WOW!

Everything about this book is perfection! It's smartly written and plays with perspective - weaving between first, second, and third person, all depending on how Margo needs to tell her story. Somethings are too hard to tell first person, so she tells us these scenes from a detached perspective. And then there are times when Margo needs to address the reader directly, to ensure we, the reader, understand the context of what she's telling us.

But let's put aside this ingenious choice and talk about the story and characters. Margo starts out naive and ignorant. She makes choices and learns from them, she grows as a character and has agency in directing her fate. Sure, those choices she makes aren't ones everyone would make, but they're hers. Then there's the story, which if you've read the synopsis I don't need to sell you on because it's a great premise. Her professional wrestling father, Jinx's involvement is both bitter and sweet. His wrestling background adds to the worldbuilding.

There were so many lines I highlighted for their wit and wisdom. But my favorite scene was when Margo and Jinx discuss the parallels between "fake" wrestling violence and "fake" OnlyFans sex. Father and daughter are two sides of the same coin.

Mostly I loved how real Margo's situation was. Being a single mom at 20 with zero safety net and no way to financially support yourself is a really bad idea. A really, really bad idea.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Story: 5 stars
Character Development: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars

Margo had had sex with two other boys before Mark came along. One was her high school boyfriend, Sebastion, "who had absolutely the best dog, a shepherd mix named Remmy, whose head smelled vaguely of peanuts, and whom she definitely loved more than Sebastian." (I totally get that!)

Before we go any further, I must warn you that the book is filled with constant swearing. To the point where I wanted to tell the characters "ENOUGH!!! You're being lazy! Use your WORDS!!!" The other odd thing was that the book sometimes went back and forth between first person and third person. There must have been a reason for that but I never figured it out.

Having said all of that, I want to say that parts of the book made me smile. Some made me laugh. And others made me roll my eyes. Oh, and I learned more about OnlyFans than I ever wanted to know. I liked Margo's Got Money Troubles. - it was unlike anything I've ever read!

Many thanks to both #WilliamMonroe and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Margo's Got Money Troubles. The expected publication date is June 11, 2024.

I saw this one on a few different lists of anticipated 2024 books and was intrigued by the premise. A teen mom starts an OnlyFans, utilizing what she has learned about pro wrestling from her dad as a way to build her followers. I struggled with the first 20 or so pages, but then became completely engrossed in the story and the characters. One of my favorite reads of 2024 so far.

4 stars-Margo takes a college course and ends ups sleeping with her married professor. They are only together for 6 weeks, and Margo is pregnant. She turns to social media and OnlyFans to support herself and her son Bodhi. What I love about this book is the depth of the characters. Jinx, Margo’s long lost dad, a wrestling promoter, turns up and ends up becoming a roommate. Margo and her relationship complicated relationship with her mom, and JB, and his dog Jelly Bean (they let a kid name it.) I found myself rooting for Margo and Jinx throughout the whole book. Life just kept throwing them curves, but they make such a great team. This is a very realistic look at what it might look like to be in financial struggle, and a very honest look at sex work. The topic is handled very carefully and does not in any way condescend or shame sex work. It’s a job, and one that allows Margo to be home with Bodhi. I will definitely look for more from this author, I really liked her writing style! Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Lovers of sad girl or traumatized girl fic lit, please read this story. It is heartbreaking and you may want to check trigger warnings prior. This was the perfect mix of melancholic and hilarious. I learned a lot about how only fans works … but this isn’t necessarily a spicy story.

The female main character will absolutely touch your heart - as a woman, mother, or naive young adult.

I read Margo’s Got Money Troubles with high hopes for a good read and a good sense of humour. Neither really came through for me. I found all of the characters annoying and unsophisticated, I saw where it could have been funny but for me it fell flat.
I do recognize that I may not be the target reader and will be buying a copy for the library as I am sure it will be popular.

This was such an easy enjoyable book!

I couldn't put it down and found myself just blowing through chapters. It wasn't quite what I was expecting when I requested it. I found it strange/odd but in the best ways. It was funny, eclectic/quirky and so much more than the cartoon cover!!

I think there was a good idea in here. At least, the blurb led me to belief that this would be a different sort of story. Unfortunately, the alternating third and first person chapters utterly lost me. Keeping in mind that I read much farther than I would have because it was a NetGalley book and I try to do due diligence, I kept waiting for a twist to bring purpose to that alteration, but it never happened. I feel that a stronger editor might have pulled this one together better, but I'll look for the author's next effort.

4.5 stars rounded up. When I first read the synopsis of this story I thought it sounded cheesy and juvenile with the mention of WWE wrestling and OnlyFans. I am glad I gave it a chance because I was hooked after the first chapter. While the wrestling and OnlyFans are a part of the plot, it is really a story about motherhood, friendship and complicated family relationships. It is my favorite contemporary fiction novel I have read lately. My only complaint is that the author switches back and forth between first person and third person. The story explains the reasoning behind this style, but I found it jarring to switch perspective mid-chapter. I also found the ending to be rushed. I would definitely recommend this book for all those in the trenches and those looking for a story about family Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was unlike anything else I’ve ever read and I think that’s a good thing. Margo is oddly such a relatable protagonist despite her unusual circumstances. The cast of characters in this book is A+ and it really made me think about everything that comes with having a child and what you’ll do to survive. This book made me laugh a lot, but it also made me get all in my. It comes out June 11 and I definitely recommend it.

If you’re old here, allow me to apologize for the umpteenth reminder that I am not a blurb reader. If you’re new here – I am not a blurb reader. I am addicted to a cartoony cover and a catchy title so that’s what hooked me here. I’m also always looking for the next "Bernadette" - or what I like to call the “Mom Com,” and from the title/cover art I thought maybe that’s what this would be. I probably would have skipped it over had I read it was about a very young and ill-prepared financially new mom who takes to Only Fans as a source of income with her fresh-out-of-rehab father as her roommate. That just sounds like A. LOT.

Turns out I sort of loved this one. I guess I’ll always be a fan of an underdog story. And while there were most DEFINITELY times I wanted to shake the shit out of Margo for being so naïve, the way the author broke the fourth wall and had Margo recognizing her errors in hindsight was a smart way to keep me invested.

Maybe venture out of your comfort zone and give this one a whirl in June.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! Weird and wonderful, there’s very little to compare Rufi‘s writing to. It took me a chapter or two to get the hang of the first person / third person switching, but it was such an interesting device and worked so well for the story. And the story! Margo’s a lovable weirdo who it’s impossible not to root for, even as you’re silently screaming at her to get it together or cheering her on. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Margo's Got Money Troubles.

I think I can go so far as to say that this is the perfect book for our times. If you don't get offended by the language and uncomfortable situations that frequently occur, you will be in love with the story and Margo. But yes, definitely not for everyone. Rufi Thorpe's writing and characters are amazing, incredibly human, and entertaining.

Adulting is hard...

As a kid, we can't wait to grow up, with big doey eyes we look forward to our drivers license, first legal drink, getting married and having babies...

What we don't know is that all that, is accompanied by, car payments, hangovers, sharing the bed with someone who farts and sleepless nights.

I mean I guess its not all that bad, just look got Margo's life, it could be worse

Just kidding, I absolutely adored Margo and her hysterical banter.

Margo's Got Money Troubles, is laugh out loud funny. I instantly wanted to be friends with Margo, not just to be able to hug her and let her know it would all work out but because she kept going and hustled even when faced with challenges. She's one bad @ss mama!!

Check out this teaser :

“An audacious, wildly funny, completely unpredictable novel by a writer so singular that it’s hard to compare her to anyone else . . . absolutely brilliant.” —Kevin Wilson

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.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

I really enjoyed this one! Margo is a funny, observant, spunky character I really enjoyed following on her journey. She starts the book as a naive, insecure young girl and becomes a smart, capable woman with a strong sense of self along the way. While the characters are quirky and the subject matter can be challenging, I found the overall book very heartwarming and earnest. I also thought Thorpe did a great job covering young motherhood, sex work, and found family; she really challenges you to examine your preconceived notions and think about life from a different perspective. I would definitely recommend this one to contemporary fiction fans!

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Rufi Thorpe for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

I am not one to exaggerate so when I say I want to give this book 1 million stars, I mean it with my whole heart. It is ingenious, irreverent, hilarious, and warm. I can’t wait to recommend it to everyone I know in the coming months. Margo is one of the most fully formed, endearing characters I have read in a long time. The societal commentary was exceptionally because it was happening without me, the reader, even realizing it was happening. It was funny. I loved every single moment. It has been a long time since a book has impressed me this much. I loved it so much.

This is the kind of book I search and search and hope for, that feels so effortless and unpretentious in its storytelling and yet builds characters I will remember forever with such humor and complexity, the real kind that happens at Arby’s and in beat-up purple Honda civics and in our worst moments, that doesn’t let us put people in boxes, that takes a story you know l, a girl giving birth when she is young and not ready for it, and turns it into so much more. SO MUCH MORE.
Margo is so amazing and complex, funny and empathetic, impulsive and creative and silly and so in love with her baby. She is truly, truly a twenty year old who had to figure out a lot, who is brilliantly smart, but who is still twenty. The narrative ways her later self can intervene are perfect and the reason to read fiction. The intersection of the worlds of onlyfans, an estranged pro-wrestling manager father, a mother who had Margo too young and is still in survival mode, the city of Fullerton, new motherhood, friendship, and a broken, unfair system they are all trying to exist in is funny and heartbreaking and so whole. You don’t finish this book without feeling the entire range of rage and humor, huge love, empathy, and I-guess-we’re-doing-this now from even one character in this book, it’s remarkable and addicting and I can’t wait for the world to read it, I want to start it all over again.

Fantastic! Really proud of this authors and how much time and effort they put into this book. I’m really impressed with the storyline and the tie in of different themes throughout the book.

This book was EVERYTHING. It was HILARIOUS. Truly laugh out loud funny.

A newly single mom, broke, turns to only fans for income while having her newly sober dad as a roomie. I loved reading about Margo. She was an underdog, struggling, and you want to shake her sometimes but she was just one of those characters you root for.

I didn’t get frustrated with Margo because she takes self inventory and it’s the best kind or comeback story.

If you’re looking for a heartwarming read that makes you laugh, smile, and root for someone, this is the book for you!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Margot's Got Money Troubles, by Rufi Thorpe, was a quick read. I liked the characters, but the storyline was slow. I kept reading hoping for some kind of twist, but it never happened. This one was just ok. Thanks. NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC that I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.