If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy Series: Meant to Be #1
Published by Disney Electronic Content on August 3, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 324
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781368070140If the shoe doesn’t fit, maybe it’s time to design your own.
Cindy loves shoes. A well-placed bow or a chic stacked heel is her form of self-expression. As a fashion-obsessed plus-size woman, she can never find designer clothes that work on her body, but a special pair of shoes always fits just right.
With a shiny new design degree but no job in sight, Cindy moves back in with her stepmother, Erica Tremaine, the executive producer of the world’s biggest dating reality show. When a contestant on Before Midnight bows out at the last minute, Cindy is thrust into the spotlight. Showcasing her killer shoe collection on network TV seems like a great way to jump-start her career. And, while she’s at it, why not go on a few lavish dates with an eligible suitor?
But being the first and only fat contestant on Before Midnight turns her into a viral sensation—and a body-positivity icon—overnight. Even harder to believe? She can actually see herself falling for this Prince Charming. To make it to the end, despite the fans, the haters, and a house full of fellow contestants she’s not sure she can trust, Cindy will have to take a leap of faith and hope her heels— and her heart—don’t break in the process. Best-selling author Julie Murphy’s reimagining of a beloved fairy tale is an enchanting story of self-love and believing in the happy ending each and every one of us deserves.
Before we get to the review, I want to take a moment to feature a GoFundMe on distributing food and medicine to Palestinians in Gaza. Abedelsalam S Abu Halima is a 23-year-old Palestinian who was born and raised in Gaza. While he and his family are enduring the hardships of the Israeli occupation, they are working very hard to raise donations to help the rest of the innocent civilians. What is happening now in Gaza is beyond the capability of comprehension regarding the state of their mental health. They are now being starved to death, with 7 cases in the North have already died from hunger and malnutrition. Along with the lack of fruits and vegetables, anything they eat costs $100-$200. Gaza is in need for access to meals. Palestinians have been working non-stop to help others, with no pay whatsoever. With Abedelsalam and his family’s bravery, they are initiating a crucial mission to help feed Palestinians, Inshallah. They will help distribute meals for the people in the Gaza strip – starting in Deih-Al-Blah. With these donations, they can help prepare meals and decrease death rates from starvation. Please help donate whatever you can so we can help feed the children and families in Gaza. They need just under $7,000 to reach their goal ($30,000), so anything helps make a difference.
I really wanted to like this book. It was the book club pick for this month and many of them adored the novel. So I expected to have something really fun and enjoyable to read. That wasn’t what I experienced, sadly.
First off, the parts I did love. The modern-day twist was wonderful! I love the idea of Cinderella as a shoe designer and as a fat woman (or plus size as so many people are afraid of saying fat like it’s an insult). The stepmother and stepsisters were amazing! I actually liked them a bit more than Cindy’s storyline. It was great to see that the stepmother and stepsisters were not “evil” and actually, truly cared about Cindy. Other than these few points, the rest was either boring or flat.
Speaking about the family, it annoyed me to high heaven when Cindy kept going on and on about how she doesn’t have a home or a family. I understand that she’s coming off a period of mourning for her dad, which she didn’t do when he initially died, but the amount of care and love that Erica, Drew, and Anna is totally antithetical to Cindy’s whining. If she felt more at home in New York than in L.A. that’s one thing, but it wasn’t written in a way to convey that. It was written where Cindy has this distant feeling from her stepfamily even though they all treat her like she’s their sister/daughter.
So, as a fat person myself I hate critiquing books that have fat representation because I want the representation to stay. With Cindy, her entire personality was about how she’s fat. It was brought up ALL THE DAMN TIME. Plus, she assumed or prescribed feelings or thoughts on to others when they didn’t have or say anything remotely horrible or derogatory.
Speaking of derogatory, let’s bring up our mean girl, Addison. If we can even call her a real character because she was just a prop, a stand in for a mean girl. There was absolutely no depth to her character, but we need the evil contestant on this Bachelor-esque type show. I definitely wanted to know what Addison said on her one-on-one date with Henry that he was ready to kick her off the show. It would’ve been a great chance to actually see Cindy be confident when we are told this OVER and OVER again that she is but never see it.
By the ending, I was ready to be done, especially after Cindy’s fight with Erica. Yes, it says in the epilogue that they had a conversation and everything was patched up. But that just didn’t satisfy me, especially considering everything Erica has done for Cindy, how much she loves and supports her, and all Cindy can do is throw it back in her face. I would’ve actually liked to have read the scene of Cindy apologizing to Erica and them talking things out then just told about it.
This is the main issue with the book. It had such great bones but needed more book to it and a bit more edits. There was so much telling and not enough showing, which is were it falls flat. Again, this was such a great concept and plot, it just needs a bit more work!
Leave a Reply