I'm "vertically challenged" -- my son took my measurements to enter into a fit calculator for cycling, and he said, mom, I don't know if they make bikes for your size. He was quite surprised - they do! I'm only 4'10"-1/4. I got a 43cm Trek with 650c tires. It's the 650c tires that made the big difference for me.
My bike is small - like me!

Trek, Felt, Fuji, and GT make women specific bikes that come in 43cm or so, with 650c tires. The problem I had was the bike shops didn't have 43cm for me to try. But then the third bike shop was a privately owned shop next to a college campus and it had two 43cm bikes, both in my price range and with what I was looking for.