Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: Shoe Addicts Anonymous
Author: Beth Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 0-312-36468-7 (Hardcover)
Release Date: June 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: Fiction/Chick-Lit
Year/Setting: Present/Bethesda, MD
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: *None (*There is a sexual/graphic conversation but used only in a "comic" sense")
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: Minimal
Violent Content Rating: None
Beth's Website: www.bethharbison.com
"Addictions can either kill you or make you rich." The playful plot of this book is the addiction to immaculate, "to-die-for" footwear. If you’re going to serve out eternity in the Devil’s pit, than at least do it wearing the most delicious shoes in the world – that way the pain will be worth it.
This book focuses on four women who share this humorous addiction. The first the reader is introduced to is, Lorna Rafferty. She is the laugh riot of them all. When her electricity gets shut off, she tries to remember the last time she paid her bill by figuring out what shoes she wore on the day she thinks she wrote the check. (She just sent a payment out on the day she wore those wonderful pink shoes with the bows to the holiday cookout.) Up to her eyeballs in debt, Lorna spends half of her time avoiding calls from the helpful banker who wants to save her from overdraft fees, and the other half watching EBay shoppers bid for the "next greatest shoe." When she meets a credit counselor she struggles so hard, trying to figure out which is better to keep: the VISA with a $4,200 limit and 9% interest rate, or the AMEX with the $10,000 limit and 16% interest rate. As she suffers over the agony of this decision, she’s reminded of Sophie’s Choice. 
Next we meet Helene Zaharis, the perfect politician’s wife. Her husband is a jerk looking at the White House in his future who has cancelled his wife’s credit cards until she supplies him with a baby. Up next: Sandra Vanderslice. Working as a telephone-900-babe, she is also agoraphobic. Combined with her lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem, is the childhood past of being the fat daughter while her sister was the golden child. She orders her shoes online and is too scared to put herself in social situations. (She is a sweetheart and you’ll route for her through the whole book.) Finally we meet Jocelyn Bowen. She works as a nanny for a seriously strange family who harbor quite interesting secrets.
Add in a snotty, fun, sarcastic salesman, Luis, who works in Ormond’s shoe department and you end up with a perky, fun story that offers more philosophical and fashionable points than a Jimmy Choo stiletto. From blackmail to bankruptcy – friendship to fun – this book is a gem.
Amy
Question or comment regarding the review or the book? Click here and let Amy know.
Top
Reviews
Featured Reviews
Archived Reviews