Margo's Got Money Troubles hooked me from the very beginning! It's funny and heartwarming, with a great cast of characters and I loved every minute of it!

Although I didn’t love some of Margo’s decisions in the book, I enjoyed seeing her grow and stand up for what she believed in. Margo and Jinx were both very lovable characters, and it’s impossible not to root for them.

4.5 stars and the only reason it's not a 5 is because I just could not get enough of Margo and did not want this story to end. This book was hilarious and heart-warming! Basically, a 20=year-old college student named Margo becomes pregnant by her English professor and has to navigate new motherhood, childcare and adulthood. She is the child of a former Hooters waitress and an ex pro wrestler. (TBH, I will devour anything with a WWE angle and Margo's dad Jinx is probably once of my fav characters EVER.) Anyway, it's not like Margo has had a lot of help navigating adulthood, etc. so after a conversation with her father, she checks into the online world of OnlyFans in order to make a living. Hilarity ensues. Trust me, you do not want to miss reading this novel and routing for this adorable young lady who is just trying to figure it all out.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this e-arc.*

Short synopsis: When Margo finds herself pregnant, with her college professor’s baby, he wants her to get an abortion. She decides the keep the baby, and finds less than conventional ways to support herself and her baby.

My thoughts: This is not a book for everyone, because of the subject matter. I’ve seen such raving reviews for this one and it’s well deserved. Margo was such a quirky character but such an amazing mom. Using unconventional ways to take care of herself and her son.

While I couldn’t see myself resorting to the same ways to make money as she did, she sets up an OnlyFans account to make money to pay rent and support her son. I love how she defended herself and her occupation.

I have such a soft spot in my heart for Jinx, while he was a terrible father for Margo growing up he really redeemed himself when she needed him most. I loved that he was a professional wrestler. It’s only fitting that his occupation should be unique when we are discussing Margo’s job.

Rooted in this quirky unique story is imperfect characters doing what they think is best for their kids. Being a parent is HARD, making the best choices for your kids wellbeing is HARD! But the author really opens your eyes to a new perspective to understand others in different situations than you.

Thank you @williammorrow for a copy of this book! Available June 11, 2024!

Read if you love:
- Stories of resilience
- Fighting for your rights
- Parenthood
- Forgiveness and understanding
- Unconventional occupations.

This is not the book I was expecting, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4 ½ stars! We meet Margo, a young college student, who has an affair with her married professor and gets pregnant. It is a fun, contemporary look into Margo's life as she navigates new motherhood, roommates, financial responsibilities and her parents & their own issues. I loved the character Margo. She was very relatable. I enjoyed the author’s writing style as well. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy.

Margo is twenty, and a single mother after an affair with her married professor. Her life is not going as planned, so she is forced to pivot in order to financially support motherhood. Her determination to survive drives all her decision. Her parents create additional chaos in her life, as she enrolls in a unconventional career.

Margo's Got Money Trouble was enjoyable, humorous, witty and an endearing read. You'll cheer Margo through each hardship. Thorpe has masterfully crafted a story on the struggles of single mothers, overcoming shame and finding your way.

Thank you, William Morrow

This is my first Rufi Thrope book and I'll definitely be picking up her others. This was not at all what I expected and based on the description, I thought it would be a fun light beach read, but it turned into so much more than that. It's a story of family, empowerment, and controlling our own narratives. The different ways of telling the story - first, second, or third person with the occasional breaking the fourth wall - was so clever. Initially, it drove me nuts but as the book unfolded it really added to the theme, and I ended up appreciating this literary device. The characters all felt so real and delightfully weird. Thorpe's writing is both gorgeous and accessible at the same time. I'll be recommending this to everyone I know.

This was such a delight.

The story is funny and compassionate, real because of its absurdity. The writing is sharp and clever. You can see Thorpe playing with language and structure, but because it's in the voice of Margo, such a curious, creative character, it doesn't feel like the reader is being toyed with. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute with this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Can a book be simultaneously hilarious and profound? Rufi Thorpe’s MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES answers that question with a resounding YES! I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book after reading the synopsis, but I certainly did not expect the unmatched reading experience it delivered.

The plot is fairly simple. Margo is a naive college student who finds herself pregnant after a brief affair with her professor. Unable to support herself and her infant through her part time waitressing job and with no reliable family network, she turns to the Internet - specifically OnlyFans - as a short term solution. With the help of her newly present dad, a former professional wrestler, she incorporates lessons from the pro wrestling circuit to build her following.

That’s the plot and, based on that alone, this book would be entertaining, but it is so incredibly nuanced that each chapter reveals another layer, poses another question, and challenges another societal belief. The writing is sharp and witty and the characters are complex and endearing. The combination is gripping and made it impossible to put this book down.

The author shifts perspective between first and third person and occasionally breaks the third wall which seems odd, but ultimately adds to the narrative. What a clever storytelling technique that enriches the reading experience.

MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES delivers on multiple levels and surprised me in the best way.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

*added to 2024 favorite list!

I have to start out this review by saying how much I LOVE The Knockout Queen… and I have been patiently waiting for Rufi to get another book out into the world… well my friends… it was worth the wait.

TBH I knew zilch about it before starting… 2 chapters in I decided to take a peek the the synopsis and oh my word I knew I was in for a wild ride. My emotional scale was all over the place… the characters have so much heart and felt so authentic while portraying the nitty gritty of mundane life and just trying to take care of the people they love.

Rufi is brilliant with her story telling and grabbing the readers attention with characters and plot… both I could not wait to get back to each day.

A little something to look forward to…
Choices
Wrestling
OnlyFans
Complicated parental relationships
Father/daughter reconciliation
The price of child care
Judgment of sex work
Found family

This is a story I would love to revisit and I’m so happy to see that’s it’s already been picked up to be adapted as a TV series!

Thank You William Morrow
6/11

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Lyon.brit.Andthebookshelf/

This was the perfect kind of summer read for me with its smart writing that went down easy. Based on the cover, it looks like brain candy, and it does kind of read that way, but it’s backed with real substance. This book explores themes of motherhood, wrestling, addiction, and sex work, which might sound like an odd combination, but in Thorpe’s hands it really works.

At the beginning I was worried I would end up being too annoyed by Margo to enjoy the rest of the book (this is a common issue for me). Luckily, Margo grew on me pretty quickly - she’s doing the best she can in a tough situation and I couldn’t help but root for her. And I fell in love with the incredible cast of memorable and distinct side characters too.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the free copy in exchange for my honest review!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was truly an incredible novel.

We follow Margo, who is struggling after an affair with her English professor leaves her pregnant at nineteen. The story evolves as she experiences financial, familial and relationship issues, eventually deciding to make a living by doing OnlyFans and bringing a whole lot of new complexity into her already difficult life.

Let me begin by saying I never thought I would read a literary fiction novel where I would get teary-eyed at a scene of a character playing Fortnite. This is the kind of story this is - one where simple everyday moments get brought under the microscope and examined in such deliberate and powerful depth. Concepts you perhaps should not write literary fiction about, such as Fornite, OnlyFans and TikTok, are portrayed poignantly to form a vulnerable and honest picture of the character in a way that make you fall in love with her.

This is a novel of uncertainty, of making mistakes and making things right and not knowing which is which, of not knowing whether you can trust yourself and others, of not being able to decipher what is real and not. What was real, however, is my love for Margo and the sympathy I felt for her as she navigated what the hell it means to be an adult, a mother and a daughter.

It is rare to see such relatable descriptions of what it means to be low-income, to be within a fractured family, to be young and have no fucking clue what to do. While there were so many things about Margo different to those in my life, I could not help but be completely entangled in her character. I was forced to feel both entrapped by her particular circumstances and liberated by her choice to remain powerful against all odds. It felt like we were on a journey together and if that isn’t that a sign of a great novel, what is?

Lastly, can someone give Margo a good hug?

Well, go, Margo! Margo finds herself in a difficult situation…pregnant by her college professor. Soon things get worse, as she loses her job and roommates. Margo finds the only solution she can think of to her financial dilemma. Will this solution mean that she loses custody of her child? This was a story that was funny at times, but also very sad at other times. I enjoyed the author’s style of writing!

From the description, I could tell this would be good but it was even better than I imagined -- so funny, so fresh, so smart. This author can WRITE and her latest book is no exception. I truly can't wait until this book gets adapted because this is such a unique, important story. Read this book!!

I absolutely loved this book, and I give it my highest recommendation. Margo's Got Money Troubles comes out next week on June 11, 2024,
you can purchase HERE, and I hope you consider reading this one as well as past works from this author reviewed HERE and HERE!
You are about to begin reading a new book, and to be honest, you are a little tense. The beginning of a novel is like a first date. You hope that from the first lines an urgent magic will take hold, and you will sink into the story like a hot bath, giving yourself over entirely. But this hope is tempered by the expectation that, in reality, you are about to have to learn a bunch of people's names and follow along politely like you are attending the baby shower of a woman you hardly know.

And that's fine, goodness knows you've fallen in love with books that didn't grab you in the first paragraph. But that doesn't stop you from wishing they would, from wishing they would come right up to you in the dark of your mind and kiss you on the throat.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when diving into this book, but wow did it deliver! The very first paragraph hooked me and by the second paragraph (IYKYK 🤣) I knew I was in for some laughs!

This book is a truly hilarious and heartfelt story about nineteen year old Margo, who finds herself pregnant and broke. We follow her struggles as a sometime naive, sometimes clever single mom, trying to make ends meet in a world she doesn’t quite understand. I especially loved the relationship with her estranged pro wrestler dad and how it evolves throughout the book.

This story took me on a rollercoaster of emotions but I was always rooting for Margo! Although this quirky and edgy book will not be for everyone, it was a great read that really makes you think!

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This book was an absolute delight. No one writes a quirky main character better than Rufi Thorpe. I adored Margo and the way she took control of her life and made her own decisions for herself and her baby. I also loved the Fullerton College and other North Orange County references. There aren’t many books set here, so it was very fun to read all of that.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley,

4.5 stars rounded up for uniqueness and joy of reading. I really loved Thorpe’s voice in this novel. If you were to tell me there are multiple changes from 1st to 3rd person and breaking of the fourth wall, I might have been put off, but she makes it work.

While the blurb talks about OnlyFans and pro wrestling, there is a lot more going on than the blurb could possibly explain. Through the twists and the turns, I was intrigued and along for the ride.

This has solidified Thorpe as an auto-buy author for me. I loved her previous novel, which was equally unique but completely different in premise.

“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is a new twist on an underdog story. Margo is pregnant with her married English professor child. He and her mother both don’t want her to keep the baby, but she wants to do the “right” thing. Except Margo at 20 years old, doesn’t realize the scope of that decision until her son arrives. She loves her son, but now she is struggling to make ends meet. In order to pay the bills, Margo creates an OnlyFans account and realizes this could be the answer to her problems, except it just causes more problems.

Overall, this story was enjoyable. I didn’t find it very funny as other reviewers have described. I spent the beginning of the novel frustrated with Margo, but she won me over by the end. I appreciate that the author wrote the character as a smart and capable woman growing into her power even as she struggled and made mistakes. The last 30% of the book had me hooked and I needed to know how her story ended. I didn’t love the switching between first and third person narration. I know the author did it for a reason and it took a while to get used to the transitions. I also found the descriptions of the TikTok videos baffling. I think they were meant to be funny, but it just showed how childish Margo was and made me cringe.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC! I also look forward to see the TV series adaption of this novel. I think it will lend well to that format.

Went into this not knowing too much about the synopsis but it ended up being a great story. Margo was the underdog from the beginning and transformed into a confident mother at the end despite all the shitty circumstances she was given. This story delves into sex work-OnlyFans- and the values and morals that Margo faces as she is trying to make money to provide for her son. It also sheds a light on how young mothers are treated. I was heartbroken when CPS showed up after all the progress she made only to find out her own mother called them. I thought the character development was excellent and really loved all of the characters even though Jinx and Shyanne were full of it and manipulative. It was a true underdog story and I was rooting for Margo the whole time.

4.5 stars. I loved this book. It checked all boxes for me - funny and clever and engaging with complex characters and a plot that will leave you delighted. I could picture the characters and wanted to sit and have breakfast with them. I found myself slowing down my reading pace to make this one last longer. Margo is the coolest. Thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy.