Now, I think November is all caught up and I can share the wrap up! The holidays and first snowfall always through a wrench in the posting plans.
BEST OFFER WINS – Marisa Kashino (Released November 25th, 2025 – Thanks to Celadon Books for the gifted copy)
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 most unsettling part? You’ll root for her, even as you gasp in disbelief.
Dark, biting, and laugh-out-loud funny, Best Offer Wins is a propulsive debut and a razor-sharp exploration of class, ambition, and the modern housing crisis.
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars – Now, while I do love my house, I don’t think I’d go to the same extremes Margo does to better her chances at scooping up a home in a sought-after neighborhood. Personally, I love the woods and lack of neighbors, so the stalking and trespassing and getting in good with and infiltrating the neighbors wouldn’t be on my list of priorities.
Do you want something unhinged? Crazy? Equal parts hilarious and thrilling? This was so much fun and I read it in two sittings. It truly blows my mind what people will resort to when they have their minds set on something. Margo is determined and desperate to get this house and set up their future – who cares about some questionable tactics used?
ONE BAD NIGHT & OTHER STORIES – Isabel Armiento (Released October 1st, 2025)
Horror lovers everywhere, get ready for… ONE BAD NIGHT.
In “Two Observers of the Slaughter Rites on Gannet Island,” an anthropologist and his wife travel to the remote Gannet Island to observe a mysterious yearly ritual.
In “My Lithopedia,” a woman learns that she had an unborn twin sister, extracted as a stone baby during her late mother’s autopsy and decides to keep it.
In “Lady Jawbone,” Lilou is trapped inside a nightmarish phosphorous match factory, when a strange new arrival offers her a way out.
In “A Necromancer’s Guide to Reconnecting with Your Ex,” the ghost of Roxanne’s rock-and-roll ex asks her to resurrect him, forcing her to confront what it means to truly let go.
In “Red Tide,” a woman running from her past finds work at a small-town aquarium, where she encounters the “spectre fish,” a carnivorous mer-creature of local lore.
In “47 Pineview Way,” an anxious mother drops off her son at his first sleepover—but the next morning, the house where she left him has disappeared.
In “A Meditation on the Existence of Certain Cutlery (There is No Spoon),” Commander Janna Field is on a covert mission to the lunar south pole—or is she?
In “One Bad Night,” Steck, an aging, lonely man becomes fixated on a sinister green parrot after it seems to predicts the death of his beloved dog.
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars – This horror story collection from Aardvark Book Club was PHENOMENAL. If the cover doesn’t entice you, then the lineup of authors will! Kay Chronister, Del Sandeen, Kylie Lee Baker, Rachel Harrison, CJ Leede, Jennifer Marie Thorne, S. A. Barnes, and Stephen Graham Jones.
Top three stories? I’d have to say Red Tide by CJ Leede (more reasons to just avoid the ocean), 47 Pineview Way by Jennifer Marie Thorne (eerie and creepy in a suburban setting), and One Bad Night by Stephen Graham Jones (this one felt like a gutt punch, such an incredible way to end this collection)
There wasn’t a bad one in the bunch and I can’t recommend it enough to those who love short stories and horror.
MADE YOU LOOK – Tanya Grant (Released November 18th, 2025 – Thanks to Berkley Publishing for the gifted copy)
A Catskills retreat turns deadly for a group of influencers when a snowstorm cuts them off from their greatest resource—their followers—just as a killer strikes in this irresistible debut thriller.
Sydney Kent is the ultimate It Girl. You want her effortless style, her charisma, her hair. You want to be her; you want to be with her.
But the trouble with a star is that everyone else looks dull in comparison.
Despite Caitlyn’s social media cunning, it’s impossible for her to step out from Sydney’s shadow. Even Lucy, Sydney’s best friend since before her fame, can’t escape her role as full-time photographer to the influencer.
When the women are invited to post content for a secluded new retreat in the Catskills, alongside Sydney’s boyfriend Jeff, stylist Nash, and manager Brent, the weekend feels like it will be a fresh start. But an unexpected snowstorm traps the group together with no cell service, no Wi-Fi, and no way out.
Then a killer strikes, and the dream trip becomes a nightmare. Secrets, lies, and scandals are forced to the surface, and the friends can’t help but suspect the murderer might be among them. Worse, the killing has only just begun.
But where there’s danger, there’s juicy, jaw-dropping, name-making content to be created. You know you want to look.
My Thoughts: 3/5 stars – There’s just something about a group of influencers being cut off from wi-fi and all of their followers that I absolutely love for a good murder mystery. How can they call for help? How can they get the word out to their loyal followers? What if they miss important updates? Will their followers understand them going dark for a few days? Well, in this debut locked room thriller, that is exactly where our characters find themselves.
Six popular influencers are on a retreat to the Catskills and find themselves without staff to help them and then when a major snowstorm hits, they are without wi-fi or any kind of connection to the outside world. With a killer among them, will they be able to out smart the killer and survive until help arrives? Or at least until they get some wi-fi again? I really liked the premise of this book. With winter finally hitting Minnesota, I felt their pain with the snowstorm. Thankfully, we didn’t lose power, service, or wi-fi capabilities.
I think there were some parts that were a little lackluster or where I got the characters mixed up, but overall it was a solid debut novel, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from Grant in the future!
Jessicamap Reviews 
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