. I have absolutely loved the Finlay Donovan series and this one did not disappoint. There have been mixed reviews, but this series has been funny, light, and action packed. All 3 have been 5 ⭐️ reads for me so far. In this 3rd book, Finlay and Vero head to the police training academy for a civilian training course while literally trying to dodge bullets, find a dirty cop, and finally work on her sexy scene for her book

This was an ARC courtesy of NetGalley.
I love the writing, she is hilarious. Stephanie Plum vibes. I recommend starting with the first in series as it took effort to follow the story.

I've loved all of the Finlay Donovan books and this one was no exception. Finley and Vero are back and up to more shenanigans in their efforts to thwart and get the bad guys. Their stay at a police training academy does not go as planned, but I can't wait to see what the future holds for Finlay and hot cop Nick! Another fantastic addition to the series and the audiobook narrated by Angela Dawe is the perfect way to enjoy it!!

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun was my first foray into the series and it was an entertaining listen. If Brooklyn 99 were a book, it would look a lot like this! A fast-paced crime thriller with a comedic bent - Finlay and her friend Vero get into some far-fetched predicaments, but if you can forget about how unrealistic the story it is, you will probably find yourself enjoying the ride. I’m planning to read Cosimano’s first two books to see how this series got started. 3.5 stars…

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ALC.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun is the third book in the Finlay Donovan series. I always compare it to the Stephanie Plum series but make it featuring a divorced mom.

They are what I consider a popcorn book, a quick, fun read but nothing overly substantial. I always chuckle quite a few times with Finlay's antics, but I also roll my eyes a few times at the absurdly of it all.

3.5/5

Thank you @netgalley for this free ALC. Finlay Donovan has come to be a trusted series. I think I like this one more than #2! Finlay is at it again and trying to stay out of trouble but just can't seem to do that. The characters are smooth and familiar, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a cliffhanger. I will always take more Finlay Donovan!

Another fun addition to the Finlay Donovan series! The nonstop wacky situations continue to amuse as Finlay and Vero take part in a citizen's police academy, looking for the identity of Easy Clean in the process. The narrator is also wonderful!

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano
Rating: 3/5 ⭐️

“Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano’s witty, fast-paced adult mystery series follows struggling suspense novelist and single mom turned-amateur-sleuth Finlay Donovan, whose fiction begins to tread dangerously close to the truth.”

I really, really enjoyed the first two in this series of books but really struggled with this one!

It went from kooky but somewhat believable to absolutely not believable at all. There was zero resolution at the end (making me believe there will be ANOTHER) in this series.

I did enjoy the friendship between Finlay and Vero - that’s always been my favorite part in the story!

The audiobook narrator Angela Dawe was amazing, as always!! I listened to all three of these on audiobook because Angela is so great!

Thanks to @netgalley, @macmillan.audio and the author for access to this audiobook ARC!

This was published January 31, 2023 so is out now! ✨

I freaking love Finlay Donovan! This series is laugh out loud funny. This installment is a smidge different than the others. I feel like can’t say too much without spoilers but one thing I did enjoy was the setting of this book! Finlay and Vero find themselves signed up for a stint at a police academy headed up by none other than the good looking Nick. If you love the mischief Finlay and Vero get up to just pick this one up and keep going with the series. You won’t be disappointed!

I can't get enough of Finlay and Vero! These 2 have the craziest ideas and adventures. This is the best book of the series IMO. Love how Finlay and her love interest are getting closer but not quite there yet, I found myself looking forward to those 2 getting together but there are so many obstacles always getting in the way. Learning more about Vero in this book was also great!
Keep writing Finlay please Elle Cosimano! I'm hooked!

“Murder and mayhem,” many reviewers note about Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan series… And I certainly got gobs of it listening to book #3. There are readers who love a plot-driven narrative and readers who don’t and what I again learned was I’m not the lover of the plot-driven narrative…BUT I absolutely loved this narrator and would listen to her read a grocery list. More of why later. For now, here’s the convoluted Finlay Donovan plot from the, thank the reading gods, publisher, because I certainly couldn’t unravel it:

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.

Still running the show from behind bars, mob boss Feliks has a task for Finlay: find a contract killer before the cops do. Problem is, the killer might be an officer.

Luckily, hot cop Nick has started up a citizen’s police academy, and combined pressure from Finlay’s looming book deadline and Feliks is enough to convince Finlay and Vero to get involved. Through firearm training and forensic classes (and some hands-on research with the tempting detective), Finlay and Vero have the perfect cover-up to sleuth out the real criminal and free themselves from the mob’s clutches—all the while dodging spies, confronting Vero’s past, and juggling the daily trials of parenthood.

Cosimano’s caper has a great opening scene: Finlay coaxing her toddler out of a toilet stall, luring him with Cherrios, while its terrified middle-aged denizen panics…it’s funny, “gag-driven” but amusing. I thought we weren’t off to a bad start. While I admit to being disadvantaged for not having read books #1 and 2, it’s rare I’ve been this listener-whiplashed following a narrative. There are many bad guys: some mob, some cop, definitely the ex-h is an a-hole and there’s much running from place to place and threats coming Finlay and Vero’s way like ricocheting bullets. After a while, I didn’t bother making sense of it and just went along for the ride.

I was pleasantly surprised when things slowed down, relatively speaking when describing a whirling-dervish of a novel, and Finlay and Vero got breathing room at the citizen’s police academy and ta-rah!, some character development! Well, not quite development, but we do get to know Finlay better and there’s a lovely sequence of growing feelings with “hot cop Nick”. This was an important segue because, as I already said, I can’t work up any feels for a plot-driven narrative. We learn what a good sort Finlay is, despite the trail of corpses she leaves in her wake, but “it’s not her fault!”. She wants to make things right, is savvy about the ex, is a good friend, deserves a “hot cop” and said cop is upright, moral, and well, “hot”, so he deserves her too. In the last fifteen minutes or so, when things were finally coming together nicely for Finlay and Vero: bad guys foiled, good guys hovering romantically…boom, the caper antics take off again and book three ends on yet another frenetic cliffhanger.

I won’t be following Finlay’s next adventure. I didn’t enjoy the pace, or antics; what I did enjoy, the humour, the child-characters, the romance, they’re in short supply. But I will seek this wonderful narrator, Angela Dawe. Most narrators think pitching their voice higher, or lower will establish character. What Dawe does is genius, an inferior narrator would have seen me abandon Finlay et. al. She creates a unique voice for each character that distinguishes them, imbues them with personality. A listener gets to know character through her reading. Her pacing is perfection; her timbre, even and smooth. More Dawe, please.

Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, to quote Miss Austen, offers “tolerable comfort,” Mansfield Park, but Ms Dawe, well, she “has bewitched me,” Pride and Prejudice.

Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun is produced by Macmillan Audio. It was released on January 31st. I received an audio file from Macmillan Audio, via Netgalley, for the purpose of writing this review, which did not affect my opinion.

This book was everything I was hoping for in the third installment of this series and more! Absolutely hysterical and full of drama, crime, romance and humor. Finlay is just so funny, and her relationship with Vero and the way they navigate things is always such a delight. I loved seeing more of them being involved with the police, and of course more Nick content. The audiobook narrator was great as well.

I loved enter Finlay’s world again. Plus it’s a bonus that it is set where I actually live. The wit and humor are just as sharp. I laughed chickened and giggled the whole way through. Please keep them coming!

These Finlay Donovan books make me laugh! And this one is no exception. Finlay finds herself in all kinds of hi-jinks yet again. Highly recommend the series! Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Finley Donovan is the modern day Stephanie Plum. As Finley and her live-in Nanny are stuck in a never-ending cycle of trouble they seek refuge in a police training facility where Hottie Cop Nick is teaching civilians about the training cops go through. As always Finlay was witty and hilarious. This is the first time I have listened to a Finlay Donovan book on audio and I loved it! Great story telling and pacing.

Not my favorite of Elle Cosimano. I loved the first two. The narrator did a great job on this one, though. It just was missing something. But I’m still excited for future work of hers.

Elle Cosimano does it again! Finlay Donovan is every gal's bff--relatable, vulnerable, family-first, and so damn funny! Thanks to @netgalley for the audiobook preview, and kudos to a narrator who adds just the right seasoning to Cosimano's well-written, wonderfully crafted scenes.

https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/92883628?source=link_share

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun is another great addition to the series. Always fun with a lot of sass and a little romance. The audiobook is well done and the author is fantastic. My only complaint is that you would need to read the previous books to truly understand what was going on with this one. However, I loved it! Thanks for the advance copy! #Netgalley #FinlayDonovanJumpstheGun

𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒏 𝑱𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒔 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒖𝒏
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: Jan 31 (OUT NOW!)
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞: cozy mysteries, single mom, love triangle, murder mysteries

“𝙒𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙨. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩"

And now we’re back to reading about my favorite single mom in the book universe!

This is the third book in the series and I recommend reading the first two to have some context with the characters but each book can be read as a standalone as each “mystery” starts and ends in one book.

Once again, Finlay and Vero find themselves in one unfortunate incident after another 😅 While I find their mishaps endearing, Vero’s impulsivity and sometimes poor choices are starting to stress me out now 😂 I think reading it for 3 books will do that to you. I mean why hasn’t she learned from her mistakes yet? Lol I’d want to see some character growth now 😅

I love the love triangle aspect and that courtroom scene was just so full of drama and tension and it was so much fun to read! I also liked the police academy setup. It was a good change of scenery from the book.

Overall, it was still very much entertaining for me to read but Idk if I’ll still be interested in picking up the fourth book if the story will still be about this cat and mouse chase with a Russian mob.

Thank you so much for @minotaurbooks for gifting me this book!

💭 How do you declutter your books? I’m looking for suggestions as I feel like organizing this weekend. :)

This is my favorite Finlay Donovan book yet! I loved the new setting, the continued focus on female friendships, the romance, and of course the over the top humor. Are some of the villains totally ridiculous? Yes, but it makes it that much more fun! I laughed out loud and enjoyed every second. I listened to it on audio as I have done the full series and the narrator did an excellent job per usual. Cannot recommend enough!