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Title: If the Shoe Fits
Author: Julie Murphy
Sub-genre: Contemporary
In case you didn’t know from my real life, I am an absolute, 100% total Disney nut. Like I am one of those people who has an annual pass to Disneyland (or I did in the before times), sees all the movies, buys all the merch. So when I first heard about this series, I was super stoked because it looked to be combining two of my favorite things: romance novels and Disney. But I do just want to be clear, I don’t know if this series is actually affiliated with Disney or not. There are many, many details from the book that clearly tie back to the Disney version of Cinderella, but Disney isn’t mentioned anywhere of prominence (like on the cover), so I’m not really sure what the deal is there. But that certainly didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book.
Cindy has just graduated from fashion school, and after a lackluster senior year, she is without a job and returning home to California to be a nanny for her triplet younger siblings. On her flight home from New York, she sits next to the perfect man, calling him Prince Charming in her mind. But the two don’t exchange info and she assumes she will never see him again. Cindy’s stepmom is the executive producer of a Bachelor-esque show and while one of her producers is at the house, she suggests Cindy join the season to replace a contestant who dropped out. Cindy and her stepmom have reservations. Cindy because she thinks the whole thing is kind of dumb, and her stepmom because Cindy would be the first plus size contestant and she is worried about the audience targeting her and bullying her. But when her stepsisters also join up, Cindy decides to go for it, mainly because it could be good exposure for her and her fashion brand–she wants to be a shoe designer. Lo and behold, the suitor of the show turns out to be Prince Charming. Henry and Cindy have immediate chemistry, but it isn’t as easy as Cindy thought it would be, especially when Henry has to date the other women and doesn’t show her any sort of signs that he really likes her. Henry also happens to be the son of a seriously famous designer and he is tasked with bringing the family business into the 21st century. Henry and Cindy are clearly made for each other, but Cindy doubts his feelings and Henry isn’t great at expressing himself. All of that combined with the pressures from the show, and it’s a recipe for misunderstanding. Luckily, they manage to live happily ever after.
So first and foremost, this book is compulsively readable. Once I got started, I found myself not wanting to put it down. I love the way Julie takes the original story and makes it new and fresh. One of my favorite parts was turning the evil stepmother and stepsisters into supportive family members. I was really dreading cattiness among the women, and luckily there was none (well, a little with one of the contestants, but overall not much). I am always here for women supporting women, and even the cast members of the show were overall a very loving bunch. I also really loved Cindy’s fashion sense and the way she and Henry connected over their shared interests. Their relationship felt organic and sweet. I guess the main thing I didn’t love was trying to nail down the age bracket for this book. Cindy is 22 so that makes it not YA, but it definitely read like YA and on Amazon is listed as YA. I was under the impression it was an adult romance, but it didn’t really feel like one (to me). But again, that didn’t stop my enjoyment of the book. It was a fun and entertaining read!
Overall Rating: 4 stars