How I love your style! I laughed and pondered and agonized and vibed with Lucy all the way to the last 3 chapters, never knowing I would be gutted and forced to sob uncontrollably from there on! What a beautiful treatise on family, on the choices we make and the ones we don't, on love and laughter and parenting. I loved this book. Truly. It was just so so good. 💜💜💜📚

4.5/5
This book surprised me! As a lover of 90s/early 2000s teen cinema (Princess Diaries, Bring It On, Mean Girls, She's All That, 10 Things I Hate About You, Freaky Friday) because I was a preteen when a lot of these came out, this gave big 13 going on 30 vibes, which I ate RIGHT up.

I really connected with Lucy and her group of girlfriends. They were all very well-developed and you could feel how deep the friendship ran between them. As someone approaching middle-age faster than I expected, so many of the observations and quips by Lucy (and co.) were spot on--I found myself thinking "I've thought this too!" so many times. I felt very seen lol. I appreciated the magical realism with the time travel piece and the fact that Cousens' wasn't afraid to make fun of the trope herself with some tongue-in-cheek comments every once in a while.

I didn't expect to enjoy the family life portion of it as much as I did but I couldn't help falling in love Sam as a partner and the kids as Lucy got to know them better. I really enjoyed that while we saw how great Lucy's life was in some ways 16 years down the road, Cousens' never tried to sell it as this perfect promised land--there was grief, and growth, and hard work. This book did a fantastic job of showing us that the figuring sh*t out part of life is just as important as the more "together" phase that comes afterwards. It really reminded me to appreciate the freedoms I still have as a young adult and to not miss out on my present by spending too much time imagining my future.

The plot and pacing were excellent throughout, I never felt that anything was rushed or too slow. It felt like I was reading the script for a 90s movie and I loved it. The writing was excellent and I loved the character development with each of the characters, including Lucy's besties and her parents. My one gripe was that Lucy’s colleagues in her future were too caricatured --esp Michael--which was disappointing. But I also recognize, you only have so much time with some of these characters.

Overall, I loved this read. I kept wanting to come back to it when I wasn't reading it and that's always a good sign, isn't it? I will defintiely be reading some of Cousens' other work now! Pick this up if you want a quick, light read with just a touch of that 90s magic ✨

Sophie Cousens never disappoints! In The Good Part she has written a humorous yet poignant tale about young adulthood and middle age. Very insightful.

Overview: Lucy is a 26-year old who has hit (what feels like) rock bottom in all aspects of her life. After a fateful encounter with a wishing machine, she wishes with all her heart that she could skip over all her struggles and jump to the good part in her life. Lucy wakes up the next day to find that 16 years has passed and that she now seemingly has a perfect life as a successful television executive with a handsome husband and two kids….

Thoughts: Sophie Cousens continues to demonstrate why she is one of my favorite contemporary authors by delivering yet another story that will tug on your heartstrings, all while making you contemplate what makes life worth living for. Although her gamble of using the “time jump” device could have easily become gimmicky, Cousens manages to incorporate this device masterfully. From depicting Lucy’s journey of becoming a mother to her charming son Felix, to her falling in love with her gorgeous husband Sam, this book was an absolute delight. And that epilogue?! Such a simple, yet beautiful, ending that made me unexpectedly teary-eyed…

Take home message: The Good Part is a magical and poignant story that will inspire you to live life to the fullest, struggles and all. Unequivocally one of my favorite reads of the year.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for this ARC!

Wow! This one caught me totally off guard (in a great way!) I’ll admit, the first 1/3 of the book I thought there was no way I’d be on board with a whole book set in the future- but I was wrong. I fell in love with the characters. Each had its distinct voice. It dealt with heavy topics well, balancing their importance while keeping things light enough.

Will definitely be recommending if this one & looking forward to its release!

Reminds one of the Tom Hanks movie BIG.
At the age of twenty-six, Lucy's friends are moving on with better jobs while she's stuck in a job that seem to be going nowhere. After a disastrous date, Lucy finds herself in front of a "wishing machine". Lucy's wish is to get to the good part of her life and escape the rut she is in. A card pops out, stating that her wish has been granted. When she wakes up the next day, she discovers she is married, has two children and a successful career. Unfortunately, she has no memories of what her present life entails. As she struggles to fit in and deal with a son who is convinced she is an alien, memories return slowly. When she locates the wishing
machine, will she decide to return to her old life or stay in her present one?
#TheGoodPart #NetGalley

4.5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and J.P. Putnam’s Sons for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published November 7, 2023.

This is my third book by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even though I’m not a fan of time-travel, this book worked. We meet Luce as a struggling adult and then, by means of a Wishing Machine, we meet her 16 years later, fast-forwarding her to the “good part”, although she has no memory of the last 16 years. Of course at the end she’s forced to choose: do I stay here in the good part or go back to my not-so-pleasant life? No spoilers here but the struggle is real. I found myself wondering what I would choose.

Even though this premise has played out elsewhere (Big, Freaky Friday) I thought this was extremely well done. There were many laugh out loud moments and also very poignant dialogue. The character of 7-year old Felix is the best!

Recommend for fans of rom-coms. A truly delightful read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!!

I don't remember a book I've had such mixed feeling about. I loved the main character and her friends. I thought the husband was a little too perfect. I enjoyed the main characters struggles and laughed at her reactions to the "future". I absolutely fell in love with the son --- he was just too adorable for words. However, I just didn't like the time shift and frankly, the ending made me sad.

Thanks, NetGalley, for an early copy of The Good Part for an honest review.

This is my first Sophie Cousens’ title, and I was extremely impressed! This was an excellent story, in the same vein as 13 Going On 30. I loved that it was messy, and real, with lovable complex characters. I’ll definitely be adding a copy to my personal library when it releases.

I wouldn’t classify this as romance, more Fiction. 0 spice for a those concerned.

Overall, 4.5 ⭐️

An enjoyable read. If you like “The Midnight Library” and “This Time Tomorrow,” you’ll like this. Has a similar scenario and themes as its predecessors, but less melancholy and quite humorous at times.

a very heartwarming and easy to read romance from cousens. with all of cousens books, they feel like a warm cozy escape from the real world and this definitely did not disappoint.

4.25 stars out of 5

This is my first book by the author and I was really impressed. The Good Part is a feel good book that kept me engaged from the start! The characters were all very likable and well written. I absolutely adored Sam Lucy and her children. The book made me laugh out loud sometimes but also teary eyed. A truly heartwarming story.

When we start the book, Lucy is 26 years old and is struggling in life. She is living in a small flat and feel under appreciated in her work. Lucy and 3 friends go out for a night and they end up having a small fight. On Lucy's way home she finds a magic wishing machine in a store and makes a wish to skip to the good part of her life. She wakes up in a strange house and finds out she is 42 years old, has 2 kids, and is running a tv company. The rest of the book, Lucy is trying to get her memory back from the past 16 years. The ending will throw you for a loop though and Lucy did the opposite of what I wanted her to do.

Overall this was a very charming book, think 13 going on 30. I would highly recommend reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a cute book and I really enjoyed every part of it. This book has all the "good" feels in it that makes you want to keep turning the pages. Great friendships, frustrations with life and love. This story had me laugh out loud, want to hug the main character(Lucy) and on the verge of tears throughout this book. I am not sure how the author was able to capture so many details and emotions within this book but she did it! I will admit at the end of the story I wanted Lucy to stay in the future because I loved the life she had "jumped" into 16 years later. I didn't want her to leave Sam and the kids or even the fact that she was now friends with her old neighbor.

Sophie Cousens did a great job with this story and I cannot wait to read something else from this author. Do yourself a favor and get this book :-)

I absolutely loved this book. The best time travel story that I’ve ever read. So sweet, funny, and endearing. This one will stick with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

Yet another book by Sophie Cousins I loved!

In the beginning of the book, we are introduced to a young Lucy. She’s single, lives in a crappy apartment with multiple roommates, and not making it far in her career. On her way home from a date gone wrong, along with an argument with her friends, Lucy makes a wish- she wishes she could skip to the good part of her life.

When Lucy wakes up 16 years later, she’s married with children and can’t remember anything in between. How her son responded to her and watching g her navigate her amnesia, it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite Christmas movies, ‘The Family Man.’ Great read!

Sophie Cousens has officially made it to my must read author list. Her charming characters, the nostalgia in her books, and just the right amount of magic are like a cozy blanket. Thank you netgalley for the arc.

Thanks @netgalley @penguinrandomhouse @putnambooks and @sophie_cousens for the early peek at The Good Part. It’s out 9/12/23.

Lucy’s been languishing for years as a tv runner, fetching coffee for senior tv producers rather than pitching her brilliant show ideas. Her flat leaks, her best friend got a “grown up” job and is moving out, and she’s had one date disaster after another. When she sees a wishing machine (serious Big vibes), she wakes up sixteen years in the future—married to Sam (a hot composer) and mum to two kids (precocious Felix and permanently sticky Amy). The problem is she has no memory of the intervening years, including falling in love with Sam, the birth of her children, and how she rose to bring the head honcho at a tv production company. As she spends more time in her fast-forwarded life, she has the choice to stay or to go back to her miserable past and relive it all again, hoping that she’d make the same choices to get back there.

I genuinely didn’t know which choice Lucy would make, which shows you how well she outlined the pros and cons of each decision. This book was witty and an emotional gut punch in places. I highly recommend it.

If you were given the choice to skip to the good part, would you take it?

Steam: 🔥 (closed door)
Tropes: magic, younger adult in older adults body
TW: child loss

A little bit of fantasy ✅, cinnamon roll MMC ✅, hilarious FMC ✅, personal growth ✅.

I can’t say thank you enough to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. After reading Cousens’ other books, I feel like it safe to say that this is her best work yet. I laughed out loud one moment and then found myself quietly sobbing into my Kindle in the next.

At the beginning of the book, we meet Lucy, a twenty-something struggling to find her stride at in London. She is truly having the worst day in the history of bad days, and then it’s capped off by an even worse evening. She finds herself in an old shop with a gimmicky wishing machine where she wishes with her whole heart “I wish . . . I wish I could skip to the good part, where my life is sorted.” The next morning she finds herself in a strange house… in bed with a strange man… and that she has skipped ahead by 16 years.

This book really is a cautionary tale about appreciating the journey and even the hardships in your life and can really be summed up in this one quote:

“Be careful what you wish for, life is never quite sorted whatever stage you’re at.”

Avoiding any spoilers, I was very surprised by the turn this took in the end. She did the exact opposite of what I was hoping for but I think the ending left it open to the reader’s interpretation of whether or not there was an HEA.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc. I absolutely enjoyed this book so much, it really got me out of a reading slump I just couldn’t wait to see what happens next as Lucy navigating the “good part” of her life, now in her 40s she has kids and a husband. I enjoyed her relationship with Felix and how by the end he was ready to accept her for her and how her relationship with Sam progressed. I really wished there was more to the ending because I loved it so much.

Lucy is 26, underpaid, living in a community apartment with many roommates. After an impromptu date goes wrong, Lucy, walking home in the rain in cheap shoes that are literally falling apart, comes across an old wishing machine and makes a wish to skip ahead to the good part of her life.

Wow, I adored this novel. The Good Part is fantastic women's fiction that's so much more than the genre. It made me laugh out loud in parts, get teary in others, and the relationship between Lucy and her dad had me missing mine so much. The relationships in this are so perfectly depicted - Ms Cousens has written an excellent novel.

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read an advance copy of this and strongly recommend it!



Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for the DRC!