Finlay and Vero are back in another hilarious adventure! I enjoyed this one as much as the first two books in the series. As the mom of a toddler, the opening scene had me laughing immediately. IYKYK! I enjoyed getting more of Vero’s back story and it was fun to see how Finlay and Nick’s relationship was progressing. I wish we didn’t have to wait so long between books because I found it hard to remember everything from earlier in the series, but that’s my only real complaint. If you haven’t read this series yet, what are you waiting for?

Thanks to Minotaur Books for a gifted ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved the first Finlay Donovan book. It was quirky and funny and just a ton of fun and craziness. The second book was a big disappointment to me. Huge. It focused on all the men in Finlay’s life. The crappy ex. The far too young bartender. The cop whose partner may not be who he seems. It was just too much about Finlay and how she relates to the men. When we all know that her relationship with Vero that is interesting. Two women can be interesting with zero men. At the time that I read it, I liked the underlying story, but I was bothered by the execution. I still loved Finlay and Vero.

The third installment leads me to believe that the author read my diary. Or my blog. Or at least one of my reviews somewhere. Or just realized which characters she really loved. The second book was the book Finlay’s editor wanted that she didn’t want to write. This one is the one I did want Elle Cosimano to write. Vero and Finlay are in another completely crazy misadventure.

You cannot really follow this book without reading the first two. It is not a standalone. It picks up shortly after the last. Her ex is still an $#%%^^^&. The bartender/lawyer is mostly gone. The cop is less desperate. To all of those I say, Thank goodness! Like the other stories, you have to stretch reality to make this one work. Don’t think about it. Just go with it. Best of all, there will be another book. There had better be. Downed it in one snow day.

Finlay Donovan has done it again! Done what? Got into trouble, of course! The seemingly never ending troubles continue for Finlay in this latest installment. I’m not sure what made me think this was the last book in the series, but I’m glad it’s not!

I’m not sure this would work for any other series or characters. But there’s just something about Finlay, Vero, and the rest of them that keeps me hooked. I find the shenanigans hilarious and entertaining! In an odd way, the characters feel relatable in their actions and reactions. I suppose that’s what lends a bit of realism to the whole thing even as I’m logically aware that none of it is realistic.

Still, this one is just as entertaining as the others and picks up where we left off, which is another part I love. The continuation of one story, as opposed to totally new, disconnected dilemmas, is much appreciated. I’ll for sure be following along until its conclusion, whenever that may be!

Thank you to Minotaur Books & St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Elle Cosimano - you are a genius!! This series is unbelievably funny. I'm constantly cracking up from commentary between Finlay and Vero. Finlay's chaotic life as a mom is so relatable. I don't know where she comes up with her crazy ideas, but it keeps the story moving at such a perfect pace. I don't think there's a character I could even say that I dislike in this book. All the characters are so well-developed. I love the suspense and constant entertainment. I never want this series to end!!!

Hilarious and unputdownable! Can't wait for book 4!!

If you haven't read this series..I highly suggest you do!

Thank you to Minotaur Books / St. Martins Press for the advanced reading copy via NetGalley, receipt of which did not impact my review.

Finlay Donovan is back again and just trying to do the best she can, like any woman and mom trying to have it all - keep her kids safe and fed, write her next book, stay away from her annoying ex-husband, keep her past maybe-criminal-adjacent activities away from the cops (especially Nick, her sometimes love interest) - while trying to avoid the Russian mob with her bestie/nanny/accountant, Vero. The mob is circling, though, and they have an assignment/demand for Finlay - can she complete the task in time before they decide it’s too late?

Book three picks up right where book two ended, and it’s a fun and wild ride! I could keep reading about Finlay and Vero for years. And Nick? NICK. That’s all I can say. There’s some mystery and several things left unsolved - setting us up nicely for another book in the future.

Finlay and her "partner in crime" Vero are in more hot water. The incarcerated Russian mob boss who did her a favor now wants payback and the time frame isn't very long. The Boss wants them to find a contract killer. The police are also looking. As luck would have it (sort of) the police has a week long citizen police academy and Finlay and Vero are game to attend. What better way to snoop around. See, the person in question may be on the force. Plus anything they learn about forensics and firearms will come in handy in the future, right? Find a comfy spot, pour your beverage of choice, gather some snacks and dive into the wild and wacky world of Finlay and Vero. It sure won't be boring.
In order to get the most out of this third book in the series it's best to read them in order. If you don't it will not make as much sense. Finlay and Vero are like Laverne and Shirley or Lucy and Ethel. Just go with the flow and enjoy a fun reading escape.
My thanks to the publisher Minotaur and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Book 3 in the Finley Donovan series continues to be entertaining with laugh out loud moments. I’ve read all 3 and I personally think they need to be read in order. Each storyline has some overlap into the next book which adds to an overall enjoyable experience. I loved the ending of this one and await Finley’s next adventure. 3.5 stars

Another fun edition in the life of Finlay Donovan and her nanny Vero. Finlay and Vero are trying to go clean but it’s pretty impossible when they damaged a car gifted to them by a member of the Russian mob. They now are back in debt and payment is not just money.
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They find themselves back into a life of crime while also finishing a book and taking care of the kids. This would make such a fun tv series!
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Thank you #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The third book in the Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano releases tomorrow. I really enjoyed "Finally Donovan Jumps the Gun," although I hate the suspense of waiting for another book! 4⭐ What do you think about my casting?

Finlay has gotten herself increasingly tied up into the seedy underworld of DC, including members of the Russian mob and their lawyers, informants, and enforcers. She and Vero enroll in the local police academy, to find answers out of their mess and for the protection it offers. However, it is not nearly as safe as they originally think, as trouble seems to have followed them. To top it all off, Vero is hiding secrets from her past that are catching up to her and Finlay.

I really enjoyed the police academy setting, which I thought was fun and really mixed it up a bit. Finlay and Vero are so smart and on their toes, although sometimes their hijinks get a little exhausting. Like, I want to get to know them without all the tension of murderous goons on their trail! I want more details about Vero & Javi's last and I'm eager to see what happens in Book 4!

This book just wasn’t for me. If you like this kind of satire, you might enjoy the book.
I might have been at an disadvantage because this was the first book I read in the series but it left me with no desire to read the previous books. The story itself had lots of potential and I would have given it an higher rating if the character Vera hadn’t been driving me crazy. Vera never thinks before she springs into action often endangering her friend Finlay.
Finlay a mother of two seems to be ruled by Vera and follows her in escapades even again better judgment.

Finlay Donovan is a struggling writer. Vero is Finlay’s children’s live in nanny who is also studying accounting. Together they find themselves in deep trouble. They have to do a job for the mob. That job brings them to the police academy to look for EZ clean (the name of the contact killer) who is hiding out there. EZ clean has targeted Finlay’s ex-husband. On top of that, Vero and Finlay are trying to escape a loan shark so they thought it was a great opportunity to go to the police academy for the week.

This is a great murder mystery with alot of laugh out loud situations between Finlay and Vero. They are a great duo. This is the third book in the Finlay Donovan series.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think she is my new feel good author. I switched back and forth between reading and listening to this one and it really lightened my mood every time I picked up one of the versions. While definitely being modernized, it gives me the same feeling the early Stephanie Plum books did. My only complaint is that the book ends by starting the next adventure and I need to wait another year to read it.

I’d describe this one as a quasi cozy mystery filled with a lot of humor. Finlay and Vero are both likable characters with enough flaws to make them real. And they cannot stay out of trouble for very long. Finlay kind of reminds me of Lucy from I Love Lucy, if Lucy kept accidentally killing people. The storyline is on the edge of what is plausible, but that is also what sets up a lot of the humor. The supporting cast of characters are quirky and memorable and both of Ms. Donovan’s suitors appear in this latest installment.

Angela Dawe nails the narration of the book and kept me in stitches as I listened.

I am always jumping into a series in the middle, but since these books are almost continuations of the previous book, I’d start this series at the beginning.

It's a sad 3.5 stars for this latest adventure of Finlay Donovan, a single mother and author just doing her best to not go to jail or get killed by the mafia in her latest set of misadventures. Most of them are fun, some of them sexy, and all of them on the very edge of believable.
I accept that being able to employ a hefty dose of disbelief is needed to fully enjoy fiction, but there are times in Finlay's latest adventure that feel a bit forced and just downright dumb. How she is even still alive is a miracle of (dumb) good luck and the author's ingenuity.
Things are coming to a boil for Finlay Donovan as all her accidentally shady dealings with the city's biggest crime boss, Feliks, put her in his impatient crosshairs. Then there's her nanny/accountant/friend, Vero, who not only has more secrets than she's letting on but now owes big money to another mafia boss wanting to get his hands on her. And let's not forget her dodgy ex-husband acting worse than usual.
A chance to scope out suspects for the task Feliks has forced on them during a citizen's police academy gives them an opportunity to hide from Vero's pursuers and focus on finding the man Feliks wants. It might also allow Finlay to finally write the ending her publisher is pushing for before paying her for her latest novel because all the stress and pressure is giving her a mighty case of writer's block. There's hope on the horizon in the form of hot cop Nick, but will Finlay ever be able to spend time with him without having to lie and hide things constantly?
All the threads from previous books are starting to weave a very complicated and deceiving web that had me guessing from chapter to chapter and worried that this would be the time that Finlay's amazingly good luck would fail her.
I'm not a fan of adding even more wood to the fire just as things seemed to be getting a resolution, but I totally understand the need to set up more content for the following book. I just hope that the next one finally shows Finlay learning from past mistakes and being smarter about things.


Happy thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the early peek at Finlay's latest adventure!

I think this is such a fun series, but there are a couple of things to do before starting this one in order to really enjoy it:

1. Read the first two books. They will give you a good sense of what is going on and who the characters are. Without reading those two first you are dropped into the middle of a story and though some background and context is given you won't really get it all.

2. Suspend all disbelief. This is a fun series as long as you don't look at it too closely. If you start to analyze it, it will fall apart. There are many coincidences and unlikely (at best) scenarios. It makes for an entertaining, but not realistic, story.

The best parts of this story IMO are the characters and the banter. The characters are mostly interesting and funny and I am a pushover for good banter.

I could completely do without the multiple love interests and repetition in that area, but that's my personal opinion. I don't tend to care for stories where there are multiple (good-looking, smart, kind, caring, etc that everyone else is interested in) people that are all interested in the same person.

This book wrapped up many questions, but also left our MCs in a position where the next book is necessary. It's sort of a cliffhanger where this story is played out, albeit with some loose threads, and Finlay and Vero are off to start a new adventure.

I'll be interested to see what they get up to next and how they are going to handle the details of their current situation.

“The list of resolutions I’d adopted two weeks ago had included three very important bullets: no more junk food, no more men, and no more bodies in my minivan. Not necessarily in that order.”

Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she's an author and single mom who's a pro at getting out bloodstains for rather unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. After she and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they may have "borrowed" in the process of saving the life of Finlay's ex-husband, the Russian mob got her out of debt. But now Finlay owes them. 

She’s back! This is the third installment in the Finlay Donovan series and it is just a crazy and cooky as the prior books. Although not quite as good as the first two in my opinion, this one was still fun and I always enjoy revisiting characters. It follows the same format of Finlay getting herself into the most unbelievable of shenanigans all while trying to navigate divorce, solve crimes, and write a book. The opening scene had me laughing out loud!

The audiobook was done so well! I enjoyed the narration. These books are so quick and you really can just fly though them.

Thank you to Goodreads for the giveaway copy, Netgalley, Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and the author for the ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano.

Elle Cosimano has done it again. If you’ve read the first two books in this series, you HAVE to read this third book! And if you haven’t read any of them yet, this is your sign to start! This series does not disappoint.

As in the first two books, Finlay almost immediately finds herself in a predicament (or several predicaments?!) and with the help of her trusty friend / nanny / accountant Vero, Finlay is on a mission to clear her name and find the true bag guy.

These books are best read in order since story lines and characters carry through to each new book.

I love this series. The Finlay books are funny and at times ridiculous, making them all very entertaining. They center on friendship, trust, resilience, and a dash of romance. On top of all the criminal activity and questionable choices of our main characters. 😆

If you’re in the mood for a hilarious mystery series, look no further! 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

Finlay Donovan is back and still trying to figure out who was out to kill her husband. This time, however, she finds herself working for the Russian mob boss, Feliks, who wants Finlay to find the identity of the contract killer before the cops do. The only problem: the contract killer is possibly a police officer. Luckily for Finlay, her and her nanny Vero are able to join a citizen’s police academy (run by hot cop Nick) where they spend their time trying to sleuth out the killer.

This was another fun read that had me laughing throughout. I always love seeing the shenanigans and trouble that Finally and Vero get up to in each of the books. However, I’m not sure I really enjoyed the police academy aspect of the storyline. It almost felt like a filler in a sense so Finlay could identify the killer. It just didn’t pique my interest as much as the adventures in the first two books.

Despite this, the police academy also allowed for Finlay and Nick’s romance line to be explored more. I loved the tension between them and I was rooting for them to just suck it up and get together throughout the book. When I tell you, I squealed every time Nick flirted with Finlay. I love this man.

Then in the last few chapters, there were so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming! It had me on the edge of my seat, and I couldn’t put it down.

Also, as a side note, there was a character with the same last name as me, so that’s a win in my books.

Overall, another great book from Cosimano! This one left off on a cliffhanger, meaning there’s a possibility for book 4. I’m hoping that we get another book that focuses more on Vero’s past - as the discussions surrounding her past in this book have me dying to know more!

Im such a fan of the Finlay Donovan series and the third book did not disappoint! We picked up not far from where we left off in book two and Finlay is caught in the crosshairs of doing her best to avoid committing crimes and being pretty close with some members of the justice system. Storylines like Steven being Steven, her family being a bit chaotic, and her romantic life a bit complicated continue in this novel, but we also get a glimpse into more about Vero’s life before Finlay. The majority of the book is set at the citizen’s police academy and with all the events and people involved, some unexpected visitors and shenanigans happen right under the cops’ noses. Finlay and Vero continue to be a great duo and it’s so fun seeing them problem solve situations together. I was happy to see some movement with the romance piece in this one… get that dessert Finlay!! The unveiling of contract killer was great and this book kept me guessing until the end. I can’t get enough of this cozy mystery, so excited for the next one!

2.5 or 3 stars
Despite really wanting to like it, I had some trouble with this book. The last 20% was fast-paced, surprising and full of action, but the 80% before that was none of those things. It was repetitive and I felt like nothing happened. What I loved so much about the first Finlay book has been lost somewhere along the way as the plot gets dragged out to fill 4 books. The last part of the book was exciting, but I'm not very interested in reading the series now that cops are such a huge part of the story and it felt really pro-police at times.

Just like the second, the third one starts where we left off. It was fun to follow Finlay and Vero through their chaos, but this one dragged for me in the beginning and I found some parts to be TOO over-the-top. It also was similar to the first two, which felt a little repetitive. I probably didn’t feel as engaged since it had a slow start for me. Overall, it is a light and fun mystery series!