What a heartwarming but still humorous story! It had a little of both, was a great romance read! I enjoyed it!

Very sweet and emotional love story! We have a lot of romance readers and this is just the adult romance that can be read by teen readers.

I always enjoy Sophie Cousens’ novels because they are heartwarming stories with themes that tend to really resonate with me.  With its theme of “be careful what you wish for,” Cousens’ latest novel The Good Part is my favorite yet.

Lucy Young is 26 years old and is already just over how her life is going.  She dreams of a career in television but so far has spent most of her time at the station where she works fetching coffee for others, even after earning a promotion to Junior Researcher. To add insult to injury, the job doesn’t even really pay enough for her to live on. Her personal life is just as much of a letdown as her professional one, and after another particularly bad date leaves her stranded near a tiny shop that happens to have a wishing machine in it, Lucy makes a desperate wish to please let her skip to the good part of her life.   When she wakes up the next morning, Lucy is suddenly a forty-something year old married woman with children, and she also has her dream job. Has she skipped to the good part or has she simply missed out on most of her life?

I loved this story in part because it reminded me of several of my favorite movies like Big with Tom Hanks and It’s a Wonderful Life, which both feature that similar glimpse into what an alternate life could be like as well as that theme of be careful what you wish for.  I also loved that this is a story that really makes you think about your own life and whether or not you’ve made it to the good part or would wish to skip over certain parts to, in theory, get to something better.

One of my absolute favorite parts of The Good Part though is watching Lucy’s journey as she navigates this new life she has found herself in. She has no idea if she’ll ever get back to her own life, or if she even wants to, so she decides to embrace where she is and try to make a go of it.  There are of course plenty of humorous missteps along the way, particularly as Lucy adjust to technological advances and such, but it is just so lovely watching her get to know her husband Sam and their children. There is a bit of a romantic element as Lucy begins to really see how her future self could fall for Sam, but that is definitely secondary to Lucy’s journey to find herself.

If you’re in the mood for a heartwarming, humorous story that will leave you with plenty of food for thought about your own life, I highly recommend The Good Part.

I overall just really enjoyed this story, loved the characters, and thought it was just very sweet. Such an enjoyable read! Thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy.

There is no way this wont be a top favorite for me this year. 

I have been a fan of Sophie's books for a while now and I think this one just became my new favorite. 

The Good Part is about what happens when we skip our current hardships to get to the "good stuff". Lucy is tired of her current circumstances. When she makes a wish on an antique wishing machine she ends up getting WAY more than she bargained for. She wakes up the next morning with a ring on her hand, children running around her home and a man who is a complete stranger but is apparently...her husband. Can skipping a large chunk of her life be a blessing or is skipping to the Good Part all its cracked up to be?

I think this is one of most endearing book i've read this year. The way relationships are explored in this book is so endearing and sentimental. It made me want to examine how I treat the people most important to be in my own life and be a better person. 

I loved the dynamics between Lucy when it came to her interactions with her future family. There were multiple moments I laughed, swooned, and yes...I totally cried. Sophie has written one of the more realistic seven year olds, and man oh man the romantic relationship was a 10/10.

 I loved the themes of realizing that the things that are hard actually lead us to the good stuff and if we don't remember them can we truly appreciate the here and now. 

I can't say enough good things but I loved this one from start to finish. If you add one book to your wishlist this year for Christmas, let it be The Good Part. You won't regret it. 

audiobook was incredibly well done. So much so that I immediately went out and bought a hardcopy for my trophy shelves.

I loved this book. This is the fourth book that I have read by this author and have enjoyed them all. I laughed out loud when the main character woke up as a 42 year old woman. Highly recommend this book.

shophie cousens has been on my tbr list for a while and I was too excited for this to be my first read of hers! the good part had all the best makings of a rom-com. 

the best setting: london! 

the best characters: a fun, quirky friend group and in the future... a dreamy husband and cute kiddos. 

the best plot: time traveling 16 years?! 

I loved how this book incorporated all of the great 90s movies like 13 going on 30 but still made it easy to connect with the main character, lucy as she embraced her new life.

thank you to netgalley for the arc!

I have mixed feelings about this book; I liked it, but at the same time, it just wasn't it. I don't know why something is missing about it, and the book felt a little rushed like, it started and ended, and yup, that's it, like wham, bam, thank you, ma'am, it didn't give you time to process anything. But it was generally an ok book with a good plot that could've been written better.

When your whole life is a hot mess, what would you give to skip to the good part? What if that means you skip ahead 16 years, wake up in a nice house with your dream job, but also a husband you've never met and two kids you are supposed to care for. With so much on the line and a glimpse into what life could be, would you then be willing to give it all up to go back and see if you could make it a reality?

This book was sweetly done magical realism. Some of it was weird and cringey and it was very reminiscent of Freaky Friday/13 Going on 30. I think the characters were relatable even if some of the situations were blown up for the drama.

Sophie Cousens' THE GOOD PART is a delightful and poignant journey that speaks directly to the whimsy and heartache of life's unpredictable path. At its core, this novel is a charming blend of humor, emotion, and time travel/leaping. Lucy Young, a 26-year-old caught in the doldrums of life, embodies the restlessness and yearning we've all felt at some point. Overworked and underappreciated in her job at a TV station, living in a less-than-ideal flat, and navigating the world of dating with diminishing hope, Lucy's life is a tapestry of relatable struggles. The story finds its magic when Lucy, in a moment of desperation, encounters a Wishing Machine, propelling her sixteen years into a future filled with success, love, and... absolutely no idea what's happening. Humor abounds, but the Cousens' novel also doesn't shy away from life's sadder moments. It's a story that encourages living life one day at a time, embracing the joys and sorrows of every stage. In their own ways, every stage of life is THE GOOD PART.  

If you enjoyed Jennifer Garner's film 13 GOING ON 30 or Sophien Kinsella's 2008 book REMEMBER ME? pick this one up STAT! :)

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin-Putnam, and Sophie Cousens for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Can we skip to the good part?!?!?  Imagine if you were able to magically bypass the messiness we all must go through in life and just get to the good part….would you do it?!?!?  The bigger question is…now that you have seen the “good part” of the life you wanted, do you just give up the 16 years you missed and live happily ever after OR do you go back and experience the life you missed?  

Our main character starts off as a 26 year old who is stuck in a rut and wishes for just that.  If you enjoyed the movies “13 Going on 30”, “Big”, & “17 Again” then you will love this.  

I love stories where children play a significant role in the plot and in this story you too will fall in love with Felix.  I also enjoyed the way in which the author gave us a little love story between the older Luce and her husband Sam….it was a love story told in reverse and I was all over it…they made me think about my own life in reverse…the good, the messy and the amazing parts! These parts of the story were “closed door romance”, so for those of you who are not into the 🌶️ this one is perfect for all!

This book was filled with warmth and humor and I can not wait to read more from @sophie_cousens 

3.5/5 heart warming ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 for me.  

“Be careful what you wish for, life is never quite sorted whatever stage you’re at.”

Lucy Young is a 26 year old television production runner, who despite her recent "promotion", is still expected to fetch the coffee. Living in a leaky flat share with barely enough money to scrape by, after a disastrous night out she finds herself in a strange corner store with an even stranger shop keeper, who offers her a few coins to use in their archaic wishing machine. Lucy wishes she could skip to the "good part" of her life, where she is settled in her career and family. The next morning, she wakes up in a strange bed, next to a strange man, with strange children calling for her, in a 42 year old body that's a little worse for wear with a scar that looks suspiciously like that from a C-section. Lucy knows that the wishing machine somehow transported her forward in time, but her husband and doctor believe it to be a temporary amnesia. Lucy has everything she ever wanted in the future; a high powered job in television production, a handsome husband, and perfect children. But this new Lucy still acts very much so like her 26 year old self, which convinces her precocious son that she's an alien, and worries her husband that she can't remember anything that occurred over the past 16 years, including several tragedies. As Lucy settles into her new life, she starts to fall in love with her husband all over again, but also knows that she needs to go back to her own life, because she realizes that she's missed out on too much of her life by wishing it away. With the dire warning of the shop keeper that no one's future is set in stone, and this life may not come to pass if she goes back and does anything differently, she takes the chance and pulls the lever on the wishing machine once more. 

This was an homage to many time jump movies like Big and 13 Going on 30, that I didn't expect to make me as emotional as it did. As someone who was in a rush to get to "the good part" and now am probably in it, I wouldn't mind a chance to pull the lever and go back to my youth. It made you think about what truly makes a person, if it is their memories and experiences or just who they are.

i also dnf this book at about 50 percent i really could not get in to it and it placed me into a slump. i think that i will definitely read more from cousens i am just am hoping i can come back to this and enjoy it

Okay so I’m all honesty I almost DNF this book at about 70%.  It was good but then hit like a lull it wasn’t by any means boring it just wasn’t very exciting from 60-70% specifically. I THOUGHT I knew where the book was going and what was going to happen but I ended up being so wrong and I loved that actually. 

I took a break from the book and then came back and I’m so glad I did. The ending was great. I had tears in my eyes and it really was just a heart felt book. Loved the magical realism in the book and the 13 going on 30 and Freaky Friday vibes. 

My first book by Cousens but won’t be my last!

I adored this book so much! I have read several books connected to time travel recently and this by far was my favorite. In this a 20-something woman is going forward in time. There’s a bit of a reverse love story mixed with friendship, career and family. Some heavier topics are brought up (including death of a child and loved one). I loved Sam and Felix so much! A clever heart-warming read.

Thank you so much Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review! I absolutely adored this book. It gave 13 going on 30 vibes but was different enough to completely hold my attention. I could not put it down and read it in 2 days flat. I loved all the characters (my new book crush is Sam 100%) and was just the heartfelt, touching, thought-provoking book that I wanted.

The Good Part was such a fun read, it kept me on the edge at all times! I’ve always loved the idea of skipping to the good part in life and have thought of it often in my own life multiple times, all the what ifs. But I’ve never thought of what it would be like to have the in-betweens missing.

Things I Liked/Loved:
🥐: Felix has my heart, he’s adorable! 
🥐: Magical realism/time travel
🥐: FMC character growth

Things I Didn’t Like/Enjoy/Confused Me:
😢: The FMC was SOOOOOOO annoying! To the point where I wanted to DNF the book but the storyline kept me wanting more because I needed to know what was going to happen.
😢: I personally did not like the ending and wished it was different. But it gets you thinking which choice you would make if you were in the position.
😢: Didn’t feel much of a connection between Lucy and Sam. Yes, they were cute together but it felt like the chemistry was only 80% there. 

Fave Quote/Scene:
🥐: “…but maybe there aren’t any shortcuts in life. Maybe you have to live it all, because it makes you who you are.”

Thank you so much NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and Sophie Cousens for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. 🥐

This is a solid 3.5 for me. It felt a bit cheesy at multiple spots (the whole plot line of Lucy vs callum just read as super immature/unrealistic in my opinion) but I loved Lucy as a main character and sam was really great too. I appreciated the spice level (definitely closed door) and I thought the author did a great job with Sam and Lucy’s relationship. I felt the middle of the book slowed down a lot more than needed and I couldn’t really tell which way we were going at times.

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for my eARC and to PRHAUDIO for my audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Good Part was a great story about enjoying your life journey. Lucy is only 26 and yet she is already tired of her daily struggles. Her job, living conditions and dating prospects are enough to put anyone on edge. So she makes a wish on an old timey machine to jump to the good stuff.

Once she realizes what has happened, she begins second guessing her choice. Will she be able to get back to the daily grind of her younger 26 year old self ?

The circle of life is messy, you take the good with the bad. That is what truly makes us human. The bad times make the good times that much better. Is your life really lived if it was all sunshine and roses ???

I enjoyed the narrator, she did a great job with making it feel like I was watching this one play out inside my head.

Lucy is 26 years old and she is tired of the constant hustle. She is tired of not being acknowledged in her job, the dating scene, and her lack of money. So, one day when everything is going awful, she just wishes to get to the good part. The next day she wakes up as a married 42-year-old successful TV producer.

This book is kind of a slice of life. We follow Lucy when she is 26 and then we follow her daily life when she's 42. I was expecting more related to her jump in time but alas we mostly follow her getting into her new routine. By the end of the book, I just didn't get what the point of the book. Is it that we should appreciate every step in life, the ups and downs? That the journey is important?! There are a lot of books that cover this exact same point without being boring, in my opinion. 

The story just didn't engage me. 

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.