I was not fully sure what I was getting into when starting this book, and wow that a wild ride. This book was one page turning, train wreck after another for Margo and I couldn’t look away.

Despite having never been in most of these situations before, I felt like I could really relate to Margo. What really sucked me in what how Rufi really showcased the absolute terror of bringing your first child home from the hospital, unsure of how anyone would think you are competent to care for another human being.

If you decide to read this, you will get a cast of lovable, flawed characters that you will find yourself cheering and rooting for from start to finish.

Wow. Just, wow. I did not expect this book, these feelings. I have a high Compliance personality, and the changing narrative voice between scenes was HARD for me at the beginning. But then, at some point, I GOT it. And even before I did, as badly as I wanted to throw my kindle across the room every time that Compliance told me the narrative switching was WRONG, I knew I would have had to get out of bed and go pick the dang thing up so I could read more. I wasn’t willing to put it down longer than it took to vent my own frustration; I didn’t want to put it down at all.

Margo was… something. I can’t even explain it. She was this young and naive and simple girl who was completely complex and stronger and smarter than anyone had a right to be. Her love for Bohdi and Jinx was so heartwarming, and I loved all the good and the bad of all of it. I wanted to hate Mark—I still do, a little—but in the end he was a small little man who wasn’t very good and who had big ideas that really made the whole book come together. I loved what JB and Margo had going, and I loved how we got a hint of an HEA at the end.

I don’t see this story leaving me anytime soon. I feel changed. Like my life is never going to be the same. I really wish there was more to this story because I’m not ready to let it go.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I am Margo's biggest fan! She is smart as a whip, warm, and absolutely hilarious. Truly enjoyable, loved the characters, I found myself laughing out loud more than once. I would recommend this to anyone in the mood for a light and funny but also darkly hilarious read.

"Margo's Got Money Troubles" was somewhat odd but also amusing and fascinating. Margo finds herself an unemployed single mother at nineteen and has to figure out how to support herself and her new son, Bodhi. She ends up starting an OnlyFans account but struggles to get much attention because she is not really interested in doing the sorts of things that attract the most attention and income. Her early limited success is mostly based on her writing; being paid to rate pictures of a certain part of the anatomy with comparisons to a popular video game’s characters and their abilities. She also strikes up a connection with a fan, JB, who pays her for answering questions and telling stories.

It is the entry into her life of her father, former professional wrestler Jinx, that will trigger the transformation that will make her more successful. Margo was the product of an affair, and because he had a family, as well as a career that involved a lot of travel, Jinx was only intermittently in her life. However, he is now making up for lost time. Not surprisingly, he spends a lot of time talking about professional wrestling. Jinx explains kayfabe and the face vs heel roles and how that same dynamic can be used on OnlyFans to create and promote a character/brand that subscribers will want to follow. Margo will team up with some other content creators (KC and Rose) and her roommate, Suzie, who is into cosplay/LARPing, and after some initial struggles, will find a formula that works.

Margo’s work will also lead to multiple problems, including efforts by Bodhi’s father to gain custody (even though he wanted nothing to do with the child initially), a Child Protective Services investigation, and conflict with her mother (Shyanne) and her partner (Kenny) (boyfriend, then fiancé, then husband), who is a youth minister and is unaware that Shyanne drinks, gambles, etc. and certainly cannot tolerate, much less condone, Margo’s current line of work.

The story addresses some of the prejudices and assumptions regarding those involved in sex work. It also addresses the various ways that society is structured in a manner that is disadvantageous to single mothers, especially young mothers without resources. It touches on relationships, addiction, and power imbalances, among other topics. The way Margo manages to the turn the tables on the CPS worker is delightful. The story is sometimes told in the first person and sometimes in the third person, and the differences in point of view are an underlying theme.

One star for this book being pure trash. Another star for addressing some important topics, such as single motherhood, parent and adult daughter relationships, financial problems, etc.
I didn’t care for this novel at all, skipped through a lot and finished it only to be able to write a review. The first person, third person narrative constantly changing made this book even more difficult to read.
I received a complimentary copy,opinions are my own.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started reading Margo's Got Money Troubles, but I am so glad I took that journey!! There's something about Margo you just want to root for the entire way through the book, she's young, she's trying, she's mature, she's lost -- and all of those are so realistically portrayed and you feel all of them as you read her story. It seems like every odd is stacked against her - but she's never without hope -- and so you're never without hope when reading. I look forward to reading more from Thorpe in the future!

This is my first Rufi Thorpe and it was fantastic! A feminist ode to single motherhood and agency over our own bodies.
Margo is in trouble. She slept with her married professor, she's broke and pregnant. She keeps the baby because it's her choice. Everyone's telling her it's going to ruin her life and it does. But it saves it as well.
We have great characters to root for, complicated villains and a charming story of personal growth. An unapologetic 5 stars.

Rufi Thorpe is one of my favorite authors. I've read ALL her novels, and I so excited to read her upcoming book. Even though I really liked "Margo's Got Money Troubles", I have to admit, this is her weakest novel. As you can see, I still gave it 4 stars, but I felt something was missing. The story felt rushed and incomplete. Also, her novels usually have this grit and dramatic overtones, but this one unfortunately did not have those elements. But putting all those small gripes aside, this novel was extremely well written and had great character development. Margo's growth throughout the course of the novel was thrilling to watch. I also loved the father/daughter relationship, it reminded me of her second novel, "Dear Fang, with Love". This might be the first book I read that dives into the world of OnlyFans. I liked how brutally honest the writing was when it comes to single mothers. Margo really struggles trying to balance work and home life. Being a young mother and trying to be financially independent is not easy. Thorpe is never afraid to take chances with her books. I will continue to read whatever she writes in the future. She is the real deal. I loved Margo and her baby, Bodhi. Her unconditional love for her son was beautiful and raw.

Thank you, Netgalley and William Morrow for the digital ARC.

Absolutely love the premise of this book because it's different from a lot of other books that are available now! I feel a little weird reading about a character so much younger than me but I think that I may not be the target audience :) Nevertheless, love the silly plan Margo hatches to get herself some much-needed money! Entertaining, juicy, and a great coming of age story!

Thanks for the advanced copy. This book was about topics that are quite foreign for me, and the book kept me enthralled the entire time. I wanted to know how it ended and didn’t want to put it down. I enjoyed it but didn’t love it - but that was more due to the topic than the writing. I am not sure I am the target audience for this book but am sure there will be a lot of interest since I think people will be intrigued to read it. The cover is fun and enticing, and I saw this on a bunch of what to read in 2024 and it caught my attention.

This is a weird one. The book is very readable and I was interested in how things would turn out but I cannot say I liked it. I think it was just a bit too weird for me.

So grateful to be able to read this galley early, as it was one of my most anticipated books of the year. I love Rufi Thorpe so much. While this could fall under the messy, 20 something year old sad girl trope, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is different in that the tone is light and funny throughout, despite having heavier subject matter including young motherhood, complicated family, friendship woes, drug use, etc. It not just about having money troubles but finding your way under seemingly impossible circumstances, and doing whatever you have to do to make it work, for the good of not just yourself but everyone around you. It also ultimately paints sex work in a positive light which doesn’t happen nearly enough. 5 star read for me.

MARGO’S GOT MONEY PROBLEMS was my first Rufi Thorpe read, and what a wild ride it was.

A book that tackles financial difficulty, class and status, single parenthood, sex work, and the world adjusting to an internet age.

The good: This book is, in a word, CHAOTIC. The insane tiktok scripts, the pro-wrestler addict dad, the full page Pokémon d*ck ratings… this is an absolute fever dream of a book. Margo’s life is an absolute trainwreck that I couldn’t put down

The not as good: I think the book ties things up a little too neatly to match the energy of the rest of the book. Also, the switching between first and third person took a lot of time to adjust too and it kept pulling me out of the story.

This is hilarious! The opening is one of the best have ever read! If that does not get you hooked on this laugh out loud book, you are not a funny person. I coudl not stop reading this. It felt like a comedy show in front of me. So fun to read!

Yes, I did read the synopsis of this book before reading it. However, nobody could have prepared me for what I was about to read. We’ve got a vast array of big personalities, some really weird and funny, plot lines, and every once in a while, I had to ask myself what the heck I was reading. Now that I finished it I’m glad I gave it a chance it made me laugh. It made me confused. It made me wonder if I live in a little sheltered life because none of this happens in my life.
If you want to go on a wild ride with Margot, definitely check this out. I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange, for my honest review

I've read every Rufi Thorpe novel and couldn't wait to screen this upcoming spicy summer release. Please note, I cannot stress enough that this book will NOT be for every reader but effectively paints a modern portrait of navigating the financial difficulties of teenage pregnancy in a way I have never seen before with moving honesty and a strong cast of oddball characters that I couldn't get enough of.

At nineteen, Margo knows that a relationship with her married professor isn't ideal, but she was never prepared to be a teenage mom. When she reveals the news and is encouraged to abort, in an act of defiance, she keeps the baby but discovers few resources to help support her through the early days of motherhood.

As Margo hasn't had any guidance from her mother, can't seem to find any childcare, and has little prospects for financial freedom, she realizes that the most unlikely solution- starting an account on OnlyFans might be the only way she can pay rent and care for her child.

What Thorpe documents is a savvy woman who realizes her storytelling power as she navigates building a fanbase, all while rendering some of the most relatable scenes of new motherhood that I've read. When she struggled with the car seat and navigated their first round of stomach flu, I felt those moments in every fiber of my body.

This story takes many turns you would expect from such an adult plotline, but what it says about women navigating single motherhood makes this an absolute showstopper. If a novel like this isn't to your reading taste, Dear Fang is a stunning coming-of-age story that I can't recommend enough. I'll never tire of Thorpe's writing or the way she seems unafraid to try new things with her stories.

Thank you to William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for a review!

After sleeping with her married college English professor, Margo finds herself pregnant and decides to keep it. After giving birth, she quits college, is fired from her job, and the baby daddy wants nothing to do with Margo or her baby, Bodhi. Margo’s former addict and WWE star father, Jinx, moves in with Margo to help raise Bodhi. With dwindling cash and limited options, Margo decides to start her own Only Fans account to make ends meet. As Margo’s success and bank account rises, her personal life takes a turn and her unconventional family unit is threatened.

I’m saying it now - this is going to be one of my FAVORITE books of 2024. The characters are fantastic - funny, flawed, and real. There were so many laugh out loud moments while still talking about serious subjects - drug addiction, toxic family dynamics, class issues, sex work. It was a super original plotline and very of our time and I could not put it down!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC of Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe.

I absolutely relished in every page of this story! What a gift.

Rufi Thorpe’s writing is so sharp that it almost did not matter what I read - I found myself underlining passages because of their social acuity, such as, “Wanting something was usually a sign that you did not deserve it and would not be getting it, for example: moving to New York City and going to a fancy college like NYU. Conversely, the less you wanted to do something, the more likely it was that you should, like going to the dentist or doing your taxes.”
A simple truth but one not so easily articulated in life. There were many such observations in this book.

The narrative also captivated me, as I’d been somewhat of a “Margo” character in my younger life.
Only Fans was a far-future platform then; a resource of which I would definitely have tried to make use when younger.
I found the book’s premise of a young, financially-struggling yet fiercely intelligent outlier fascinating and turned the pages greedily. And I loved the fact that Margo’s famous father is the one to introduce the concept of the O.F. site to her, however innocently so.
She ponders the morality of sites like O.F. promoting sexuality: “She’d had a similar thought before, which was that if sex wasn’t shameful and being paid wasn’t shameful, then why was it shameful to have sex for money?”

Both her father Jinx - who is touchingly non-hypocritical regarding Margo’s entrepreneurial venture - and her mother Shyanne are blunt when it came to Margo. “‘Beauty is like free money,’ Shyanne used to say as she did Margo’s face.” Agrees Susie: “But money is power, Margo. And you’ve got it, baby.”
Margo receives her initial real-life education from them. She grows up prematurely and is a sympathetic character for it.
As is Jinx, who shows up for Margo physically, emotionally, and practically, helping her to become a corporation and a product by seeing the person she really is. (Personal bias: no parent of mine ever helped me in a such ways and reading this part made me sad for myself and happy for Margo.)

Margo is somehow both a realist and a philosopher. She sees a lot, and she questions everything. “It just feels fucked up to make an important decision based on something as stupid and made up as money.”

It is clear (to me) Margo is a “good person” (whatever that means; she is a complex human) despite her choice of actions. She preempts judgment of herself through those around her except for her supportive father.

She offers brilliant commentary on the invisible and obvious: “…she scrolled Twitter, which was like being bathed in the dirty water of other people’s thoughts.”

This book also illuminates the harsh reality of single-motherhood in poverty. Margo is a quotidian hero with all she must overcome to survive her new ruined life with baby Bodhi.

I loved Margo’s moments of physical female honesty without apology. “Margo had always been mildly gluttonous…”
Very few mediums seem to unapologetically admit to such a thing as a woman having a natural appetite for food, outside of stories about eating disorders.
“Kenny seemed delighted, as though it were novel for a girl to like chicken wings.”

This book also touches upon the complexities of parent/child relationships, especially as all adults. Margo is mature in her regard of her flawed parents, perceiving their respective vulnerabilities and touchingly loving them for them. I found her burgeoning relationship with fragile Jinx heartwarming.

In an aspirational way, I relished in the romance between Margo and JB. They are real people to each other online. “… if they were careful, they could use these messages like Ziploc bags to store reality itself.” (What gorgeous writing!)
I have been searching for that my entire life with no such success.

The book shows the fascinating mechanics of how quickly something “goes viral” on social media. Instant fame. It happens for Margo in one day and suddenly her money troubles are long forgotten. But what is the trade-off?

Social stigma, for one, a custody battle for another, and a loss of her mother’s support.

Sex work is compared to professional wrestling in that both use the body for entertainment in a financial transaction. One is socially condemned and one is revered, respectively. Both are art.

But then Jinx has had his own deviant Heroin addiction to deal with. Margo shows up for him.
They are both “white trash” together. They are both lonely human beings. “People are all so lonely.”

I absolutely hated when Margo capitulates and decides to quit her successful Only Fans job and pursue real estate, in order to socially conform.
I cheered when the custody report came in, in her favor, and she no longer needed to. And again when JB joins her and creates legitimacy both for her job and for their partnership.

Five stars!!!

This one took me a bit to get into but it was absolutely worth the effort. I loved and sympathized with the main character, 20-year old Margo, and her endless string of challenges, including an affair with her deadbeat professor to her pregnancy and baby, struggling to make ends meet, dealing with her mostly dysfunctional mother, reconnecting with her drug-addicted father, being “doxxed”, weathering a paternity suit and invasive visits from Child Protective Services. I cheered her creativity and was entertained by the storyline involving her “sex work” on the social media platform OnlyFans. This book doesn’t dwell on the issues but there are so many here that afford it a rich, authentic ambiance and give Margo plenty of opportunity to overcome adversity and shine.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thrope is a fantastic read and my first book by the author. This book is a true gem, filled with humor and heart. From the very first page, I was hooked by the witty writing and charming story-line. It’s a coming-of-age story of a young single mother, her journey to adulthood and self-discovery as she tries to find ways to support her infant son.

The main character, Margo, is a new mom struggling to navigate the world of first-time motherhood. At nineteen, Margo had a brief relationship with her much older English professor, resulting in a pregnancy. She goes against everyone’s advice and decides to keep the baby. Margo soon realized she’s not prepared for motherhood and doesn’t have the support new mothers need. Her biggest challenge is finding ways to financially support herself. For Margo, social media could be a solution to her problems.

This is a wonderfully entertaining book, with a cast of offbeat characters. The characters are well-developed, especially Margo’s dad, Jinx. It was wonderful watching them reconnect and develop a relationship. He became her support, helping with the baby despite dealing with his own issues. Along with her roommate Suzi, these three become a family unit supporting each other.

From the very beginning, I found myself rooting for Margo. She was forced to grow up quickly and face challenges that she was not prepared for. Despite this, she tackled each obstacle with determination and resilience. Her struggles and triumphs are portrayed realistically, making her situation realistic and relatable. Margo showed that even in the face of adversity, one can rise above and become a strong, independent individual. The author depicted real life situations that single mothers navigate every day and the choices they make to support their families. She also placed a spotlight on the way society judges those who have chosen to make their livelihood outside of the mainstream.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rufi Thrope and William Morrow for this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.