Curious Minds

by Rachel Gold

A group of LGBTQ+ college students find themselves, and a whole lot of trouble, as they search for a retired professor’s hidden, immensely valuable coin collection. Clues come from decoding classic lesbian and sapphic books—but in six years no one has found the treasure.

Second-generation lesbian Maze Lister planned to skip the treasure hunt. She’s read all the books—they’re in her moms’ library—and doesn’t need the money. But a late night spent with charismatic athlete Lys Neil changes her mind. The two of them bond over their neurodivergent minds, even though they handle their ADHD in sharply different ways.

Maze and Lys decide to compete in the treasure hunt together, but chance puts them on competing teams within a group of students just as determined as they are—and willing to bend the rules. Secret teams form, accusations fly, and everyone starts to learn much more about themselves than they bargained for. Can they decode the stories and find the prize before a malevolent classmate turns them against each other and takes the treasure for herself?

Genres: Young Adult, New Adult, LGBT, Romance, Queer

274 pages, Paperback

Published April 18, 2023

About the author

Rachel Gold has spent seven years as a reporter, ten years in marketing, and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing degree. She worked as the senior reporter for a weekly newspaper with a readership of up to 100,000. She also served as a PR manager for an international technology company whose reach extended to Europe, Asia, and Australia. She has appeared at the Minnesota Library Association Round Table speaking on young adult literature and lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.

Reviews

[Della B · Rating 5 out of 5]

First year LGBTQ+ students at Macalester College have been trying to solve a professor’s treasure hunt for the last six years. Retired Professor Stendatter uses classic lesbian novels for students to source answers to her clues. It has been announced that this is the final year for the treasure hunt. No one knows what the treasure is, just that it is valuable.

Maze is looking forward to the intellectual challenges of the hunt more than anything else. Lys and the other students are chasing the treasure to help support their educational costs. The two become fast friends bonding over their neurodivergent minds and the different ways they approach their ADHD.

The story has a couple of minor new adult romances that fits in nicely. The bulk of the novel is the chase for the treasure and who they each can trust as allies or foes. There is some skullduggery going on which adds to the pressure and pace.

Curious Minds makes the reader work hard throughout to keep pace with the main characters as they ferret out the clues. While Gold gives the reader an intriguing story she also conducts a mini master class on neurodivergence thought processes. I, for one, am appreciative of both aspects of the novel and throw down a challenge to others to take your curiosity out for a run.

I received an advance review copy from Bella Books through NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jo reece · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the whole premise of the book, treasure hunt of lesbain novels is such a good idea, but I found it slow and quite difficult to get into at first. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect to the characters as much as I wanted to, like other reviewers have said, there is a lack of details when it comes to descriptions.

In whole, the story is good, the author has a good understanding of ADHD, and there's plenty of detail about this, but for me, it's missing something.

I've given curious minds. 3 out 5

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story about two college freshmen at a small Minnesota University both of which have been diagnosed with ADHD. Maze is a Minnesota native who has two Moms and is from a middle class family. Lys is from Michigan and from a poorer family who is struggling to make ends meet. They don’t have the money to get her the medicine she needs to help her with her ADHD. She’s in a scholarship and struggles with expenses.

Lys and Maze have a great friend group of women who also are ADHD and are working with the College to fund neurodiverse resources to help students with learning disabilities.

The college has a Treasure Hunt each year using old LGBTQ novels that the students read and use clues found in the books to find the treasure. The students who participate are assigned teams to solve the mystery and the winning team will receive a large cash prize value.

Lys and Maze are not on the same team but work together anyway to solve the mystery. And end up sharing clues with their other friends.

Several faculty and staff are working against the students in their efforts to getting the disability funding and to figure out the mystery of the hidden treasure.

I enjoyed the premise of the book and the searching of clues to solve the treasure hunt mystery. The old lesbian novels were unfamiliar to me and made it harder to follow the clues. This book switched pov each chapter from Maze to Lys and I like that in a book so that you know what each is thinking. I had a hard time in the beginning of the book differentiating the two main characters. I would have liked more physical descriptions of these two main characters. I found the information and introspection from both MCs on their neurological difficulties very interesting and informative, it helped me understand some of the things family members who have ADHD struggle with.

ARC received from NetGalley for an honest and voluntary review.

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA story with the focus on a small group of LGBTQ freshman at a small college. The group takes part in a semester long treasure hunt with clues coming from classic sapphic books. This has been going on for a couple of years and no one has found the treasure. The group is smart, because the clues were beyond me to decipher. As someone who works in a school I was interested in the different ways the neurodivergent students describe their brains working and how they work with their emotions and abilities. I was also intrigued with a sub plot about what are fair and reasonable accommodations in an education setting.

Maze Lister and Lys Neil are sweet together and bring a nice romantic element even though this isn’t listed as a romance. I didn’t love the rules and result of the hunt only because it eliminates people for their partners actions and not things in their control. Also that there are forces actively trying to cheat the hunt. The resolution to the book is fine. I’m honestly not sure how interested YA’s and teens (or new adults) will be to this topic and storyline. I’m glad I had the chance to read this ARC via NetGalley from Bella Books and am leaving a voluntary review. (3.5 Stars)

[Vita L. Licari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maze and Lys are 2 neuro divergent young women who get together their freshmen year of college. They're part of a group of queer neuro divergent friends. They all are a part of 1st yr students doing an illusive treasure hunt. This follows all the students through their ups and downs of reg. life plus the treasure hunt. This is a very good book!! 5 stars!!

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Curious Minds is fun, clever, and offers a fantastic perspective on neurodivergence in a university setting.

For me, a common grievance in YA and NA romance, even if to a lesser degree with the latter, is the maturity gap between the characters and real people. Sure, there'll be alcohol and sex to show that they aren't kids anymore, but so much of the conflict comes from the characters' tendencies to create drama because they can't deal with their emotions. While I wouldn't dare to say that this doesn't reflect how people are, every so often, a book like Curious Minds will come along and demonstrate that there is more complexity to be found in relationship conflicts. Do Maze and Lys have their struggles with communication? Yes. Do they abruptly push each other away, even in the face of heaps of advice not to do so? No! Rachel Gold has opted instead to give us three-dimensional characters, whose traits and histories shape their actions, and whose interactions help each other learn and grow. Maze, Lys, and their circle of friends are all fleshed out, and I love that they bond over their differences as LGBTQ folks and as neurodiverse people, but their experiences are unique enough to prevent even the most ignorant reader from walking away, thinking, "So that must be how all people with ADHD see things."

The treasure hunt plotline is loads of fun, even if I had to reread passages to understand what was happening. The connections between the clues and their answers was a solid supporting structure for how neurodivergence can present creative ways of thinking. The character arcs and romance subplots were immensely satisfying, as was the way that Maze tackled her issue with accommodations and interdependence, without any well-intentioned people being vilified for shaping her perspective. Gosh, every part of Curious Minds feels grounded and textured.

I wouldn't say I wish I could see more of these characters, since the ending tied everything together so nicely, but you can be sure that I will be checking out more of Rachel Gold's work.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curious Minds by Rachel Gold is an enjoyable New Adult novel. It has an intriguing premise and characters that are quite interesting.

The main characters are Maze Lister and Lys Neil. Both are college students who are neurodivergent (ADHD). The college they attend has a yearly treasure hunt with a cash prize for the winners. The students work in teams finding clues in classic Sapphic novels. Maze and Lys end up on separate teams, but that doesn’t stop them from working together. The competition goes wonky when secret teams pop up and some folks decide not to follow the rules.

The treasure hunt itself will keep you reading, even though some readers who are not familiar with the books being used for the clues might have to pay really close attention. Maze, Lys and their friends are realistic for their age group. Their neurodivergent qualities are also true to life.
Though New Adult novels are not what I normally reach for, I did enjoy this story. It is well-written and entertaining.

I received an ARC from Bella Books for an honest review.

[Rainbow_Reading_Nook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Bella Books for allowing me to read an arc of this book

The premise of this book sounded so cool- a treasure hunt style game based on historical lesbian fiction within a queer club at college, while also trying to take down an ableist professor who believed disability accommodations were there to make school easy and were for “weak” students who shouldn’t have been taking the classes and that they should be “weeded out”.

The writing took me a little bit to get into, but once I had, I ended up enjoying the story. I enjoyed both of the leads and liked a lot of the side characters too. There was a lot of disability representation, both main characters had ADHD and Lys also had chronic knee pain from a sports injury. I related to her a lot, and I really liked her line - “I guess it’s good we don’t remember all the details of pain because then we’d be in pain again.”

CW’s ableism, including internalised ableism, sex, underaged drinking and weed.

[Fran Sappharc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly this book is worth picking up but don’t read when you are tired or looking for something light and frothy.
I felt exhausted after reading it because this is a book that made me think, that taught me things. I felt I had to engage my brain. The mains are also young people and I’m not, so at times it felt like reading in a second language. The speech wasn’t peppered with “like” but I did at times feel I was intellectually stretched especially around neurodivergence.
Starting the book I thought it would be interactive, with clues about old novels for me to solve. It’s not. It is fiction, there is romance but I think it is as far away from the common wlw romance trope and style as you can get. That is not a criticism, merely a comment.

[Nathalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maze is a student at a college that has an annual treasure hunt revolving sapphic books. As a second generation sapphic she is very keen on entering.

There is a lot of things happening before the start of the treasure hunt but it seemed like unnecessary drama. Ther characters weren't all likeable which wouldn't be a problem if they were also interesting.

I really hoped I could enjoy this book more as I was very curious about the treasure hunt but sadly that was not the case.

Maze and Lys had some nice moments together so 2,5 stars rounded up to 3.

An ARC was provided to me via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

[Jasmine Shouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A literary treasure hunt you'll treasure!

Maze and Lys are college students who take part in the annual literary queer treasure hunt, rumored to have a major prize at the end that no one in six years has found. The cool thing about this story is how it addresses accommodations for physical injuries and neurodivergence and intersectionality in the learning environment. All while telling a story about community with a romantic undertone.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!

[Katherine Rupley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. I was intrigued by the treasure hunt and the books selected. I learned a lot about neurodivergence and the need for accessibility.

[Evren (Nonbinary Knight Reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why exactly but I just could not get interested in this book.