This is a time leap story and I loved it. I think anyone who loves a happy ending will too.

Twenty-six year old Lucy Young is having a very bad day and is ready to ’skip to the good part’ with a good job, a person to love, and a decent place to live. This reminded me of the movie 13 Going on 30. The Good Part, like that film, is funny and heart-wrenching, and just wonderful. It is now my new favorite Sophie Cousens’ book.

The story starts out with Lucy barely getting by and working at a dead end job as an errand girl for a TV station. She lives in a rundown flat, with inconsiderate flatmates and a forgetful neighbor upstairs who overflows his bathtub and she’s been on so many awful dates she’s losing hope that she will ever find someone to love. She sees her friends meeting their life mates and finding good jobs. They seem to be moving forward with their lives on track while she’s stuck in a rut.

Lucy is walking home from a night out with her girlfriends followed by a terrible app date when she is caught in a downpour. Her debit card is empty, her phone is dead and she’s getting blisters from her shoes, so she ducks into a market to get out of the rain. It’s there that she sees the Wishing Machine and a kind elderly lady who tells her she looks like she could use a wish and gives her the coins for the machine. The next thing she knows, it’s morning and she has woken up in a bed next to a very handsome man in a beautiful home, she has two kids, a successful career and absolutely no memory of the last sixteen years.

There’s a lot of humor as we watch Lucy in her future life. She has to figure out whether it’s how to not flinch when she sees her 42 year old self in the mirror or when she’s trying to figure out how to drive her high tech car. In this reality, Lucy also needs to make important decisions at her job as a high powered TV Producer. Cousens handles these scenes with a deft and witty touch.

But there are also some sad moments and while I don’t want to reveal any spoilers I will share you might want to have some tissues close by for those. The mood is lightened by her baby Amy and her seven year old son, Felix who is hilarious, especially when Lucy is trying to help him with his science project. Her husband Sam is really sweet and I loved their relationship. He takes her to a doctor who tells them she has temporary amnesia and Sam is so patient and kind to her. There were a few parts of the story in the future that dragged a little and the story deals with some tough topics but I especially enjoyed the theme of appreciating life’s journey, with its ups and downs. Lucy has to decide whether to stay in the future or go back and I wasn’t able to guess which she would choose.

I laughed and I cried as I rooted for Lucy. This is a wonderful story and I recommend it to readers looking for a feel good story with depth and a side of romance.