Horror Thriller but make it a real-estate Hunger Game... Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino; ARC REVIEW

Title: Best Offer Wins

Author: Marisa Kashino

Number of Pages: 304

Publishing Date: 25 November 2025

Genre: Horror· Thriller· Fiction· Mystery· Mystery Thriller· Contemporary· Suspense· Adult· Psychological Thriller

Formats Available: Hardcover, Audiobook

Synopsis:

An insanely competitive housing market. A desperate buyer on the edge. In Marisa Kashino’s darkly humorous debut novel, Best Offer Wins, the white picket fence becomes the ultimate symbol of success—and obsession. How far would you go for the house of your dreams?

Eighteen months and 11 lost bidding wars into house-hunting in the overheated Washington, DC suburbs, 37-year-old publicist Margo Miyake gets a tip about the perfect house, in the perfect neighborhood, slated to come up for sale in one month. Desperate to escape the cramped apartment she shares with her husband Ian — and in turn, get their marriage, plan to have a baby, and whole life back on track — Margo becomes obsessed with buying the house before it’s publicly listed and the masses descend (with unbeatable, all-cash offers in hand).

A little stalking? Harmless. A bit of trespassing? Necessary. As Margo infiltrates the homeowners’ lives, her tactics grow increasingly unhinged—but just when she thinks she’s won them over, she hits a snag in her plan. Undeterred, Margo will prove again and again that there’s no boundary she won’t cross to seize the dream life she’s been chasing. The An insanely competitive housing market. A desperate buyer on the edge. In Marisa Kashino’s darkly humorous debut novel, Best Offer Wins, the white picket fence becomes the ultimate symbol of success—and obsession. How far would you go for the house of your dreams?

Review: 

🎶Think what that money could bring

I would by everything🎶

But Margo just wants one thing, a house! Okay so… this book straight up grabbed me by the throat and whispered “the housing market is a horror novel actually.” And honestly? It’s not wrong.

We follow Margo Miyake, a 37-year-old publicist who’s DONE with apartment life and is ready to jump into her suburban-dream-home era. Except the universe clearly hates her because she’s lost ELEVEN bids already. So when she finds a house before it hits the market, she becomes just a tad obsessed. And by “a tad,” I mean this woman goes full morally-grey, ethically-questionable Olympic athlete in Desperation & Chaos Gymnastics.

This book is SO smart.

It’s messy, it’s uncomfortable, it’s painfully real, and it’s kinda hilarious in that “haha… wait this is actually terrifying” way. Marisa Kashino takes the absolute madness of modern real-estate culture — the competition, the pressure, the emotional spiral — and turns it into a domestic thriller that feels both absurd and way too possible.

Oh and btw, I also had an advance listener’s copy, which was honestly just icing on the cake. I swear listening to the audiobook is half the reason I’m this obsessed, because the narrator absolutely nailed Margo’s spiraling, hysterical, dramatic descent. She captured the fmc’s chaotic energy so perfectly that it felt like watching someone crumble in real time. Literal chef’s kiss.

The first half got me giggling at the absurdity, but the second half???? The tension goes feral. Watching Margo’s decisions get darker, pettier, and more unhinged had me clutching my imaginary pearls like “girl… be serious.” But also “girl don’t stop I need to know how bad this gets.”

If you love morally grey narrators, domestic tension, slow-burn unraveling, and satire so sharp it could cut glass. That's it!

Best Offer Wins is the kind of book you finish and immediately stare at your own walls like, “I could never survive the real-estate Hunger Games."

search for sisterhood and connection through multiple timelines and parallel universes, I'll Find You Where The Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker; an arc review

Title: I'll Find You Where The Timeline Ends

Author: Kylie Lee Baker

Number of Pages: 304

Publishing Date: 18 November 2025

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Young-Adult, Coming of age, Magical Realism, Romance, Asian Representation

Synopsis:

A teen descendant of a Japanese dragon god must team up with a cute rogue agent to subvert a corrupt time travel organization and find out the truth of what happened to her missing sister in acclaimed author Kylie Lee Baker's magical new YA romance, I'll Find You Where the Timeline Ends.

When you’re ready, come find me. I will keep you safe. -Hana

Descended from a Japanese dragon god, Yang Mina was born with the power to travel through time, and has spent her life training to take her place in the Descendants, a secret organization whose purpose is to protect the timeline. Then Mina’s world is uprooted when she moves to Seoul and finds a note from her sister–a sister who no one remembers, as if she had been erased. The only people who could have made her sister vanish so completely are part of the very agency that she’s been working so hard to join. So now Mina has a new mission, infiltrate the agency as quickly as possible to find her lost sister.

And, as if things weren’t complicated enough, a strikingly handsome rogue agent has determined that Mina is the only person who can help him put an end to the Descendants' corruption. Placed in an impossible situation, Mina must decide how much she’s willing to risk to find the truth.

Review:

“time travel but with family emotional damage” This book follows Yang Mina, a dragon descendant with the power to slip through timelines, on a personal secret mission to uncover why her sister Hana has been erased from existence, while also completing task assigned to her by the a secret association. And trust me, once the story gets going, it does not let go.

🐞What I loved most? The blend of mythology, time-bending chaos, and that slow-burn “we really shouldn’t be doing this, but there's no other way” chemistry between Mina and Yejun. Their dynamic adds just the right amount of tension, banter and sweet chaos while everything around them is collapsing, reforming, and collapsing again. 

The world-building is wild in the best way, dragon ancestors, parallel timelines, secret organizations, butterfly effects(so silly yet sooooo good) but the heart of the story is Mina’s grief, her loyalty, her need of attention, love, and time from her parents, and the brutal emotional cost of trying to fix the unfixable.

And the Seoul settings? Gorgeous. The family themes? Gut-wrenching. The cheesecake? Mouth watering. The unraveling of corruption inside the Descendants organization? Messy in a deliciously addictive way.

🐞A few things that i did not like were, Mina being very self-centered in different parts of the book, her not questioning anything at all when her mentor totally ignored her complain about a rouge agent, and the fact that we didn't get to see the boss getting some kind of severe punishment.

🐞If you love YA fantasy with high stakes, high emotion, soft heart achingly cute love story, and that signature Kylie Lee Baker “I’m going to wreck you but tenderly” energy, pick this up now!!

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mafia rom-coms are so back, a look at Kath Richards debut series: A Love Most Fatal + A Love Most Brutal book review

Title: Morelli Family(series) [A Love Most Fatal, A Love Most Brutal]

Author: Kath Richards

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Mafia Romance, Dark Romance

Format Available: paperback(ALMF), audio-book(ALM), paperback(ALMB), audio-book(ALMB)

Review:

• A Love Most Fatal

This book is what happens when you take a mafia romance and flip the entire script. Vanessa Morelli isn’t your typical mob princess, she’s the boss. The woman running both her family’s construction empire and their criminal operations, all while being told she needs to settle down and produce an heir. Enter Nate: a math teacher with zero business being anywhere near her world… and yet, he somehow fits.

What I loved: the power dynamics are completely reversed, but it never feels gimmicky. Vanessa’s strength doesn’t come from being ruthless, it’s from being human, and watching her balance control with vulnerability? Yeah, I ate that up. Nate isn’t the usual macho savior either; he’s calm, grounded, and absolutely smitten in the quietest, most devastating ways.

Now I’ll be honest, the book started off strong (like, immediate intrigue and tension levels at 100), but somewhere around the middle, the pacing dipped a bit and I lost that initial spark. Thankfully, the second half swooped in like a dramatic plot twist and pulled everything back together. The emotional payoff? Totally worth sticking around for.

And listen… when I found out who was actually behind all the things going wrong in Ness and Nate's lives? I literally sat there, staring at my wall, with my mouth wide open for five full minutes trying to process. Like, jaw on the floor, brain buffering, heart in shambles, felt like throwing up. Did not see that coming at all.

The writing? Addictively smooth. The tension? Immaculate. The slow-burn chemistry? It’s giving danger, desire, and a little bit of doom.

It’s the perfect balance of dark and sunshine, it’s emotional, and it somehow makes you root for love even when every sign screams don’t.

• A Love Most Brutal

Kath Richards really said “mafia romance but make it actually fun.” A Love Most Brutal gave me chaos, banter, longing, and a marriage of convenience that turned into something way more intense than either of them signed up for. Mary Morelli might just be my new favorite FMC, she’s fierce, loyal, and unapologetically sharp around the edges, the kind of woman who doesn’t need saving. Maxim, on the other hand, is a broody crime boss with a soft spot a mile wide for her… which, let’s be honest, I ate that up. Ngl, I loved this book way more than book one, not that book one wasn't good or anything, but because Mary and Maxim's story was slowly building up since book one, and all of that was totally worth it.

The book started off strong with all the tension and clever dialogue. The action in the book was once again, awesome just like book one. Kath really knows how to twist the knife.

If you’re into mafia stories with powerhouse women, complicated family loyalty, betrayal and action with a slow-burn love that sneaks up on you when you least expect it, this one’s for you.

A diaspora espionage novel: Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park

 

Title: Oxford Soju Club

Author: Jinwoo Park

Number of Pages: 244

Publishing Date: 30 September 2025

Available format: paperback

Genre: Asian Literature, Espionage, Asian Diaspora 

Synopsis:

When North Korean spymaster Doha Kim is mysteriously killed in Oxford, his protégé, Yohan Kim, chases the only breadcrumb given to him in Doha’s last breath: “Soju Club, Dr. Ryu.” In the meantime, a Korean American CIA agent , Yunah Choi, races to salvage her investigation of the North Korean spy cell in the aftermath of the assassination. At the centre of it all is the Soju Club, the only Korean restaurant in Oxford, owned by Jihoon Lim, an immigrant from Seoul in search of a new life after suffering a tragedy. As different factions move in with their own agendas, their fates become entangled, resulting in a bitter struggle that will determine whose truth will triumph.

Oxford Soju Club weaves a tale of how immigrants in the Korean diaspora are forced to create identities to survive, and how in the end, they must shed those masks and seek their true selves.

 

Review:

First time reading an espionage novel, kinda nervous

This book isn’t just about betrayal, hidden identities, and secret codes, it's a book that proves that the biggest missions are the ones inside yourself.

We’ve got three main players tangled in secrets:

Yohan Kim, a North Korean spy hiding in Oxford under an alias;

‎Yunah Choi, a Korean-American CIA agent trying to unravel the web of lies after her mentor’s murder

‎And Jihoon Lim, an immigrant restaurateur whose life was meant to be quiet, but the Soju Club restaurant drags him into intersections of identity, grief, and danger.

 

‎What hits me hardest: it’s not just about who kills who or who is double agenting. It’s about those masks we wear — assimilation, loyalty, sacrifice, heritage — and what it costs when you’re forced to shift them depending on who’s watching.

The setting is gorgeous in its tension: Oxford’s cobbled alleys, secret meetings in a Korean restaurant (Soju Club), spies in daylight pretending everything is normal. It’s both moody and alive. Yes, there are twisty spy bits, some betrayals, some heartbreaks. But what really stuck with me were the quieter moments — Jihoon cooking his mother’s recipes, Yunah fighting to not be “othered,” Yohan trying to carry both loyalty to his homeland and the weight of his mentor’s dying request. And honestly? I deeply loved how Doha and Dr. Ryu’s quiet, steady affection for Yohan gave the story some of its most tender layers. In a book built on suspicion and secrecy, their warmth toward him felt like flickers of light in the dark.

On top of all that, Jinwoo Park’s writing is poetic and beautiful, but also sharp enough to cut right into your heart. One of my many favorite moments came when a character, standing so close to death, has a conversation about how the people we love most can slowly disappear from our memories. That reflection gutted me — tender, haunting, and so true it’s almost unbearable.

My only caveat:

because there are multiple POVs + flashbacks, the timeline shifts can get confusing. Sometimes I had to pause and think, “Wait, who's this again?” But I think that messiness mirrors the characters’ inner confusion, so it kind of works.

Final Verdict:

‎If you love spy thrillers with heart, identity crises, diaspora nuances, and characters who aren’t just cogs in a system but people battling to be seen, Oxford Soju Club is for you. High tension, and even higher emotional stakes.

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