Lovely Shoes by Susan Shreve

Francine Hall was born with a birth defect that affects her feet, but she still has a fairly nice life. That is until the Valentine's Dance at school. After a humiliating accident with her orthopedic shoes, she insists upon staying in her room for the rest of her life. But then her Mother comes up with the idea to contact the famous shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo and ask him to make Franny a special pair of shoes. His answer comes as a surprise and Franny and her mother are soon on their way to Italy in a trip that will change Franny forever.

This book was tedious for me to read. There's really no other way to say it. It has an adorable premise and a very pretty cover, but inside it required a lot of work to get through it. Perhaps the biggest problem was that Franny was hardly a sympathetic character. I got the impression she enjoyed feeling like no one liked her. It was hard to believe that a short trip to Italy left enough time to have such life-changing appeal to it. The mom was the only real redeeming piece of this book, as she wanted nothing more that to see her daughter happy. I appreciated how Franny's mom was very much a part of her life but also left Franny to her own decisions and growth. The story has a sweet and tidy ending, but I am not sure the YA audience is going to be interested in reading this book just because it has a cool mom in it.

Overall Rating: 2 Stars