THE SHOE QUEEN

Author: Anna Davis ISBN: 141653735X 6/2007 FICTION Publisher: POCKET BOOKS
Time Period: 1920s

When English society beauty Genevieve Shelby King spots the most exquisite lace slippers on the feet of her archrival, she covets a pair of her own. But the exclusive designer, Paolo Zachari, denies her request—and no amount of money from her wealthy American husband will change his mind. Soon Genevieve's desire for a pair of unobtainable shoes develops into an obsession with their elusive creator—threatening her marriage. Zachari awakens her to a passion beyond anything she has ever known, forcing her to confront the emptiness of her elaborately designed life and a secret buried deep in her past.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I love this title, THE SHOE QUEEN. The tale, however, has little to do with shoes, other than using them to point to the emptiness in Genevieve Shelby King's life. The time is the 1920s in Paris, and society is hopping. Nightlife flourishes. Parties, and the designer creations women wear to these gatherings, are of the utmost concern. Genevieve has found a niche in the midst of it all, and believes she's at least content to party and laugh with the rest of the Parisian elite until she sees another women wearing a pair of beautiful lace slippers. Genevieve decides she must have a pair herself—at all costs.

While the title is wonderful, the book itself left something to be desired. If all the reader is looking for is a birds'-eye view at Paris at its best in the Roaring Twenties, then this book is unrivaled. But if the reader is looking for a love story, this isn't the book to read. I found Genevieve to be so incredibly self-absorbed I wanted to scream. While the story itself is told well, the heroine is ridiculously immature and completely unlikable. There are no strong characters in this, aside from the woman Genevieve's lover is paired with. She has a minor spot in the story, which is probably fortunate since although she's strong-willed, she's fairly foul-tempered.

I'm sorry, but THE SHOE QUEEN pinched my toes. All of them.

Kay James