Loved it. Margo is such a likable character. This book is fun but also serious—we seemingly force (or guilt) people into choices but don’t give them the support they need, then create a world where we critique their ability to take control. No spoilers, but when Mark is criticizing her in the mediation office GRRRRR I wanted to jump through my kindle screen. Loved the ending. Uplifting and inspiring.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the gifted e-book.

Margo's got money problems and a whole lot of other problems! I completely understand the cover of this book as Margo has clearly flopped on the couch in an act of not knowing what the heck to do under her current circumstances!

This book sucks you in as the reader becomes completely engrossed in Margo's major life changes and the problems that arise with those changes. I couldn't help but want to step into the book and help her!

I walked into this book blind and by mid-book my eyes were wide open with moments of concern and disbelief in here choices, yet very understandable. I love that Thorpe takes us deep into the reality of Margo's life and shows why and how Margo gets in the position that she does. It's hard to blame Margo. I really fell in love with Margo and her attitude, personality and genuine kindness and love.

Where I thought I was reading this to see Margo's money problems, perhaps the takeaway is the look at parenting and what good vs bad parenting looks like. What are the expectations adults have of their parents. What does a good parent look like? How do we express our love for our parents and our children.

Anyways, be warned that the subject matter is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and honestly it isn't mine, but it worked. The book gives you a step into someone else's life and allows readers to attempt to set aside their biased unthought opinions and come to a more compassionate understanding. While this is fictional, there are or will be times that a time will come where a woman needs us to not be quick to pass judgement on her.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! It was my first by the author and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. This was like a fun, fresh, coming of age story that was kind of chaotic but in a good way. I loved Margo and found myself really rooting for her throughout the majority of the book. Now that the story is over I think I’m actually going to miss her! Also I really need to checkout The Knockout Queen now!

AHHHH!!! This book put me through the emotional wringer. Margo finds herself pregnant with her boyfriend/professor's baby. While overall, the decision to keep the baby is Margo's. It is by no means an easy decision to be a single parent. To support herself and her son, Margo turns to OnlyFans, the only job that will allow her to be a stay-at-home parent and be able to support her son. Margo ends up building a group of family and friends that end up being her support group.

This is a really interesting premise and I found it hard to rate it as a result. Margo gets pregnant after a short relationship and decides to keep the baby. With a less than supportive mother and the baby’s father not really in the picture, Margo has to figure out how to take care of her baby. With a roommate and her recently retired father, Margo learns how to use social media to make money. I learned more about OnlyFans than any ever expected to, but it was interesting to learn alongside Margo. I think that section of the book dragged for me a little at this point, but around halfway the book picked up again and Margo’s character developed exponentially. Overall I give this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the arc.

I really loved Rufi Thorpe's "Knock Out Queen", and this book in a similar way did not disappoint. From the first chapter I loved the style of the writing, it was different, engaging, fun and easy to read. I wanted to know more about these characters. I loved the flip flop between 3rd and 1st person and how as Margo matured the 1st person became the prevalent style. Every once in a while I felt like maybe it was doing too much, or too much was going on, but honestly I just shrugged, kept reading and let it go. It was quirky and fun to read. There were parts that made me laugh out loud and parts that I felt my heart rate increase right alongside Margos. I loved her development and evolution as a character, and I just adored the supporting cast of Jinx and Suzie. I also loved the tone and approach to sex work, that Margo and Jinx didn't make it a shameful experience. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5

This was a heartfelt and fun novel primarily about Margo, her baby boy Bohdi, and her retired wrestler father. Margo finds herself without a partner, a new baby, or a way to earn an income. Her dad, mostly absent from her childhood, also needs a place to stay, so they reconnect and help each other navigate the next steps of their future. Overall this was a funny and warm story about unconventional paths life takes us in.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars.

Pros:

*I grew to love our MC Margo. She is a young teenage mom who is just trying to provide for her son in any way she can. She doesn't have a lot of support in the beginning of the story, and I empathized with her situation.

*It had a unique writing style, in which the main character writes herself as first and third person. I could see what the author was trying to do, and I didn't mind it.

*The second half of the book was more interesting to me, and I found the ending to be unexpected but for the most part satisfying.

*And a small thing but as someone who has worked in the substance use disorder field, I was pleasantly surprised reading how the author did her homework on methadone treatment for opioid use. There is nothing worse than when you are an expert in a field, and a book has blatantly wrong information. I'm glad that the author did her homework.

Cons:

*I usually dislike when books mention social media. I really can't stand it when it is a main theme to the plot. I dislike social media in general, so to read page after page about Margo's Only Fans, and TikTok's and followers and views was just a big eyeroll for me.

*This book felt way longer than its claimed 304 pages. I don't know what it was about the story, but I think it dragged too long in certain parts. The second half of the book went faster because it was more interesting, but I couldn't believe how long it took me to finish.

So why three stars? I guess it's just a hard book to rate. There were things I liked about it, but overall, it was just an okay experience for me.

This is not the kind of story that I usually enjoy, and it started out a bit slow for me, though intriguing enough to keep me reading. Then - I got more and more pulled in, first, trying to sneak in reading time whenever I could and finally culminating with staying up past bedtime to finish. So - if you are ambivalent about character driven plots like me, or even better - actually enjoy them! - then you will like this book. Margo is a 19 year old smart but broke community college student who finds herself pregnant, has the baby and then is sort of like "whoops, now what do I do" It is a very interesting look at decisions that young, single mothers are forced to make, and how difficult it is to survive and thrive. But, at the same time, it has excellent writing and a cast of characters that are hard not to root for. Really enjoyed this book, so well done!

SYNOPSIS
- Margot is nineteen when she becomes pregnant after her married 30 something college professor with questionable morals initiates an affair with her. She ends up becoming a single mom to her son, Bodhi.
- Margot was raised by Shyanne, her single mother, and her estranged dad, Jinx, is a former pro-wrestler. Jinx was married to another woman and has other kids.
- As Margot navigates becoming a new mom, two of her three roommates move out. Jinx simultaneously gets out of rehab & is fresh out his marriage ending, and he moves in with Margot, Bodhi, and Susie (the remaining roomie).
- After loosing her waitressing job due to lack of affordable childcare options, Margot turns to OnlyFans for income.

MY THOUGHTS
- Contemporary fiction
- This is my first Rufi Thorpe read, and I was blown away.
- I flew through this book in a day and a half.
- Thorpe expertly crafted a story that made me feel so many feelings & challenged me to reexamine how I view certain things.
- I really enjoyed how the notion of perspective is introduced, and Thorpe alternates between first person & third person.
- Thorpe’s writing is truly a master class in character development. Each character is flushed out, and all are human, flawed, nuanced, and real.
- The book explores a lot of deep themes and questions. What implicit biases we have toward other people based on what they do for money or limited information we have? How quickly do we judge others? What makes someone a good person? What is a good life? What preconceived notions do we carry about people we don’t know?
- I thoroughly enjoyed watching Margot navigate challenges

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ one of the best books of 2024. a master class in character development.

Thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on June 11, 2024.

I can’t believe this title sat on my shelf for so long! This book was equal parts beautiful, partly original, and wildly entertaining.

Margo has found herself in an age old situation with her professor. Her mom is no help and her dad has a wife and kids of his own.

After she gets fired from her job because she can’t find childcare, she comes up with a solution where she can work and take care of her baby.

I found this plot interesting and hilarious in parts. Margo and her troubles had me staying up way past my bedtime. I would highly recommend and look forward to reading more from this author.

Rufi Thorpe does it again!!! The Knockout Queen was one of my favorite books in 2020, so I was ecstatic to see a new release from Thorpe. MGMT has everything - babies, wrestling, Arby's, religion, sex, bad people, good people, epiphanies, life lessons, and more. It contains characters that are layered, nuanced, and feel so real. Everybody has been talking about this book and it's worth the hype!

My only question is... how did she get approval to write about real wrestlers with their real names?

With a blurb by Kevin Wilson: "An audacious, wildly funny, completely unpredictable novel by a writer so singular that it’s hard to compare her to anyone else . . . absolutely brilliant.” [I was intrigued] And: " A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world—from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of The Knockout Queen.

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet's always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger."

I decided--why not give it a whirl; I like to mix up my reads,

BUT. NOT MY JAM. Perhaps because I'm decades too old and don't fit the demographic for this book?!

In the distinct minority. I COULD HAVE WALKED AWAY AT ANY TIME!!

Plusses: not nails on the chalkboard prose, and a quick, easy read. Relatively short.

Minusses: DID NOT CARE ABOUT ANYONE, OR WHERE THIS WAS GOING [although I did like her father, Jinx, and her roommate Suzie]. Figured out one of the trajectories [mostly]. Did not care for the ending [no spoiler].

A unique but enjoyable read. Although Margo is in a difficult situation, she is determined to support herself by a means society deems unsavory. I liked how the author makes the reader think about society judges someone based on their career choices.

This book was hilarious. I enjoyed how the plot is a realistic situation that could happen in 2024! Super complicated and trying your best to do what is right!

I'm not crying you're crying. I LOVE Rufi Thorpe. She never misses, I absolutely loved Margo as well as all of the side characters. I usually devour books but I took this one SUPER slow because I didn't want it to end. An interest topic done exceptionally well. Well written and engaging, Thorpe hits me with another 5 star read!

I absolutely loved this novel!! While I truly have liked/loved every Rufi Thorpe book to date (and I have read all of them), this one is by far my favorite. It follows a young woman as she navigates an unplanned pregnancy and how she will support herself and her baby, and quickly devolves into a complex, yet quirky and hilarious story about how she goes about doing so. It has darker elements like previous Thorpe novels, yet it also retains a lot of lightness and humor, while making wry observations about modern life, motherhood, and technology.

Easy 5 stars!!

Loved this book! The title and cover look silly but the topic raises serious issues and it's so well written. A COULD NOT PUT DOWN for me. Plus, It's informative. I knew little about how these sites worked until reading. Very illuminating and Margo is a sympathetic character..

4 stars

Margo has a lot more than money trouble, and this book is one wild ride not only through Margo's long list of troubles but also through the way that modern women are too frequently stuck approaching life.

For me, this read is noteworthy, largely, for its wild location: Fullerton, California. Anyone who has ever been to Fullerton will wonder WHY it is set there and then, as soon as they start reading, they'll realize the extra hilarity of understanding what Fullerton is and what kinds of people/social circumstances are there, and how this book, somehow, really couldn't be set anywhere else. Beyond my niche obsession with the setting, there are a lot of other details to enjoy.

When readers meet Margo, she's a 19-year-old student at Fullerton College. Her English professor, who is a married father and close to 40, initiates an affair with her that results in a pregnancy that Margo keeps. Though Margo knows this won't be an easy experience, she goes for it, and this event becomes the catalyst for not only major future life changes but also a more thorough investigation of her past: her semi-despicable mom and - my fav - her dad, who is a retired pro wrestler. Since Margo and her mom were in the secret family camp of her dad's life, she knows what money struggles and parenting struggles can look like, but she is still just so naive. It's a joy to watch her navigate challenging circumstances and recognize where she's gone wrong. It's especially rewarding to see her grow and succeed.

I prefer to know as little about a book as possible before I start it, but one thing that really struck me is how focused on the humorous aspects of this folks are. While I can definitely see moments of humor, for me, this was a really serious and often sad read (though it's uplifting overall). This may be because I work so frequently with folks like Margo who are around the same age and experiencing extraordinary barriers. A lot of this was VERY close to home.

Another feature of this book I love, and there's a solid indicator of it in the title, is why it's told in third person and how the notions of perspective and narration work throughout the piece. From a literary perspective, this was an unexpected treat.

The bright colors on the cover and the apparently quippy nature of the title may lead prospective readers to believe that this is light-hearted chick lit. There's more to it than that.

I enjoyed this one and will be back for more from this author (including the back catalog).

"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."

Well, if the beginning of Margo's Got Money Troubles was indeed a first date, I'd say the novel in it's entirety was a courtship that ended in a marriage where the couple is holding hands at their 25th wedding anniversary, staring lovingly into each other's eyes, wondering how they got so lucky to have found each other. When I heard the premise, I thought the idea of this novel was a bit silly. Margo is a twenty year old mother to an infant with the ridiculous name of Bodhi. I mean, Bodhi is a tasty beer but that doesn't mean it's an appropriate name for a tiny human. Given that her baby's daddy is a married college professor, he wants nothing to do with little Bodhi - although maybe if she'd given him a less stupid name, daddy would've be more inclined to pitch in. Margo soon learns that being a single mother with no job and minimal education is just as hard as everyone's been telling her it'd be. Which sucks and all, but Margo's life is what it is and she needs a way to make cash monies - fast. Her retired pro wrestler father makes an offhand comment about a former coworker of his who made oodles of dollars via her OnlyFans account and it gets Margo's wheels spinning. Why can't she do that? What follows is an endearing, fun, and thought provoking read about a young woman's foray into a job choice that leads her down a path she never expected.

While the premise sounded silly, the execution was near perfection. I loved how the story jumped from first person to third person based on how difficult it was for Margo to tell her story - the tough parts required to her to step herself out of it and write it from an arms length whereas the easier parts could be written as herself. I'd never read a book written in such a way before. And all of the characters were so real. I could see 19-year-old Margo going along with an affair with her professor not because she was in love with him, but because she enjoyed being admired. How she chose to have the baby not from some inner voice telling her it was the morally correct thing to do, but because she felt like it was the right move for her personally, even if she couldn't explain why. I could see her mother, who desperately wanted to be loved by a man and was willing to do whatever it took to acquire that love. And I could see her father - who was absent when she was a kid and trying to make up for it when she needed him as a young adult.

I was not expecting the book to tackle the hard topics of women's rights, religion, drug use, and custody battles. But it did. And it did so well. All while being an enjoyable and fun read. Thorpe was able to balance hard topics and entertainment flawlessly.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the name Margo decided to give her baby. Did I mention that already? But that minor annoyance won't stop me from highly recommending this book to anyone and everyone.