What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown on June 3, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Psychological
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
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Janelle Brown’s What Kind of Paradise is a haunting, propulsive coming-of-age novel that explores the tension between isolation and connection, truth and belief, and the perils of blind trust. It’s one of those books that grabs hold early and doesn’t let go—I tore through the pages, desperate to know what would become of Jane, the deeply compelling protagonist.
Raised in near-total isolation in a remote Montana cabin during the mid-1990s, Jane’s world is small, harsh, and tightly controlled by her enigmatic father. He shuns modernity, preaching that technology is a corrupting force. Jane is homeschooled with nineteenth-century philosophy and taught to believe that her mother died in a tragic car accident. The only truth she knows is what her father chooses to tell her—and even that begins to unravel.
As Jane edges into adolescence, she starts to question the life she’s been given. When her father returns from a trip with an IBM computer—an odd contradiction to everything he’s ever warned her about—it opens a tiny window to the outside world. Through early Internet chat rooms, she begins a friendship with Lionel, a tech worker in San Francisco, and slowly realizes how much of life she’s been shielded from. But just as she starts to stretch toward freedom, her father takes her on a secretive trip that sets off a chain of events that will forever change her understanding of her family, her past, and the world.
This story is layered with themes of abandonment, naivety, technological awakening, and betrayal. Jane’s journey is both heartbreaking and gripping—watching her navigate a completely foreign world with no social experience or sense of who she truly is felt raw and real. The emotional weight she carries, paired with her innocence, makes her one of the most unforgettable characters I’ve read this year.
The plot moves at a breathless pace, and the mystery surrounding her father and her mother’s past kept me fully hooked. What Kind of Paradise is sharp, character-driven, and emotionally complex. It’s about the lies we tell to protect, the truths we need to survive, and the perilous journey toward freedom and identity.
📚 Highly recommend—this one is easily making my Top 10 of the year.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC and the opportunity to review this gem!