Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe is unlike any novel I have read before. It's hilarious and heartwarming. At the same time, there are layers in the story that go deeper into our society's prejudices, what is acceptable and not acceptable no matter what the cost.

Margo embarks on the journey of motherhood at 19 without realizing what it entails without a lot of support. She needs money to take care of herself and her baby. She joins an industry that is frowned upon, but she makes connections and is successful. However, there are repercussions.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Margo as a character is endearing. She is resourceful and smart, and her relationship with her dad is heartwarming. None of these characters are perfect, and that's what makes these characters real.

Read if you like:
🧺 Messy Characters
🤰🏼 Accidental Pregnancy
👩🏼‍🍼 Single Mom’s
💻 Only Fans
💰 Money Problems

This book was so fun to read as Margo has backed herself into a corner of crap at a young age when she becomes pregnant with her shitty professors baby (and forced to drop out as a result of her pregnancy and decision to keep the baby) when she engages in an affair with him because he compliments her and makes her feel important where she has had a life full of never being enough.

But soon she learns he is not a good guy that he made her feel he was (because the cheating on his wife with her wasn’t a red flag at all… 🙄) because she was young and dumb, and honestly didn’t have enough life experience to make better decisions… but now she has to figure out life and how to make decisions not only for herself but her baby.

Her relationships with her parents are quite shitty form a mother that is detached and not really there for her, to her father that has never supported her because she too was the result of a messy affair just as her child is.

So Margo facing being a single parent with no support from her baby daddy or from her shitty parents has to figure out how to make the best of a bad situation especially when she loses her job because her mom refuses to babysit and all other childcare options for her 6 week old don’t work out… so when she hears about only fans, it seems like an easy way to make money when getting a babysitter is off the table.

Which then ensues a wild ride of Margo taking the bull by the horns to provide for herself and her son and all the bumps that come along with having shitty parents, a shitty baby daddy, and unsupportive roommmates and employers.

Thanks so much to the publisher for my ARC & ALC in exchange for my honest review! This was also my June BOTM selection!

Emotional read with some funny/light parts and some dark. I thought it was a great summer read since it was fast paced. I kept wanting to get to know Margo, Jinx, Suzie, etc even though I did not agree with most of the decisions they made. This was my second Rufi Thorpe book and I liked it even more than Knockout Queen (which also great).

Twenty year old Margo drops out of college to raise her baby boy after receiving no support from anyone in her life: not the baby’s father, not her mother, not her friends. When she is fired from her restaurant gig for not being able to find childcare, she begins posting to OnlyFans as a source of income to stay afloat. Her life takes an interesting turn when her estranged, ex-pro wrestler father shows up on her doorstep asking for a place to stay, eager to help with the baby, and unexpectedly offers production advice for her account.

You better believe the hype on this one. There is wit. There is dry humor. At times I burst out laughing at the absurdity of what was going on. The story will keep you engaged as the author continuously ups the ante chapter after chapter. The characters are messy, flawed, and complex. Every time Margo makes a decision, her youth is so glaringly apparent it’s endearing. All she wants to do is do right by her son and you’ll want to wrap her up in a hug. Occasionally the narrator will transition from third person to first person to provide commentary. Some may find it distracting or confusing, but I enjoyed the feeling of “breaking the fourth wall” and thought it added to Margo’s overall naïveté.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book really surprised me! It took me a little while to get into the plot, but once it took off, I really loved it. The relationship between Margo and her dad was beautiful and tender and sweet and her love for her son was the thread that really pulled the whole book together. The author never leaned too heavily into any weird or gross tropes that maybe a less skilled author would have given the plot being about sex work and I really appreciated that. It felt authentic and I was really able to root for Margo, especially when it was revealed that the custody of her son was at stake. Loved this book, definitely recommend!

I truly enjoyed how hilarious and touching this book was!

Margo and her relationships were truly relatable and realistic in today's world. I enjoyed the OnlyFans topic as that is something so relevant for females in today's society.

The humor used to lessen the seriousness of some topics and turmoil made me laugh out loud and I found myself seeking out time to come back to this book over and over again.

A heartbreakingly raw story of a college student who has an affair with her married professor only to end up pregnant and decide to keep the baby even though she doesn't have a lot of money to live on and gets no support from the father.

This was such an eye-opening look at the lengths mothers will go to in order to keep and support their children in the midst of poverty, toxic parental relationships, and custody battles. I loved the insights into online sex work and thought Margo was such an easy to character to empathize and root for.

Great on audio and highly recommended. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Librofm for a complimentary ALC! This is definitely going to be a favorite for me this year!!

I found that this gave a unique perspective on working on a platform like OnlyFans and how it would affect all of the aspects of your life. There is a lot of talk about private parts (obviously). Margo is an intriguing FMC with a lot of layers to her considering her younger age. She's wise, although she doesn't realize this, and self-deprecating. The other characters in the book added another nice layer to the novel. Interesting read.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

Margo never had a conventional life, the illegitimate daughter of a Hooters waitress and a professional wrestler named Jinx (with whom she is estranged), Margo finds herself 19 and pregnant with her junior college professor’s baby. Once her son is born, Margo realizes that she needs money, she has no daycare so she can’t hold a job or go to school and the baby’s father wants nothing to do with her or her son. Then two things happen, Jinx shows up at her door right out of rehab and moves in with Margo and her roommate (turns out he’s great with babies) and she learns about OnlyFans. Jinx uses his world of wrestling knowledge to help her create an online persona and gain her a following. Now she’s actually making money and Margo has a source of income and a family, even though both are a bit unconventional.

It took me a bit to get into this book but once I did I couldn’t put it down. I’m not sure I needed such an in depth knowledge of OnlyFans but I really thought this book was creative in its premise and while not necessarily laugh out loud funny it was certainly humorous. While the characters had outrageous characteristics @rufithorpe gave them dimension, and so none of them were caricatures and by the end of the novel because of the story she had woven, you had empathy for them. I really enjoyed this one and it’s definitely one I’ll be recommending to people this summer

4.25 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC to review

I went into this one a bit blind. When I requested the ARC months ago, I know I read the blurb, but since then I had forgot and I chose to just dive in without knowing anything.

I’m so happy I did!!! This was not at all what I was expecting. I laughed, teared up, and got angry a fee too many times! The MC Margo was such a brave young girl, who was always positive and worked hard to make things right.

When the book took a turn towards OnlyFans, I wasn’t sure I would continue let alone like it, but this story was written so well! I cannot wait to see it as a movie!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an advanced copy of Margo’s Got Money Troubles. I decided to DNF this book at 73%. I liked Margo and really felt for her in her situation of finding herself pregnant by her college professor. It made me sad that her mom did not support her and kind of turned her away. I did appreciate that she had the baby and that she does her very best for him. I also enjoyed the relationship she rebuilt with her father, and that he tried to help her in many ways. I struggled with how Margo ended up supporting herself with this Only Fans website and kept waiting for her to find another way out, but the plot just fell further down this path and I kept reading and struggled with all the choices she was making. I think this book would appeal more to a younger audience.

Rufi Thorpe dazzles readers with her latest, MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES, in this witty, heartwarming, yet honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative.

This is an empowering coming-of-age portrait of a young working-class mother struggling financially, broke, and pregnant, with little assistance from others, doing what she must to survive. The author cleverly brings heart, soul, and humor as the main character (highly relatable) and supporting characters come alive on the page.

Read before watching- Coming to the screen! DEADLINE: Hot Series Package ‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ Lands At Apple; Elle Fanning To Star With Nicole Kidman, Pair Will Produce With David E. Kelley, Dakota Fanning & A24.

About...

Margo is raised by a single mother who works at Bloomingdales and, prior to this, at Hooters. She is in college and has an affair with her (married English professor Mark) with children for six weeks and becomes pregnant. He wants nothing to do with the baby and informs her to get an abortion, as well as her mother.

Her mother is of little help. She is too interested in some preacher guy and wants nothing to do with a pregnant daughter and grandson.

Margo decides to keep the baby. She has a baby boy, Bodhi, and tries to bring him home to a house full of teen roommates. With the baby crying, they cannot study, and all leave her holding the rent on her own. She is a waitress but cannot hold on to the job and take care of a baby even trying her best. How will she work, attend college, and take care of a baby on her own?

Her estranged dad, Jinx (a former pro wrestler and heroin addict), shows up and moves in with her to help with the baby and help with the rent. This encounter gives her a chance to get to know her father. So funny!

However, things are tight financially, and Margo is resourceful. She is twenty years old, unemployed, alone, and needs cash. She starts an OnlyFans account with subscribers (we see the highs and lows), and her dad helps her with the tax stuff and other advice. She begins making money and has time for her young son. Her dad is a big help with the baby.

Margo enjoys the work and quickly gains subscribers, but her popularity brings trouble when Bodhi’s father learns what she’s up to and disapproves, leading to a fight for custody.

From Mark to her mom and stepdad, someone turns her into social services. Now they are threatening to take away her son. But she is smarter than they give her credit. With social services on her back, the baby's dad, drug screening for her dad, and other issues with her line of work, she risks losing her son.

However, Margo is resilient and tenacious and fights back with legalities and resources that help her fight to keep her son for a great ending!

My thoughts...

Innovative, clever, and quirky.

MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES is hilarious, and you will root for her until the end. I enjoyed her unconventional relationship with her dad and her love for her son in a world where things get crazy and complex, and there is a desperate need to survive. This story will teach you not to judge until you walk in someone else's shoes. Margo is an unforgettable heroine! Way to go.

Hilarious, hopeful, wise, tender, and heartwarming

I loved the author's take on life and how things cannot always be perfect. Life is hard and messy. It is about understanding your rights and fighting for what you want, and there is no shame in having an OnlyFans account.

A blending of motherhood, family drama, and coming of age with a literary twist. Readers will adore and highly recommend it— full of humor, heart, and thought-provoking. Wildly entertaining!

Recs...

This is for fans of the author, Kevin Wilson, Sally Hepworth, Dan Chaon, Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth Berg, David Nicholls, Lou Berney, Sara Westover, and Jeannette Walls.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy for review purposes.

blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: June 11, 2024
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I just LOVED this book. Margo’s character and voice are just so different and unique - I was literally hooked on the first page.

The premise is odd and unconventional, but so is Margo and the cast of characters here. I laughed, I got anxious, I cringed, I stressed, I laughed again. We’ve got accidental pregnancy, WWE wrestling, unconventional parental relationships, gambling addiction, heroin addiction, OnlyFans, adult friendships, online relationships, you name it…and it all worked!!!

Margo’s character just totally makes it. I thought switching from Margo’s voice to outside of her was really well done and made her seem even more real. You can totally tell that this author is a mom - the realities of the newborn stage are just so so spot on.

There was a quote “when you fall in love with a book, is it the character or the author you’re falling in love with?”….and here, I think the answer might be both!! Definitely adding Rufi Thorpe to the autobuy list!

Thank you William Morrow and Rufi Thorpe for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This beauty releases June 11!

Margo's Got Money Troubles is a book for everyone. It is because we have all had that freind that no matter what you tell them they do the opposite. Margo is that friend. She can't seem to get out of her own way until she figures it out for herself. It may not be the ending we want her to have but it's her ending. We shouldn't pass judgement on her and neither does the author of this very funny book, and who isn't in a mood to read something serious but fun in these crazy times!!!. In a nutshell we meet Margo a 20-something who thinks it's a good idea to sleep with her professor. She gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby and earn money doing an only fans page when her other job doesn't bring in the kind of money the page does. The author doesn't pass judgement on her and neither should you. We've all been to a place where we think we know the way to get out of something and all we actually do is make it worse. Margo really does her best and you will either root for her to succeed or be one of those readers who is like "I couldn't connect with the character." This book has already been picked up to be a TV series so make sure you read it now so you can be ahead of the game!! It'd a perfect summer read but it is defiently not a silly read. There are some srious issues in this novel that make you feel like you've learned something important about life when you put the book down. Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. Then it felt like there was a veering off the path for no real reason. It felt like the beginning of yet another dilemma was to extend the chapters as the story abruptly changed gears.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Margo's Got Money Troubles is a funny cringey tense read the whole way through, and I loved it.
I read it because the cover looked like a rip-off of "I want to die but I want to eat tteokbokki" (NOT the author's fault, they rarely have creative control over their covers and marketing). I recommend they change the cover so as to not steal from a POC author-but I am glad I read this book.
This book is an incredibly compassionate and non-judgemental view on a situation most people would look down on. It shows how young women find themselves in single-mother situations, the pressures and expectations from all sides.
I can't think of any other way to explain it, I typed out like 5 different drafts of more detail but honestly you should read it for yourself.

Thank you to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES is unlike anything I’ve ever read and I doubt I would have picked it up had I not seen a few glowing reviews from readers I trust. Plus, a TV series is currently in the works with Elle Fanning starring and producing (alongside Nicole Kidman, I might add)!

First and foremost, this book will not be for everyone. To start, the writing style is very quirky, but so unique, and it took me a minute but I ended up absolutely loving the way the story was told.

Now for the story: When Margo becomes a single mom at nineteen she finds herself in an unimaginable position and turns to OnlyFans to make ends meet. And how does she make her account a huge success, you ask? Well, she takes advice from her estranged pro-wrestler father.

This is mature but also weird. It’s equally irreverent and smart and it touches on important societal themes while also being downright hilarious. I truly loved it, but I don’t take things too seriously and it takes a lot to make me blush.

Margo is incredibly endearing. She’s a teenager forced to grow up very quickly and at times I wanted to shake the naivety right out of her but there were also moments that I found myself so impressed with her strength and character.

Margo’s father, a former pro-wrestler and current hot mess, was also an amazing character. I didn’t really want to root for him, but I couldn’t help myself. He’s flawed but so lovable and I am absolutely dying to see who they cast to play him in the Apple TV series.

The majority of this book is really fun but it honestly made me think so much about how quick we are to judge others when we know literally nothing about their circumstances. While I have nothing in common with Margo, I also have no idea what I would do in her situation. Her career might be unconventional and looked down upon, but she’s doing whatever she can to put her kid first just like any good mom would.

There were parts of this book that made me uncomfortable but also had me reevaluating my opinions on things and questioning why I had opinions on them in the first place. Basically, a huge round of applause for this phenomenal story that took me out of comfort zone, made me laugh out loud, and encouraged me to see a lot of things in a new light.

What a delightfully quirky and heartwarming story! I can see why pre-publication buzz has been so loud, it’s unique in storyline and characters. I do wish it had gone a little bit weirder or perhaps more literary in the idea of art, but that’s a personal opinion. The writing and story is extremely accessible and I think people will really enjoy this. Thanks to HarperCollins and netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a book that is the right balance of funny, sweet, dark, uncomfortable and uplifting than Margo might be for you. This book follows a young Margo who discovers she is pregnant after a short-lived, ill-advised affair with her university professor. She decides to keep the baby despite her lack of help as she comes from an odd family mix. Her mother has pined for her father throughout her life but her father, a semi-famous, semi-retired pro wrestler has never settled. At first I thought this was just going to be about how hard it is to care for an infant but it moves on from that. Margo ends up discovering Only Fans as a way to both make money and be able to provide care for her child. The platform allows her the freedom to figure some of her stuff out and she gains some support along the way. She learns that she might not be perfect but neither are the people around her and maybe you don't have to be to be happy and love the others in your life well. It was funny and awkward and true. Worth picking up.

I enjoyed this novel about a young woman who has a relationship with her married professor, decides to keep the baby when she becomes pregnant and eventually creates an OnlyFans account to make money. But I was kind of bothered by the OnlyFans descriptions which got sort of detailed. I guess it’s my old-fashioned side. Just wasn’t into reading about it. Rufi Thorpe is an amazing, unique writer and I loved her previous novel The Knockout Queen. I enjoyed it a bit more than Margo. But both share an edgy, modern voice. I find her insights in the human connections between people very moving and would say she doesn’t need to lean so hard into the sex stuff going forward but I also feel she probably will anyway because that’s part of her style. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to review this arc.