write. The little characterization that accompanies the seven boy cousins attributes to the sense of chaos they bring with them wherever they swarm, though each of the aunts has their own clear character, it is told rather than shown. If one is looking for a little moral tale, simply written and easily read by any age, this is a good one. There is no sex, no violence, and no swearing. I recommend this for an elementary level reader.

It was obvious to me, even as a young teenager, that this book was a venue for Louisa May Alcott's progressive views on education and child-rearing (among other things), but it was a good story nonetheless.