Cat Johnson Braves Doll Lil’s Word Association Challenge!

Author: Lynne Tapper
Book: Living With Feet Too Big For A Glass Slipper
Release: April 29th, 2011
Series: It Is What It Is Chronicles
Reviewer: Alli Perry
Source: Midas Public Relations
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Welcome to the mythical kingdom of It Is What It Is, where everything is as it seems and people are the perfect performers in the game of life. In the year of 1212 B.R., Before Reason, the beautiful Princess Innocent is born in the Royal Borough of Look At Me, one of the many Drama Districts that constitute the Kingdom. Having been raised on the propaganda of the fairytale, Princess Innocent is ill-prepared for her life’s journey when she leaves the castle to find her one true prince. Unfortunately she finds Prince Bad Boy, Captain Unavailable, Lord Lie-A-Lot and Prince Rescue-Me, among others. Both a parody of the fairytale and modern-day satire on the search for love in all the weird and wacky places, Innocent’s fraught journey captures the essence of what it is to be fantastically human.

When I first was asked to review this book, I didn’t really know what to expect. I’ve never really read anything that was fairytale based. When we were little girls, we all dreamed of finding our Prince Charming and having the perfect life, right? But what would happen if we never found him and our lives crumbled right before our very own eyes? Would we be able to pick up the pieces and become whole again, or would we just accept our fate for what it is? Princess Innocent was faced with that quandary in Living With Feet Too Big For A Glass Slipper. At the age of 18, she was sent away from her parents to find love and discover herself. Throughout the book, she has numerous run-ins with quasi lovers who teach her all sorts of things from amazing love making skills to drug addiction enabling. Princess Innocent goes from riches to rags, and everything in between eventually winding up at rock bottom. It isn’t until then that Princess Innocents’ journey through self love and acceptance is started.

I honestly really liked this book. Tapper’s writing style is very whimsical with boat loads of alliteration, my favorite being “Her heart heaved with heaviness.” It’s all cutesy, and much reminiscent of a true fairytale. However, this may be annoying to some, but I found it really added to the story and kept true to the theme. This book has beautiful artwork! The pages have ivy of some sort around the page numbers, and sections have art to illustrate the upcoming story. As with most fairytales, I kept wondering “When will she meet her one true prince?” Princess Innocent goes through numerous suitors destined to fail from the start (it’s all in the name), and even loses some good ones like “Prince Good Guy.” Besides going through a slew of failed relationships, she also has numerous friendships that start and fail, most of her own volition. Just be prepared for a slightly monotonous rehashing of her relationship ineptness. The story is approximately 11 to 12 years of Princess Innocent’s life, with most of her character development occurring in the last 1/4 of the book. I’m sure you’ll begin to wonder when she’ll grow up, stop being naive and making terrible decisions. I know I did.

I don’t usually gives quotes from the book, but I found two that I really liked so much that I actually dog-eared them! The first one comes from meeting a man named Plain Shane from the Kingdom of the Long White Clouds. I read this and sighed out loud. How amazing would this be if it were true. Go ahead and get the sighing over with.

“There is an ancient lore from the indigenous population of the Long White Clouds. They believe that each of us has a soul which when the body dies, comes back into many lifetime incarnations. The soul is playful and joyful and seeks to gain as much knowledge and experience as can be absorbed. Like any pupil attending school, the soul chooses the subjects he or she will study in each lifetime. They will seek out those experiences and those people who can teach those life lessons. Some souls choose to divide into two pieces to learn about love, longing and separation, and spend lifetimes trying to reunite. Some souls will reunite for almost an entire lifetime, others for a few years and others simply for a few hours.” 

And the second, from Master Love, a man who helps people find true happiness. It definitely made me have some introspection.

“You must detach yourself from the idea that true love and joy only comes from princes, places, and platitudes. This line of thought will imprison you forever as you seek something that is only a myth. Joy is not out there, attached to some future acquisition it is always alive inside, waiting for you to access it. When you learn to give yourself love and put that love into everything you do then you will be free and joyful. If you are going to go through pain don’t waste it, learn from it. Life brings you so many fleeting circumstances in which to grow. Use them wisely. You must not hold on to those experiences reliving them over and over, rather treat them as shooting stars, sent your way to shine a light on a lesson you needed to learn. Release the circumstance and hold only onto the lesson.” 

Wow right? My point is, albeit some of the story gets redundant with failed relationships, at least at the end you get this massive life lesson that makes you feel good inside when you’ve finished reading it! To quote my ATL home boys OutKast “So fresh and so clean!” Of course it wouldn’t be a fairytale without a happy ending, but I’ll let you figure out how that happens. Wrapping up (I know this one seems long!), I’d definitely recommend this book to a friend. It was a fantastic fun read through a magical journey in a make-believe land fraught with no-good princes and fair-weathered friends. It might bring out the child in you, if even just for a moment. I also want to mention that this is the first book in a series. Please check out the authors website to find out more about the other stories.

Alli has always been a lover of books. Her mom even has a photograph of her sleeping curled up in a book rack as a young child. From reading R.L. Stein’s Fear Street books as a young teen to reading just about anything and everything these days, her love for great stories has never ceased. She even thought to pursue her love of books with an English degree in college, but decided science was more of her forte. She currently resides in Georgia with her husband, her Boston Terrier (Maddie), and two fluffy cats (Chummy, Lulu) where she works as a research scientist. When her nose isn’t in a book, she enjoys anything outdoorsy and running races/ triathlons in her spare time.

Doll Alli

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