A sweet, heartwarming and easy read that blends contemporary fiction with magical realism.

A reminder to live in the moment and not take this gs for granted.

Thanks: Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

Loved this book. It is an easy read, funny in places, and difficult to put down once you get past a couple of chapters.

I thank every diety for Sophie Cousens 🙌 I was going through a yukky reading slump and this book just threw me out of that hole. I've had this sitting on my NetGalley shelf for far too long. Thank you to the author and Hodder&Stoughton for the advanced copy.

Lucy Young is stuck - in Life, Work and Love, cue a Big/13 going on 30 interlude. I absoloutely loved this book, the characters were all relatable and funny, yes the circumstances may not be real but who doesn't love a flash-forward and a glimpse to the life you may lead!

I had this book finished in 2 days - Sophie Cousens can do no wrong 👏

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc of this book!

4 1/5 stars 🥰

26 year old Lucy is living pay check to pay check and just wants to wake up to the life she’s always wanted. One day she really does wake up 16 years laters in her 40’s, with a family and succeeding in her job like she’s always wanted. But is it really a dream come true?

Oh I loved this book so much! I finished it in two days, which is so fast for me as working full time I don’t normally have time to pick books up all the time but I was desperate to pick this up and keep reading! All the films this book was inspired on are all films I love so I am not surprised I really enjoyed this story! Loved the storyline, the characters and just love Sophie Cousens and her writing! There was so much emotion in the book and I felt like I was feeling every emotion with Lucy. There’s humour, love, strength and the feeling to live every moment because through the good and the bad it will shape you into the person you’ve always wanted to be and to the time in your life that you’ve always dreamed about.

Sophie Cousens is one of the great romcom writers that I don’t see people hyping enough. I’ve loved a few of her other books so was realty thankful to be approved to read this one. I didn’t enjoy it as much as This Time Next Year but it’s still fun

If you could skip to the good part of your life, where you are settled and happy and have everything you ever wanted, but couldn’t remember any of the memories that led up to that moment, would you do it?

That’s exactly what 26 year old Lucy does, after a shitty day, when she comes face to face with a wishing machine. What she doesn’t expect is to wake up 16 years later, aged 42, married with two children and her dream job, with no recollection of the last 16 years. How do you explain to your husband that you don’t remember him or your children? It’s a hard time for Lucy as she is confronted by facts and moments that have shaped her life and shaped her as a person, that she simply cannot remember. Husband Sam is sympathetic and quite frankly dreamy, but it’s son Felix who really helps Lucy to get out of her funk.

As she slowly gets to grips with what is now her life, Lucy starts to actually enjoy herself. She finds herself falling in love with her husband all over again, and finds her feet as a Mother. But is it enough to just erase the last sixteen years? Lucy has to make a difficult choice - stay where she is or go back and live her life, with there being no guarantee that her life will take the same path.

13 Going On 30 is my all time favourite film so this book was absolutely perfect in my eyes. Whilst it took inspiration from some classic films, it was a very refreshing take on the concept, and it had originality. Felix was an absolute star, and he added so much to the story. There were ample comical moments, mixed in with lots of poignant ones, and the balance of the two was perfect. It had emotion and hard-hitting topics - it explored the complexity of life incredibly well. I just loved this book so so much. It’s my new favourite from Sophie. I could happily go right back to the beginning and read it all over again, it was honestly AMAZING.

Oh I absolutely loved this book.

It’s like a modern version of the movie “Big”.

I would love this to be acted out on screen.

Mixed feelings for this one. Started off well but the book got a little bit silly for me and I gave up. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Oh Sophie! This book. It was EXACTLY what I needed.
There have been so many times in my life where I’ve thought “how are things going to work out”, “what does this mean” “when will I have it figured out”
Lucy is my girl!
Even though I knew exactly where this book was headed, it was the predictable novel that I needed. Sophie perfectly describes how we need to be patient and live in the moment. Things will work out, treasure the moment. So so many messages can be taken from this book
In this book Lucy wished to know where her life is headed and she wakes up in the future. Where she has one hot husband and two children, with a killer wardrobe and job to match.
What could go wrong?
I particularly liked the life advisor in the car and no one having a clue who Carrie Bradshaw was 🤣. The inflation rate of the coffee. So many one liners in this book
The book is a perfect escapism with important messages within
I really hope there was a certain music composer in the karaoke bar…
Thank you to the publisher for a gifted copy!

I’ve read the first three books by this author and found them to be a bit of a mixed bag really. Loved her first one, liked book two, really couldn’t get into book three or connect with the characters and her fourth book, The Good Part, landed somewhere in the middle for me.

I liked the book’s blurb, I’m a sucker for a time flip story, so I thought this would be a bit of me, and mostly, it was. I liked the idea of the story, how when you’re going through a tough time in your early life, you might think “why can’t I just have everything sorted? Have the happy marriage, a family, a great job - can’t I just get to that good part now?

The story had hints of Big and even a little A Christmas Carol in it. Would your future have turned out how you hoped or expected? Would you try to change anything if you could and risk ruining the good parts? It was quite an interesting concept but again, I didn’t massively warm to the characters.
For me, this was a 3.5 star book.
** Review copy kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley UK **

LOVED THIS BOOK. It’s one of my favourite reads this year and I’d happily re-read it again and again. I love the 13 going on 30, Big, Never Been Kissed etc films and this should definitely be an up to date version on the big screen. Loved it, loved it!

Oh my! What do I say about this book? I have so many mixed feelings I feel like I need time to process! I love Sophie's books so I knew I was going to love this one too and the premise sounded amazing. I really wanted to love this one, and I did, but I also didn't and I don't know how to feel about that or explain it. But I'm going to try...
So, this is my 3rd of Sophie's books (I haven't read This Time Next Year, I will I promise, don't kill me), and I love her books! I love her ideas. I love her writing style. I really love her MMCs! I love her humour. There were SO MANY points in this where I laughed out loud (thank god I only read it at home) and that's quite rare for me to laugh that much, but even in between the sad bits and meaningful bits and all the other bits there was so much humour and I loved it. The future Sophie created, I won't give any specifics because that will detract from the greatness when you get there but it was literally perfect. Funny but accurate just so good! And I love Felix (not in that way!), I'm not going to spoiler and say who Felix is, you'll have to just read it, but he may be one of my favourite characters ever. This might be spoilerier than I want to get really but if I ever have a Felix, I want him to be Felix. That makes no sense but it does, I swear.
But. The end. I can't cope. I mean it was obvious, as usually all these types of books are. That's why they're so comforting to read, because you can predict the ending and still enjoy the journey it takes to get there because that's still got some mystery to it. However, the more the book went on, the more I became convinced that actually I was wrong about how I thought the ending would go, and the more I wanted to be wrong. And then I wasn't. And I KNOW that's what was supposed to happen and it would have been weird if it didn't but I SO wanted to be wrong and now I have to live with that. Don't let my sadness put you off because I'm 80% sure that most people would want the ending you get, but I personally genuinely wish upon a wishing machine with all my heart and whatever that I could rewrite the last 2 and a half chapters. Well, that I could convince Sophie to rewrite them with the other ending because she'd do a much better job haha.
Also you may or may not know my thoughts on time travel and taking your future selfs body. Tbh I'm not sure even I know my thoughts on it so how I expect you guys to I don't know. And again, do not let my weird gripes about this affect any of you because remember how much you loved The Midnight Library? Yeah, then you'll be fine, that book equally bothered me with the alternate self thing. But anyway, with this one it was not even that bad, because I can't even decide if I'm bothered by it or not. We got to the bit and I thought "yeah it'll be fine" and then I was like "eh maybe not" and then it was alright again and I was happy until the ending and now I don't know even know anything anymore!
Please read this book! The humour, the story, the characters were all great and I know that the vast majority of people (who are into reading and this genre, obviously) would love this book so much. And I did love it too, but I'm not like Lucy, and I'm not like most people, and I know the things that bothered and niggled at me won't bother or niggle at most readers and you'll all wonder what the hell is wrong with me.

I requested this book on the basis that Sophie Cousens has been an author on my TBR list for months, but unfortunately I only skim read the book description.

As a matter of personal preference, I really can't get behind a book that goes into the future so this one wasn't for me. I was thoroughly enjoying it until I reached the part about the wishing machine and it took a downward turn for me. That said, the idea is executed very well and Sophie Cousen's writing is engaging.

A light, easy read. Looking forward to reading more books from this author in future.

Lucy has just got the promotion she’s been waiting for, so it should be the happiest day, however, her boss doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo she’s been promoted, her ceiling is leaking, she’s skint and her best friend is moving out after finding her own success. Drunk and stranded in London, Lucy stumbles into an off licence hoping to find some shelter from the weather and comes across a wishing machine. All Lucy wants is to get to the good part of her life. She doesn’t expect to wake up the next morning in a body she doesn’t recognise, with a husband she doesn’t remember and two kids she doesn’t know anything about.

I really enjoyed this book! I mean who hasn’t wished they could skip to the good bits when you’re young and struggling to get where you want to be in life. However, this book is a reminder that how we get there plays an integral part in who we are when we arrive and our appreciation for where we are too. I read Cousen’s Just Haven’t Met You Yet a while ago but this is soooo much better!! Fully recommend picking it up

What would you do if you could fast forward to the good part of life? That’s exactly what Lucy does after finding an old wishing machine.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me real nostalgic feels for ‘Big’, which I may now need to watch this weekend, and I completely fell in love with Lucy. I enjoyed watching her character grow and the dilemmas she faced after her wish. The relationship that she built with Felix made my heart sing, it was so lovely to see them grow closer as they understood each other more.

If you need a feel good book then this is the one for you. The perfect read when you need a pick-me-up from life!

Unfortunately I am been having an issue with NetGalley and kindle well. The Ark that I am given from NetGalley isn’t going onto my kindle so when I went onto my kindle to look for this book unfortunately I don’t have a copy so I cannot review this and because it’s past the download period I cannot read download this book so unfortunately I cannot review this book, but I will look into purchasing at physically in the future

HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY! &
📖 BOOK REVIEW 📖
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#TheGoodPart by @sophie_cousens
@hodderstoughton

⏩synopsis

This book was really the good part!

Taking inspiration from films such as Big and 13 going on 30 I really felt a lot nostalgic happiness reading this. That’s not to say this book didn’t bring its own, it did. It was morally questioning - how many times have we all wished we could skip to the part where everything in life is sorted? But how would we feel if we got that wish but missed years of our lives and all the things that got lost along the way? And found perhaps it wasn’t as sorted as we wished?

In true Cousens style, I thought it had a great story line and offered much more than just a romance read tho I must say the romance was particularly good. It was easy to read, follow and made for the perfect escapist read. No complaints here!

p.s I loved Felix

With thanks to author #sophiecousens @netgalley and #hodderandstoughton for allowing us to read this one early!

OUT TODAY!

-EMILY

I love Sophie Cousens and this book did not disappoint!!
This is the story of Lucy who is in her 20's living with room mates and she's seeing all her friends moving on and getting married getting good jobs etc while she is stuck in a job she hates and doesn't see where her life is going.

After a particularly bad evening she comes across a wishing machine and just makes the wish that she would like to skip to the good part of her life.

When she wakes up she finds herself married with two children. The problem is she has no memories of this life and has quite literally been thrown into the future! The story continues with Lucy trying to untangle her life and wonders if she was a hasty in wishing her life away.

Definitely recommend this book!!

Cousens's writing style is an exceptional blend of relatability, impact and humour. I find her stories entertaining and well worth picking up.

Although this is not a truly original concept, her ability to make you feel as if you have lived through it is nothing short of remarkable. The incorporation of life lessons adds further depth and value to the narrative. The family mischief is bound to have you laughing, but it is the emotional side of the story that will tug at your heartstrings. If you are looking for a story that focuses on self-discovery, this engaging and impactful read is for you!

As always, I'm absolutely OBSESSED with anything Sophie writes! I was literally up until three in the morning finishing this, I literally couldn't put it down and haven't stopped blabbering on about it since finishing. I sooo wish I could read it again for the first time. I just loved it so much!