If the Shoe Fits

If the Shoe Fits (2021) by Julie Murphy is her unique, fat-positive, contemporary retelling of the Cinderella story.

Cindy, a shoe designer, returns to the LA area to live with her producer-stepmother, 2 stepsisters, and 2 preschool-aged twin siblings after finishing design school in New York, Erica, her stepmother, produces the hottest reality dating show on TV–think The Bachelor.

When contestants are needed to fill out the roster of young women on the show, Cindy and her stepsisters are given the opportunity to join the current season of After Midnight. As the first and only plus-size contestant, Cindy becomes an overnight sensation, when all she had hoped for was a chance to showcase her original shoe designs.

What no one knows is that Cindy has already met the suitor on the flight from New York (when she loses a shoe, of course) and he’s actually someone she might be able to fall for.

It was so refreshing to see fat positivity baked in to this classic story. When Cindy has to make do in a fashion challenge with clothing where nothing is in her size (and wins), she muses: ” . . .clothing is fashion and fashion should be for everyone because clothing should be for everyone. And clothing for everyone is a first, small step to equality for everyone.”

Highly recommend, if you want to read a fluffy contemporary rom-com. Julie Murphy always delivers on the humor and romance, and ensures that her characters are fat positive.