Janelle Brown never disappoints, and "What Kind of Paradise" is no exception. The novel follows Jane and her father, living alone in a cabin in the woods of Montana. Over time, sheltered Jane begins to question her father and unusual upbringing, ultimately escaping her past and fleeing to California. However, her past and her family are impossible t9 flee from, and in the end Jane must decide where her loyalty lies. Overall, a fantastic book!

I found the concept for this book really interesting. For fans of movies Captain Fantastic or Leave no Trace, this story of a girl living off the grid with her father will resonate deeply. It was thrilling and captivating the entire time and I enjoyed the ending!

I loved this beautifully written book — Janelle Brown’s storytelling is so immersive and emotionally layered. The setting and characters reminded me a lot of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, with those same themes of living off the grid, survival, and the long shadow of mental health struggles.

What made What Kind of Paradise stand out, though, was the added thread of mystery and suspense. It brought a slow-burn tension that pulled me in and kept me invested in unraveling the truth. The secrets buried in this story unfold in such a gripping, unexpected way.

I was especially drawn to Esme’s journey — not just her past, but her life after leaving her father. Watching her try to make sense of her upbringing while figuring out who she is on her own added so much depth to the narrative. Her story felt raw and real.

This is the kind of novel that lingers after the last page — thought-provoking, haunting, and gorgeously told. Highly recommend for fans of literary fiction with a hint of suspense.

*What Kind of Paradise* by Janelle Brown is an absolute page-turner that hits you emotionally and intellectually. It blends mystery, family drama, and moral grey areas so well—totally kept me guessing. The characters are messed-up in the best way, which made their choices feel real and gut-wrenching. You get that perfect mix of suspense and emotional depth. If you want a book that lingers after you close the cover, this is it.

This book just catapulted to the top of my 2025 favorites list, and honestly, I’m still reeling. It’s one of those rare reads that gets under your skin in the best possible way.

Part thriller, part mystery, part historical fiction, part romance…basically a dream mash-up of all my favorite genres. But what really hooked me was Jane. I was fully invested in her story, her voice, and the unraveling of a life she thought she understood.

Jane grows up completely off the grid in remote Montana, homeschooled by her father, who fills her mind with philosophy and half-truths. As she gets older, the walls of their quiet life start to crack. Her questions get louder. And when she finally escapes the isolation to search for answers, what she discovers is more terrifying and disorienting than anything she imagined. The story moves from the wilds of Montana to the heart of San Francisco during the 90s tech boom, and the emotional arc is just as gripping as the plot twists.

This book made me reflect on so much: the complexity of parent/child relationships, the power of perception, the haunting line between utopia and dystopia, the shadows of mental illness and paranoia, and the sometimes uncomfortable role technology plays in our lives. It was thought-provoking, tense, and beautifully written.

If you love books that make you feel something and leave your brain buzzing, this one’s for you. Trust me, you’ll want to talk about it with someone the second you finish.

What Kind of Paradise is a fascinating coming-of-age novel centered on Jane, a teenage girl living in seclusion with her father in a cabin in the woods. She spends her days reading philosophy, hunting, and preparing for the end of the world brought on by technology, with barely any contact with the outside world. Her father, loosely based on the Unabomber, is a reserved and secretive man who claims to be protecting her, though he often leaves her to fend for herself. When a visit to one of her father’s friends goes awry and Jane discovers he has been hiding the truth about her past, she escapes and heads to California in search of answers. The story follows Jane as she embarks on a solo journey, finding friends, work, and even romance, all while grappling with the consequences of her father’s actions.

Having not read the blurb and with the story set in the 1990s, I was surprised by the book’s deep exploration of technology. It vividly portrays the early days of the internet, touching on its promises and dangers; first websites, HTML, chat rooms, and how this revolution reshaped the world. Part coming-of-age, part drama, part mystery, this is an utterly compelling novel that had me completely invested from the beginning. I'm not usually a fan of first-person perspective, but I loved this so much I barely noticed. This is definitely one of my favorite books of the year. When I wasn’t reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and when I was, I was completely swept away and desperate to know what would happen next.

I did about 10% and thought this would be like "These Silent Woods" but this felt very slow to me and I couldn't really get into it.

This book was a mix of genres and I truly don't know how to put it into words - This is a PERFECT book club discussion book and my first book by Janelle Brown! I will definitely be checking out her other work.

What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown was a fascinating read. Jane grows up off the grid with her father Saul. They are very close and she develops many unique skills. She doesn't attend school, but is instead taught by her father. She rarely leaves their homestead, only occasionally going into town with Saul. Her father has always taught her that technology is dangerous, but one day he brings home a computer and for the first time Jane goes on the internet. This opens a window into her world. As her father becomes more isolated, focused on writing down his philosophies, Jane is able to learn about culture and connect with others through the web.

As the story progresses things spiral out of control and Jane ends up thrust into the world, alone, for the first time. The second half of the story follows Jane as she navigates her new life. It feels like a high stakes coming of age story.

I rate this book 5 stars. I couldn't put it down, and when I finished it I couldn't wait to discuss it.

I was provided this book by Netgalley for review.

I have read and enjoyed all of Janelle Brown’s novels, but What Kind of Paradise is Brown writing on a completely different level. Much different than the domestic drama/suspense novels she’s written previously, What Kind of Paradise is a complex, nuanced character study about family and modern life that asks the reader to think about how well we truly know the people we love – and how much we would sacrifice to protect them.

Set against the backdrop of the 1990s dot-com boom, What Kind of Paradise is narrated by Jane, who lives off the grid with her father in a remote Montana cabin. Jane’s father believes strongly that their isolated, homesteading way of life is best, and rails against modern society’s obsession with digital advancement. He’s not going to stand idly by while society loses itself to the internet, and when he involves Jane in something she doesn’t fully understand, it’s clear that neither of their lives will ever be the same.

Everything about What Kind of Paradise kept me riveted. Brown’s writing is so vivid and immersive, firmly placed in the time period in which it’s set; I felt completely transported to San Francisco in the ‘90s, the epicenter of the digital revolution. Brown perfectly captures the cultural zeitgeist of the early days of the internet, when the technology was met with just as much suspicion as enthusiasm – the caution, the anticipation, the awe bordering on fear. You really do get the sense that society was on the cusp of something entirely new, and that things would never be the same. And they haven’t been, have they? You can see the truth in many of Jane’s father’s core beliefs (although of course not condoning his extremist methods). That’s part of what makes this such a complex, thought-provoking novel.

And anchoring the entire book is Jane herself. She is a sympathetic character with a strong narrative arc, starting out as a naïve teenager and blossoming into a self-aware, independent woman. Walking with her on her journey of self-discovery was affecting, harrowing, and heartbreaking. Hers is a story of innocence lost and perspective gained, of learning that the people we love most often have startling depths we can’t fathom.

This is brilliant, thoughtful, perfectly-executed fiction, highlighting a very short period of time that changed the world forever, and bringing it to life with propulsive storytelling and richly realized characters. Highly recommended. Thank you to Random House for the complimentary reading opportunity.

What Kind of Paradise is about our main character, Jane, a teenage girl raised off the grid in a remote Montana cabin with her paranoid father. She’s been homeschooled on philosophy, lived off the land, and knows nothing of the outside world—until she discovers that her devotion to her dad has entangled her in a crime. Determined to find out who she really is and what happened to her mother, she flees to San Francisco. There, amid the dawn of the internet era, she must reckon with secrets, technology, and the truth of her own identity.

I absolutely loved this book! The writing is stunning, lyrical and so poetic in places that I found myself pausing just to reread lines. It’s the kind of prose that feels effortless but carries so much weight. What really stood out to me was how thought-provoking the story is. It raises big questions without forcing answers, and it invites you to reflect along with the main character. Her journey felt honest and relatable, and I was completely drawn into her world. This is one of those books that quietly stays with you and I honestly can recommend it enough!

Thank you to the publisher for the arc through NetGalley! All opinions are my own honest opinions.

I really enjoyed this book. The start was the most intriguing from the aspect of this father and daughter living a life off the grid for reasons you weren’t sure and didn’t know who to believe. As the story progressed it brought to light the issues with technology and social media ruining people’s lives and where the balance is between a life with technology and a life completely absent of it along with meaningful social relationships. This is definitely a book that makes you think about real world issues.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Random House and NetGalley for the ARC! I was shocked at the outcome of this novel. What I thought would be a mystery, turned out to be so much more! I love the technological references and allusions to the past! It was a delight.

This novel focuses on Jane, a teenager who lives off the grid in the secluded Montana wilderness with her father, who has become part of the anti-technology movement. She is extraordinarily bright and has been homeschooled on the works of great philosophers, mathematicians, poets and others. Eventually, she discovers that she is not the person she has grown up to believe she was, as well as some devastating facts about her father, and escapes to San Francisco where she definitely comes of age as she realizes the truth surrounding her existence. This novel’s deeply-layered and complicated plot that was actually sort of puzzle-like, with all of the pieces coming together by the ending, not only had me flipping pages but also thinking about some of the heavier themes underlying the storyline. All in all, I found this a very good and scintillating read.

I thoroughly enjoyed Janelle Brown's new family drama/slow-burn thriller/early dot-com historical fiction. The story is particularly timely, as with the rapid adoption of AI, we are currently in the midst of the next iteration of the dot-com era, and the peek into some of the nascent ideology was compelling. The family drama was wonderfully multi-layered, with each character a nuanced blend of complicated motivations, actions, and backstory. Jane was easy for me to connect with, and I was rooting for her escape and healing.

The sense of place in this book was exceptionally well-crafted, especially in terms of the cultural vibes of the places described. There aren't many novels set in Montana, so that added interest for me. Furthermore, the part of the story set in San Francisco and at a tech start-up company also brought that region and era to life.

If you enjoy late 20th-century historical fiction (it pains me to think that the 1990s is now becoming historical fiction territory - yikes, I'm old) and like a story with many secrets and some thrills, give this book a try. The pacing isn't fast and tense, and it (IMO) barely earns the thriller category; however, there is a big mystery and many surprises along the way as the story unfolds - but it's not likely to get your blood pressure and heart rate up.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ebook version of the novel in exchange for a review.

4.5 stars, rounded up
This was a novel book to me, I had never read anything like it. Jane is being raised by her father alone out in a cabin in Montana after the death of her mother in a car accident. She lives a very isolated life as he homeschools her and they only make occasional trips into town. Jane is able to make one friend at the shop in town, a teenager like her being homeschooled. But her father is her whole life; he was a graduate of Harvard so he feels able to teach her all she needs to know which includes heavy doses of philosophy and to fear the Feds. Jane desperately wants to know more about her early years and her father's, but he rarely shares.

Jane slowly realizes things aren't as they seem when she finds a picture of her and her mother but she can only search for clues when her father goes on one of his trips, leaving her alone for days at a time. When he plans another trip, she asks to go along as a way to escape. Little did she know that she would become an accomplice of her father's. There is a manhunt during which she tries to make a way on her own but has been so sheltered that she doesn't really know how to handle the real world.

This is all taking place during the tech boom of the 1990's so there is the people trying to get rich and those who believe in a better world which includes AI. The whole thing can't help but make you introspective of how computers and AI especially is changing our lives. It's up to you decide if that is good or bad.

Jane is a wonderful character and watching how she navigates a world she knows so little about is really interesting. I had a hard time putting the book down, wanting to know how she would deal with the deceit and love around her.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

What Kind of Paradise is the first book I've read by Janelle Brown, and I can see why folks really enjoy Brown's books. The plot was intriguing, and the writing was good. Though, I struggled to stay engaged, which I attribute to the pacing feeling funky - I could have used a lot less time with Jane in the cabin, a bit more time with some of the people Jane connects with when she leaves.

This was a gripping, riveting, yet sad, story about a young girl, Jane, who grows up in isolation with her conspiracy theorist father, Saul. It's a hard life but Jane survives as best she can until she realizes that she may have unwittingly helped her father commit a crime. Jane then sets off on her own into a new and unfamiliar world in order to get answers.

What Kind of Paradise was a solid 4-star read. What kept it from being 5 stars was the ending which was abrupt after such a detailed story as well as a bit dissatisfying. That didn't keep me from seeking Ms. Brown's backlist and I thank NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy.

What a book! Jane is raised by her father in an isolated Montana cabin in the mid-1990's. Jane is home schooled. She seldom leaves home and is never unaccompanied. Her father tells her that her mother is dead. Her father is extremely bright. He is a Harvard graduate that formally worked in tech. Now he is leading the fight against the world outside his cabin and Jane must adhere to his rules. As she gets older Jane begins to question her father's teachings. When Jane unwittingly becomes part of a terrible crime her father commits, she runs away to seek her own answers. This thought provoking thriller will keep you up reading late into the night. Amazing!

Wow-Janelle Brown has done it again. What Kind of Paradise is a novel that will stay with readers long after they finish it. While it may not be as fast-paced as some of her previous psychological mysteries, this is more of a slow-burn novel, featuring well developed characters. 17-year old Jane has grown up off the grid with her Luddite father in Montana. Raised in a small cabin, mostly living off the land, Jane has been surrounded by knowledge and books given to her by her father as well as learning survival skills. Coming of age in the mid-90s, with the explosion of the internet and .com era, Jane begins to realize there is more to life than rural Montana while questioning her father's beliefs and actions. When she realizes she has become an unwitting accomplice to his crimes, Jane escapes for San Francisco-desperate to find someone to connect with. What ensues after Jane learns the truth is a heartbreaking but necessary journey of self discovery.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. 4.5 stars.