If you could skip to the good parts in your life, would you do it? Past the heartbreaks, beyond the failures, leaving behind dashed hopes, only to arrive to a place that holds everything you could have ever imagined. Gorgeous spouse, successful job, money, recognition, the list goes on. Would you make that wish for that type of reward? Lucy Young’s answer was a resounding “Yes!” Failed date after failed date, horrible living conditions, and a dead end job, all Lucy wanted was to get to the point of her life where all of the sacrifice was worth it. At her lowest, drenched from the rain, traumatized by an impromptu date, Lucy enters a store to escape the weather and finds a wishing machine in the back. With nothing else to lose, she wishes to fast forward to the best parts of her life. Ignoring the warning that one should alway be careful what they wish for, Lucy wakes up in a breathtaking bedroom with a gorgeous man beside her. Strange but promising start to the morning until one look in the mirror nearly scares her half to death. Having zero memory of anything that happened between the Wednesday night when she was 26 and this Friday morning where she is now 42, Lucy quickly realizes that while her wish may have come true, it may not be worth giving up the bad  in order to skip ahead to the good.

This book was phenomenal! When I initially started it, I wasn’t sure where it was going. Having read all of Sophie Cousens books, I was expecting the same type of romantic comedy genius that I enjoyed in this past. This book was not a contemporary romance but so much more. Venturing towards the genre of women’s fiction, coming of age, or the frowned upon term “chic lit”, we are posed a very important question – if we could skip to the good parts in life, would we? The quick answer for many of us is: YES – same as Lucy. What we discover through her story is that to get to the good, we have to go through the bad because it makes us who we are. We have to experience the ups and downs because those are what shapes us. The in-between is were we make the memories that make those good parts great! Having lost 16 years of her life, she missed all the little moments with Sam, the adventures with her friends, the things that made her a hard worker, a loving wife, and an amazing mother. The painful moments that bonded her to Sam and her friends where just as important as the bright shining moments of love and laughter.

This book will make you think and appreciate all facets of life. Like it or not, we have to go through the dark sometimes to get to the light. She was given the choice – stay where she was knowing everything she had accomplished but missing out on the experiences (cursed with the memories of a past she never got to live) or go through each day, the good, the bad, and the ugly not knowing if she will end up in the same place and not being able to change anything she had learned to lessen the pain for her and those around her. As a reader, that is a lot to take in. I personally took a moment to reflect on my choice – would I be willing to settle for a highlight reel of memories, knowing I never got to experience them first hand or would I be willing to endure all of it, no matter how devastating, with no guarantee that I would end up in the same place, unaware of the possibilities life could offer.

While this book didn’t have laugh out loud funny moments, it was completely relatable to women in different stages of their lives. Seasoned moms would get a laugh at everything Lucy experiences when thrown into motherhood. New moms will see an kindred spirit. Those who have been married for a long time will appreciate the evolution of Sam and Lucy’s marriage while newlyweds have a indirect word of advise on how to grow and experience life together. Friendships were a huge part of this book. The bound she had with Zoya alone transcended past, present, and future. To see how through decades, Lucy, Faye, Roisin, and Zoya were always in each others corner for any moments, small and big was seen and felt.

When Sam talked about Chloe, I swear you could hear a pin drop – there was so much emotion coming through the pages. I think I felt the most for Sam through this book. The love he had for Lucy was so deep that no matter who she was, he still loved her to the core. If you don’t believe in soul mates, Sam may change your mind! I loved at the end when he asked her not to go. I don’t know if he 100% believed her but their “goodbye” brought tears to my eyes.

Giving recognition to the other characters in the book, I LOVED her son Felix (awesome kid) and how he was a guiding light for her. The moments he would tell her the advice gave him only reemphasized the importance of the lessons learned throughout life. Her coworkers were wonderful and I got a kick out of Michael – especially when he caught Jane the second time. I don’t know if he was just that in love or that naive but the last time I checked, brain fog didn’t equal amnesia (selective at that!) I loved when he caught her in bed with the aqua instructor and seemed more devastated about his glove then his cheating spouse!

I wanted to stand up and applaud what Lucy’s character said when Amy was sick and the childcare people wouldn’t take her for the day. We really don’t give enough recognition to working parents and how difficult it can be to juggle all the balls in the air. I don’t know if Sophie intended to do it or not but this book was somewhat of an ode to being a mother.

The Good Part is a beautiful reminded that life may be unfair, challenging, and frustrating at moments but finding the good amongst the bad is what makes it worth living each and every day. Even the “good part” of Lucy’s life still had aspects of bad – it just didn’t outweigh it. And that is the challenge, not getting to the good part per say but experiencing enough of life that we learn to balance the good along with the bad, continuously tipping the scale in our favor.