When it comes to fiction, I lean more toward historical, although I’m slowly being wooed to the contemporary romance genre.
So, when I saw the trailer for If the Shoe Fits by Sandra D. Bricker, I decided to give it a try. (Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book from Moody/River North in exchange for my review.)
Take a look:
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/67661585 w=400&h=300]
I’m always intrigued by a new take on a familiar fairy tale, and this one flips the story with the woman looking for the man who fits the boot she finds with a toolbox in an intersection after a near-collision. Julianne and her best friend from childhood Will have opened their own law firm in Cincinnati. Will has been in love with Julianne for 20 years, and she’s clueless. Her glimpse of the guy at the intersection sends her on a quest to find out if he’s her missing Prince Charming.
I mostly felt sorry for both characters. Will seems a little bit pathetic, unwillingly to risk the friendship to tell her how he feels meanwhile always being her back-up date to work functions. He makes a couple of bold moves during the story, and I found myself liking him best when he did. Julianne I couldn’t make myself like. She’s a little flighty and basically can’t see what’s right in front of her in Will. She has a good heart and does many likable things, but I just couldn’t connect with her. 
This was my first Sandra Bricker novel, and I thought it was just okay. I got a little tired of reading about Julianne’s “honey-blond hair” and the flow of the story was not smooth. The author adds a lot of adverbs to her descriptions of the character’s speech, and I found myself hung up on those words.
I wanted to see it through to the end because–duh!–everyone wants a happy ending, but even that left me a little bit disappointed.
Overall, I think I just wanted more. I wanted more emotion from both characters and more tension in their story. There weren’t a lot of surprises throughout. I might still give this author another chance on some of her other books, but this is not the kind of book that would convince me to read contemporary romance.
To end on a positive note: it’s a light read with some funny scenes. I could see certain scenes played out like a sitcom.
