Paradise Pawn: A Novel

by Meg Richardson

A dazzling debut novel about best friends, adolescent longing, and the Florida pawn shop that promises to make their dreams come true—if it doesn’t break them apart first.

Teenage best friends Jackie and Kayla can sell anything. Alongside their fathers, they work at a pawn shop in Cherry Beach, Florida, handling everything from luxury jewelry to chainsaws and more. When the girls learn that Kayla’s family can’t afford a private school opportunity that Jackie’s can, Jackie becomes distraught about losing her best friend. With their sharp minds but youthful lack of foresight, they scheme a way to embezzle money from the pawn shop. As the hot Florida summer unfolds, the girls steal thousands of dollars from the shop. But when their heist is discovered, Jackie is faced with a situation that no amount of negotiating or charisma can fix.

With incredible heart and wit, and based on Richardson’s own experience working behind the counter of a pawn shop, Paradise Pawn navigates current-day themes of trust, familial love, female friendship, and class differences, and asks us how far we would go to protect the ones we love most.

Genres: Fiction, Coming Of Age, Contemporary, Friendship, Audiobook

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2026

Reviews

[Brooke 𝜗𝜚 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ☆

❝𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚙 𝚒𝚜—𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏.❞

📚: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐠 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐨𝐧
📜: 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬: 𝟸𝟼𝟶
🏷️: 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚐𝚎
📖: 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭: 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎
📆: 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: 𝟾/𝟷𝟾/𝟸𝟼-𝟾/𝟷𝟿/𝟸𝟼
💬: 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
「 ”Teenage best friends Jackie and Kayla can sell anything. Alongside their fathers, they work at a pawn shop in Cherry Beach, Florida, handling everything from luxury jewelry to chainsaws and more. When the girls learn that Kayla's family can't afford a private school opportunity that Jackie's can, Jackie becomes distraught about losing her best friend. With their sharp minds but youthful lack of foresight, they scheme a way to embezzle money from the pawn shop. As the hot Florida summer unfolds, the girls steal thousands of dollars from the shop. But when their heist is discovered, Jackie is faced with a situation that no amount of negotiating or charisma can fix. With incredible heart and wit, and based on Richardson's own experience working behind the counter of a pawn shop, Paradise Pawn navigates current day themes of trust, familial love, female friendship, and class differences, and asks us how far we would go to protect the ones we love most.”」

ᴍʏ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: ★★★ ½
ɢᴏᴏᴅʀᴇᴀᴅꜱ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: 𝟹.𝟿𝟺 ☆ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ
ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪ ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅ?: 👍🏼

[Holly R W · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book for summer. It is light and written with humor, while still having depth.

The narrator is Jackie, a 14 year old girl who lives with her dad in Cherry Beach, Florida. It's just Jackie and her dad in their family, and they adore each other.

Paradise Pawn is the pawn shop that both Jackie and her dad work at. Dad is the regional manager for the Paradise chain. Jackie is young for her age, while being astute at sizing up customers and selling to them. Her best friend Kayla, also 14 but more sophisticated, works at the pawnshop with Jackie, alongside her own father. The two girls like to say that they are best friends.

Trouble in Paradise occurs when Kayla's family can not afford to send her to the private school that the two girls had planned on going to together. The girls concoct a half-baked scheme to make this happen. What could go wrong?
****************************************

My Reactions:

Do you remember being fourteen? What an awkward, self-conscious, and at times, miserable age! The author's writing brings it all back. I could relate so well to Jackie and Kayla (and their parents), even though I'm many years past that. Some things you never forget.

The pages flew by.

[Jenna (out touching grass & tech detoxing!) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little novel was simply perfect, not one word extra, missing, or out of place. It’s a realistic, sad, funny, sweet, edgy portrait of an adolescent’s growing pains and coming of age process, further complicated by the gender and class dynamics she witnesses within her incredibly vivid Florida beach town pawn shop setting.


Protagonist Jackie and her best friend Kayla are at the younger and older edges of 14 respectively, both in terms of chronological age and emotional maturity. The girls have an intense sister-like connection, having known each other since infancy and having grown up working alongside one another at the Paradise Pawn franchise managed by their dads. Kayla comes from a family that struggles to make ends meet, but is large, warm, and loving, while Jackie, who never knew her now-deceased mother, is being shepherded through adolescence (with increasing trepidation, but to the best of his ability) by her heartbreakingly devoted single dad, Devon.


The girls are each somewhat worldly wise in their own way from growing up working at the pawn shop, which has essentially served as a front row seat in Human Psych 101 and is also positioned directly at the social and economic intersections of a Florida beach town: the richer tourists, the less-rich tourists, the rich locals, and the poorer locals, who mostly work in the tourism economy. The book opens the summer before the girls are meant to start high school, which they hope will be at St. Bridget’s, the fanciest option and a beacon representing the type of wealthy, secure future they crave after witnessing years of the financial desperation that draws so many customers to Paradise Pawn.


All of the characters in this book are fantastically drawn and again, incredibly realistic. Jackie is a young teen that many of us have known: sensitive, passionate, opinionated, loving, loyal, a bit needy, a bit insecure, at times frustrated and frustrating, and both excited by and fearful of changes that are in process or yet to come. She gives very Scout Finch, Laura Ingalls, teenage Ramona Quimby vibes. I think the portrayal of Devon and his relationship with Jackie is one of the best depictions I’ve seen of single dad parenting. The author also fully maximizes the evocative pawn shop and beach town setting; there is lots of sensory detail, and it’s all incredibly interesting, integrated with, and relevant to the story. This novel is economical in length and scope, but I feel like it really took me on a coming of age journey.


This is one of those books it’s really hard to imagine someone not liking — like, I might have been a little personally worried about my soul if I hadn’t liked it. I rarely get to enjoy something so moving without also feeling it’s too saccharine, but this book has sass and edge aplenty, and there are tensions and stakes that carry you through. I should certainly hope that this book will be set out on the front table of all Florida and beach town bookstores. (I don’t actually know if pawn shops sell books!) Who is this new author Meg Richardson? — I want more from her! Highly recommended. Loved it.


My huge thanks to the author, NetGalley, and Zando/Tin House for the ARC. Paradise Pawn is expected on July 14, 2026.

[Molly]

Ha ha ha why am I crying so hard???? I loved it.

[Sydney S · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a sneak surprise this was! I love the friendship, the father-daughter relationship, the setting, the characters, the writing. I love everything about this book, and I want more more more. There are so many small, mundane moments seared into my mind. That’s some good story telling. The character interactions are so real and quietly moving. I kept wondering how the hell a story like this would end, because I couldn’t imagine a happy ending for anyone, and that kept me on my toes.

It’s just a simple, realistic story that hits so hard.

[emily (whatsemilyreading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you zando/tin house for sending me an arc of this! I enjoyed this one; it was really easy to read. Jackie is fourteen years old and works in a pawnshop with her best friend, Kayla, that their dads have both worked at since before they were born. the summer before both of them go into high school, Jackie is struck with realizations about class, wealth, friendship, and puberty - realizations that Kayla has been silently battling with much longer than Jackie. the two of them argue more than they ever have. the two of them have been planning on going to the nearby private school together, but when Kayla doesn't receive the scholarship she needs to attend, the girls hatch a plan to raise the money themselves. but when Kayla suddenly decides she might be okay with going to public school instead - leaving Jackie by herself at a new school - Jackie gets serious about said plan.

paradise pawn was much sadder than I expected it to be. what sounded like a silly book about two teenage girls embezzling money from their place of employment ended but being a story about those two girls reckoning with what it means to be women in the eyes of the men that they know, and how devastating that shift from childhood to adulthood really can be. i also recognize a lot of my younger self reflected in Jackie - that desire to be liked, to feel a sense of belonging as yourself, without having to adapt to other people.

[cursedb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this one. I think the author captured adolescence remarkably well. The way the girls think, react, and navigate puberty felt incredibly authentic. Their inner worlds were portrayed with so much honesty that reading about them was engaging rather than frustrating, which is something I really appreciated. What I’m less certain about is the plot and what the novel was ultimately trying to achieve. It wasn’t simply a character study focused on the girls’ inner lives, but it also wasn’t entirely plotless. I kept waiting for the story to develop into something more substantial. Whenever an event seemed like it would have lasting consequences or push the narrative in an interesting direction, it was resolved almost immediately. In the end, I admired the novel more for its portrayal of adolescence than for its story. The characters felt real, but I was left wishing the plot had given them a little more room to grow.

[Pav S. (pav_sanborn_bookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've previously visited my page and read my reviews, you know I was drawn to this book because of its fun cover! I suspect this review will be a bit different from what you're used to (grinning).

We dive right into the action in chapter one. If you're a fan of pawn shows or have ever explored pawn shops, you’ll understand that these places are a treasure trove of quirky items! I literally couldn't help but smile as the story unfolded, especially when two young girls are put in charge of a shop while someone attempts to pawn a sex doll! Intrigued? You should be! This humor and more are woven throughout the narrative, but the story also offers moments of genuine reflection.

We meet Jackie and Kayla, two best friends who have known each other since childhood. Jackie has grown up with her dad in Cherry Beach, FL, without a mom. Both of their fathers work at Paradise Pawn, which has solidified their friendship over the years. This touching tale reveals that, although they are young, the girls are acutely aware of the world around them—how their friendship is changing and the different paths their lives are taking. It adds a layer of authenticity to the story.

As fate would have it, an opportunity arises for the girls to attend a private school. However, the scholarship for Kayla hasn’t come through yet. Determined to help her friend, Jackie goes out of her way to come up with the funds for a year of tuition. Meanwhile, Jackie finds herself adjusting to a new school and making new friends, while Kayla is doing the same at her own school. Sounds like a typical teenage life, right? But the girls soon discover that life rarely goes as planned. Their journey is filled with emotional growth, self-discovery, and finding their individual places in the world.

The author has done a fantastic job keeping me engaged in the way this story unfolds. We explore themes of enduring friendship, the challenges of adolescent girlhood, and even a get-rich-quick scheme— all while watching Jackie and Kayla navigate their own personal changes. Early on, we confront the realities of poverty and wealth that surround them. This bittersweet tale captures the longing for youth and the transformations that come with it. If you appreciate clever, witty writing that blends humor with real-life experiences, provoking memories of your own youth and the choices you've made, then this unforgettable story and its characters are a summer must-read!

Thank you, @ZandoInfluencerProgram and NetGalley, for the gifted ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

More FloridaLit please!

Meg Richardson’s Paradise Pawn is a truly wonderful coming of age tale that is equal parts funny and heartbreaking.

I love a friendship story, especially one set during the fraught teenage years, and this book does a wonderful job of demonstrating the intensity, awkwardness, and beauty of female friendship.

The sense of place here is exceptionally well drawn, both in the macro sense of this time in Florida and the micro sense of bringing to life the pawn shop where the girls work with their fathers.

But it’s the story even more than the wonderfully rendered atmosphere that really hits hard in the best ways. The fear of losing closeness with a best friend because you’re going to different high schools is so raw and real here, and our protagonists actions perfectly showcase the desperation of their situation and the flawed but somehow admirable decision making that leads them into a disastrous situation.

Speaking of, I love that the disaster here is not too tragic or overwrought, simply the ramifications of two young girls who desperately want to preserve their friendship by any means necessary. To that end the book also has some interesting things to say about class and ownership and perhaps the relativism of how we define theft.

From the wonderful storytelling to the clever humor to the truly lovable characters (how can you not adore Jackie’s dad?), this was easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Marie Girulat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A huge thank you to @megdidadrawing and @zandoprojects for the incredible #gifted book and to @prhaudio #PRHAudioPartner for the #gifted audiobook.

This charming coming-of-age story strikes a perfect balance between humor and heartache.

Jackie and Kayla are best friends who work together in the pawn shop their dads manage, sharing their dreams and challenges. When Kayla’s scholarship to the private school falls through, Jackie devises a daring plan to fund her tuition, by stealing from the store.

I loved the authentic portrayal of adolescence. Jackie’s innocence shines through, especially since she’s only had her father after losing her mother. The deep bond between Jackie and her dad was beautifully depicted. The story vividly captured how friendships shift as high school looms, loyalties are tested, jealousy flares, and boys start to take center stage.

Narrated from Jackie's perspective, the story offers an intimate look into her thoughts and feelings. I found the details about working in a pawn shop fascinating.

The narrator brought these characters to life, making the experience of reading and listening truly enjoyable.

This captivating YA book is available now.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good for so many reasons. The utterly immersive Florida pawnshop setting, the interrogation of wealth/class, and above all, the changing friendship between the two girls (as they grow up! bc the only constant is change! ah!). I saw another review say that not a single word was wasted and I so agree. (Also full disclosure I worked an event with Meg Richardson and she was so cool so there’s definitely some personal bias here.)

[Anna Epstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Congratulations Meg on such a fantastic book!! Such an accurate depiction of how confusing and messy and fun being a 14 year old girl is. Can’t wait to read whatever you publish next!

[Nicky Wills · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quirky little book that I really ended up enjoying. Jackie and Kayla are 14 years old, working at their dads’ pawn shop, and getting ready for their first year of high school. When it turns out that Kayla’s family can’t afford to send her to private school, the girls come up with a plan to pay for it themselves. With themes of changing friendships, growing up into a woman, and family, this was a surprisingly touching novel.

[Ashley Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick review catch up:
👍🏼 Fabulous cover! Love the pawn shop setting.
👎🏼 I should have clarified going in that this is a book about young adults FOR adults. Some of the content made me cringe under the assumption it was a YA novel. (Enter sex doll in chapter 1.)

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This debut YA book set primarily in a Florida pawnshop and featuring two 14 year old, long time best friends, Kayla and Jackie, who are just trying to find a way to navigate the working class life and find a way to be more successful than their families have been has strong pros and cons:

Pros:
*an enduring, supportive friendship that has weathered its ups and downs successfully but is battling the damage that diverging paths can create
*a look at class differences and the lack of understanding and kindness on both sides of the “railroad tracks”
*a single dad who has done all that he could to love and raise his daughter to work hard and be the best she can be
*lots of lessons learned about people, the good and the bad
*a look into the world of pawnshop, how they make money and the people who frequent them-sad stories, bargain hunters, desperate people and plenty of scammers

Cons:
*The book starts with Kayla and Jackie handling a pawn by an old man who must sell a dearly loved doll, the kind men use as a sex toy, plenty of description of all her body parts and some about how they are used as the girls read her accompany user manual. The author even has the old man sharing pictures on his phone of him holding his beloved “Cheri” and then going to his car after the pawn and crying over his loss.
*A girl from Jackie’s school shares a very vivid and instructional lesson about how to masturbate using an electric toothbrush with Kayla as the two are in the orthodontist’s office.
*Jackie’s near obsession with the size of not only her slowly developing breasts and Kayla’s more fully developed figure and an extreme overuse of the word “boobs.”
*A very offensive adult male in a position of authority makes frequent suggestive comments to the girls, stares at the chests and even manhandles Jackie’s behind with no consequences and, in fact, Kayla and Jackie’s fathers continually remind them that they must treat him with respect, laugh when he laughs and tolerate anything he says or does. Kayla does support her friend’s anger and feeling of violation and encourages her to yell about it and take out her anger on an orange but does not help her tell anyone.
*The book summary implies that dealing with the consequences of the girls’ theft from the store will be a large part of the plot but in actual execution, the discovery and the immediate firing of their dads from the pawn shop and the change in both families’ living situations all happen in only a handful of pages.
*The scenario of two 14 year olds handling large cash transactions, evaluating jewelry and making decisions about objects’ value without any adult supervision is highly UNrealistic and this is supposed to be a realistic fiction plot line.

-Profanity: none except for after Rob sexually assaults Jackie and the girls yell, “F- - - Rob” repeatedly as they express their anger privately.
-Sexual content: all that is included in the above cons section plus Jackie’s dad beginning to have sex with a date until that activity is disrupted
-Violence: much of regional manager Rob’s behavior towards customers as well as Jackie and Kayla
-Representation: the haves and the have nots are clearly separated in nearly all ways except for in the case of Jackie’s new friendship with rich girl/fellow St Bridget’s classmate; race or skin tone is not often included but enough is there for Kayla and Jackie’s families that they are likely White; varied family configurations-Jackie lives with her dad and her mother, who wanted to give Jackie up for adoption to another family, died when she was 8 but had little relationship with her prior to her death, Kayla with with mom & dad plus 2 brothers and a sister will be born soon
-LBGTQ+: none

There will be an audience for this book among high school readers, but I will look for other choices for our Teen or Realistic Fiction sections.

Thanks for sending me a print ARC, Tin House/Penguin Random House.

[Jesaka Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

PARADISE PAWN is an excellent debut novel by Meg Richardson. The story is told through the perspective of teenage Jackie whose mother died when she was young. Jackie's beloved dad manages Paradise Pawn, a pawn shop in Cherry Beach, Florida. The father of Kayla, Jackie's long-time best friend, also works at the pawn shop. Jackie loves the people in her world, including Kayla's mother, her town, and Paradise Pawn. She is also enamored with the private school she'll be starting in the fall. Jackie's love for all these things--especially her love for Kayla and wanting to remain inseparable from her--that fuels her determination for Kayla to attend private school with her. Jackie's determination leads her to take huge, often naive risks, which includes embezzling thousands of dollars from Paradise Pawn.

Author Meg Richardson is true to Jackie's perspective while also giving her readers enough information that we can peek around Jackie and see what she can't, including the fact that Kayla might feel differently about some things than Jackie. This creates some great tension in the story and also delivers an unexpected groundedness despite having such a naive main character. Richardson does not spare her characters from consequences, including some that feel emotional shocking. Jackie's insistence that Kayla attend private school with her and the choices she makes in her quest delivers significant impact for everyone, including Kayla and her family.

Even the characters who show up briefly in the novel--such as Paradise Pawn regulars--are richly written and compelling (or, in the case of the pawn shop owner richly written and repulsive). I finished the book in March and it has stayed with me ever since. Jackie and the people in her world feel like they live beyond the events in the novel and I find myself wondering what's next for them.

PARADISE PAWN is a great example of characters making very bad decisions while convinced they are dong the right thing--and then suffering the consequences, both those expected and those that shock. I look forward to discussing this novel with my creative writing students.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando/ Tin House imprint for the galley.

[Quill (thecriticalreader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars

Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade meets Sean Baker’s The Florida Project in this portrait of an adolescent girl’s painful initiation into maturity.

Jackie is fourteen and spends most of her time working in the pawn shop her father manages with her best friend, Kayla. Jackie can’t imagine doing anything without Kayla, but finds herself in crisis when Kayla cannot afford tuition to the exclusive high school Jackie will be attending in the fall. The two concoct a plan to skim money from the pawn shop sales to raise money for Kayla’s tuition.

Richardson perfectly captures the excruciating nature of being a fourteen-year-old girl. Jackie’s existence consists of alternate flashes of adult insight and childlike innocence amidst a smothering of insecurity and confusion. We watch with bated breath as she navigates life’s challenges and inequities—will she learn from her mistakes or settle into a pattern of maladaptive coping mechanisms? At times you want to envelop Jackie into a warm hug, and at others you want to shake her by the shoulders and tell her to get a grip.

Paradise Pawn also explores themes of class and gender through its setting. Jackie is surrounded by an extreme wealth disparity; many of the sellers to the pawn shop are desperately poor, but the area is filled with wealthy vacationers and magnates. Class shapes her relationship with Kayla, who is quite poor, while Jackie herself is lower-middle-class due to her father’s regional manager position. Meanwhile, the girls see how women are treated as they encounter customers and their wives/girlfriends/mistresses in the pawnshop. They experience varying degrees of creepy sexual attention from men based on their perceived physical development and attractiveness.

Everything about this book is so well done, and I recommend it to all literary fiction readers. Because it takes place from a fourteen-year-old’s perspective, I think it could be a valuable reading experience for adolescent readers even though it’s marketed for adults—provided they have a trusted adult who could read it alongside them and be willing to discuss its themes/events with them.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some books quietly break your heart, and somehow the damage feels personal. Meg Richardson’s Paradise Pawn caught me completely off guard. Thank you to Zando Projects for the gifted book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I expected a story about a pawn shop. What I found was a coming-of-age novel about growing up, impossible choices, and learning that loving someone doesn’t always mean you can save them.

Jackie and Kayla have spent years working beside their dads at Paradise Pawn. They’ve watched people pawn everything from treasured keepsakes to everyday necessities, giving them a front-row seat to the realities of life. When Jackie learns Kayla can’t afford the private school they dreamed of attending together, she comes up with a plan that feels logical only through the eyes of a desperate fourteen-year-old. Predictably, everything begins to unravel.

“F— Rob.”

Jackie isn’t always easy to like, but she feels incredibly real. She’s loyal, insecure, impulsive, and terrified of losing the one person who has always been by her side. Kayla balances her beautifully, and their friendship captures all the messy emotions of growing up. I also loved Jackie’s relationship with her dad, Devon. He’s trying to navigate single parenthood while watching his daughter grow up far too quickly, and those quieter moments added so much heart.

The Florida setting almost became another character. Between the colorful pawn shop customers, the sticky summer heat, and the steady reminder that money shapes so many lives, the story felt grounded and authentic.

If you enjoy literary coming-of-age fiction with layered characters, complicated friendships, family dynamics, and thoughtful explorations of class differences, this debut is absolutely worth adding to your summer reading list.

My drink pairing is an icy strawberry lemonade—sweet, tart, and perfect for a hot Florida afternoon.

Have you ever rooted for characters even while they were making one terrible decision after another?

#ParadisePawn #MegRichardson #BookReview #LiteraryFiction #ComingOfAge

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always have such a soft spot for coming of age novels. There is something inherently nostalgic reading about the chaos and awkwardness of adolescence.

Jackie and Kayla's friendship began basically at birth and as we all know, life comes at you fast. So it's no surprise that their friendship is tested over the most trivial things, like boobs. When Jackie becomes desperate to keep her friend near and they think of a plan to embezzle money from the pawn shop they all work at, that friendship fractures more.

Honestly, I had a hard time believing two 14 year olds could get away with this as long as they did. I did have to force myself to suspend belief with that. The ending felt rushed and I wish there had been more resolution, but I guess life is little like that too and could have been the author's intention.

I really loved how their adolescence was portrayed. We got to see how naive Jackie is compared to Kayla and her peers. How awkward it is to physically grow up before your friends and the attention that comes with it, starting high school, and feeling out of control but not understanding why. (Yay puberty!)

This novel touched on a lot of heavy subjects and handled them beautifully. I know some people question if this is truly a YA book, but I do think this book hits all the right notes for a YA novel. This reminded me of a lot of the YA books I read growing up.

Thank you Zando for a copy in exchange for review!

[Alice Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tore through this book on a train on the way to a high school bestie’s wedding, and it was a perfect book for the occasion (and any occasion when you might benefit from reflecting on childhood-young adulthood and the lovely and scary ways that friendships form and break apart and reconstruct themselves over the years).

Meg Richardson writes Jackie and Kayla so vividly that it can almost hurt to spend time in their friendship. The strains of differently-paced puberties, class differences, and teenage self-assuredness/stupidity on the little world these girls have created is stressful (partially because the world they created is so beautiful)!

At her event at P&T Knitwear in NYC, Meg described writing an early draft of this book during a kind of “second puberty” in her early 20s, during which friendships were changing, seemingly under threat by the realities of adult life & relationships. Jackie’s narration can therefore sometimes reflect the desperation of a 23 year-old, as well as a 14-year-old, to resist change and hold tight to the exact friendships and relationships we hold dear. There are little puberties everywhere for those with eyes to see, and this beautiful story can also serve as a reminder to hold the people & things you love with a looser grip and more grace. I could’ve used it at 14, and 23, but it also meant so much to me today, and I’ll keep benefiting from this book and singing its praises for years to come! A truly beautiful debut!

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to @ZandoProjects and @tin_house for the advanced reader copy via #NetGalley! (Out July 14).

I absolutely loved this novel about 14 year old Jackie who spends the summer before high school working with her best friend, Kayla, at the Central Florida pawn shop their dads manage. When Kayla’s scholarship to the private school they both plan to attend in September falls through, Jackie comes up with a crazy plan to get the tuition money by stealing from the store. Hijinks ensue.

I loved pretty much everything about this book. The details about what it’s like to work at or do business at a pawn shop are fascinating. The clients are described and treated respectfully despite often being at the worst moments of their lives. Jackie’s struggle with leaving the safety and happiness of childhood behind are touching and relatable. The issues of money and class as seen through the eyes of an adolescent are so well done. Jackie makes some truly horrible decisions along the way that were terribly painful to read but this was utterly propulsive and I could not put it down - I read it in two sittings. This reminded me a lot of Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett - the tone is very similar. Only knocked off half a star because it felt a bit too short and wrapped up a little too abruptly but overall this was a delight. And how great is that cover!? 4.5 stars

[Bethany Mock (bethanyburiedinbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you @zandoprojects @megdidadrawing #partner for the gifted copy of this book.

I know absolutely no one will be shocked that I picked this one up because...have you seen that cover?! Pink. Flamingos. Immediate yes. 💖🦩

Also, I somehow didn’t realize it was about a pawn shop. (Yeah, yeah...I know the title literally says it. I survive on coffee and vibes, okay? 😂) But honestly, how fun is that idea? I don’t think I’ve ever read a book set in a pawn shop before.

This book ended up being nothing like I expected and I really enjoyed that. It’s this little coming of age story about girls growing up and trying to find their way! I thought Meg did such a great job capturing what so many friendships felt like growing up. That feeling that your best friends are your whole world and you’d do absolutely anything for them. The loyalty, the bickering, the jealousy, the crushes...it all felt so true to growing up in the ‘90s.

I also loved how it explored learning that what feels like the “right” decision in the moment isn’t always the best one...and sometimes you have to live with the consequences.

Even the father daughter relationship felt perfect. The tiptoeing around teenage moods, trying to figure out what she’s thinking, wanting to help without making things worse...it just felt so well done.

Even the pawn shop owner felt exactly how he was supposed to...greasy, sleazy and memorable. Every character just fit.

This one definitely grew on me the more I read and by the end I was so glad I picked it up.

If you’re like coming of age stories where the cast feels authentic then I say give this one a try. It comes out soon so you don’t have to wait long!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness.

I laughed, I cried, I cringed.

My heart broke and then was put back together.

The story of 14-year old best friends just on the cusp of major life changes. Their families are both hard-working, yet still just trying to get by. They all work in a Florida pawn shop, where they're faced with people from all walks of life, who are both hopeful and completely down on their luck. They're also faced with a major decision that changes their lives forever.

It took me a little while to get into Paradise Pawn. It's told from the perspective of 14-year old Jackie, and her voice is truly one of a 14-year old. It was incredibly well done, but took some adjusting to such a young voice. After a few chapters though, I couldn't put the book down. This is a truly authentic look at coming-of-age. Of friendship, crushes, changing bodies and learning about the world outside of your bubble. I absolutely adored these characters and rooted for them wholeheartedly. I'm going to be thinking about them for a long time.

Paradise Pawn left me in tears and hugging the book after reading the final page. As always, that's the sign of a five star read for me. Bravo, Meg Richardson!

[Megan Magee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paradise Pawn covers puberty at its finest: friendship, family jobs, Florida sunshine, and way too many laughs to even ponder putting this one down right from the start. We follow Jackie and her friend Kayla, who she considers the hotter and more extroverted version of herself she has known since age three. The two meet after their dads work at a pawn shop together, employed under a ruthless quack named Rob. Paradise Pawn displays its chapters at first into pieces you can buy at the best pawn shops around, and then diverges into two besties trying to figure out teenaged life and going to different schools after spending their lifetimes together. There is just enough glimpse of the parents and families to get a good look at how quirky our imperfect characters are. Despite some obvious holes in the pacing, I thought this one was a hoot and really enjoyed it if you're into coming of age novels. Thank you to Netgalley and Zando/ Tin House for the advanced eARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

[Erin Greenawald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pen15 meets The Florida Project in this nostalgic coming-of-age novel that tackles one of the hardest things about growing up — our friendships changing as the realities of life set in.

I really enjoyed the setting of this novel, especially knowing it was based on the author's own experience working at a pawn shop. The sticky Florida atmosphere made this feel like a perfect summer read to me. I also really loved the depictions of friendships, both things changing between the main BFF characters as they navigate puberty and changing priorities, and the moments of a new friendship blossoming.

While I appreciated the short and sweet length, I felt like the story ended a bit abruptly after the climax. Maybe this is intentionally written to mimic how these situations can feel sometimes (left intentionally vague to avoid spoilers), but I would have loved to see a tiny bit more of how things played out for our characters!

Overall, a delightful little read if you want to feel nostalgic about navigating friendship in your teenage years.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun debut novel

Two teen girls meet at their dads’ place of work—a pawn shop. Teen girls, a pawn shop, and the hot Florida summer sun… what could go wrong?

The girls are well versed in the pawn shop world. They know which items are likely to be pawned and never reclaimed, and they’re familiar with the customers who come in to buy and sell. In many ways, they can practically run the business themselves.

Like many best friends, they dream of staying close forever. There is just one problem: only one of them can afford the elite private school they want to attend—or can they? The two come up with a scheme that might allow them both to enroll. But if they succeed, will it be everything they imagined?

This novel explores teen friendship, the naivety of youth, class differences, and the challenge of fitting in—or choosing not to. It also touches on some more mature topics.

Overall, this was a quick, enjoyable read and a perfect way to kick off summer reading.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paradise Pawn is one of the best coming-of-age stories I’ve picked up in a long time. The fears and growing pains of girlhood are extremely spot on and heart-felt. I really appreciated how the pawn shop added a layer of economic insecurity, and discussion about what and who we value. The author draws from her own experience working at a pawn shop, evidenced through how the day-to-day operations of Paradise Pawn are described.

Some of the highlights for me were the narrator’s relationship and trust in her father who works alongside her at the shop. The dichotomy highlights the struggles parents also experience as their kids’ age. Beth, a wit-filled character who offers unconditional friendship offers another plotline later in the novel that I also find really heartwarming.

Tin House always hits it out of the park – why am I surprised? Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I highly recommend folks add Paradise Pawn to their summer reading lists.

[Emily Reading Bianco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kind of book you read in days but think about for weeks. Propulsive and irresistibly fun and funny, Paradise Pawn also manages to tap deeply into themes of friendship, class, belonging, and growing up. It is rare to find a work that captures the inner and outer world of adolescent girls with such authenticity, but Richardson nails it because she brings a genuine respect for her characters. She lovingly embraces the contradictions: the hilarity and seriousness, insight and naïveté, confidence and insecurity, idealism and cynicism; the fascination of adulthood and the desperate desire for everything to stay the same. In taking seriously the perspective of a teenage girl, Paradise Pawn raises provocative questions about agency, power, sexism, and the tendency to dismiss adolescent antics. But it does so without being preachy, with a healthy dose of fun, and with more than a little healing for any current or former teenage girl who knows what it’s like to love your friends fiercely, wonder about the future, and struggle to define yourself.

[HER Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this.

I am very conflicted about how to rate this book. The writing style is really unique and interesting and it is one of the absolute best depictions of the mind of a young girl just trying to make her way in the world. It perfectly represents the choices and thought processes that a newly teenage girl goes through. It also has incredibly well rounded, memorable and unique characters. Including a fantastic representation of a really beautiful father-daughter relationship.

It was uncomfortable at times, but only because it was so realistic - full of mistakes and misguided naive thoughts.

However, I just was not invested. I simply found it really difficult to continue reading. It is a short book and it just should not have taken me this long to read. I also found the climax a little underwhelming, and were I thought this would lead to growth and reflection, the book just ended.

Aspects of it will stick with me but I cannot rate it higher because of how hard I had to work just to get to the end.

[geminibookvault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Zando and Tin House for the advanced reader copy!

3 Star Rating!

This debut novel is a coming of age story of two teenage girls who work at at Florida pawn shop with their respective dad's. Jackie and Kayla are incredibly close having grown up together, but their friendship is put to the test as their class differences and awkward teenage phases put a wedge between them.

The setting of this novel primarily taking place in the pawn shop, Paradise Pawn, was truly refreshing to read about. I didn't realize how much I didn't know about the business nor how curious I was to read about one. The setting was very engaging and proved to be a great setting to place characters into unique situations the draw out their characters.

The awkwardness of teenage girls came across really well within the story. You can tell they were still trying to figure out who they were or wanted to be. The drama between the two friends felt age appropriate as the jealousy and pettiness was very juvenile. Jackie's behavior did throw me off at times as it came across as thing a much young girl would say and do. And so, she came across as much younger than Kayla. However, I can see this being a commentary on how Kayla is in more of a position for the need to grow up faster than Jackie.

The parents, particularly the fathers admittedly upset me with the way they treated their daughters. There seemed to be parental neglect and a bit of projecting. Both were not likeable characters, but again, adding to the story of the teenage girls coming of age in navigating their developing identity.

The major plot point of the girls stealing money to help get Kayla into the same private school as Jackie could have used more flare, but perhaps the more realist consequences and response to the stealing was needed to add to the underlying mundane story telling of two girls just trying to figure life out. Overall still a quick enjoyable read!

I would suggest this novel to those who enjoy stories about:
Class differences
Female friendships
Amateur Thieves
Childhood to adulthood