REVIEW: Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino

 

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 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.

Format 288 pages, Hardcover
Published November 25, 2025 by Celadon Books
ISBN 9781250400543

About the Author

Author information from Goodreads

I'm Marisa Kashino. I was a journalist for seventeen years, most recently at The Washington Post. But I spent the bulk of my career at Washingtonian magazine, writing long-form features and overseeing the real estate and home design coverage. I grew up near Seattle, graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in journalism and political science. These days, I live in the DC area with my husband, two dogs, and two cats, all rescues (the animals, not the husband). Best Offer Wins is my first novel.

Follow me on social media at:

Instagram @marisakashino

TikTok @marisa.kashino

My Thoughts

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 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.

Five words: frustrating, annoying, dark, farfetched, silly

Buy Now:

MacMillan

My final word: 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.

My Rating:

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The Cerebral Girl is a middle-aged blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.