Never read a Sophie Cousens book I didn’t love, and The Good Part is no exception. I love the touch of magical realism with the flash-forward in time. Who among us hasn’t wished we could just fast forward through rough times to the good part? Young Lucy, an early twenty-something living in London wishes she could just get through this phase of her life - the living in a damp, smelly flatshare with odd roommates, going on bad date after bad date, and despite a recent promotion, still living on the bottom rung at her tv production job. After a leaking ceiling and a really bad date and being asked to make a coffee run one too many times, Lucy is over it. When she stumbles into a corner shop late one night, feeling particularly low (and drunk) she finds an odd shopkeeper and an ever odder machine in the back corner, named “The Wishing Machine”. Making a wish that she can just fast-forward to the good part, she wakes up the next morning to find that she has, in fact, fast forwarded through sixteen years of her life to “the good part”. She’s married to Sam, “the one”, and they have two lovely children, Felix and Amy. They live in a beautiful home in the London suburbs, and Lucy commutes to London to her fancy TV production job where she is the boss. It seems like all her dreams came true, except she can’t remember a moment of it. She doesn’t remember meeting Sam or falling in love, she doesn’t remember having children, or the payoff for her hard work in moving up the ranks at work to the point where she runs her own company. So when she learns that there’s also been loss during those years, she questions if this is really what she wants. If it was worth fast-forwarding to the good part when it means missing out on all the bits leading up to it, the hard parts that make it worth it. As she continues to mourn the time and people lost, her memory also begins to fill in, and she’s left with a choice - go back with no memory of what’s to come, or stay and subsist on the memories alone. This book left me in tears multiple times throughout, but especially towards the end, but there is also so much humor packed in (Felix is truly the star of the book). Truly a heartbreaking but heartwarming book!

This was a really cute rom-com! Lucy is down on her luck and kind of fed up with where she is at in life. She makes a wish to skip to "The good part" of life. She ends up waking up 16 years later with no memories, married, and with children. As she tries to adjust to this new future and find a way back to the present, she thinks a lot about her life and those years she missed out on. I loved that this was a rom-com, but it made you think about life and consider what you would do in Lucy's situations. I was really able to connect with the storyline of this book with where I am at in my own life. This was a great read!

The Good Part offered so much more than I expected. It’s a delightful, heart-felt exploration of what happens if we skip the hard parts and move straight into the golden parts of life. Do those moments hold the same meaning when we don’t feel the challenge of getting there?

This unique book uses magical realism to explore every angle of that question and I found myself fascinated from start to finish. Of all the books I’ve read this year, this is the only one I read in a single day. It’s THAT good!

The pacing was perfection and well balanced between being light and funny and deeply emotional. The characters were are easily to love, too! I really enjoyed every moment of reading this book and felt like it gave me a new perspective on my own life.

This is my first book by Sophie Cousens and I’ve already queued up her others for my next reads! Instant fan!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. Perhaps, in part, because I’m currently almost the age of Lucy in her time-jump life and this made me think about how the last 16 years of my life have shaped so much of who I am. To lose those memories, the good and the bad, would be devastating. I’m not a crier while reading but I got misty-eyed towards the end. Sam is a sweet, sweet cinnamon roll of a man and I would have been fine with a little more of him in this book. I have found that watching married couples fall back in love is a favorite plot line for me and we get some of that in this book. The flirting and chemistry of getting to begin again is a lovely story to read. Felix almost steals the show and the banter between him and Lucy cracked me up. This just worked for me. If you liked Big, Thirteen Going on Thirty, The Family Man and even Freaky Friday then you will love this book just as much as I did. This is my second Sophie Cousens book and I am definitely going to make sure I get to the rest of her backlist.

I received an advanced copy of this book. The thoughts and opinions on this review are my own.

Content Notes: Loss of loved ones, closed door romance

this was my first introduction to sophie cousens, and it was a very cute read! her books often come up as recommendations so i was super excited to receive an arc of the good part.

i like a lot of aspects of this book, and i think the reverse time concept is really interesting. making lucy recreate her life in a short time by grasping a new reality was a really cool idea, and sophie cousens really nailed the emotions that someone with amnesia would feel under the circumstances.

i think the reason i can’t quite bring myself to give this five stars is because i struggle with how long is took lucy to try and enjoy her life. she was blessed with a loving husband and two beautiful kids, but she refuses to engage for such a long time. i recognize that the change is intense, but it’s just shocking that she repelled her kids, husband, etc. so strongly. i also think the ending was a little sad for me. i’m happy she was happy and that events fell into place, but i think the choice she made was definitely not what i predicted.

all plot critiques aside, this is a fun book that readers will enjoy. fans of christina lauren and rebecca serle will enjoy this one

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens
Narrator: Kerry Gilbert
Rating: 5 stars
Pub date: 11/7

Sometimes, a book comes along at the exact right time, and this was the case for me with The Good Part, by Sophie Cousens. Who knew that some of my favorite books this year would be time-travel stories?

Lucy, a 26-year-old navigating the trials of a lackluster job and disastrous dates, stumbles upon a curious wishing machine. When she wishes to skip to the good part of her life, she wakes up in her early 40s with a fulfilling career, a loving husband, and two adorable children. What follows is a witty, emotional, and relatable read that will stay with me for a long time.

This book is both enchanting and grounded in reality. As a forty-something, married mother of three, I sometimes wonder if this is the “good part” of my life. And I have to remember that, yes, it is! This is the life I wished and hoped for in my twenties, and I think it’s easy to lose sight of that on a bad day. This book was a beautiful, heartwarming reminder of that. Lucy’s experiences felt authentic and thought-provoking, offering a realistic portrayal of the trade-offs and growth that come with different stages of life.

The complexity of choices and whether we'd really want to skip over the difficult parts of life are at the heart of the story. I adored Lucy’s husband, Sam, Lucy’s children, and all the references to the future and the technological advances there. The romance is sweet, and while there are romantic elements present, this story is also about self-love, family, and friendships. Lucy's journey is one of self-discovery, and the growth of all the characters in the book is touching and heartfelt.

I was laughing, nodding in agreement, and even shedding a few tears throughout. If you've enjoyed movies like “The Family Man” and "13 Going On 30," you'll love this book, which takes those themes to a deeper level. The Good Part delivers a captivating, engaging story I highly recommend to anyone seeking a feel-good, thought-provoking read. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this on audio, and Kerry Gilbert did an outstanding job with the different accents and made me feel like I was a part of the story. Thank you so much, Putnam Books, for my ARC and PRH for my gifted ALC.

This was my first Sophie Cousens book, and I LOVED it. It was the perfect blend of heartwarming, hilarious, and wholesome.

I have ZERO bad things to say about this book. I quite literally laughed out loud so many times, and I genuinely liked every character, which almost never happens. The magic realism was in the vein of 13 Going on 30 or Big, and I loved the concept.

I was so sad that this book was over, I wanted more, so I’m definitely running to read the rest of her books!

Thank you to Sophie Cousens, Penguin Group Putnam, and NetGalley for this ARC!
Publication date 11/7/23

We've all been there, wishing away the season of life we're in and dreaming of the life we want. But, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for! The Good Part brilliantly explores that old adage through the eyes of Lucy Young, who starts the book at age 26 and wakes up to find herself living her own life 16 years later. This was my first Sophie Cousens book, but it won't be my last.

This book was an absolute delight, and I can't wait for the world to read it in just a few weeks!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.
I really enjoyed the book, the plot, the characters. I think that latter part of the book was harder to read the the beginning. It reminded me of the movies where teens switch time lines, Thirteen Going on 30, etc. Overall out was a good read.

3.5 stars
I understood Lucy's desire to skip to the good part of life. Her job, her living situation, and her love life at 26 are less than ideal. She finds a wishing machine (very reminiscent of the movie Big), and the next morning wakes up at 42 in a dream of a future life. Most of the book is spent as Lucy tries to navigate having jumped and not having memories, and how she feels like she's lost 16 years.
I loved the conversations between Lucy and her son, Felix, and watching her fall in love with her husband. She struggles with trying to find and even trying to decide if she wants to go back.
I don't know that I loved how it turned out, and I truly would have enjoyed a longer epilogue that got a little farther into things, but it was a good book and a nice story, and it was a bit different enough for me from the other ways this tropes has been done (many of which the author referenced in her acknowledgements).

Enjoyed the book! Great writing, plot and character building! It reminded of the movie 13 going on 30 but just the main character was a little older.
I will be reading more of her books!

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

The first quarter to third of the book was interesting, but after the "twist" I just couldn't really connect with the plot.

I think the book could have had another edit or two and had 10-15% of the length cut, but it's a cute book and a fairly fast read.

I'm not sure what expected, but I was kind of disappointed with what I got. It's not awful and it's super easy to read, but it just feels incomplete.

Wow. I am SUCH a fan of Sophie Cousens and she just keeps getting better and better. The Good Part is beautiful, sweet, poignant, FUNNY, tear jerking story about the struggle that is your late 20s and 30s, and why that struggle might be worth it.

Lucy is a struggling 26 year old who, after a series of unfortunate events, wishes to get to “the good part” of her life. She wakes up the next morning 16 years older with a family and a career that she could only dream of at 26.

To be honest, I couldn’t get enough of this book. I read it in a day and was so sad when it ended! I loved Lucy and adored her extremely relatable response to suddenly wake up nearly two decades in the future. And she had such a lovely family and friends! I think Cousens is just really good at writing characters who you’d like to hang out with.

There’s some romance in this book (and I loved it!) but the crux of the story is really Lucy’s journey of self discovery.

I’d recommend this to fans of Christina Lauren and Emily Henry. Five BIG stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc!

Lucy is a 26 year old who is fed up with barely getting by in life. When she wishes for 'the good part' the wish comes true and she find herself 16 years in her future. While this has some great reviews, I find myself in the minority and found this book frustrating and while I believe the author wants you to see Lucy as quirky and endearing, reminiscent of the time when we were young and carefree, I found her to be quite unlikeable. Maybe I am just jaded or not the intended audience of this book, with 2 children myself and while not quite 42, I am definitely no longer a young adult. Take that for what you will.

****spoilers****

Lucy is 26 when she time jumps. 26 is a fully fledged adult. She was living on her own (albeit with roommates), had a full time job, and while that transition out of college can be a challenge and sure her job sucked, she was doing it! When she finds herself in her 42 year old body, I didn't expect her to suddenly have the life experience of her 42 year old self but the level of naïveté and her absolutely ridiculous decision making made me feel like it would have been more appropriate coming from a young teen going into her adult self. I mean, who sees a c-section scar and their first reaction is to think someone made her a drug mule! And I just absolutely can't with her attempt at parenting. I get being clueless when it comes to suddenly raising two kids...but it was as if she had never even seen a child in her life.

Time travel tropes have been done time and time again and it's actually one of my favorite fantastical elements but there was no spin here to make this unique. I was regularly distracted trying to remember where I had heard this all before. On top of being reminded of every other time travel story I've heard, I think I was constantly reminded of an old episode of Quantam Leap where they realize that kids can see who they really are. BTW, Felix (her son who thinks she's an alien) was the best thing about this book.

While the above almost had me DNF this book multiple times, there were things that I appreciated about it. As mentioned, Felix was a great character. He's 7 years old and his wonder and exploration into thinking his mom was an alien felt so true. I just wanted to hug him. I actually enjoyed the spin on second chance romance here. While I think it could have been a little more robust, I appreciated the confusion and concern that Sam, her husband, had. He was charming and you could really tell that through all the trials of life, he truly loved her. While her reaction to him took some time to build up, I overall enjoyed the romantic aspects. Her friend group that she had since childhood is rare and the way they came together is what we all hope for in a friendship.

Overall this just wasn't it for me. I just really struggled to find Lucy realistic or relatable. There wasn't even a flare of nostalgia for me looking back to when I was 26. This is not because I had it all together...I did not! I actually found her circumstances very relatable...it was her reactions in regards to it all that I struggled with.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The ending of The Good Part by Sophie Cousins is not as expected. A non-traditional twist that just might make you rethink the good part.

I was a little on the fence at the beginning of this book, but I ended up loving it! I loved the storyline. Lucy is in her twenties, struggling to make her mark in the TV industry. After making a wish at a wishing machine, she wakes up decades into her future. Lucy tries to navigate a family, friends, and an awe-inspiring career in TV! Very sweet and fun read.

[4.5 rounded to 5] The Good Part is a fun take on 13 Going on 30. Lucy Young is 26 and tired of everything from her job working for senior TV producers to her lack of a decent love life. One day she makes a wish on a wishing machine to fast forward to the good part of her life. She wakes up with a man next to her and two children, a 7-year-old named Felix and an 18-month-old, 16 years in the future. With her having no memory of how she arrived at this part in her life, readers follow Lucy as she discovers all the details of this new life while also figuring out her past.

The story starts off slower as it sets the foundation for Lucy’s pitfalls. Then it moves into a slower transition into her discovering her new life. While neither of these sections were boring, I found myself truly sucked into the story afterwards. This story relies on the characters to carry the novel and all of them were great. There are some happy moments and some sadder moments, but the story ultimately worked out well. I have only read one other novel by Cousens, so I am glad that I gave this one a try. I love the concept of fast-forwarding to your future just to see what it is like. This also provided the interesting conundrum of if you did fast-forward, would you want to stay there or would you want to go back to live those moments. Overall, this was a very enjoyable experience and I greatly look forward to reading more from Cousens in the future.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for the opportunity to read this enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed are completely my own.**

Sophie Cousens has done it again. Another gorgeously unique love story that is different from her previous books and from any other romance I’ve recently read. A bit of time travel and magical realism drives the plot, which is not new to romance novels but is new to Sophie Cousens. It works perfectly! I will read anything she writes and can’t wait to purchase a physical copy of THE GOOD PART for my collection. All the stars!

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Lucy is twenty-five years old and feels as though she's in a rut with a crappy apartment that she shares with 3 other roommates, a job where she feels that she's at the bottom of the totem pole, and no love life. One night she comes across a wishing machine and makes a wish to skip to the good part of her life. She wakes up the next morning in the middle of her dream life (or so she thinks) having skipped 16 years ahead. What she finds and learns is so much more than she could have ever expected. The growth in this one was *chef's kiss.*

Wow! I loved this book so much! I went in expecting a lighthearted, quick, fun read, and it ended up being so much more than that! I don't think I was prepared for just how emotional this book would make me. I'm a huge fan of the movies Big and 13 Going on 30, so I ate this one up. There was even a nod to Voltar from Big that I picked up on!

I was so invested in this story, but it's hard to write a review for this without giving away anything, especially the future parts, and I believe it's best to go into this one blind. Just know that there are quite a few sad parts, but this was overall amazing! I will be reading all of Sophie Cousens's books!

Thank you to Netgalley and GP Putnam for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own. My review will be posted to my bookstagram on Wednesday, October 25.

"The Good Part" by Sophie Cousens is a delightful, heartwarming story filled with humor and heart. The characters are endearing, and the witty writing keeps you smiling throughout. It's a perfect choice for a feel-good read, offering a delightful escape into a world of charm and romance.