I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
What Kind of Paradise: A Novel by Janelle Brown Published by Random House on June 3, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Family Life
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley
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A teenage girl breaks free from her father's world of isolation in this exhilarating novel of family, identity, and the power we have to shape our own destinies—from the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me Disappear
The first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world.
Growing up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane knows only the world that she and her father live in: the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they try to eke out a subsistence existence, the books of nineteenth-century philosophy that her father gives her to read in lieu of going to school. Her father is elusive about their pasts, giving Jane little beyond the facts that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident, the crash propelling him to move Jane off the grid to raise her in a Waldenesque utopia.
As Jane becomes a teenager she starts pushing against the boundaries of her restricted world. She begs to accompany her father on his occasional trips away from the cabin. But when Jane realizes that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime, she flees Montana to the only place she knows to look for answers about her mysterious past, and her mother's death: San Francisco. It is a city in the midst of a seismic change, where her quest to understand herself will force her to reckon with both the possibilities and the perils of the fledgling Internet, and where she will come to question everything she values.
In this sweeping, suspenseful novel from bestselling author Janelle Brown, we see a young woman on a quest to understand how we come to know ourselves. It is a bold and unforgettable story about parents and children; nature and technology; innocence and knowledge; the losses of our past and our dreams for the future.
Story Locale:Rural Montana; San Francisco and the Bay Area
Review
A Father’s Love or Prison? What Kind of Paradise Asks the Hard Questions
Ever wonder what it’d be like to grow up with no Instagram, no friends, and no idea what’s happening in the world? For seventeen-year-old Jane, that’s not a thought experiment — it’s her life.
Janelle Brown’s new novel drops us into the Montana wilderness, where Jane and her father live in complete isolation. No phones, no internet, no visitors. Just trees, mountains, and a whole lot of questions Jane’s starting to ask about why she’s really there.
Brown doesn’t just tell a story here — she pulls you into Jane’s head until you feel the walls of that cabin closing in. You’ll catch yourself holding your breath as Jane pieces together the truth about her sheltered life, questioning everything her father has told her. Is he protecting her, or controlling her? That’s the million-dollar question that’ll keep you up at night.
The real magic happens in the space between Jane’s love for her father and her growing need to break free. Brown writes their relationship like a delicate dance — there are no villains here, just complicated people making complicated choices. And that Montana wilderness? It’s not just pretty scenery. Those vast, dangerous landscapes mirror Jane’s internal world perfectly: beautiful, wild, and more than a little scary.
Sure, the book takes its time getting going. The first few chapters move like honey in winter, but trust me — that slow build pays off. Once Jane starts pulling at the threads of her father’s carefully constructed world, you won’t be able to put it down.
This is Brown at her best, serving up a story that’s both intimate family drama and larger commentary on how we define freedom in an age of constant connection. It’s the kind of book that makes you look up from the last page and see your own world a little differently.
Bottom line: If you can handle a slow-burn start, What Kind of Paradise delivers a punch-to-the-gut story about love, control, and what happens when protection becomes a prison. It’s not just good — it’s important.
4.5/5 stars
