Julie Murphy (Dumplin') makes her adult (with YA crossover appeal) debut with a sweet romance that's a Cinderella retelling with the first plus-size contestant on a Bachelor-esque reality TV show. Now, I gotta tell you up front: I love a clever retelling, but I hate The Bachelor, and I'm not much of a Disney, princess, or Disney Princess fan. So. Three stars is a pretty respectable showing for this.

I'd say the strong points are the fat rep and body positivity (with a call-out on the fashion industry and their still woefully inadequate expanded sizes), the depiction of the manipulative reality behind the "reality" show, the friends and family vibes (the step-family is not Disney evil here), and the parts of the romance that took place outside the reality TV setting. Predictably, I hated the Bachelor-esque parts, thought there was a lot of repetitiveness to all that awfulness, and wasn't feeling some of the transitions and concluding scenes.

I am interested enough to keep watching this series, though. It's supposed to be a multi-author 4-book series of reimagined Disney Princesses. And the next one is a Belle/Beauty and the Beast retelling by Jasmine Guillory.

Topics, tropes and themes: step-family, Hollywood, design, accessible fashion, Cinderella retelling, body positivity, reality TV, truth, appearances, family obligation, quarter-life crisis, secret dating trope, the Bachelor, shoes
Content notes: death of a parent, terminal illness, car accidents, fatphobia, manipulation, Reality TV style mean girls