LOVED everything about this one. It was obvious there was research done and effort put into the convos, which isn’t always the case in light, humorous books. The Knockout Queen was such a favorite of mine that I went into this with high hopes and I was blown away and came out of this even more of a fan of Rufi Thorpe. It may be one of my top 5 of 2024.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles was probably not the best fit for me. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it definitely played out in a way I wasn’t expecting. Margo has an affair with her college professor, gets pregnant, and then she decides to keep the baby. I can’t imagine being in that position. I can’t even imagine it as a single adult with a college degree and a steady job. Naturally, having a newborn and trying to work a blue collar job to keep a roof over her head is more complicated than she thought it would be, even when she gets help from a roommate and her long absentee father. So Margo resorts to creating an OnlyFans account and making adult videos to bring in money. Then she pairs up with a couple of other women on the platform to try and combine it with other social media channels to go viral and direct people to paying accounts on OnlyFans. While it’s an angle I don’t see authors take by incorporating the adult channel, I find social media influencers as an annoying storyline for a book. It doesn’t help that the content ideas that Margo comes up with to attract subscribers sound weird and creepy. Not surprisingly, Margo runs into problems with a custody battle and her dad’s past problems resurfacing. She also begins a “pen pal” relationship with one of her subscribers that instead of being creepy seems relatively normal. This felt kind of bizarre and a way to incorporate a romance angle, more than making sense with the rest of the book’s context. I also felt like the ending just wrapped things up too tidily for Margo.

A smart, insightful read with a singular voice and a lot of heart that grabbed me from the first paragraph. Margo is a 19-year-old community college student having an affair with her English professor. When she gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby despite his opinion and her mother's, her life becomes all about money troubles - how to make enough to support herself and her baby when it's so hard/expensive to get childcare, and when she comes from a family that doesn't have a ton of resources. She winds up discovering OnlyFans and creatively hustles her way into making enough money to support herself and also be able to spend her days with baby Bodhi. Seems ideal in some ways, but the occasional self-doubt and the drama that posting videos of herself on an adult-content site - with the negative judgments from her mom, old friends, and even Child Protective Services - ensue... You can let it be simply a great coming-of-adulthood read with an amusing collection of characters (including her LARP-ing roommate, ex-WWE wrestler dad who winds up as a new roommate, and other Only Fans content creators that she befriends and collaborates with) that give a found-family feel, but it also has lots of interesting things to think about and discuss in terms of what makes a good parent, society's judgment/double standards, social media/online life, what it means to control your own narrative. Margo is such a smart, creative, resourceful, funny character, and her journey into motherhood so lovely in how she rises to the occasion with her baby even if she's making some of the usual stupid 19-year-old decisions along the way. Though it feels a bit weird to gushingly recommend a book that deals with an affair with a professor and with a porn-adjacent type of website, it just is one of those books that has the perfect mix of character and plot, and the intangibles that make me fall in love with characters - great voice, right amount of heart without being cheesy, feeling like the characters are so unique and singular yet like I know them well and they live in my head even when I'm taking a break from reading the book and make me sigh with satisfaction when I finish. It had to be a 5-star rating! The writing is great, reminding me a lot of the experience of reading a Kevin Wilson book where you have these kind of weird (sometimes bordering on gross) characters and scenarios, this wry humor, and some misguided thoughts and actions that in certain hands would feel overwhelming or depressing except that you just *have* to root so hard for these characters - and that's partly because the author is clearly treating the characters with love and kindness, rather than laughing at them or putting them in difficult situations just for the sake of a story. In the narration of this one, Rufi Thorpe brilliantly played with narrative perspective, sometimes using the first person and sometimes using the third person, with Margo telling her own story, but also sometimes going into the 3rd person voice when she's recounting things that were difficult or hard to talk about. The whole thing could have felt too much with the teenage choices and drama, except that we're with Margo in looking at it from an adult perspective - and definitely we've all got things from our college years where we have to shake our heads but also have to learn how to have some compassion for our young, stupid selves. I thought that was a brilliant way to infuse the story with heart, and it was also very meta about narrative, and breaking the 4th wall with Margo talking directly to the reader. So smart.

Margo is a naïve college freshman who gets manipulated by her older, married college professor to date him and ends up pregnant. She drops out of school and loses her part time waitressing job to care for her infant son, who everyone told her not to have because the baby would ruin her life. Her fitness as a mother is challenged, when she “works” from home posting provocative photos on social media. With support from her ex-pro wrestler father, and a nerdy roommate, she is thriving instead of just barely surviving, but the biological baby daddy and her mom’s new husband question if she is providing her baby a safe and stable home.

Margo is honest, strong, determined and seeks to understand multiple relevant issues in current society. She grows so much over the course of the book, and I loved her character arc, as well as those of her parents, who both have questionable parenting/adulting skills.
Everyone deserves love, and Margo develops a touching correspondence relationship with one of her subscribers that proves that a true connection can be established from a virtual environment with fake personas.

Margo names her son Bhodi (like bodhisattva from Buddhism) which is appropriate as he is the catalyst in Margo’s life to cause her to gain enlightenment and awakening.

There are several pop-culture references including Dolly Parton, Rick Flair, and Arby’s Beef ‘n Cheddar sandwiches that appealed to me. A few mentions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary were a bit uncomfortable content, but otherwise, I completely enjoyed reading this book.
I have a suspicion that this book will be a huge hit. Add it to your TBR lists now, order the pre-release, or get it on reserve at your library early. You’ve been warned. I think you will love this book as much as I did.

This was such a fresh, creative story! Equal parts humorous, honest, and heartfelt, MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES follows Margo, a college student who unexpectedly falls pregnant as the result of an affair with her English professor, and embarks on a tumultuous, funny, and moving coming-of-age journey, that doesn't shy away from tackling heavy themes with a light touch. Rufi Thorpe's writing style was a definite highlight for me—her prose is so sharp and witty! I I loved the switches between first- and third-person narration, and thought that aspect of the story was really cleverly done. Margo is such a well-developed character, and it's easy to get fully drawn into her world. Thorpe gives her so much depth and complexity—her flaws only serve to make her more authentic. I think so many readers will enjoy this one when it releases this summer! You won't want to miss it, especially before it hits your TV screen with a star-studded cast. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

I was excited for Rufi Thorpe's new book and I really did enjoy it. Very funny and will be on lots of book lists this year for sure.

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I typically enjoy stories with characters that are a little rough around the edges, but the combination of topics like OnlyFans, wrestling, and addiction made me a bit skeptical of how I'd find this particular book. I shouldn't have worried - Thorpe is such a phenomenal storyteller, and I love the way she told Margo's journey.

At 19, Margo was impregnated by her college professor. Despite not having a concrete plan of how to provide for this baby, she went along with the pregnancy. Her lack of financial backing had her turn towards the world of OnlyFans. Even though it made her a decent living, it created its own share of problems. Not to mention, her mother would barely talk to her and her dad was a heroin addict and also her roommate.

I was very quickly sucked into this story. It reminded me of naivety of being 19-20 years old and the odd mix of overconfidence and anxiety that came with it. I loved watching Margo's growth over the course of the book despite all of the stumbles she had to overcome.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a pretty funny read! Great for upcoming beach reads.

This story follows Margot, a young single mother trying to navigate adulthood while also caring for a newborn baby. On top of that, she has just been fired from her job, her mother is unsupportive, and her father (a former pro wrestler) is not particularly present in her life. Desperate for income, Margot turns to OnlyFans to hopefully make a quick buck.

Then one day her father shows up on her doorstep and the trajectory of her life begins to change. I won’t give any more away, but I will say this: I have never rooted harder for a character in a book to succeed than Margot.

This book was hilarious, heartbreaking, and at times made me incredibly angry at how some of the people in Margot’s world treat her. I DEVOURED this book because I needed to know how things end for Margot. This book scratched an itch for me that I know many readers out there have. It was deeply satisfying, enthralling, and utterly un-put-downable.

This book comes out on June 11th, and obviously I could not recommend it more.

I loved this book! Margo’s Got Money Troubles is about a young single mom who gets into OnlyFans with the help of her pro wrestler dad to support her son. The book is about her becoming a mother and figuring out how to support her son on her own terms, but it’s also about writing and art. I loved how it played with point of view as well.

The protagonist of Margo's Got Money Troubles is a young woman named Margo who gets pregnant after having an extramarital affair with her college professor. With the assistance of her WWE father and a few OnlyFans pals, Margo launches a TikTok and OnlyFans account since she is in severe need of money to raise her child. Margo was a pretty great character. She and the most of the other characters were really likeable. I thought the book was a little too long, and the plot was starting to get old to me. The JB conclusion also didn't sit well with me; it seemed hurried. I am also not a fan of pregnancies in books so this is something that was strange for me.

What an expected surprise and delight. Think the kind of twisty-turny kind of story as "Gone Girl" but focused on the decisions we make when we are in our late teens that impact our lives forever PLUS OnlyFans. Really intriguing characters, witty dialogue and repartee, sometimes cringy, sometimes tense. Really makes you think about sexual morality, parenting, friendship, love family, substance abuse and the ways we can find our soulmates in the strangest, darkest times and places. REALLY RECOMMENDED. This will make a great movie someday too.

Just okay for me. Had some laugh aloud parts, but I didn't really connect with the characters.
I received an ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Wow! This was a 5 star read for me. Margo was a tremendously compelling character and Thorpe's open-hearted exploration of touchy topics (sex work, addiction, etc) proved super satisfying for this reader. The story had a ton of heart and and I'll be thinking about these characters for a long time.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles was a fun, authentic, and vulnerable coming of age story that captured the complexity of our human experiences. The story is told from both a first and third person point of view which provides unique perspectives into Margo’s transformation from a timid college student into a mother who is confident, capable & ready to take on whatever life sends her way next. I found her relationship to her dad to be heartwarming & there were lots of funny moments to balance out the intense realities of her lived experience. I’d definitely recommend this one of a kind story!

Thank you to NetGalley for thue ARC!

This book was such a pleasant surprise - so fresh, creative and modern, as well as full of heart, propulsive and gripping. I'll never forget these characters. They were so wholly unique, drawn in great detail, complicated and realistic. I think it will be a huge hit this summer when it comes out. It was my first Rufi Thorpe book, but now I want to go back and read her backlist titles.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, and William Morrow for the advanced eARC in exchange for my honest feedback. I'm excited to recommend this title to my bookstagram community.

I knew I was in for a treat with this book and devoured it in a day. Please tell me how a story about a vulnerable single mom launching a career out of desperation on OnlyFans can be so tender, funny, smart, and delightfully weird. I loved Margo and how she experienced motherhood. There is a lot going on but Thorpe holds it together well: the plot pacing, the genuine connections between characters, and the cultural commentary. She even snuck in a Roman Empire joke! Highly recommend, and worth being open-minded for a book about sex work.

A genuine thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for letting me read this gem of a novel early.

this was incredibly good. i didn’t know what to expect reading this, but it was completely different than i could’ve imagined. all of the characters are deeply flawed and for this, that works. it’s real. the concept with margo being a young mom struggling and doing onlyfans (this is such a simplified version of the story) is something different that i haven’t read. there were hints of romance, but really i didn’t need that for this. it to me was a story about margo and bodhi. an almost coming of age story if you will.

This book went in a direction I wasn't expecting...and it worked! Margo could have easily gone the route of other young, naïve, protagonist that are hard to find empathy for but, instead, you follow her as she makes tough choices, works out her problems, and does what's right for herself. This is a unique read and I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I expected. I look forward to recommending it to others!

Margo’s Got Money Troubles unravels the complexities of a woman’s unconventional journey through motherhood, societal biases, and the unexpected bonds that emerge from adversity.

The narrative kicks off with Margo’s unexpected pregnancy after an affair with her professor. Undeterred, Margo chooses to keep her child, naming him Bodhi. As the plot unfolds, I got immersed in Margo’s tumultuous life, marked by the loss of her job, pushing her to navigate the challenging landscape of single parenthood.

A twist of fate leads Margo to reunite with her estranged father, Jinx, an ex pro-wrestler. Thorpe skillfully navigates the nuances of familial reconnection, capturing the heartwarming transformation as Margo and Jinx, through Bodhi, forge new bonds and bridge years of emotional neglect.

The recurring theme of the book is summarized by Margo’s mother’s wisdom, “beauty is like free money.” It serves as a thought-provoking anchor on societal expectations and the unconventional paths Margo chooses to secure a future for her child. Furthermore, the book boldly tackles the stigma surrounding sex work as Margo turns to OnlyFans for income. It offers a compelling commentary, challenging stereotypes and exposing the prejudices endured by individuals in this profession.

Despite the weighty themes, the book maintains an engaging quality, thanks to Thorpe’s infusion of lively dialogues. These interactions make it not only thought-provoking but also unputdownable. At its core, the heartwarming aspect of the story lies in the intricate relationships Margo cultivates with her parents and son. Thorpe masterfully captures the emotional nuances, portraying Margo’s struggles as a young mother confronting societal judgments and the constant fear of losing custody of Bodhi.

Overall, the narrative skillfully blends societal critique with heartfelt relationships. Thorpe’s storytelling makes you reflect on human resilience and the unconventional decisions people can make despite societal biases. JUST READ THIS BOOK.