Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

5 Star read! I inhaled this so fast. I have loved all of Sophie Cousens books, this is now a favorite.
This trope has definitely been done, but Sophie does it well with plenty of interesting tidbits to figure out in Lucy's life. What a great emotional, funny read.

What is the worst that can happen if you could skip all the struggles in your life right now and jump ahead to The Good Part?

After coming across a wishing machine, Lucy Young wishes to skip to the good part in life. The one where she is not broke, starving or dating terrible men. However, when her wish takes her 16 years ahead into the future, Lucy has to decide if this life is worth staying in.

Can't wait for Sophie Cousens next novel!

Such a wonderful book! I loved it! This is like the movie big but girly and better! So good!
I just reviewed The Good Part by Sophie Cousens. #TheGoodPart #NetGalley
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I really loved this story. I am a huge fan of 'sliding door' type stories and this was a very interesting take on one. Lucy has been 'wished' into a new timeline, 16 years in the future, and has to cope with newfound romance, motherhood, and career success.
I thought the love story in this was really well done for two people who are essentially strangers, and while I wouldn't pick the same 'ending' as Lucy, I found the story and the choices pretty compelling. My favorite parts of this book were actually the small snippets of truth on motherhood struggles, balancing career and family, the 'changes' that come with marriage over time, the impacts of loss on those who remain behind, etc. These were only small lines here and there but I thought they were really impactful and done incredibly well.
This was a fun read and really intriguing!

Lucy Young is me.
Burnt out, tired, exhausted, and ready for the time in her life when it is all “good”.
This book made me giggle, smile, and cry. I really adored this story.
The characters are relatable and interesting. If you like the movie 50 first dates, or 13 going on 30 I think you would really love this book. I truly felt invested in Lucy’s life and I was so so sad when I finished the last page.
It covers topics of grief while at the same time being a heartwarming, heartfelt, wholesome, and overall lovely read. I’m hoping for a sequel! I highly recommend!
🕰️🧡📖✨
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced readers copy!

This was fabulous. Very likely my all time favorite of all four books. Maybe because I am a mom, but man oh man, this book gut punched me in the feelings and I am a puddle. Please do yourself a favor and read this book. There are trigger warnings, some of which I will list below.

TW: death of a child

I was so excited to read this book, as it was giving major 13 Going on 30 vibes. The Good Part was a cute story, though I would classify it more as women's fiction rather than romance. However, it was very sweet to watch Lucy fall in love with her husband again. The middle did drag a bit for me, to the point where I was fine putting it down, but I enjoyed the ending and thought the story had a great message!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC!

This was a thoroughly entertaining and feel-good book from Sophie Cousens.

It is the story of a young twenty something, Lucy, struggling in her life, relationships and career. On a particularly dreary day, she wishes on a fortune machine, think Tom Hanks in Big. She wishes she could get to the “Good Part” of her life. The next morning, she wakes up forty-two years old with two kids, a husband, a fantastic career and no idea what happened in between. For most of the book we explore with Lucy, her new life and how she came about in this life. What is so entertaining is watching a twenty something navigates a middle-aged woman’s life. She internal dialogue is hilarious. The parts with her children are endearing. I loved all the parts with her toddler daughter Amy. I really enjoyed being in her world and getting to know her while she gets to know herself.
“The Good Part” had a tidy ending, memorable characters and was a delight to read. I am excited to try more books by this author. I found her writing and characters likable and believable.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

#TheGoodPart #NetGalley

This book was so so good! The start of this story didn’t reel me in like I wanted, but it was a short time before it did, and I became hooked!

This was super cute! The beginning and the end were strong, although I will say that when she first gets to the future any reference of future changes was a little cringey. But outside of that, this was heartfelt and definitely for fans of 13 Going on 30 and Big.

Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of The Good Part by Sophie Cousens, out November 7, 2023!

The Good Part is about 26 year old Lucy Young who is tired of living the typical “rough years” of her twenties. She’s currently living in a crap apartment with inconsiderate roommates, being dead broke, stuck in an entry-level job where she isn’t fully respected, and going on bad date after bad date. After a really bad day when all of the above are weighing heavy on her, Lucy comes across a wishing machine and makes a wish to skip to the “good part” of her life. She wakes up the next morning with no memories of the last sixteen years! The story is so funny and humorous yet real and really makes readers ponder the good ol’ question, ‘would you want to skip parts of your life’? Can she go back? Or is she stuck in this new life with a family she doesn’t even know or remember?

I loved the humor in this book and especially the character of Felix (Lucy’s son); this easily became my favorite book that I have read thus far by Sophie Cousens.

I giggled throughout the entire thing and even teared up and full on cried but the time I was done. Easy to say that Sophie Cousens does a phenomenal job hitting ALL the feels while still keeping this book light and fun! 👏🏼

5 Star read for me!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

How often have you wished you could skip to the good part? In this emotional, funny, and lighthearted novel, one woman gets the chance to do just that.

It took me a bit to get into the book, but once the pieces came together, it turned into a beautiful story about figuring out what getting to the good part of life really means. Lucy is twenty-six, going nowhere at work, with a terrible apartment and a nonexistent love life. After a particularly disastrous date, she makes a wish to skip to the good part of her life- where she has a career, love, and family. Imagine her surprise the next morning when she finds herself to be age forty-two, married with two kids and a successful career! Lucy must learn how to navigate her new life and come to terms with everything she doesn’t remember between the years that she skipped.

I was instantly hooked and had a hard time putting it down. Fortunately it was a quick read and I, unfortunately, finished it in a day and then wanted more. Sophie Cousens is known for her fun, quirky contemporary romance books. They are funny and entertaining and this one has become is one of my favorites .

While this book reminded me of the movies 13 Going On 30 and Freaky Friday, it is still it's own story and worth reading. Skipping to "The Good Part" of your life sounds appealing; you won't have to struggle through the hard times and you just get to enjoy where you've ended up. When 26 year old Lucy wakes up in her 42 year old body she's not sure how she got there...or who her husband and kids are. As she struggles to figure out her new reality she must ask herself if it's really "the good part" if she can't remember any of the moments that got her to where she is now.

I really enjoy Cousens' writing style, I find myself wanting to read just one more chapter until I'm halfway through the book! Lucy was a likeable character and I found myself wanting her to stay in the future, even as I wanted her to go back and experience all of the in between moments of her life. I wish we would have seen a little more of her "real" future at the end of the book but I think I just wanted to see her meet Sam for the first time :-)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of the book.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was relatable and the characters were lovable. I think we all can relate to wanting to skip to the good part of our lives!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!!

This was the first time I have read this author and, although this is not my typical genre, I have to say that I immensely enjoyed this one!

It had the promise of the ultimate fantasy of skipping over the worst parts of life and fast-forwarding to the best part(s). Who hasn't ever wished for that?

It reminded me of that movie "Click" with Adam Sandler (and the author said that she drew off of the movies from the 90s-2000s). I agree with her-- they just don't make them like that anymore-- which is why I felt like this book was such a special treat.

One big thing I liked about this book, was that there was no hidden agenda sprung on you to preach to you about the author's personal/political point of views that are unfortunately gaining more ground in contemporary reads. It was a straight-forward escapism read--which is why we pick up a book in the first place. So kudos there.

I also loved the Sam and Felix characters-- they are what made the book, personally. I don't feel that the friends (or their subsequent love lives) added to the story though, and that is probably why I wasn't crazy about the ending. More on that below.

There were a few things I wasn't crazy about, like the main character in general at first-- she really was selfish and immature-- but I think that was the point the author was trying to make. I personally would have aged her down to twenty or twenty one for the extreme immaturity that she displayed, but that's just me.

I also think I'm in the minority here, but I didn't agree with the ending. I felt that Lucy's arc was almost complete until she made her final decision, and when she did, she basically went right back to being selfish again, which was disappointing.

*SPOILER alert*:

I thought it was crazy that throughout the whole book she was mourning her friend Zoya so much that she allowed it to literally cloud over her entire future self, to the point that she feels it is worth it to jeopardize her amazing family and hard-earned career to go back in time and live through her crappy twenties. That is not smart.

She tries to justify it by saying that remembering is not the same as living it, but it actually would have been the same because she would have "lived" those years as the transformation became complete, just as she's going to completely lose out on the awesome family and career she had made by having no memory of it whatsoever. So I wonder, what was the point if she's going to forget every lesson learned and re-live the life that she abhorred and complained about?

Also, it was clear that there was no guarantee that she would meet her current husband, have the same children, and get the coveted career if she were to go back in time. Why risk that because you miss your friend (that was made evident) will still die anyways?

I know I'm definitely in the minority and that it was always going to end up the way that it did (that is the trope we sign up for, after all), but maybe it's because I'm on the other side my twenties that I can see the error of her immature ways.

Either way, I'm not faulting the book for my unmet my expectations, which is why I still gave it four stars.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Putnam Books for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

New auto buy author ✅
The first thing that came to mind was the movie 13 going on 30- which we all know and love. So if you like that movie, you’ll love this book!
The Good Part by Sophie Cousens will have you laughing out loud, smiling from ear to ear, and on the verge of tears. It’s everything you’d want wrapped into one cute little paperback!

The Good Part is available for preorder now and release date is 11/07/2023

Thank you @sophie_cousens, @netgalley, and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I loved reading about Lucy's not so perfect life at the moment where she feels like she's behind compared to her friends. She wants to skip to the good part of her life. She was twenty six years old one day, and the next she was forty something with a hot husband and two perfect children. I can relate to this book so much because I too when I was young wanted to skip and be older, but now that I'm older I miss my young self a lot.

I really enjoyed reading this book and being a part of this family! I loved reading about Lucy time traveling to her future when she's finally at the "good part" of her life. I loved getting to meet the new people in her life, while also seeing what happens with her "past" life friends. I really felt the struggles Lucy felt and celebrated all her success with her. The author was very good at making me feel connected with Lucy and root for her happiness. This is the first book I've read by this author and I'll definitely be picking up more because she has a great way of telling a story and making me feel invested in the characters.

Loved the idea of this... skipping ahead to the good part and realizing what is actually being skipped. Loved the relationship between Sam and Lucy. Did not think her friendships were developed enough to merit going "back" not compared to how much I felt was invested in her marriage and motherhood relationships. I wouldn't have risked losing one for the other but then at the end we're meant to think those friendships were what mattered most.... more than great romantic love or the love of a mother. I could have seen her chosing herself... getting to live out life but I was still sad she gave up the 100% possibility of her family.

It is not to say I didn't like the book because I really did! I love Sophie Cousens' writing and how she tells a story and describes love and a woman in her 40s. She describes relationships and all the dynamics so well! Well done... great read, and maybe, based on the premise, there is no right choice in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story you have heard before. It’s not new. It’s Freaky Friday blended with 13 Going on 30. Does that make it bad? Not at all.

This is a story about Lucy Young, a 26 year old living in a shared apartment who goes through many things I think most of us can relate to. Is her apartment great? You mean her leaking bedroom ceiling from the upstairs neighbors bath water? Ew. Is her job great? Not at all and she feels stuck. I totally get that.

During a night out that just didn’t go her way, she finds herself at a wishing machine and wishes to skip to the good part. From there we get a glimpse into what her life would be like in the future.

As I’ve said, this is a story you have heard before, but I just feel that this is a story that deserves to be repeated. You’ll get cozy nostalgic feeling while reading it and be rooting for Lucy regardless of what decision she makes.

I give this book 4 stars out of 5.