A review by bethreadsandnaps
What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown, Janelle Brown

3.5

 

3.5 ⭐️

When I read the description for this new novel by Janelle Brown, I thought of THESE SILENT WOODS. A girl and her father in a remote cabin in the woods, and the dad has to be hiding from someone or something. 

Even though the description seems very similar, this does veer off in a different direction. Teenage Jane leaves the remote Montana cabin at the request of her dad, and then they go over to the Seattle area for a project that goes awry. Jane ends up on her own and forging a new life with the skills her father urged her to get. 

A few times the coincidences were a bit much. I was a bit stymied at side characters that got thrown in, and as a reader I got invested in (Heidi!), but they vanished. Some things were zoomed over in the epilogue. I’d say that could be summarized as pacing problems for me. 

This is a coming of age story, of sorts, which I liked. Jane had been kept in such isolation, and I wanted her to spread her wings. That part was gratifying. The treatise on artificial intelligence in the 1990s? I just don’t feel that we were “there” at the time. Of course, it tries to link the 1990s thoughts on artificial intelligence as prophetic, which I don’t really buy. 

I really liked the coming of age parts of this novel.  

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an unbiased review. 

It publishes June 3, 2025.