Get ready to embark on a whirlwind romantic journey with Lucy in this charming time-travel rom-com that's a delightful four-star read! From the moment you open the first page, you'll find yourself falling in love with the wonderful characters and engaging plot.

Lucy, our spirited protagonist, takes us on a journey that is part romance, part comedy, and all heart. Her adventures through time - or shall we say "time-skipping" - may not be the most original concept, but Lucy's relatability and the endearing charm of her future family, especially the adorably mischievous Felix, keep you hooked.

The story is as sweet and wholesome as a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies, making it impossible to resist. Lucy's time in the future is a bit like a luxurious cruise that could have been condensed to a weekend getaway, but the leisurely pace provides ample time to get attached to the characters and revel in their quirks.

The cherry on top of this rom-com sundae is the ending. It's the kind of conclusion that leaves you with a heartwarming glow, a satisfied sigh, and a lingering smile on your face. It ties up loose ends with a perfect bow, giving you that warm, fuzzy feeling of a happily-ever-after.

In the realm of rom-coms and time-travel tales, this book may not reinvent the wheel, but it certainly takes you on a delightful spin. You won't be able to resist recommending it to your bookish buddies, and you'll eagerly anticipate anything the author churns out in the future.

So, whether you're a time-travel aficionado or a rom-com lover, this book is a must-read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion. It's been a time-skipping, heart-flipping adventure that's well worth four stars!

Not only do I enjoy reading books by this particular Author, I really enjoy reading rom com books such as this one!! I enjoy getting to know the characters, the plot develops and provides a cozy romance comedy. I highly recommend this book.

Such a fun read. A wonderful combination of contemporary, romance, fantasy (time travel and some magical moments), chick lit that lead to a truly fun fantastical read. Lucy is not living her best life. Not even a little bit close and is feeling more than a little bit stuck. Who amongst us hasn’t once thought when will I get to the good part? Lucy makes that wish and wakes up to a whole new world where she recognizes nothing and no one and has zero clue how she got there. She starts living her new life, but is questioning her wish and if this the good part she was hoping for. Total fantasy, which is not my normal genre, but adore the author gave it a chance. Glad I did. Reminded me of the adage, never wish for what you want for you just may get it. Lucy is a wonderful character who takes a great journey to discover who she is and be happy with herself.




I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Quick Synopsis:
If you’re into 80’s/90’s era movies, this one may be for you. Think Big meets 13 going on 30.

After another awful Tinder-type date, Lucy feels exhausted. She is tired of her unrewarding job and her nonexistent love life. There is a general feeling that everyone else in her life is going places while she stands still. All that changes when Lucy finds a wishing machine and wishes to “skip to the good part.” Her wish is granted, and the story unfolds from there.

Characters:
I wasn’t sure I would like the main character, Lucy, who came across initially as somewhat whiny. Thankfully, shortly into the story, Lucy begins to recognize her flaws and transforms into a much more endearing character. The plot centers around Lucy’s problem of removing herself from “the good part” of life. I love how Cousens peppered in lovable minor characters like Lucy’s love interests, friends, and family. They were a welcome addition to the plot without overwhelming the central theme.

Storyline/Pacing:
Within three chapters, I was invested in The Good Part. I liked the lighthearted premise of seeing our own future juxtaposed with the somewhat serious theme of not wishing away our lives.

Author:
Sophie Cousens is one of my go-to romance writers. Her style is reminiscent of other favorites, like JoJo Moyes, Abby Jimenez, and Josie Silver.


Overall:
I recommend this to anyone who loves lighthearted romantasy reads.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐stars


Disclosure:
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the Digital Review Copy of The Good Part. All opinions are my own.

I adore Sophie Cousens and her story-telling! I was so excited to get an Advanced Reader’s copy (thanks Net Galley!).
Lucy is 26 and sick of dead end dating, her dismal flat and her job that doesn’t seem to be going her way….. she happens upon a wish machine on her way home after another failed date. She makes a wish to get to “the Good part “. She awakens the next morning to a wedding ring on her finger, a handsome husband in her bed, in a beautiful home….but also no memory of the past 16 years. Is it worth it? Is she missing out on key moments in her life? Is it okay to fast-forward? This book follows Lucy as discovers her future life , her family and what it means to discover yourself all over

There are times in everyone’s life where people wish to skip to the “good part”. Looking to surpass heartache, shitty jobs, bad dates—begging for an escape route. Sophie takes the reader on a journey of wishes granted, allowing the main character to take the leap through time.

The magic aspect of this story was a bit far fetched for me, but overall this was a well written novel. Most importantly this story was a reminder that every bad day has a silver lining, and your life is best lived in full.

I love Sophie Cousens so it pains me to give this anything less than 5 stars. But I dislike time traveling so much! It’s one of my least favorite themes in a book. There were parts I skimmed over because I found it a bit slow. Hate to say this, but it might be my least favorite cousens book.

When I was 12 I stole my mom's copy of Sophie Kinsella's "Remember Me?". I was obsessed with that book. Not because of the romance subplot, or the character development, but because I thought the protagonist's new, wealthy life was so. freaking. cool. (Again, I was 12). All this to say, when I saw "The Good Part" on NetGalley, a book with a similar premise but written over a decade later, I had to read it.

I have mixed feelings about "The Good Part." There are a lot of things that I loved about it, and a few major-ish things that I did not love about it. I'm a big fan of contemporary rom-coms with mild fantasy elements and I think it's fun to see how authors play with these concepts in situations where they don't need to do serious world building. I enjoyed watching Lucy try to navigate her new world and loved the inventive futuristic elements of her life. I also loved the supporting cast of characters, including Lucy's friends, co-workers/employees, and family. They all had incredibly unique personalities and I loved how Lucy got to see them all through fresh eyes.

As far as what I didn't love - I constantly felt anxious about how Lucy was going to navigate the situations she was in, which is less of a criticism and more of a personal preference. (I don't love books where you're constantly waiting for the shoe to drop). I also felt like her children were kind of treated like props or collateral damage for the progress of the story. While I loved Felix, he very much fell into the "child wise beyond his years" trope, and both parents gave very little consideration to how a major event (such as a parent having amnesia and forgetting who you were) would affect their children. Last, without spoiling too much, I did not like the ending. I felt like there was a bit of a bait-and-switch with how the book was written vs. how it actually ended. (more on this below under the spoiler cut).

<spoiler> This entire book was about Lucy learning to love her new life and the people in it. While I understand the idea that remembering your life is not the same as living it, this was given one line verses the entire book where she falls in love with her own husband and children. It was very shocking and jarring to me that she was explicitly told that going back to the past would not guarantee the same events playing out in the future (i.e. the birth of her children), and she chose to do it anyway. It kind of feels like she turned her children into doves a la Stardew Valley. </spoiler>

Overall, there were parts of this book I really adored, but the ending just really did not leave me feeling as warm and fuzzy as the rest of the book.

3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam and Sons for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review. My opinions are my own.

4/5 stars

I was captivated by the premise of this book. Who hasn’t thought to themselves, “ughhh why can’t I just skip this part of my life?”

That’s exactly what happens for Lucy. She wakes up the next day in her 40s, married with 2 beautiful kids and in a great marriage. However, she’s also disheartened because she HAS skipped the other parts of her life and realized some of it was actually… good.

Lighthearted but also thought-provoking! I enjoyed this book a lot.

Ironically enough, this was actually my first Sophie Cousens book! I definitely plan to read all of her others now!

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it at the start, but I ended up really enjoying it and loved the message!

This was a very thought provoking read! How many of us have wished we could “skip to the good part” during a particular hard or exhausting time of life? I loved the contrast of Lucy from the beginning to the end! I was a little annoyed by her immaturity and selfishness at first, (a sign of a well-written character) but that was the point! I loved how Lucy’s journey was fraught with all the good and bad! Isn’t that all of life?!?! Good and bad exist simultaneously and you need them both to have a full life!

It felt like a lesson in appreciating what you’ve walked through and seeing how it’s shaped you. That learning and growing through the trials and hardships matures you. Learning to be that much more thankful the good when it comes, helps you see things in a more full perspective!

“But maybe there aren’t any shortcuts in life. Maybe you have to live it all, because it makes you who you are.”

This was a fun romp of a book! I have read one other Sophie Cousens book, and her romcoms, with their mix of whimsy, very stereotypical British humor, and a bit of trauma scattered through for her characters, makes her books an enjoyable read.

The Good Part follows Lucy Young, a 26-year-old TV production assistant who is disenchanted with being the bottom rung of her company, her shitty living conditions, and horrific love life. With the aid of a mysterious wishing machine, she wishes to skip to the “good part” of her life, and wakes up the next morning 16 years in the future, deeply in said good part.

I liked the premise of the story, but was a bit confused at parts with its execution, particularly when it came to the pacing of the story. Once Lucy jumps to the future, I found that the story stalled a bit. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting once she made the time leap, but it wasn’t for her to just… live her life there? So it took some adjustments to settle into the way the story was proceeding. That being said, the way the plot moves along makes it easy to root for Lucy and the ensemble of characters around her, and I like the way the book wraps up at the end.

I don’t find the book to be profoundly life-changing in any way. For both of Cousens’s books that I’ve read thus far, I find that her books feels slightly dated, evoking the era of early 2000s romcoms like Bridget Jones’ Diary and Love Actually; though if you asked me to explain why I feel that way, I probably couldn’t articulate it for you. It’s just a vibe. Overall, though, this was a fun and easy read, that had some good implicit life lessons it tried to impart, and had characters that were easy to support. I give it 3⭐

*Thank you again to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I always find Sophie Cousens books to be enjoyable, and that was also the case with The Good Part.

The MC Lucy is transported into the future to 'the good part' of her life after making a wish on a wishing machine. In the beginning I found the MC to be annoying and unlikeable, however, by the end of the book she had some believable character growth that I appreciated. My favorite part of this book was the author's imaginings of what the future looked like - that was fun to read about!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Lucy Young, a twenty-something year at a TV production company, is not thrilled with how her life is going. One night, after a disastrous date, Lucy stumbles in to a store that has a magic wishing machine. The lady manning the store, encourages Lucy to make a wish.

Lucy then wakes up next to a good looking man who she doesn't recognize in a house she has never seen. Come to find out, Lucy has skipped to the "good part" of her life. She is now in her forties, married with two kids and a dream job.

Lucy now realizes that the "good part" cannot be truly enjoyed without living through the not-so-good parts.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received a copy of The Good Part via NetGalley to read and review.

26 year old Lucy is done living in an apt with inconsiderate roommates and being at the bottom of her work food chain. After one terrible day she finds a wishing machine and wishes to get to the good part of her life. When she wakes up it’s in bed with her husband in a nice house with two kids and is a TV executive. She is 42 and doesn't recall the last 16 years of her life.

26 year old Lucy is pretty relatable. Most of my twenties were a mess. Worked many jobs that I hated and felt stuck. I’m sure I asked to get to the good part too.

Now 42 year old Lucy….I had a hard time relating to her. I get waking up to a whole different part of your life with no memory from the last 16 years is a lot. Add in being married and suddenly a mom of two- yikes! I get why she decided the first thing to do was a shopping spree but I would want to investigate first and try to understand my new surroundings. As time goes on Lucy does become a lot less self centered.

There are a lot of great little moments in The Good Part. And last thought: Sam and Felix are the best characters!

i liked the premise but it was a little over the top with the son thinking mom was an alien and obsessed with finding the portal to get real mom back. while lucy was experiencing “memory loss”, it’s still set in reality and the best thing anyone did for her was bring her to a doctor so she could speak with a professional. the zoya in the future story was sad

Never read a Sophie Cousens book I didn’t love, and The Good Part is no exception. I love the touch of magical realism with the flash-forward in time. Who among us hasn’t wished we could just fast forward through rough times to the good part? Young Lucy, an early twenty-something living in London wishes she could just get through this phase of her life - the living in a damp, smelly flatshare with odd roommates, going on bad date after bad date, and despite a recent promotion, still living on the bottom rung at her tv production job. After a leaking ceiling and a really bad date and being asked to make a coffee run one too many times, Lucy is over it. When she stumbles into a corner shop late one night, feeling particularly low (and drunk) she finds an odd shopkeeper and an ever odder machine in the back corner, named “The Wishing Machine”. Making a wish that she can just fast-forward to the good part, she wakes up the next morning to find that she has, in fact, fast forwarded through sixteen years of her life to “the good part”. She’s married to Sam, “the one”, and they have two lovely children, Felix and Amy. They live in a beautiful home in the London suburbs, and Lucy commutes to London to her fancy TV production job where she is the boss. It seems like all her dreams came true, except she can’t remember a moment of it. She doesn’t remember meeting Sam or falling in love, she doesn’t remember having children, or the payoff for her hard work in moving up the ranks at work to the point where she runs her own company. So when she learns that there’s also been loss during those years, she questions if this is really what she wants. If it was worth fast-forwarding to the good part when it means missing out on all the bits leading up to it, the hard parts that make it worth it. As she continues to mourn the time and people lost, her memory also begins to fill in, and she’s left with a choice - go back with no memory of what’s to come, or stay and subsist on the memories alone. This book left me in tears multiple times throughout, but especially towards the end, but there is also so much humor packed in (Felix is truly the star of the book). Truly a heartbreaking but heartwarming book!

This was a really cute rom-com! Lucy is down on her luck and kind of fed up with where she is at in life. She makes a wish to skip to "The good part" of life. She ends up waking up 16 years later with no memories, married, and with children. As she tries to adjust to this new future and find a way back to the present, she thinks a lot about her life and those years she missed out on. I loved that this was a rom-com, but it made you think about life and consider what you would do in Lucy's situations. I was really able to connect with the storyline of this book with where I am at in my own life. This was a great read!

The Good Part offered so much more than I expected. It’s a delightful, heart-felt exploration of what happens if we skip the hard parts and move straight into the golden parts of life. Do those moments hold the same meaning when we don’t feel the challenge of getting there?

This unique book uses magical realism to explore every angle of that question and I found myself fascinated from start to finish. Of all the books I’ve read this year, this is the only one I read in a single day. It’s THAT good!

The pacing was perfection and well balanced between being light and funny and deeply emotional. The characters were are easily to love, too! I really enjoyed every moment of reading this book and felt like it gave me a new perspective on my own life.

This is my first book by Sophie Cousens and I’ve already queued up her others for my next reads! Instant fan!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. Perhaps, in part, because I’m currently almost the age of Lucy in her time-jump life and this made me think about how the last 16 years of my life have shaped so much of who I am. To lose those memories, the good and the bad, would be devastating. I’m not a crier while reading but I got misty-eyed towards the end. Sam is a sweet, sweet cinnamon roll of a man and I would have been fine with a little more of him in this book. I have found that watching married couples fall back in love is a favorite plot line for me and we get some of that in this book. The flirting and chemistry of getting to begin again is a lovely story to read. Felix almost steals the show and the banter between him and Lucy cracked me up. This just worked for me. If you liked Big, Thirteen Going on Thirty, The Family Man and even Freaky Friday then you will love this book just as much as I did. This is my second Sophie Cousens book and I am definitely going to make sure I get to the rest of her backlist.

I received an advanced copy of this book. The thoughts and opinions on this review are my own.

Content Notes: Loss of loved ones, closed door romance

this was my first introduction to sophie cousens, and it was a very cute read! her books often come up as recommendations so i was super excited to receive an arc of the good part.

i like a lot of aspects of this book, and i think the reverse time concept is really interesting. making lucy recreate her life in a short time by grasping a new reality was a really cool idea, and sophie cousens really nailed the emotions that someone with amnesia would feel under the circumstances.

i think the reason i can’t quite bring myself to give this five stars is because i struggle with how long is took lucy to try and enjoy her life. she was blessed with a loving husband and two beautiful kids, but she refuses to engage for such a long time. i recognize that the change is intense, but it’s just shocking that she repelled her kids, husband, etc. so strongly. i also think the ending was a little sad for me. i’m happy she was happy and that events fell into place, but i think the choice she made was definitely not what i predicted.

all plot critiques aside, this is a fun book that readers will enjoy. fans of christina lauren and rebecca serle will enjoy this one