Karina's Silver Shoes is a YA fantasy which appears to have been reworked and republished as Step into Magic by Day Leitao in 2022.

Personally, this book did not read as YA to me at all and felt more like it was suitable for middle grade readers. This is itself is not an issue, but the MC seemed incredibly juvenile and annoying and was just not a compelling part of the story for me. It made the book feel a lot longer to read as the style in which she communicated with other characters and interacted with the world just didn't work for me at all.

I think the world building was just lacking and seemed to put pace before actually explaining anything about the setting. I think more information could've been woven into the story surrounding the magic system and how everything in the world worked. Side characters were introduced but not really given the time to develop so it didn't really work. As a whole this book just felt underbaked and could've benefitted from some further editing.

Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

My rating is a 2.5 / 5 stars.

The first thing that must be said is that the classification for this being a Young Adult book might be a little off. Although we can consider it to be for the young, young adults, it reads more like a middle-grade adventure.

I'm a big fan of magic and there was some rather unique and interesting magical elements. Karina finds a pair of magical shoes at a yard sale. An interesting and intriguing start. In the beginning, Karina has this sassy personality that is usually one of my favorite characteristics but as we went on, her immaturity started to make me like her less and less.

The plot is fast-paced which made this a fast read, but sometimes there were moments where this worked against the book because I couldn't grasp some of the information. Karina's life gets really chaotic and with it, so did the story. I had to go back and forth a few times to figure out what was happening and who was who. Especially when it came to the one character's family tree.

Even with the fast pace, it took me a while to get through this book. I don't think it was a bad book, it was just not for me. However, I can still appreciate that there were interesting ideas and aspects that came through in the story.

It was very original but I found it boring and a little slow.

Karina’s Silver Shoes is an interesting story about a girl who saw and fascinated to a silver shoes at some garage sale and took her in parallel dimension. It has big potential if the writing style could improve. There are loopholes like this is not a YA story but a MG story instead, there is no further information about the magic, technology and parallel dimension. Moreover, Karina annoys me most of the time and I couldn’t relate to her, also to other characters. I forced myself to finish this one because I was hoping for a development but I ended up disappointed.

*thank you to Netgalley, Sparkly Wave and Weapenry Co-Op for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

2 stars.
DNF @ 51%

I hate to DNF (did not finish) a book but I just lost interest so much that it was painful to keep going. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this middle grade story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy middle grade novels but this just dragged. It's an adventure story about a girl who is taken to a parallel dimension by two princesses, to destroy silver shoes that she brought at a garage sale. Turns out that they are magical and an evil lady wants them. Sounds pretty good! Unfortunately it just didn't work so well. It was good I think up until the 2 main girls in the story started on their journey. Then it just went downhill.

There are also similarities between this and 'The Wizard of OZ', especially in the title as in the original OZ novels, the shoes were silver, not red. So it's a stretch but this could also be classed as a retelling. But yeah, it's a pretty big stretch still. 

Also, I know that there is talk going around of this book being middle grade or young adult. If you read chapter 1 I don't think anybody can call it YA. It's not until further on that it starts to border on middle grade to YA territory. But only just. This is at least 85% middle grade so that's what I'm voting for it being. 

It was the cover that instantly grabbed my attention, it's gorgeous. Maybe I'll give this another try when I'm in a real mood for a middle grade story and see if my opinion changes.

Karina’s Silver Shoes was the story of Karina, 14, who runs into silver shoes at a garage sale and can’t help but buy them. Soon, she realizes that the shoes have power. That same night, she is visited by a strange being and also two girls claiming to be from another dimension. She then hurries to follow them to that other dimension and starts a dangerous and complicated quest.

I really wanted to like this… Sadly, I couldn’t…
Karina was really annoying, I couldn’t relate to her at all.
Everything went so fast, there was barely time to understand how things worked. I couldn’t connect with the side characters, their supposed allegiance kept changing every twenty pages.
The whole story just felt messy, from beginning to end.
I was mostly bored despite the never ending twists, and most of the characters were really annoying.
The writing also seemed pretty simple, almost childish to me...

This was a complete miss for me, but I think a younger audience might enjoy it.

I was hesitant about requesting this book, because the protag was so young... however, the netgalley reviews assured me that the story was good and it was "not like other ya books" netgalley - you have failed me !!!!!! Perhaps this was not "like other ya books" BECAUSE IT IS A CHILDRENS BOOK, honestly, the fairy boarding school books i used to read when i was 10 were more mature than this.

Aside from the childish nature of the protag and the other main characters (2 more children, a witch, a king - who is in it for like 2 minutes - the step-mum and king's advisor), this didn't make sense!!!!!! Literally, it was like the kid was like "hmm that sounded fishy, i don't trust that woman" when she didn't say anything weird or untrustworthy, which was just poor writing. The characters were strange and detatched, even the protag saying how they spoke roboticly and without emotion, and there's no real reason explained for this. The storyline was boring with a witch fighting against a kingdom - who is good? Who is evil? Idk, the characters and world building weren't interesting enough for me to care.

Sorry for the terribly negative review, its my fault for requesting it but i truly wouldn't categorise it as YA.

// Thanks to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this in exhange for an honest review //

From the moment, Karina lay eyes on a pair of silver shoes, she knew she had to have them. The shoes' unnatural pull has made her covet them in a way that often puts herself and those around her in unexpected circumstances. Her life is soon turned upside down when she is catapulted into the chaotic realm of Whyland. It is there that she soon becomes privy to a plan several of its residents have concocted in order to restore balance to the realm itself. Despite her misgivings, she dives head-first into what has been asked of her, never once thinking about the consequences of her actions.

A wonderfully put-together tale, Karina's Silver Shoes throws the reader smack-dab in the middle of Karina's tumultuous life. This is a girl whose attention has been piqued by a pair of silver shoes. A girl who knows nothing about the parallel dimension that exists alongside her world. She's innocent and quite naive, though she's headstrong and decisive when she needs to be. She often finds herself in situations that test her mettle, those of which also make her question what she must do in order to survive.

The author has created such a complex world. One that mimics the real world, to some extent. She vividly paints the environments the characters find themselves in, allowing the reader to further imagine everything they see, touch, and feel along the way. Though the quest the characters embark on is full of so much adversity, the characters are willing to see things through to the very end. Their desire to set all wrongs to right drives them do what they think is best for themselves and those they love. A truly immersive read, this is a book that stays on your mind long after you've read it.

It isn’t often I struggle with a book, but with Karina’s Silver Shoes I’m torn in two. On one side I love the idea. Imagine a pair of shoes at a yard sale drawing you to them. A beautiful woman shows up in your room offering you wishes in exchange for the shoes. Then two girls whisk you away on an adventure in another dimension. What isn’t there to love?

So, here is the thing. It misses the mark. The descriptions are repetitive. There are pages of dialogue to cut. Characters we didn’t know exist arrive from nowhere as an instrumental part of the ending. And the magic, the reason we all read books like this, well it wasn’t there. Ok, it’s referred to, but our main character is never around when it takes place (Nia’s fighting scenes, for example).

I should clarify. I love self-published books and this is readable. The cover for this book is beautiful, the title is great and the blurb is interesting. A world is built with a perfect mix of fantasy and interesting sci-fi. Yet, there are parts where the writing isn’t developed. For example, feelings are told to us.

“I’m tired, confused and imagining things.” Karina says.

Why not have the character yawn, rub her eyes, look dazed, daydream about something? It would make us more connected to the characters. Any publisher or editor would scrap pages of the repetition and stiff dialogue making a huge difference.

To me, this book feels like a draft. The plot is great. The author has talent, but, the book would benefit from sections covered in red pen.

The description of this made it sound like a wonderful, witty and promising young adult book. The first chapter made me wonder if I was reading middle grade by accident.
I don't like leaving stories unfinished, especially if I have to give an honest review. It's not fair if I stop at 30% and give it a two star rating. That said, at 100%, my recommendation didn't change. I have never rolled my eyes so much while reading a book. I was under the impression this was meant to be a satirical take, but it missed the mark entirely. Karina, the main character, is sadly one of the most annoying and naive MCs I have ever come across. So many times throughout the book, my eye rolls were prompted by her internal thoughts. At times, she said so many ... stupid things. It's been a while since I was fourteen, but I'm pretty sure I was making the connections she was making at age 8.
The story itself was so lacking. The numerous spelling mistakes and grammar issues throughout were highly distracting. About a hundred pages could have been lopped off, and then we wouldn't have been treated to the conversations, "You should go." "No, you should." "Wait, you stay here. I'll go instead." "I trust him." "I don't." "Well, I do." "Can we trust him though?" Over and over and over. I actually skipped several pages, just to get to the part where they reach a decision, and I missed nothing in between. The events that unfold are quite slow, boring and without much detail. I was often confused over who people were and who was on what side because it either wasn't explained well at all, or I glossed over it while reading and couldn't bother to go back.
That's not to say there wasn't great promise with this book. There is! But every time it started to get good, someone *cough* Karina usually *cough* would say something so naive or unbelievably obvious that I was ripped right out of it.

I loved the tagline on this one enough that I decided to request Karina’s Silver Shoes after reading only two lines of the blurb on NetGalley. I didn’t know how someone could have the fate of the world in their shoes, but I wanted to know!?

This ended up being such an enjoyable read that had at least a little of all of my favorite fantasy elements, woven together in a narrative that was never lacking for strong female characters. I loved watching Karina try and navigate Whyland (fun name!) and make sense of everything going on around her.

I hope to read more from Denise Marques Leitao in the future!

Writing style took a bit to get used to, otherwise fun read for a young YA audience with an interest in fairytales and fairytale parodies.