For a novel that is in large part about making money off of one's sex appeal, this is not a remotely sexy book. Instead it's funny, smart, and poignant. Nobody makes the right decisions all the time here, but everyone is doing their best, and everything works out in the end... I think.

Five stars because this novel made me think, made me feel, and made me root for Margo. It's smarter than it has to be but not smarter than it should be. Recommended!

4.5 ⭐ This is one of the most unique books I've read this year. Consider me a new follower of Rufi Thorpe; I've been converted.

There are so many interesting choices made here regarding character and perspective. I found the meta moments layered within to be super satisfying (specifically in regards to how this story is being told). The narrative voice is so fresh and immediately reeled me in.

We follow Margo, a young woman who finds herself entangled in an affair with her (married) college professor. Once pregnant with his child, Mark makes a quick, clean exit from her life, leaving her to raise young Bodhi by herself. Naturally, at twenty-years old, this is an overwhelming situation to find herself in. Margo's smart, but needs as much help as anyone else might in a similar circumstance.

She discovers the world of OnlyFans, which seemingly becomes a solution to her financial issues. However, given the misconceptions and stigma surrounding sex work, Margo faces some serious backlash from the people in her life.

This book is filled with thoughtful commentary surrounding a number of different topics. It's also very funny. I especially enjoyed reading about Margo's dynamic with her father, an ex-professional wrestler. You wouldn't expect so many worlds (and topics) to collide so seamlessly in one relatively short book. And yet, it worked.

"Real people were both good and bad, all mixed up together, only the screen made everyone into basic silhouettes. The resulting image could appear either way depending on which way you turned it, which details you showed.

But that happened in real life too. So much so that sometimes it made her dizzy. Even when it came to herself, Margo could see it both ways: hometown girl makes good, defies capitalist patriarchy, or teen whore sells nudes while nursing, too lazy to work."

Side note: I also loved Elle Fanning's narration of the audiobook and was excited to see she'll be starring in the adaptation, as well.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This might be my favorite book of the year. It was funny and witty and everything I want in a story.

Margo is the perfect description of being young and stupid in your early twenties, but she took it a bit far by sleeping with her college professor and getting pregnant. Also the decision of keeping the baby without planning for the financial and childcare aspects since the father's baby wants nothing to do with it.

I rooted so much for Margo because she's a good person really trying to do things right. You can really see how much she grows as a character, how she learns to support herself and her baby using her creativity, exploiting the male gaze to her advantage. I loved how she slowly built a support system who show up for her and cheer her on on all her endeavours. It was also very cute reading about how Margo and her baby fall in love with each other. There's also a romantic subplot that was lowkey very cute. I liked the ending but would love to see it more detailed.

Bottom line: I loved this book! It was light and deep at the same time.

This was a little too odd for me. Though I knew it was about Only Fans going into the story, I guess I didn’t really think about what that entailed. The writing was good, but I just didn’t like the premise, especially when Margo teams up with the other girls.

Margo's Got Money Trouble was hilarious, poignant, and made me a little teary at times. Thorpe's writing is razor sharp and manages to touch on many issues in today's society in an engaging way. Thorpe does not gloss over the struggles of being a teenage mom. Margo struggles a lot, but eventually finds her footing. She is smart and devoted to her son Bhodi. It was a joy to read about her developing a relationship with her father Jinx. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC. It was truly a delight!

I was totally surprised by how much I enjoyed this quirky story about Margo. You can’t help but root for her and want her to make the best choices so she can as she fights for herself and her baby and goes on a journey of self-discovery.

Margo's Got Money Troubles is the latest by Rufi Thorpe. I have read this author's previous books and between the reviews and my previous experiences with the author I was really looking forward to this one -- sadly for me it's just ok. I didn't see the humor others cite and I just found myself feeling bad for Margo and I found myself judging the people in her life for their lack of humanity.

The author does a nice job of developing the characters especially Margo and her Dad and I will look forward to the author's next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of Margo's Got Money Troubles in exchange for an honest opinion. This book is available now.

At 20 years old, Margo is pregnant with her professor’s baby. When her professor wants nothing to do with Margo or her baby, Margo is determined to make it on her own. With zero job prospects, Margo turns to Only Fans and begins building a following. In an odd turn of events, Margo’s estranged biological father and former pro wrestler shows up at Margo’s door looking for a place to live for a bit. Margo and her roommate take him in and this odd cast of characters work together to provide a healthy environment to raise Margo’s baby in.

I loved this book so much! The character growth here had me rooting so hard for Margo and her untraditional family. There was so much heart in this story with such likable characters. Rufi Thorpe’s characters wrestle (no pun intended) with some heavy themes - abortion, sex work, drug addiction, and the challenges of being a worker and a mother. Thorpe’s commentary on these topics felt genuine and authentic to the characters. I cannot recommend this book enough!

(Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the advance digital copy!)

Margo is all alone in the world. Her mother is around but preoccupied with her new boyfriend. Her father is an ex-pro wrestler with addiction problems. So when Margo finds herself pregnant by her married college professor, she has to figure out how to live. When her roommates can't live with the baby anymore and move out, Margo turns to OnlyFans to make rent. What follows is a story of perseverance as Margo figures it all out. This started slow for me, but I loved watching Margo's character develop and grow as it progressed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

This was a quirky look at a young single mother, and how she manages to make her life work. Her estranged former wrestler father moves in with her. The majority of the book shows her making a living through OnlyFans. I'm probably a bit older than the readership for this book should be, so I often had trouble connecting with the characters. It felt like it took me awhile to get through this one. I think younger readers will love it.

Not my usual genre so I was looking forward to this one for a nice change of pace. Unfortunately it didn't work for me. I found it to be incredibly boring and I couldn't relate to any of the characters nor their poor decisions. My thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES is a quirky coming-of-age story about 20-year-old Margo, daughter of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, who has been trying to make it on her own. During college, after an affair with her English professor, Margo finds herself a single young mom, strapped for cash, and on the brink of eviction.

Then, she learns about OnlyFans and joins, hoping to make ends meet and provide better for her small family. With the help of her dad, Jinx, and her roommate, Margo navigates the virtual world while juggling motherhood and the prejudice and judgment that comes with being a young single sex worker.

🌟WHY I LIKED IT:
-The book’s exploration of OnlyFans and using digital platforms to create one’s narrative felt very modern. It showcases the pros and cons of our highly digitalized lives and the challenges unique to social media. (However, I did not care for the vulgar comments and frequent use of the f-word.)

-Rufi Thorpe creates nuanced and flawed, yet likable characters (except I really did not like Shyanne). We see their struggles and shortcomings, but also how they strive to overcome them, only to repeat the cycle. I found the relationship between Jinx and Margo to be endearing and my favorite. I loved seeing the two help each other out, despite Jinx being absent for most of Margo’s life. Margo helping Jinx with his substance abuse problems made me all emotional.

-The book emphasizes that sex work, despite its stigma, is a form of work. While Margo faces intense judgment, she remains focused on providing for her son through her work. Additionally, the author’s note is crucial for understanding her fascination with OnlyFans and its rise during the height of COVID

-The themes of motherhood and mom guilt are universal. The constant assumptions and judgments we make about parents, especially moms, made me reflect on myself too. It highlights how easily we judge others, particularly online.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. (Am I in my white girl book era, lol?) Elle Fanning’s narration elevates this book.
Her narration was fantastic! Thank you for the ALC , @librofm!
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I was enthralled by this book, and while some scenes were wild, I couldn't help but cheer for Margo and Jinx!

*I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

(3.5, rounded up to 4)

In "Margo's Got Money Troubles," Rufi Thorpe's captivating fourth novel, a college freshman learns the hard way that becoming a mother while still a student can indeed complicate life—until it doesn’t.

The story begins in the fall of 2017, when Margo first meets her English professor - the future father of her son, Bodhi. Thorpe cleverly has Margo switch between third and first person throughout the book, using third person to create distance from her more embarrassing mistakes. Readers may liken the novel's premise to "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow," but instead of video games, it's the world of online porn that plays a central role.

After giving birth to Bodhi, Margo struggles to balance childcare and work, which leads to her roommates moving out. Desperate for income, she turns to OnlyFans, where she discovers she has a knack for creating engaging content. Her humorous and creative approach, including Pokémon-inspired write-ups for tips, quickly gains her a following. Additional support comes from her father, Jinx, a wrestling icon fresh out of rehab, who moves in to help with Bodhi. Margo also reaches out to viral OnlyFans stars WangMangler and SucculentRose, who provide valuable guidance. Just as Margo starts to find her footing, Bodhi’s father re-enters the picture, demanding full custody and complicating her newfound stability.

"Margo's Got Money Troubles" features terrific characters, rich world-building, and thought-provoking themes about fiction and morality. Thorpe creates a compelling narrative of friendship, love, and family within the unique context of cyber storytelling, and delivers a satisfying and uplifting conclusion.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles, but she sure is entertaining. This book is hilarious, quirky, moving, and at times profound, exposing many of the issues and absurdities in our modern way of life along the way. Highly recommend.

Thank you Rufi Thorpe, William Morrow, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Me and all my friends absolutely adored this book. It’s about a young woman with struggles financially, and her way of overcoming them. But put in some light humor and and it is such a home run. Thank you for the opportunity to review early.

I loved the characters, the plot and how the dad inadvertently provided the inspiration for the Only Fans account but the geekiness of the Only Fans just seemed unrelatable to me and its success unbelievable which took me a little out of the story. Regardless I would read more Rufi. This one just hadn’t landed like I hoped.

I absolutely loved this one! I couldn’t get to it by publish date, so when I got to it shortly after I had to pick up the audiobook as well to keep reading because I didn’t want to put it down.

It’s rare when I finish a book where the main character does a lot of stupid things, but this one has my heart. My first Thorpe and won’t be my last

Margo's dad has retired from his WWE pro-wrestling career and endured another stint in rehab before he moves in with Margo, his bastard daughter, who's recently gotten pregnant by her married English professor and has decided to have the baby, despite living in a shared apartment with fellow college students, losing her job, getting less than no help from her mother, and having no idea what she herself is doing as a mother. So why not try her hand (and new mom body parts) as an OnlyFans creator? What could go wrong?
Themes: coming of age, new motherhood, controlling your own narrative, 
POV: we get the main character's POV from both first and third person -- "It's true that writing in third person helps me," Margo says. "It is so much easier to have sympathy for the Margo who existed back then than try to explain how and why I did all the things that I did."
Setting: mostly Margo's four-bedroom, one-bath apartment somewhere near the  Fullerton College campus in Fullerton, Calif. Margo lives geographically close to Disneyland, but her situation is emotionally distant from the Happiest Place on Earth
Timeline: present day, between now and when OnlyFans was created in 2016
I loved it. Why? Author Rufi Thorpe managed to successfully tie in pro wrestling, OnlyFans, and the Virgin Mary. Margo and her supporting characters were richly drawn. And as laugh-out-loud funny as this book was, there were also philosophically challenging questions posed. Margo grew to have empathy for others and what they'd created for themselves, but also for her past self and the choices she'd made.
"I like getting to be the me now watching the past me. It's almost a way of loving myself. Stroking the cheek of that girl with my understanding. Smoothing her hair with my mind's eye."
(The only thing I didn't like was that the douchey baby daddy wears a Duke sweatshirt in one scene where he's supposed to look extra-douchey and pathetic. Oof, that hurts a Blue Devil's heart.)
This is a five-star-plus read that I highly recommend
[Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

✨ Review ✨ Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

Thanks to William Morrow for the gifted advanced copy of this book!

Okay, this book made me laugh so much, but also think really deeply about sex work and ethics and parenting. It's got:
1. Margo, a new mom
2. Mark, a gross professor who got her pregnant
3. Margo's new OnlyFans account
4. A pro wrestler dad who moves in and helps Margo think how to get subscribers to stay
5. Margo's ex-hooters waitress mom with her new pastor boyfriend
6. Margo's cosplaying roommate and new OnlyFans friends

Somehow this combination of characters (well, minus Mark) was a total delight in what Rufi Thorpe DELIVERED here. We laugh with Margo as she figures out OnlyFans and cry with Margo when her and the baby get the stomach flu. We empathize with characters as they learn and grow. We yell at Mark when he gets back involved in the story.

But aside from all this, the book challenges you to think about OnlyFans and cam girls and this type of on demand sex work that can be done in the home. Does doing this work inherently make you a bad parent or can you juggle both? I liked that this made me think.

Last, but not least, I'm obsessed with this gorgeous cover!

This book definitely lives up to the hype

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(4.25)
Genre: contemporary fiction
Setting: Fullerton, CA
Reminds me of: Green Dot
Pub Date: June 11, 2024