Charlie Glass's Slippers

May 15, 2014

Charlie Glass, like Cinderella, has been traumatized her whole life by her nasty stepmother and two stepsisters. She cares for her father, shoe designer Elroy Glass, during a long illness and when he dies, he leaves the controlling interest in the business to Charlie instead of her admittedly more glamorous siblings. This inspires Charlie to transform herself from frumpy to fabulous via boot camp in California and a makeover. Then she is ready to shake up the business and make it worthy of her father's legacy. Along the way Charlie hooks up with a modern-day Prince Charming, finds out how hard it is to look effortlessly gorgeous, and uncovers some information that might help her solve the decades-long mystery of her mother's death. VERDICT This reimagined fairy tale is a humorous and fast-paced read that will appeal to fans of classic chick lit a la Jane Green, Helen Fielding, or Sophie Kinsella.--Karen Core, Detroit P.L.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
McQueen (There Goes the Bride, 2012) offers a modern spin on the Cinderella fairy tale. Charlie Glass is one of famed shoe designer Elroy Glass' daughters: the frumpy, chubby one. After her father's death, in return for the years she spent caring for him during a debilitating illness, Charlie inherits the controlling interest in his business. Elroy's ex-wife and business partner, Diana, who terrorized Charlie after her mother's death, is furious, and Charlie's fashionable half-sisters, Gaby and Robyn, are bewildered: they expected to take the reins. Charlie escapes to a boot-camp retreat and returns with a full-body makeover and fresh ideas for the floundering Elroy Glass business. But Diana is determined to undermine her in the boardroom, and Charlie's best friend, Lucy, and longtime crush, Ferdy, are not fans of the new Charlie. McQueen's latest NA tale will delight readers with its Bridget Jones-esque heroine and fluffy plot, but there is also depth here as McQueen subtly critiques today's image-obsessed society.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)