Ho there, howdy, and good morning. “Finders Keepers” is a charming second chance romance with just the right dose of childhood nostalgia, treasure map magic, and small town sparkle. Think National Treasure meets childhood sweethearts. And yes, it’s as fun as it sounds.

The novel truly shines in its exploration of the childhood friends to lovers trope. The way the games and bets Nina and Quentin shared as kids came full circle was incredibly sweet and satisfying, especially those memorable French moon scenes. The banter between Nina and Quentin is sharp, witty, and a definite highlight, making their interactions a joy to read.

What really makes this story shine is the emotional honesty. Nina’s fear of being hurt again felt so real, and it made their rekindled romance all the more rewarding. The slow burn between her and Quentin, layered with sharp, flirty banter, was everything I wanted.

While the ending felt a bit anticlimactic, the journey was so much fun it hardly mattered. If you’re into treasure hunts, emotional slow burns, and childhood crushes finally getting their moment, this one is for you. Check it out when it comes out on June 24th!

I liked this one! I enjoyed the comedic bits and the overall story of them restarting a treasure hunt that they started as kids. I enjoyed it but I didn’t really click with the characters personally. However, such a cute summer read!

Within the span of 72 hours, Nina finds herself newly single, unemployed, and back living with her parents. What she doesn’t expect is her childhood best friend to be back living next door as well, or that he wants to pick up their childhood treasure hunt after how their friendship ended almost two decades ago.

Nina and Quentin reconnecting was super sweet, and their story was super adorable. Finders Keepers was a bit on the slower side, but I still really enjoyed it!

Thank you Berkley Pub and Netgalley for the arc!

Thank you Berkley and PRHAudio for the free book and AlC.

“Did you know that every single version of you is the perfect one”

Nina went from being a professor with a brand new apartment and long-term boyfriend to living with her parents in the blink of an eye. Then to make matters worse her neighbor/childhood crush, Quentin appears and wants to resume the treasure hunt the two of them began years ago -- the one that destroyed their friendship seventeen years ago and broke her heart. To find the treasure they are going to have to be brave enough to confront old hurts and rediscover all of the things they once loved about one another.

I’ve never met a Sarah Adler book that I didn’t love. They are always an adventure and the treasure hunting storyline in this one was a fun addition! I literally laughed out loud as I was reading while Nina and Quentin went on their quest. The banter and love between them was evident right from the start. Second chance will forever be one of my favorite tropes and there is just something about childhood friends that melts my heart. Fans of Sarah Adler will not be disappointed! Finders Keepers holds all the charm of her previous books and pairs it with super fun banter and adorable characters! It’s so much fun!

Read if you like:

Second Chance
Childhood Friends
Boy Next Door
Treasure Hunt with Quests
Slow Burn
Small Town

I just finished an ARC of Finders Keepers, and IT WAS SO FRICKIN GOOD, I was crying in the third act 😭 it's such a perfect second chance romance, I was hooked to the screen the whole time. The treasure hunt was so interesting as well, I loved the way they solved it!
++ the anxiety rep was done so well

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

Treasure hunting, childhood friends, second chance romance, what more could you want? Nina and Quentin have been estranged for almost 20 years and now they are both back in their childhood homes for the summer. Back searching for the treasure that broke their friendship up 17 years ago, what could go wrong....... Nina and Quentin's story is adorable and funny and makes for a perfect summer beach read. Sarah Adler was a new author for me, and know I plan to go back and read her other books.

Sarah Adler is incredibly talented and it was a joy to read another romcom from her. Finders Keepers is definitely a good romcom with all the best elements: second chance romance, delicious tension, and pining. That it was built around the idea of treasure hunting together helped drive the story forward. While some of the misunderstandings in past and current times could have been cleared up by talking, both Quentin and Nina needed to get to the point of open communication with each other before that could happen-- and the movement of their characters toward is really what drives the story.

This was a cozy little read but definitely on the slower side. Newly single and unemployed, Nina returns to her hometown feeling a bit lost and desperate to get her life back on track. Enter childhood neighbour and former best friend Quentin Bell, who suggests they resume their treasure hunt at the Sprangbur Estate—the very one that destroyed their friendship seventeen years ago!

I really connected with Nina, especially her anxiety and her fear of being judged or not measuring up. The goofy banter and neighbouring window chats with Quentin were so sweet and genuinely made me smile. I loved their reignited friendship, and for the most part, I enjoyed the progression of their romance too. But there was some hidden deceit, and while I know the intentions were romantic, it made me question their emotional maturity ... just a bit.

Keep in mind, too, that for a story about a treasure hunt, it’s not super action-packed. Rather than big, adventurous moments, it is mostly Nina and Quentin digging through documents. I lost interest a few times, but with past interviews included throughout, I did enjoy the fun, unexpected, bittersweet reveal in the end!

This was a cute little second chance romance/friends to lovers story following Nina and her neighbor, Quentin, as they reconnect while solving a mystery from their childhood. It was an easy read, and the treasure hunt element was a fun twist!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishing team for this ARC!

Sweet second chance romance. Both Nina and her high school crush, Quentin, returned to their hometown after breakups and job losses. Lots of good banter after they reconnect and pick up the treasure hunt abandoned many years ago. Lots to like about it. The third act break up annoyed me along with FMC's consistent self doubt. But that's minor and the good parts totally outweigh my hesitations. Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loveeee Sarah Adler's characters. The perfect mix of sweet and spicy, Adler delivers a quirky second chance love story that will make you laugh and cry. No seriously, I was melting in a puddle of my tears one minute over the transcendence of love and what we can learn from seeing others bloom... and the next I was geeking out over the banter between these long lost best friends.

This honestly might be one of my top reads of 2025! Sarah Adler is at her Sarah Adler-est in Finders Keepers, reuniting childhood best friends/neighbors turned enemies for a once in a lifetime treasure hunt.

What I really love about Sarah's writing is how real her characters feel. Especially, for example, representation of mental health struggles like Nina's anxiety. Her anxiety isn't just a character quirk—when she starts to spiral, she walks us through her entire catastrophizing thought process, listing out in her mind the best/worst possible outcomes in a given moment. As someone with similar struggles, I felt very seen!

Also along those lines, Nina & Quentin's relationship dynamic is special and you can feel it from their very first interaction. I love all of their shared bits, with special props to their moon talks across the window in which Quentin takes on the role of the moon with a French accent. Her characters aren't afraid to be their whole selves, goofy or serious, and that's always really fun to experience as a reader.

Can't recommend this enough!!

“Instead of feeling lost, I’m starting to feel…free.”

There is something to undeniably charming about the way Sarah Adler writes. I have e joyed all of her books so far, and this one is a perfect edition.

The premise of this is so sweet with Nina returning to her hometown to find Quentin, her childhood neighbor and crush, has also returned. When they lost touch, Nina was so hurt and seeing him again brings back so many old feelings. Things get even more complicated when Quentin suggests they start looking for the very treasure that ruined their friendship when they were fifteen.

What I really loved about this one was how Nina and Quentin have great conversations now that they’re older, all while going on a treasure hunt. It seems trivial, but it’s such a great backdrop for their reconciliation. The tension between them is great and comes through so well. Nina and Quentin are both endearing and are such fun characters. The combination of childhood friends to lovers and second chance romance is perfect, and the journey for them to get there is excellent.

I loved the sense of adventure and that this thing they tried to do as teenagers brings them back together. The story is as fun and adventurous as it is heartwarming and emotional. Adler handles this balance so well, creating a wonderfully rounded out story. This is such a lovely romance and it’s perfect for summer.

3.5⭐️

I loved the main characters and their connection in this book. I also loved the extraneous characters. What I didn’t love and couldn’t get into was the mystery part of this book. I wasn’t interested or invested, and I found it confusing. Luckily, the whole romance-building between Nina and Quentin didn’t really require a strong understanding/investment into the mystery part of the novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I do always love the quirkiness of Adler's books, but this one didn't land as well for me. I didn't like how slow the pacing felt and how the characters handled some of the communication. I'll keep trying her books but this one wasn't a favorite.

I absolutely adored this one!

Nina’s moving back in with her parents after her contract with the university has been terminated and she and her boyfriend broke up: which now leaves her homeless since they were moving in together after years of being long distance.

Then there’s Quentin, who’s back at his dad’s old house after his engagement ended - his fiancée decided she liked his best friend better. He was working and living overseas in Paris, so coming home to find his footing and a new job is imperative.

Cue the neighbors trope. Cue the childhood best friends. Cue the miscommunication done well. After a weird friendship break up after getting caught trespassing as teenagers, and Quentin having to move with his mom during his parents’ divorce, they’re seeing each other again.

And Quentin proposes that they try and continue the treasure hunt they were doing that summer, to see if they can find the missing item and get the reward money that was promised years and years ago. So we see them slowly become friends again and work out those issues in their childhood - while also trying to figure out who they are in their current lives after what felt like an explosion of drama and breakups.

Sarah Adler has woven a beautiful romance in a way only she can: funny, hilariously awkward, sweet, tender, emotional and with a depth that just gets better and better.

This story follows Nina and Quentin - childhood best friends, estranged and then unexpectedly thrown back together. As they navigate their new adult relationship (and new feelings), they embark and the quirkiest treasure hunt - meant to guide them to understanding each other and themselves.

Written so beautifully, I loved watching both Nina and Quentin develop. Both characters needed to heal themselves, grown and understand themselves - but also learn to understand the other person, separate from who they were when they were kids. The treasure hunt was fun, if not boring at times. The romance was just beautiful - this wasn't even them falling in love, but being in love the whole time and allowing themselves to accept it.

My only issue was Nina constantly running from difficult conversations, cutting off important discussions and generally hiding her head in the sand. I'm assuming this was crafted on purpose, as a trauma response to the abandonment she experienced throughout the book.

All in all, Sarah Adler is an auto-read for me, this book is funny and sweet and just the perfect summer read.

Many thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I generally have enjoyed Sarah Adler's books and Finders Keepers was a fun time. It just wasn't my favorite of hers. Her previous books packed real emotional depth and this one just did not. I enjoyed the childhood friends to lovers/second chance elements of the romance between the two main characters, but I just was not pulled in to the treasure hunt element of the story enough to really care when it was such a central part of the storyline. I also really wanted the two main characters to communicate with one another better. I felt that Nina was far too prone to throw in the towel on anything that didn't immediately go her way, including her relationship with Quentin. I wanted to see more growth and development from Nina especially.

I voluntarily read a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed the idea of this book, it had that element that I was hoping for and enjoyed the idea of a treasure hunt in this. The concept worked well overall and had that element that I wanted in a romance novel. I thought the estrangement of the characters was realistic and worked in this universe. Sarah Adler has a strong writing style and was able to create a strong storyline.

My first read from Sarah Adler and it was a mixed bag.

The story was a bit too quirky, so the James Fountain lore and the whole treasure hunt fiasco fell flat. The end ruined the whole adventure and made it unfulfilling.

The love story and relationship between the two leads was much more palatable. I loved their fun dynamic and deep care for each other and I was rooting for them the whole way.

So yeah, mixed bag. The romance story was great but the adventure plot was borderline terrible.

I’ll keep an eye on Sarah Adler and maybe find I book I like more by her one day!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!