Best Offer Wins

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).

I really did not expect to like this book as well as I did. I usually do not like anything to do with finance. But that is not necessarily what this is about. This is about the lengths someone will show more take to get what they want.

And just to let you know…I HATED MARGO. The author did a great job with her though. Usually if I am not a fan of the main character, I will DNF the book. But, this is very intense and it kept me reading. I really wanted to know how far Margot would go…and trust me…she will go far!

And I have to say, the narrator, Cia Court, did a great job with Margo! She just made this more real!

Need a dark story about ambition…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. show less

ARC Review: BEST OFFER WINS by Marisa Kashino
Look for it on: OCTOBER 14, 2025 - It’s a devious 4.5 stars!

Imagine your late-night Zillow scrolling spiraling into a full-blown psychological thriller. That’s the vibe of “Best Offer Wins”. Yes, it’s about house-hunting, but not the HGTV kind. It’s more like, how do you even stand a chance when everyone else wants the same “perfect” house that’s supposed to fix your entire life? Real estate is basically marriage, but with more paperwork and less therapy.

Margo is the friend you invite for coffee just to see what wild secret she’ll spill before the foam settles. She’s relatable, a little unhinged, and so obsessed with winning that you can’t decide if you want to cheer show more her on or stage an intervention.

I loved the sharp humor and honesty. I caught myself wondering if I’d spiral into the same desperate obsession if I ever set foot in Margo’s shoes. It’s funny, creepy, and sneakily sad, like laughing at a joke you’re not sure you should find funny.

If you’ve ever lost yourself scrolling house listings, daydreaming about your new life in a Modern Farmhouse with a wraparound porch big enough for all your crises, this book is going to hit home. “Best Offer Wins” is part cautionary tale and part wild ride, and I inhaled it!

I bounced between the physical book and the audiobook. The narrator totally nailed Margo’s vibe.

Final verdict is a devious 4.5 stars from me!

Thanks to the author and Celadon Books/Macmillan Audio for providing these ARCs. All opinions are my own.

#BestOfferWins #CeladonBooks #MacmillanAudio #CapCut #NetGalley
Narrated by Cia Court - Marisa Kashino - Audiobook show less

ARC Review: BEST OFFER WINS by Marisa Kashino
Look for it on: OCTOBER 14, 2025 - It’s a devious 4.5 stars!

Imagine your late-night Zillow scrolling spiraling into a full-blown psychological thriller. That’s the vibe of “Best Offer Wins”. Yes, it’s about house-hunting, but not the HGTV kind. It’s more like, how do you even stand a chance when everyone else wants the same “perfect” house that’s supposed to fix your entire life? Real estate is basically marriage, but with more paperwork and less therapy.

Margo is the friend you invite for coffee just to see what wild secret she’ll spill before the foam settles. She’s relatable, a little unhinged, and so obsessed with winning that you can’t decide if you want to cheer show more her on or stage an intervention.

I loved the sharp humor and honesty. I caught myself wondering if I’d spiral into the same desperate obsession if I ever set foot in Margo’s shoes. It’s funny, creepy, and sneakily sad, like laughing at a joke you’re not sure you should find funny.

If you’ve ever lost yourself scrolling house listings, daydreaming about your new life in a Modern Farmhouse with a wraparound porch big enough for all your crises, this book is going to hit home. “Best Offer Wins” is part cautionary tale and part wild ride, and I inhaled it!

I bounced between the physical book and the audiobook. The narrator totally nailed Margo’s vibe.

Final verdict is a devious 4.5 stars from me!

Thanks to the author and Celadon Books/Macmillan Audio for providing these ARCs. All opinions are my own.

#BestOfferWins #CeladonBooks #MacmillanAudio #CapCut #NetGalley
Narrated by Cia Court - Marisa Kashino - Audiobook show less

Margot really develops from unhinged to absolutely despicable, all to live out the rich person's dream of a perfect house in a perfect neighborhood, pretending to be a perfect family (while doing a little murdering of the less fortunate on the side). It's very bingable if you are down for an unlikeable protagonist who doesn't get redeemed. Girl was really acting like her life would end if she didn’t get a $1.3 million house. There was a point in the story when it seemed like Margot could do a little self-reflection about her obsession with the picture-perfect life and turn things around, but she was not that kind of person. She got worse faster than I could keep up with after that.

I do have some questions about how everything show more culminated in the end. I don’t doubt that Margot would plan what she did; I just have a hard time suspending my disbelief when she carried it out, and it came together as perfectly as she imagined. There were a dozen holes in her plan that she confidently ignored, and the story followed suit. I don’t know, the whole story was full of over-the-top, satirical antics that I did suspend my disbelief for and enjoy. I guess I was just reaching my personal limit. show less

In her debut novel, Best Offer Wins, author Marisa Kashino weaves a riveting thriller that easily draws the reader into a dark storyline that follows a woman's determination to buy her perfect house at all costs.

Margo Miyake and husband Ian Tanner have been living in a cramped apartment for the past eighteen months. After being outbid eleven times in a very competitive housing market in the Washington DC suburb of Bethesda, MD, there hasn't been any new listings that spark her interest until her real estate agent calls with a tip that a house will be listed at the end of the month. Margo is determined to make an offer to the sellers with the hope that they will accept the offer before it is publicly listed. What ensues is a woman that show more is so determined to buy her perfect dream house, that she becomes obsessed and on edge, desperate enough to go to any lengths and make unhinged tactics to ensure that her best offer wins!

Best Offer Wins is a complex and multi-layered tale told in the first-person narrative by Margo Miyake. Margo takes the reader along for the ride as her obsession to purchase her perfect dream house is so extreme that it will leave the reader shocked by the unhinged tactics that she applies to make sure that their best offer will be the winning bid. As Margo's story unfolds, there is a dark intensity with riveting twists and turns that kept me engaged, even though I was not a fan of Margo and kept thinking to myself that this is one batshit crazy lady!

The author does a phenomenal job in her debut novel of delving into Margo and Ian's lives, interweaving her troubled past with the secrets in their marriage, and her dark and desperate mantra: no house, no baby, no life, that kept me turning the pages until the shocking last sentence of the story.

Best Offer Wins is one heck of an adrenaline rush of a thriller; it just doesn't get any better than that!

Disclaimer: I purchased a hardcover edition of the book from my monthly Book Of The Month (BOTM) subscription. This book review is from my personal honest opinion.

https://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2026/03/best-offer-wins-by-marisa-kas... show less

An outrageous tale of a woman bent on buying a house in the white-hot housing market of Washington D.C. The thoroughly reprehensible narrator's soul is fully corrupted by her focus on getting 'the' house and getting pregnant--the perfect life that will allow her to finally leave her unhappy childhood in the past.

This is a book with a good 'hook' and it's a quick read. It's very much a story for a particular cohort of people in a particular time that probably won't be very interesting in a year or so. Consider it a guilty pleasure for the moment.

There is a special kind of frustration that comes from reading a novel with an interesting premise and competent prose, only to find yourself thoroughly repelled by nearly everyone inhabiting its pages. Marisa Kashino's Best Offer Wins is, regrettably, that kind of book.

The writing itself is serviceable enough. The author has a competent command of pacing and scene-setting, and there are moments where the story moves along with enough momentum to keep the pages turning. Technically speaking, she can write. The problem is not the craft — it is the people she has populated this story with.

The protagonist is, to put it plainly, a remarkably difficult person to spend a novel with and highly unlikable. Selfish, manipulative, and possessed show more of a seemingly bottomless capacity for self-pity, she navigates her circumstances by playing the victim at every turn while simultaneously making choices that are frequently maddening and occasionally preposterous. Rooting for her proves nearly impossible. Readers willing to extend considerable suspension of disbelief may find more patience for her craziness than I could muster.

The supporting cast offers little relief. The husband is spineless to the point of parody, a man so thoroughly without backbone that his presence in any scene becomes its own source of minor irritation. The boss grates in a different but equally persistent way. Character after character reveals themselves to be primarily self-serving or annoyingly ingratiating, and the cumulative effect is something close to exhaustion. I found it difficult to care what happened to any of them.

Thankfully, there are at least two bright spots. Young Penny is the one character in the book who inspires anything resembling joy or warmth. And the dog. Fritter manages to emerge with dignity intact, while leaving me a little sad that these people were all that poor dog had in its life.

Best Offer Wins is not without its readable qualities, and Kashino's technical abilities suggest she is capable of better work. But a novel lives or dies on its characters, and this one is populated almost entirely by people you would cross the street to avoid. Mediocre in ambition and frustrating in execution, it is the kind of read that leaves you grateful, at least, that it did not last longer.

Thank Heavens for that dog. show less