Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Disney Reimagined for Grown-Ups

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

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The first Meant To Be book I ever got was If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy. That’s because it was the first Meant To Be book at all, and as a religious reader of the Twisted Tales, I was curious what an adult contemporary line from Disney would look like. Of course, like many other things, it fell behind, and it wasn’t until a year or so later that I actually picked up a Meant To Be book—and this time it was By the Book by Jasmine […]

Disney tricked me and I’m not even mad!

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

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I have loudly declared for a long time that we should have a hiatus on all Cinderella remakes. And I have rallied for a shorter time on the sad habit of Disney retreading old IP over and over again. It’s not that I am so mad about them redoing the same fairy tales all the time, but in a world where there are truly hundreds of versions of their Disney Princess tales, why not tell a fresh version of the story? I decided to read […]

Will you accept this…shoe?

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

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A few years ago, I discovered Julie Murphy by way of Dumplin’, which made the rounds around CBR and if I remember right, everyone pretty much loved it. If the Shoe Fits is cute – not as awesome as Dumplin’ – but still an interesting retelling of Cinderella, only without the wicked stepmother and stepsisters. (They’re much nicer in this version.) Cindy is a recent graduate of Parson’s School of Design, but she feels a bit adrift and not particularly inspired after graduation. She returns […]

…Then Wear It

If the Shoe Fits: A Meant to be Novel by Julie Murphy

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I picked up If the Shoe Fits, the first in a series of fairy tale modernizations, awhile ago but finally got around to reading it this week. It’s also the first Julie Murphy I’ve read which feels silly because I loved the adaptation of Dumplin’ on Netflix. As you might guess from the title, this first book in the series is a take on Cinderella and it’s just delightful. It’s set on a Bachelor-like reality show which keeps the tone light but also deals with […]

Two books about fat girls

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy

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Dumplin’ By Julie Murphy   I’ve been meaning to read Dumplin’ for a while.  As a fat girl myself, it only seemed appropriate to read about another fat girl joining a beauty pageant.  But the story is so much more than that!   Willowdean Dixon is the daughter of a former Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant winner, one who never really left the pageant behind.  Willowdean’s mother runs the pageant every year, turning their lives into a pageant hurricane zone.  But it never really bothered […]

“In the clear and steady gleam of electric lights, superstition turns to foolishness; in the crucible of the combustion engine, false beliefs are burned away.” (Bingos #9 & 10)

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite by Zoraida Cordova & Natalie Parker (editors)

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My Halloween read this year is this collection of new vampire tales edited by the team of Zoraida Cordova and Natalie Parker. I enjoy vampire stores because they offer so many different views onto the human condition, if you go looking for them. In Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite Cordova and Parker, along with the assembled authors, take the time to dig in and explore these angles – with postscripts by Cordova and Parker after each story. Let’s handle individual stories in […]



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