If The Shoe Fits

This beautiful cover caught my eye. 'If The Shoe Fits' is McCoy's re-telling of the end of 'Cinderella' and an imaginative continuation of life for the Prince, Cinderella (Celina), and her two step-sisters. The story is told from several different points of view, including each girl, and the Prince, among others.

A must read for fairy tale fans!

I wasn't sure what to think of this story that was a take on Cinderella fairy tale, and skeptical to begin with but I can honestly say I didn't see that coming.

I loved that this story while based on Cinderella was more about her Sisters and what it might have been like for them. What would you do if the one person in the world who should be your advocate and defender instead is your Jailer and abuser? What if that person had magic to ensure you couldn't grow the way you wanted? Would you become an evil sister?

While Juliette right away has redeeming characteristics Rosalind I hated. I didn't want to like her and I wanted her to be smashed in the literary world by fate and her Steward Jonathan. I had it all planned. Then she started to grow and her world started to change. Hats off to you Ms. McCoy you made me relate to her and feel for her...How the heck did you do that?!

While Some people will disagree with me this to me was a fresh take and while Celina gets her time in the spotlight Juliette and Rosalind captivated me and the story drew me in. I really enjoyed this and will be watching for more from Ms McCoy.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this reimagining of Cinderella! It was beautifully written and I loved the world building. Also I loved that the step-sisters weren't bad and they got romances of their own. My only complaint was that the romance between the prince and Celina/Cinderella was more of an background story and I also would have like to seen how they met. That part was completely skipped. But the romances were smoking hot dang *fans self* I can't wait to see what fairy tale Shirley takes on next!

If The Shoe Fits is an intriguing retelling of the Cinderella fairy story with a what-if twist... what if the shoe fits the wrong girl?

Juliette is one of Cinderella's (called Celina in this story) stepsisters. The story begins as Juliette discovers, to her horror, that the shoe fits her foot, even though she's very definitely not the girl the Prince is looking for.

We the readers realize immediately that Juliette is All Right. She doesn't want to marry the prince and she's horrified by her stepmother's wicked machinations (a spell on the slipper and a plan to take over the kingdom). I was almost immediately reminded of Ever After, probably my favorite movie take on the Cinderella story, when one of the stepsisters in that case turns out to be decent too. I immediately found myself rooting for Juliette to get together with her Lord Robert (the prince's best friend).

The other stepsister, Rosalind, is quite a different case. She's angry that the shoe fits Juliette and not her; she's jealous and resentful when their mother Beatrice takes Juliette off to the castle and leaves Rosalind behind to manage the estate and keep Celina imprisoned. Rosalind starts off as a clear villain... and yet, over the course of the story, we begin to see glimpses of someone who's actually quite decent underneath a shallow veneer. A woman who's unwilling to let her stepsister be mistreated and the estate she loves fall to ruin. A woman who's willing to listen to her steward, Jonathan... and even to let herself fall in love with him.

Taking a character who's a clear villain at the beginning of the story and working their way to a thorough redemption by the end isn't an easy task, and the author managed it extraordinarily well. Redemption and forgiveness aren't easily found by any means - I liked Celina, who was a fairly forgettable character in this story, a lot more when she tried to banish Rosalind and Juliette at her first opportunity.

There are three romances in this story; Juliette and Lord Robert, Rosalind and Jonathan, and Celina and Prince Will. Of the three, the story of Cinders and her Prince is the most thinly drawn and I found myself regretting that; I'd have liked to see all three romances given equal weight. Because we never see Will and Celina's first meeting, we're only told about it, it doesn't feel as believable as the other two romances. Yes, it's the story everyone knows, but I'd have liked to see what the author did with it; how did Celina (without allies or magic) get a gown and get to the ball to meet the prince in the first place?

Even that small quibble couldn't dim my enjoyment of the story, though. It was a great variant of a story everyone knows from a completely different point of view. Five stars.

I wanted to like this, I really did. It's got many elements that I really like, romance, fairytales, multiple female protagonists. But it just didn't work for me on so many levels. I finished it because it was a review copy, and it wasn't so bad that I couldn't but it wasn't satisfying. The writing wasn't what I would expect of a published novel and I didn't always believe that the things that the characters said or did were true to themselves.

I thought there was way too much hand-wavey convenience in the plot at times, and I just didn't buy Beatrice as the villain, the King's reaction to things, or their grand plan and the reasons for it to defeat Beatrice. It just didn't work. I wanted to like this and I just didn't care about any of the characters or their story - the writing and the plot devices just kept throwing me out of the story and I'd grimace, think 'what on earth?' and then try again for a few more pages. The idea has awesome potential but I think it fell far short of that.

I found the book to be well-written and interesting. Good solid romance.

Quick warning-this book has some pretty steamy scenes, so if you're uncomfortable with that kind of stuff then you might want to skip this! It's more of a NA than a YA!

This Cinderella retelling was quite original and definitely one to pick up if you're looking for a quick fantasy standalone. But the book was much more character driven than plot driven and that was slightly bothersome to me. It was the usual evil stepmother who wanted to control the kingdom by getting her daughter to marry the prince. There were elements of magic but not really developed.

My favorite character was Rosalind. At the start she comes off as a despicable character but once you get to know her you come to admire her strength and her intelligence. I think the author did a great job on Rosalind because it's not that easy to make readers like a villain. There is no redeeming quality at the beginning for Rosalind; she's jealous and bitter that her mother didn't choose her to be the prince's bride. It was excellent character development!

Juliette was more of a wild spirit. She didn't want to marry a prince and she took on the not-so-bad-sister role. She seemed pretty compassionate since she opposed her mother's plans and she wasn't materialistic in the sense that she was not marrying the prince out of greed. It was more out of fear for her mother.

I wish we'd gotten more of Celina because all we know about her is that she fits the Cinderella stereotype with the gentleness and the innocence and the goodness. But her story was kind of in the background...it wasn't on equal footing with those of her sisters'.

I did really enjoy the bonds between the sisters and the individual love stories. My favorite was of course the love story between Rosalind and Jonathan! Ugh the chemistry between those two!!!! I also loved Lord Robert as a character! HOT DAMN!!!

In the end i'm a teensy bit disappointed...the book had such promise to become a real rich story but it kind of fell flat. Everything was predictable and the reactions of the characters weren't very realistic. But if you're looking for a steamy quick romance with cool characters then this may just suit you!

*This ARC was received in exchange for an honest review*
This is another retelling of the Cinderella story but we see it from the stepsisters side.
The evil stepmother Beatrice has magic and has spelled the glass slipper to ensure that her daughter Juliette ends up with the Prince and that she can then rule on the throne. But things don’t go as planned as we see that the Prince knows Juliette isn’t his love from the ball and he puts his friend and bodyguard on her to see what her plan is, but this leads to an attraction between Lord Robert and Juliette which they want to explore but don’t want to let her stepmother know as serious problems could arise.
Left back home is Rosalind who has to keep a watch on Celine and ensure she doesn’t appear until after the wedding, but Rosalind has other things in mind and with the help of her estate manager Jonathan she gets the farm back to working order, and both become pretty close and there attraction for each other is explosive.
This was a really good retake, but not much about Celine/Cinderella and the Prince but I loved how we could see another side to the stepsisters and how they resolve the complications that have arisen and all can enjoy the love for eachother.

Disappointed. I love finding retellings of fairytales and had such hope for this one. But it just didn't work for me. Picked it up and put it down so often, I've lost track over nearly 2 years. I am sure it will appeal to most who pick it up. Just not for me. DNF. Sorry.