#Margo’sGotMoneyTroubles – Rosepoint Publishing

The Book or the Movie—Which One First? Which One Was Better?

Book or Movie - which one first?

It’s the age-old conundrum—which first, the book or the movie? It appears I’ve managed to read several of these books prior to their release. Which ones have you read first?

Wicked poster from Wikipedia — Wicked poster courtesy Wikipedia.

Haven’t we all been bombarded with the new movies, Christmas theme or not, out now riding on the heels of the book’s popularity? Lots of promos and book trailers, especially the big-budget Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Have you seen them? This one released in theaters on November 21^st starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. (Not one of the books I’ve read this year and not my thing.)

Of course, there is the wildly popular Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, originally released in 2012 (which I also didn’t read, not my thing), and my recent favorite, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, released in 2022. The book was excellent–the movie very good.

Another to watch is The Housemaids (book by Freida McFadden) which will star Sydney Sweeney. Gees, I didn’t read that one either!) The release date for the movie is expected to be December 19, 2025. (I read The Housemaid’s Secret but not The Housemaid, so I’ll be interested in the original.)

I did, however, read several others and the ones listed as coming out soon read like a NY Times or USA Today bestseller list.

And surprise, surprise, another popular book, Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe, starring Elle Fanning has a release date TBA. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot with this book. Elle plays the daughter of a Hooters waitress and former pro-wrestler who’ll make it big on OnlyFans. Now’s your chance to get all the skinny. ;) I’m looking forward to this one. How about you?

Also in development for 2026 and 2027, The Nightingale and The Women by Kristin Hannah. Are you kidding? Read both, but I can’t wait to see The Women on screen! One of my very favorite books ever and was a Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Readers’ Favorite Historical Fiction of 2024 as well as an Editors’ Pick for Best Books of the Year 2024. Powerful, nostalgic, gripping. If you haven’t read it yet (fat chance), you must before the movie comes out.

Just a few others:

The Woman in Cabin 10 – Ruth Ware – released on Netflix starring Keira Knightley (started it–DNF).

The Husbands – Holly Gramazio – release date TBA – starring Juno Temple – FUN book! Recommended. The movie should be fun.

The Running Man – Stephen King – released on November 7 starring Glen Powell (but I don’t read Stephen King).

Of course, there were many more not listed here. How many of the above have you read? Look for audiobooks for these as well. Always a fast, easy way to get caught up on the latest of the books turned movie lists.

#ThrowbackThursday

It’s Time to Vote in the Goodreads Choice Awards! #TuesdayBookBlog

My Goodreads Choice Awards for 2024

I’ve mentioned the Goodreads Choice Awards in previous years as it’s one of my favorite places to look for trending novels and authors, often finding my next book or audiobook.

I vote in each level from the opening round to the final round and some years score more winners than others. It’s fun to see how many of my reads, whether gleaned from Goodreads suggestions, publishers and authors, or NetGalley made it to the finals and, if so, where they came in. (Number 1?)

As of the prep for this post, there were already 2,736,392 votes cast in fifteen categories. Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thriller, Romance, Romantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Debut Nove, Audiobook, Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir, History & Biography.

Romantasy? New last year? My favorite categories are Mystery & Thriller, Historical Fiction, Fiction, and Crime Fiction, but also read Humor, Memoir, Biography, Nonfiction, and Debut novels. Of course, the CE adds his own brand of reading usually of more masculine novels with action-adventure.

Up for consideration this year are eight of the books read in 2024 that landed on the list in the following categories: (Links are to my reviews which list sales info as well as the Goodreads link.)

Is one of these nominees yours?

Fiction

Here One Moment – Liane Moriarty* (audiobook)
Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Rufi Thorpe (audiobook)

Historical Fiction

The Women – Kristin Hannah*
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon (audiobook)

Mystery & Thriller

Darling Girls – Sally Hepworth* (audiobook)
The Heiress – Rachel Hawkins (audiobook)
First Lie Wins – Ashley Elston (audiobook-Reese’s Book Club selection)

Audiobook

The Women – Kristin Hannah*
Here One Moment – Liane Moriarty (audiobook)
Funny Story – Emily Henry (audiobook)
First Lie Wins – Ashley Elston (audiobook-Reese’s Book Club selection)

*My vote

(I’m rather surprised so many are from my audiobook selections.)

Last year, my Memoir & Autobiography vote went to Spare by Prince Harry, but surprised Britney Spears won for The Woman in Me (did you read that one? I read it but preferred Spare.) I did, however, pick the winner for the History & Biography category, The Wager. Gees, that was good and so glad it won!

There are 300 nominees this year across the 15 categories, but I swear a couple of those are new and a few categories were eliminated from previous years (poetry, middle grade and children’s, comic novels and graphics). The opening round of voting is between November 12 until November 24, so you still have time to make your voice heard.

Did one of your favorite books land in the nominees? Vote for it! The final round starts November 26, ends December 1. Winners are announced December 5.

So I have to ask:

How many of the above did you read?
In how many different categories do you participate?
Do you look for reading ideas from the Goodreads winners?
What is your source for 2025 trending books?
And, lastly—have you gone to any movies or viewed series based on one of your choices?

I’ve always appreciated Goodreads for the extensive resources they provide. I often check their New Releases section under “Browse” as well as Recommendations and crosscheck those against the offerings in NetGalley. If I cannot find the book in NetGalley, I check my local library and look for the audiobook first.

What is the book you are hoping to see listed in those nominees?

#TuesdayBookBlog

Rosepoint Reviews – October Recap – Welcome Holiday Season (or not)

Rosepoint Reviews-October Recap

October kicks off the end of the year for us, beginning with our daughter’s birthday in the middle of October and then Halloween of course, although we no longer celebrate the latter as much as we did when the kids were young, I still decorate. Seems like it then begins a mad dash to the end of the year and this year a presidential election here in the colonies—so glad to see the end of that!!

As much time spent in the spring setting up the yard, the gardens, and all things outdoors, it takes as much to clean it back up. Perhaps more so this year with tackling the veggie bed and cleaning up roots and dirt clods turned to cement. It was a disappointing year for a garden, veggie or flower.

Trying to recognize a full year with Punkin the Pom, I read several doggie genre books, adventure or service animals. A Pomeranian is meant to be a companion animal, of course, but she has no clue that’s her job. I am still finishing up a doggy theme book I’d hoped to include in October, the latest from Sara Driscoll, and ran out of time and will post that review in early November. As mentioned before…Punkin is still learning to be a dog. I guess eventually we’ll have to begin teaching her some commands. In the meantime, it’s sufficient to be working on housetraining. (Yeah, still.)

I continue to get books from NetGalley as well as author and publisher requests, and my local library, both ebooks and audiobooks. The review count for the month was fourteen, but I included both W Bruce Cameron’s novels in one post. As always, links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough (audiobook)
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (audiobook)
Echo by Tracy Clark
What Have You Done by Shari Lapena (audiobook)
Going Dark by George K Mehok (CE review)
Death by Jelly Beans by Susan Black
A Dog’s Courage and A Dog’s Promise by W Bruce Cameron (audiobook)
Late Checkout by Alan Orloff (CE review)
An Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (audiobook)
The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt (audiobook)
Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton (audiobook)
Death Comes in Threes by Michael Jecks (CE Review)

Favorite Book of the Month

The CE gave Going Dark by George K Mehok five stars but we both listened to The Johnstown Flood audiobook in our travels to and from Arkansas in September and loved it. The research, details, and characters so well-fleshed the reader cares what happens to them in the flood. I’m going with:

Favorite for October – The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

My Reading Challenges page…Reading Challenges page—pretty much status quo. My Goodreads Challenge is at 110 towards a goal of 130 at 85%.

Thank you new subscribers—welcome! I always appreciate those of you who continue to monitor, read, and comment on my posts. Hope this recap finds you well and looking forward to the holidays!

Have a great weekend!

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe – #AudiobookReview #HumorousFiction&Satire

Best Books of the Year So Far 2024

Book Blurb:

Audiobook Narrated by Elle Fanning!

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

My Review:

Okay…SORRY! I’m too old to know about OnlyFans…there IS such a thing? Not that I was ever in the loop, but at my age, I don’t even remember what the loop was. Obviously, it’s changed, and this narrative will pull the uninitiated oldsters into a whole new world of hip. (Or maybe hip is an old word too.)

I’m still debating about whether or not that’s a good thing.

I suppose I’m guilty of relating to the title and that cover? Oh yeah…that’s a gotcha.

I should have read the blurb, but even so having done that would not have prepared me for the smart and modern reality the reader is thrown into. (Sex and the City? Gasp.) But, as the blurb would tell it, when she keeps the baby from a brief affair with her English professor, her world will definitely do a 180. Not the baby fantasy she had in mind? Unemployment won’t stave off eviction? What to do if you need money…quick!

Jinx, her estranged father shows up needing a place to live. How timely. He’ll provide some childcare about the time she’s introduced to the idea of an OnlyFans website.

Innocent fun—you know? And as an ex pro-wrestler, Jinx has lots of advice on getting her site out there. He’s ready to help her promote.

Margo is no bimbo and she learns quickly. Her mother is totally disgusted with her but she has support from friends. After a learning curve, she’s astonished to discover it’s taking off and lucrative. Now she’s sparking off ideas, increasing her research, trying new staging techniques, getting braver in her presentations.

No, it’s not like I could identify with Margo, except for the money part, but the characters are all unique and very modern and forthright in blazingly raw and frank conversations.

There are several themes here, and pretty much all of them are taking me out of any comfort zone I have. While it’s a world alien to me, knowing it exists, and getting to know those who inhabit that world is a revelation.

The more determined Margo is to be successful, the deeper she sinks into moral undergrounds. Until, finally, she is questioning herself and looking for a reckoning. The author mixes in humor (laughter a great tension releaser), as she hones a perceptive and entertaining storyline that appears to go places I’d never have considered. It’s alternately heartwarming and shocking. And the baby in all of this? At times barely an afterthought.

The book is currently being adapted for television by A24 and AppleTV.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Humorous Fiction & Satire, Coming of Age Fiction, Humorous Fiction
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B0CJ5WLM5M
Listening Length: 10 hrs 21 mins
Narrator: Elle Fanning
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Rufi Thorpe received her MFA from the University of Virginia in 2009. She is the author of four novels, The Girls from Corona Del Mar, Dear Fang, With Love, and her most recent, The Knockout Queen, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award. Her newest book, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, is due out June of 2024. She lives in California with her husband and two sons, and teaches at The Book Incubator.