This book does not disappoint! A very easy and fun book to read, I love that we have a plus sized MC and well crafted characters

Review posted on GoodReads (May 19th, 2021)
Review linked below.

4/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book was one of my most anticipated adult romances of 2021 and I was super excited when I got the E-ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed this romance. I honestly couldn't stop reading it once I got past the first chapter. I fell in love with Cindy's character and loved her voice and storytelling. Julie Murphy's writing was so beautiful, and she created such vivid and lovable characters that I instantly connected and fell in love with.

My only critique is that at times, it did feel as if the romance and the plot progressed a bit too quickly. I would have liked a bit more time with the romance and with some of the amazing side characters.

Thanks for reading!
Caden

This one was really fun! And I thoroughly enjoyed it being a plus size MC. Just know everything about this was fun and lovable,

I will do a more detail review soon.

This book is a fun twisted retelling of the classic Cinderella story, complete with evil stepsisters. I love reading books with plus size heroines, and this was no exception. I’d recommend this for anyone wanting a breezy beach read and a whole lot of fun!

I've loved every book that Julie Murphy has written, and this book was no exception. I was interested in the reality TV dating show setup but wary because I never enjoy the evil stepmothers/stepsisters part of Cinderella retellings. Luckily, Murphy must agree with me because the stepsisters and stepmother are all delightful people in this version. I enjoyed the reality TV setup but LOVED that Cindy is a designer straight out of Parsons and ready for her big break. It was so fun to see her chase her dream.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Perfect if you’re in the mood for a romcom. This book is inevitably going to get compared to One To Watch, as the main character is a plus sized woman on a dating show. What sets it apart is how amazing Julie Murphy is. I’ve never read a book by her I didn’t love. Her characters are always so well developed. It’s a sweet, fun, lighthearted book.

I absolutely LOVED this twisted retelling of Cinderella!! Murphy hit it out of the park. I love how the situation was vastly different in that her stepsisters and stepmother didn't hate her nor she them. Some of it was a bit predictable, but overall thoroughly enjoyable.

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!

Thank you Disney Publishing Worldwide for sending me an ARC of Meant to Be: If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Bachelor and Cinderella walk into Project Runway, with glitz and garments, what’s not to love?

If the Shoe Fits follows fresh out of college Cindy as she tries to find her love of fashion design again while grappling with the loss of her parents. When her reality TV empire building step-mother has an empty slot left on Before Midnight; America’s favourite bachelor style show, Cindy joins hoping it can start up her career and love for fashion again. Being a plus sized woman on reality tv is no picnic in the park, but if the shoe doesn’t fit, why not design a new one?

I am fully in love with this book, Julie Murphy wakes up every morning and SERVES with each release, this is a series sure to be a bestseller. Fairy tale retellings are very fickle when it comes to the plot, the storylines and characters, trying to keep it authentic yet still a retelling true to the tale is always a hit or miss. I can guarantee without any spoilers that this book hit the mark! I went into this excited but with not many standards. Too many times have I read a book with a plus sized main character that completely misses, fetishizes, objectifies, degrades or boils down the character to just their size. Cindy is so perfectly Cindy. Her weight was not her entire identity, but rather serves as an inspiration that she gave everything her 100% and even when most would turn her back, she kept charging on. She had passions and emotions, confidence and insecurities that were natural. At every point in the book she made the best with her circumstances (many of which were so frustrating I wanted to scream “WHY WOULD YOU PUT THIS ANGEL OF A PERSON THROUGH THIS??”) which I respect so much. Her heart is so incredibly genuine and her mind is so realistically her that I have no choice but to bow down to the fashion queen at every moment. As a plus sized girl and fashion lover myself, shopping has never been my favourite. The size injustices, the clothing designed for only a certain body type and all of that insecurity causing stuff was addressed in such a good way I have so much respect for it. It’s a tough conversation, but was handled beautifully.

Now, one of my main pet peeves with fairytales, especially Cinderella, is that at the very end, Cinderella is super unrealistic in her choices (I mean, at least make the prince buy you a taco first!) and it always felt like to me that she wasn’t authentically herself, her choices felt wholly reliant on another person and she’d just traded one cage for another. Cindy woke up and chose herself. From the first page to the very last (perfect) line, she chose herself. There’s an ugly notion that bigger girls should be thankful for “whatever they can get”, and I just can’t imagine a story more perfect than a creative, strong woman who is ambitious and fights for what she wants and deserves. As the story unfolds you’ll definitely question why certain choices were made, but after finishing the book I sat outside for 20 minutes replaying everything and the motives, I honestly wouldn’t want this story to unfold any other way.


I fell in love with Julie Murphy’s writing when I read Dumplin’. We saw a girl who didn’t have to give up different parts of herself to fit into a “picture perfect” narrative, to get the guy, to have confidence and be herself, just like in If The Shoe Fits. Growing up, the narrative pushed to me was always that I had to give up, cut down and shrink parts of myself to fit into this perfect cookie cutter box, an idea I painfully held so close to my heart, it burned. I’m slowly unlearning what it means to be plus sized, be a woman and live my life. It’s hard, it’s really really hard, but having authors like Julie Murphy spotlighting and crafting stories about women who can kick ass no matter the size? That’s what makes it worth it so that one day if I have a kid, they don’t grow up with the mentalities I did.

Beautiful, infectious and swoon worthy, this is definitely your perfect read!

What part of tv culture should be made fun of more than reality shows? Add some likeable, and of course, non likeable characters and you have a great book to read.

I was so excited for this book and it did not disappoint!!! Modern fairytale meets total girl power. Can it get any better? Only the rest of the series will tell.

My only complaint is no epilogue. :(

This book was a much needed breathe of fresh air.
The heroine , Cindy, was so lovable and relatable. She obv is a plus sized woman but I love how body positive she is without it being in your face and forced. The way the author wrote so many fresh unique characters was so inclusive in the most natural way. I loved seeing the world through cindys eyes and how she is just a girl living her best life and isn’t pulled down by her weight or insecure but very much aware of the inequalities.

The chemistry between Henry and Cindy is one of the best I’ve ever read. Every moment of
Them was the perfect amount of sweet and slow burn and steamy and friendly.

I loved the sisterhood, the friendships, and I especially loved the relationship between Cindy and Erica.

The only big issues I encountered were the repetitive description of people by calling them “white” over and over again. Also there is a lot of editing that I hope will be corrected before publication date.

Overall I left wanting more of this world. Like this should’ve been a Mariana zapata long kind of book and I would’ve loved every moment.

Unfortunately this one was not for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve DNF’d a book but I really disliked the writing style. The plot was too fast paced and felt like a first draft, with no substance along with the plot points. The voice felt immature and inexperienced, nothing like I’ve come to know from this author. I don’t know what she did so differently with this book but I’m not going to finish reading. sadly.

3.5 stars

If the Shoe Fits is basically a body positive play on Cinderella meets The Bachelor.

What was great about If the Shoe Fits is that the evil stepmom is missing. Cindy’s stepmother is incredibly loving and supportive and the relationship Cindy has with her stepsisters is #goals. Her mom is a producer on a reality TV show that is EXTREMELY similar to The Bachelor and when a couple of contestants drop out right before filming, Cindy and her stepsisters take their place.

The suitor ends up being the hot man she met on her airplane ride home and their chemistry is still there. But for me the story was less about the romance and more about the show, friendships formed, and the sisters. Cindy barely gets any one-on-one time with Henry so their romance felt forced and rushed.

If the Shoe Fits was still a fun and easy book to read. The author included characters of all size, nonbinary and queer, and BIPOC, which almost made it feel like it was trying too hard to be inclusive, yet it worked and felt natural.

Fun and light with no steam, it was a nice start to this new series.

Lighthearted contemporary romantic comedy of believable characters in a reality tv backdrop (add a healthy dose of fashion). Cindy is a recent fashion design grad who, due to a series of events, is unsure how to put one foot (fantastically-shoed, mind you) in front of the other. She stumbles into a reality dating show as a diversion and just maybe will come out on the other end on her own two feet. Murphy weaves positive body image into the story seamlessly. Side characters are well developed. but don't bog you down. LGBTQ+ represented in multiple side characters. A fun read - you'll miss the characters when you finish.

Modern retellings of familiar fairy tales are never going to go away, but it's the spin that makes them interesting. In this telling of Cinderella, Cindy's stepmother and stepsisters are only evil in the "Hollywood elite" sort of way. They are kind and loving to Cindy, becoming fantastically supportive characters despite their obsessions with beauty, fitness, and the limelight. After their support of Cindy's desire to break into the fashion world as a plus-size designer leading to the encouragement of her appearance on a "Bachelor" style reality show, I found myself rooting for them as much as I did for Cindy.

An early meet cute gave Cindy a leg up on the other contestants, but she didn't press the advantage too much. The other characters were a bit stereotypical of the reality show type, but we again saw some encouragement of DEI in Hollywood.

This is good popcorn fiction, a cute fast read.

What a wonderful read! I loved it! Cindy and Henry are adorable but no so twee that you want to roll your eyes. They both have a layered context to them so that you wanted to uncover each part and find out what happens. I couldn't put the book down at all. I think most readers will really love then ending, it does not follow any predictable pattern, so it was a real treat to read how it all unfolded. I particularly loved the fact that the author did not automatically cast the stepmother in a horrible manner, it was truly refreshing. The author also presented a curvier woman in the fashion industry in a more realistic manner which just added to the whole pacing and story arc. This is a must read for those who love a contemporary love story with an irregular fairy tale theme.

About the book:
Cindy Woods has just graduated from fashion design school without much of a post-career plan - thanks to the grief of losing bother her parents before college finally hitting her months before she gets her degree. Though she doesn't want to leave New York, without a job, she doesn't have a choice. Back home in LA, she plans to take care of her half siblings for her incredibly busy stepmom, who works as the executive producer on reality TV's biggest dating show Before Midnight. When a couple of the contestants fall through, Cindy offers to help. Turns out America has been waiting for a plus sized role model on a show like this, and Cindy is having more fun than she ever imagined - maybe even falling in love too?

TL;DR:
- 4.5 stars
- Content warnings: loss of a parent(s), subtle and aggressive fatphobia
- Julie Murphy can genuinely do no wrong. This was just like any of my favorites of hers, sweet, poignant, true to itself, and adorable. Would recommend this one for anyone who loves a fairytale, likes the bachelor/ette!, or just loves Julie Murphy.

Loved:
- I LOVE Cinderella - growing up she was my favorite princess, so I love any retelling. This was really really loose as far as retellings go, considering Cindy's family was actually incredibly sweet and good to her, which I really appreciated as a welcome tweak to the original story.
- I like the way the portrayal of the reality TV show element felt extremely honest. It felt to me like Cindy felt the same way about the bachelor/ette shows as I do, which is to say, succinctly: it's complicated. Murphy did an amazing job crafting a character who was aware of the pitfalls and benefits of these shows, and who was also aware of how someone fat could suffer the vitriol of trolls on the internet just by existing in a space like that.
- I love (though I don't know it well) fashion, and thought the way that was a big part of the story was so cute. There were some honest discussions of fatphobia in fashion and confrontations of the lack of accommodation for fat people in fashion. That was awesome.
- I also love New York, and thought the scenes that took place there were so so cute. Maybe the pandemic has gotten to me, but imagining a perfectly imperfect date with a cute guy on the streets of Manhattan had me crying at 1AM...
- And finally, I LOVED all the various representation in the book. There weren't many main characters but there was so much diversity in the cast of side characters! I just. Really enjoy that. I could NOT find that in the books I read as a kid and it's really nice to have it just be a given.

Less into:
- I felt like I didn't get to know Henry that much! No real problem with that, because I think this book was more about Cindy discovering herself and going on her own journey, but I do wish I could've seen inside his head a bit. Again, the very smallest complaint about this, really. What I did know about him, I liked.
- There were a couple plot holes/goofs but since this was an ARC I imagine those will all be ironed out by publish!

Overall a classic Julie Murphy tale. I loved it. I can't wait for the rest in the series, and to see whose story she tells next.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I loved everything about this book!

To start, I love how it's a Cinderella retelling. I was super interested to see how the author would tackle that considering there are already so many different interpretations when it comes to a story as famous as Cinderella, and I would be happy to report that Julie Murphy did a fantastic job of keeping the idea of Cinderella, adding hints here and there based on the original story, but making it completely her own, and doing a fantastic job at it.

I love seeing more representation of plus-sized characters to further be able to diversify MCs in romance books, or any books. Plus, I love the whole reality TV approach to this book as well, it felt like I was watching The Bachelor and sometimes, living through it too.

Read this book! You'll love it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for the earc in return for an honest review.

I recieved a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was okay. I guess my biggest problem was that I didn't really see a connection the Cindy and Henry. There just isn't enough of them together to care about their relationship.
Cindy is a recent fashion design school graduate who has lost her muse. She agrees to go on her stepmother The Bachelor esque show in order to get her name out there and win the prize money.
Henry is only on the show to get brand recognition for his mothers failing fashion empire.
The setup of a who reality show didn't allow the 2 to spend enough time together.
I also didn't like how everything was about Cindy being fat. That was her entire thing on the show. The fat one.
At the end of the day Henry was boring with no personality and Cindy was also 2 dimensional.
Writing this review made me realize how much less I liked this book than I originally thought. 2-2.5 stars.