Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes

Genre: Contemporary
Format: Print, Hardcover
Pages: 435
Start Date: February 15th, 2023
End Date: February 23rd, 2023
My Ratings
Overall: ★★
Character Development: ★★★
Ending: ★★
Tear Jerk-ability: 💧
Readability: Easy to read, but super easy to put down.
Tiggers: Mental Health

Summary In My Words

Sam Kemp & Nisha Cantor live two wildly different lives - one is your rub of the mill middle aged woman & the other an extravagant middle aged housewife. Both their lives turn upside down & sideways beginning with the accidental swap of their bags at the gym. 

This is a story of finding yourself, realizing your self worth, & becoming more confident. 

My Thoughts - Contains Spoilers, Continue at Your Own Risk

I won't sugar coat it, I hated this book from the begining. The very first flaw that I cannot overlook is that fact that if both these women were at the gym - they would have had more than JUST their heels as a shoe option. The author literally says Nisha was running . . . . What happened to her sneakers? If they were in her bag, Sam wouldn't have had to wear the obnoxious heels & if they were with Nisha she wouldn't have had to trot around town in the gym flip flops. 

I found the ending to the book fairly predictiable, as soon as Carl asked for the shoes I thought to myself "there is a flash drive in them or something" - but sadly it was the most exciting part of the entire book. The droning on about first world problems for Nisha & the horrible way Sam is treated was kinda boring. I feel for Sam though, throughout the book she's made to be this bad person because she can't be what everyone needs from her constantly. I was SO happy when she finally stood up for herself in the end, but disappointed she didn't leave her husband. While he got his act together in the end, I don't believe he held himself accountable nor did Sam for his atrocious actions. Being down & needing help is important - but not swallowing your pride even for a second to THANK the person keeping your household (& her parents) up & running without grumbling outwardly is just unforgivable. 

All in all, there were some parts to the book that made it better overall. But in all honesty, I have no idea how this has such great reviews. I don't think it would be on my reccomendation list. 

I'm Curious

1. Did you catch the annoying slip of the author about the shoes or did it completely make sense to you?

2. Phil - did you not want to punch him & everyone else surrounding Sam for blaming her for his depression? Mental health is a serious topic & shouldn't ever be considered a character flaw, but to me the fact that even though Sam was doing everything people expected MORE from her.

3. Did you find yourself wanting to know MORE about Nisha's past? I feel like it could have been more detailed in regards to her friend Juliana, I would have liked to know more about their relationship.

4. The love interests . . . We're you bummed Sam didn't get to spend more time with Joel? I'm not condoning affairs, but maybe the "right" choice wasn't going back to Phil, but to welcome a different type of life going forward. As far as Nisha goes, I realize her marriage wasn't full of love, but she only realized that AFTERWARDS, so the jump to the relationship with Aleks was a bit quick in my opinion.

Next Book: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden