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A review by ishouldbereading
If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I expected SO much from this book, I was so sure this will be a 5 star read. However, this book disappointed me greatly.
First off, they had so little chemistry I almost couldn't believe they should be in love. They had their moments, you could say, but it wasn't something to root for. But to be fair, Henry had zero chemistry with all the girls. Next up, Henry altogether. He was so flatly written, I still don't know who he is. He had no character traits and so many things about him didn't make sense. Especially his decision making, mainly in the end, made no sense.
Now the body positivity part. I really REALLY liked that nobody really cared about her being plus-sized (except Addison, I still want to know what she said) and she seemed confident in her body. I loved the part when she made her own dress and her comments in the show about being plus-sized. I especially loved that Henry didn't make the cheesy comments in most body-positivity books/movies and just seemed to not even realize it. But I feel like we didn't get that big of a respond from public. Yes, the audience loved her, but I wanted to know more. I know they didn't have phones in most of the book but they could add a little more audience reaction, tweets and just women appreciating her.
Now my probably biggest issue with this book: It felt like a copy of Selection. Most of the characters and plot was the same as in Selection. And let me tell you, I liked Selection more, it was better written. The participants were the same and yeah, it makes sense that they were similiar since they're both based on The Bachelor but these similiarities felt too similiar. Addison was a total copy of Celeste, Sarah Claire was Kriss, Anne was Marlee and so on and so on.
But the best part about this book was the retelling. The little details like her having blue dress and those shoes, midnight and all those cute references. It was such a good retelling and I loved that her stepmom wasn't evil. It felt natural and it's my favourite retelling so far.
First off, they had so little chemistry I almost couldn't believe they should be in love. They had their moments, you could say, but it wasn't something to root for. But to be fair, Henry had zero chemistry with all the girls. Next up, Henry altogether. He was so flatly written, I still don't know who he is. He had no character traits and so many things about him didn't make sense. Especially his decision making, mainly in the end, made no sense.
Now the body positivity part. I really REALLY liked that nobody really cared about her being plus-sized (except Addison, I still want to know what she said) and she seemed confident in her body. I loved the part when she made her own dress and her comments in the show about being plus-sized. I especially loved that Henry didn't make the cheesy comments in most body-positivity books/movies and just seemed to not even realize it. But I feel like we didn't get that big of a respond from public. Yes, the audience loved her, but I wanted to know more. I know they didn't have phones in most of the book but they could add a little more audience reaction, tweets and just women appreciating her.
Now my probably biggest issue with this book: It felt like a copy of Selection. Most of the characters and plot was the same as in Selection. And let me tell you, I liked Selection more, it was better written. The participants were the same and yeah, it makes sense that they were similiar since they're both based on The Bachelor but these similiarities felt too similiar. Addison was a total copy of Celeste, Sarah Claire was Kriss, Anne was Marlee and so on and so on.
But the best part about this book was the retelling. The little details like her having blue dress and those shoes, midnight and all those cute references. It was such a good retelling and I loved that her stepmom wasn't evil. It felt natural and it's my favourite retelling so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Grief
Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, Car accident, and Alcohol