There are quite a few time travel/time slip books out there and I am not sure how I ended up reading several all together this month (Seven Year Slip (Ashley Poston), Woke Up Like This (Amy Lea), and How to Stop Time (Matt Haig). What a strange and delightful coincidence. The Good Part is another Sophie Cousens' hit (in my opinion, at least). As a mother and a middling aged woman I could very much relate to the challenges of both the post-university years as well as the later years of career and family. I could also relate to that uncertain feeling post-uni and wanting to rush to get on with it. Cousens crafted a beautiful set of characters, Luc,y, creative, endearing, a little lost and free spirited. Her future husband Sam, who Cousens lovingly addresses with thoughtfulness of a spouse that supports and believes his wife but also has to grapple with her memory loss. The side characters are adorable too.
Just a lovely, heartfelt read!
Thanks fo =r the ARC!

cousens is a hit for miss for me. I didn't dislike this but it definitely wasn't my favorite. I think she just isn't for me. this one was a little too slow for me and every time I thought it was going in the right direction it would end.

How I absolutely ADORED “The Good Part.” Tired of the same responsibilities at work, late one evening Lucy stumbles upon a Wishing Machine. Lucy wishes to be at the Good Part in her life & is taken to her early 40s. In this lifetime Lucy is a happily married women and a mother to two small children.

I won’t give more away cause it’s so hard not to spoil this book. But what’s important is that this story is absolutely amazing! I fell in love with Lucy and her little family. Felix truly stole my heart.

I think this might be one of, if not my favorite romance books of the year! This is Sophie Cousens at her absolute best. “The Good Part” is not to be missed. Read it! You wont be sorry.

Special thanks to Netgalley for putting this fabulous ARC in my hands

"The Good Part" is like the literary cousin of "13 Going on 30" – charming, reflective, and a nudge to embrace the present. You'll find yourself questioning your 'what-ifs' only to realize that the 'what-is' isn't so bad after all. Perfect for those days when you need a gentle reminder that the journey is as sweet as the destination. In short, if you're in the market for a quick, uplifting read that's both thought-provoking and fun, look no further. Grab this if you're in the mood for a delightful perspective shift!

Thank you to Netgally and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the advanced reader copy.

i didn’t love this and didn’t hate it, i almost feel nothing about it which is somehow worse, i wanted to like lucy so much as a lost girl in my 20s but i kinda lost her throughout the novel, i wouldn’t recommend but also wouldn’t not recommend

thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this in exchange for my honest feedback

This was a funny, random story mixed with romance, sadness and hopefulness. I liked Lucy and all of the characters she interacted with on her journey through the good part. I especially liked Sam (swoon worthy) and Felix (smart and funny) whose interactions with Lucy were the best part of the story. Also a lovely friendship story and connection between Lucy and her friends which is weaved throughout. Overall. 4 ⭐️.

What I loved about this story is that it jumped into our future, not just the main character's future which gave the author ample room to play with predicting what might happen with technology and world events. So much fun.

At first I thought the story would be a derivative story given all the other books and movies where a character wishes to be old or young, and poof, it happens and the character learns that the age they are in the beginning is where they ought to be. And while the book does tend in that direction, it is full of surprises, joy, heartache, and truth, which makes the story deeper than what you'd expect in the genre.

It's a fun, fast, easy read and I enjoyed it very much. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

I’ve been in a weird reading slump. I only want cozy easy things and old favorites. This was exactly the read I needed. I devoured it.

An easy read but intriguing, fun, well written. I love a time travel/time skip/‘what if’ story—especially if it reminds me how I struggled in my 20s and how lucky and happy I am to be where I am now. I hate the idea of hard things being meant to be (it can be so insulting?) but for me, everywhere I’ve been in my life helped me get where I am now (which is a life I am very happy with.) And this book was an ode to all of that.

It did slow a tiny bit in the middle for me and some of the ‘magic’ was a little muddled (I had more questions than answers, but sometimes that’s ok) but it worked here and didn’t bother me enough to fully pull me out of the book. It’s one of those stories you can just enjoy and be in. Fluff but enough!

The Good Part is out November 7. Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a sweet take on Big/13 Going on 30, even though I personally think that genre is a bit overdone. Sophie Cousins is an excellent author, though, and I enjoyed seeing the world she created for Lucy. Without giving too much away, I loved the bond Lucy formed with her new-to-her family in the “good part future” but I struggled with the resolution of her wish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the advance copy.

This is a book that is sure to please everyone. It has no villains and just wonderfully crafted characters and settings. If I could rate this one a 10 I would do so, it is a romance, comedy, time travel and new beginnings story all in one. When Lucy Young, age 26, is given a chance to glimpse into her future to get to the good parts of her life she is fast forwarded into her mid 40s complete with handsome husband and two children. At 26 her life is a mess of no money, no dating relationships, no business success and nothing going well for her. Suddenly she awakes to find herself married with delightful children and a successful TV show designer. This super fun book and I just loved it.

I wish to thank NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Having read and loved the author's three previous books- my expectations were already high going into The Good Part. Those expectations were met.


The Good Part is an easy read that will have you asking yourself tough questions. For a younger reader- if you could skip to The Good Part- would you? For a reader that's already done some living- do you wish you could have skipped to The Good Part? Or did that journey make you who you are?


The setup into this story had MANY opportunities to go headfirst into the damage inflicting miscommunication trope- but the author did a beautiful job of avoiding that cringe


Sophie Cousens has a way of writing about fantastical scenarios that could make you crumble from anxiety and what ifs- but leaves you with a calm and peaceful perspective about the concept at hand.


I will also add that I feel this is more women's fiction rather than a romance.


Poignant line: "Maybe bones need to be broken for you to suck out the marrow of life."


Content warning: child loss

I think this might be Sophie Cousens best book yet. Who among us hasn't come across a slew of life's challenges and wished we could "skip to the good part?" The characters in this novel are given such emotional depth and grace. A truly well written Rom Com that goes past the fluff into the heart of what gives life real meaning.

What happens when you are granted the wish that maybe you didn't quite think through? That's what Sophie Cousens explores in The Good Part. While it might be easy to say this is just Big meets 13 Going on 30, and also a little bit of Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot, it explores it from a different point of view. The transition from early adulthood to middle age is also a major life change. What happens if you skip all of the in-between and wake up one day, middle-aged, married with kids in the suburbs? My 25-year-old self would have been horrified! Lucy explores her new reality with curiosity and a great sense of humor. I love this story and, honestly, would love to see a sequel!

THE GOOD PART was a quick and cute read, with some well written characters and a fun plot! It was light-hearted and easy to breee through, perfect for beach days.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the opportunity to read and review THE GOOD PART!

The Good Part was heartwarming and hit you in all the right places. Lucy happens upon a wishing machine and wants to skip to "the good part" of life. When she wakes up she's done just that.

I'll admit I'm a little burnt out on the single female time travel to find a husband and be happy storyline but once we got into the heart of this story I started to really enjoy it. Lucy had to make some decisions and learned a great lesson about when the good part of life is. You really can't have the good without a little bit of the bad.

This was definitely my favorite of Cousens book and I think it'd make a fun book club book where you could talk about what you'd do in Lucy's situation.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

content warnings: death of a child

Well executed novel with an important message to be grateful for all the moments and stages in life. I did find the beginning a bit overly dramatic, but the book and writing got deeper as the plot unfolded. Would recommend! Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy!!

This was an endearing read and I enjoyed the story. I chose it because I felt the concept could be interesting and it was, but I didn't find the main characters particularly compelling. I was interested in the story more than the characters so I didn't feel as connected to the book as I would have liked. As a 40yo woman with a lifestyle very similar to Lucy's I felt like it should have been easier to connect with her character. All in all it was a cute story and did make me think about life and our experiences, so I'd still recommend it to someone who wants a quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens is a captivating story of life and where we might choose to be in that life. Lucy wakes up in a damp bed due to a bathroom leak in apartment above. At work she is treated as the runner even though she has supposedly been promoted. After more disappointments later in the evening she encounters a wishing machine. What will she wish for? If her wish is granted will she be happier or not?
I was thinking of how as children we wish to be older so we can do more grown up things. As adults we can sometimes wish to be a child again with all the freedom that goes with it. Are we just always discontented in this life?
I enjoyed this book and Sophie Cousens has unique way of blending the story together in funny and at times heart wrenching scenarios. Lucy’s feelings come through as very sincere and realistic. I was rooting for her to get the life she wants and found it difficult to put this book down until finished. A great ending!
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Reviews
The good part- Sophie cousens

Imagine being a 26 year old living with flatmates that make you hate your current season of life and to make it worse, you are a low paid, poorly treated “runner” for a person who holds your dream job title, when Lucy finds a “wishing machine” after a terrible night out, she wakes up as a 42 year old woman living the “good” part of life. To her surprise, she soon realizes that no matter how good things may be, no one ever really has their life sorted out. She then continues on to find the wish machine to take her back to her old life, did she ever find it? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
The love story was beautiful, 10/10, if you are a romance fiction fan I recommend you read this book.
This story line has reminded me of freaky Friday and 13 going on 30 but the situations Lucy went through were different than that of those other story lines.
I am glad the author added in her acknowledgments that she got her inspiration from those movies as it gave insight as to why the story line could have been a little similar.
If you are looking for an entirely “clean read” this would not be it, there are parts that are a little descriptive and made me cringe but wouldn’t deter me from reading again. This book was a fun and quick read. There are also a couple of F bombs in this book but not enough to be “too much” in my opinion.
Over all, Sophie Cousens did a great job at bringing the words to life, she was extremely descriptive in this book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a sweet love story. I do wish I knew EXACTLY what happened with Lucy but I think the author wrote the book in a way for us to create our own ending.
Very lovely book.

I really enjoyed this book! It was funny, light hearted, relatable, and had just enough “magic” to be whimsical. My first Sophie Cousens read but I’ll be picking up more.