The premise is interesting- a famous landmark and man in town creates a treasure hunt before he dies. Now decades later adult Nina and Quentin decide to search for it again. They attempted the search when they were younger and neighbors living with their parents. Now life’s circumstances have them both back home and living at their parents, right next door to each other.

Nina is a super awkward, very introspective, uncomfortable female lead. And Quentin is a very attractive, confident male lead. They have a predictable slow burn/second chance romance.

Nina does this interesting best case? worst case? most likely case? thing she learned from her therapist... which was ok the first time or two but the internal dialogue got to be a bit much.

Then there's a whole history portion set up where the reader sees the transcript of an interview with the aforementioned “famous” townsmen. And he makes up a whole pretend universe. It’s very unusual.

There is language throughout and a very awkward sex scene.

Finders Keepers is the funniest book I've read... ever? I was giggling from page 1 and had to force myself not to highlight every single line that made me laugh because otherwise I'd never finish. But beyond the hilarious lines and moments, this is a heartfelt book that hit me in all my feelings. Quentin and Nina (and the French accent moon) have a forever place in my heart!

A sweet and quirky read that still carries Sarah Adler’s signature charm, even if it doesn’t quite live up to her previous books. Finders Keepers has plenty of heart and humor, though it drags a bit in the middle and the third-act breakup felt more obligatory than earned. Still, the characters are likable, the premise is fun, and I smiled more than once. Not my favorite from Adler, but definitely cute enough to recommend to fellow fans of theirs.

I really enjoyed this latest from fav author Sarah Adler that sees two former best friends back in their home town after life throws them each curve balls. With nothing else to do they decide to resume their past search for rumored treasure - the thing that caused a rift between them 17 years ago. Full of adventures, emotional depth and a bit of real life history, this was a fun second chance friends to lovers romance that was excellent on audio narrated by Mara Wilson. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review.

**This book comes out on June 24th! Preorder! Check out from your library! Do all the things!

**Endless thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC!

Nina has lost everything she worked so hard for: her career, her boyfriend, her apartment, and her life in Boston. So she moves back home to her childhood bedroom in the small town in Maryland to live with her parents (temporarily, she swears). Feeling like she’s at rock bottom, it only gets worse when she runs into her childhood best friend that ghosted her for seventeen years, and he wants to continue the treasure hunt they started when they were teenagers.

I loved loved LOVED this book. Being inside Nina’s head was so much fun and yet still so grounded. Her connection with Quentin is palpable and getting tidbits of their childhood history thrown in was such a joy. It reminded me a lot of You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle - without all the antagonism (okay, maybe a little).

Nina has lived her life by what she thinks it should be and oh boy, could I relate. Joining her on this journey of self-discovery and overcoming one of the toughest setbacks of her life was such a pleasure. And her relationship with Quentin was fun fun fun. I loved them both, I loved them together, I loved this book.

I can’t forget to shout out the side characters! Nina’s parents and her friends Sabrina and Hanako were a blast. Her parents especially were very entertaining.

Finders Keepers is heartwarming and adorable, but above all FUN. I enjoyed every moment of it.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley for the e-ARC!

4.5 ⭐ This was Sarah Adler's best work yet! The characters were relatable- estranged friends who reconnect after almost 20 years of silence embark on a treasure hunt from their past.

I think the representation of the FMC's catastrophizing of worst case scenarios was highly relatable and I loved that she was able to overcome her fears. The banter was bantering. The tension? Yes! The yearning? Absolutely. I absolutely loved every minute of this.

I would highly recommend this if you love- second chance romance, childhood friends to lovers, swoon worthy dialogue and yearning.

Such a sweet story, with some truly laugh out loud dialogue! It may not have had the constant zingers found in Happy Medium, but it combines its charm with all the heart from Mrs. Nash’s Ashes. It’s an amazing combination, and only further solidifies Sarah Adler as one of my favorite new voices in contemporary romance/rom-coms. Thanks to Berkley for the ARC.

Treasure hunting with your estranged crush who is now incredibly attractive and conveniently (or inconveniently?!) living next door? I was sold pretty quickly. I have come to enjoy second chance storylines with friends turned "enemies".

Overview: Nina returns to her childhood home after everything that could go wrong does. She loses her job, breaks off her engagement to her long term boyfriend, and becomes homeless all within a few days. What was meant to be a few weeks looking for work turns into a surprise reunion and treasure hunting with a teen crush she hasn't seen in 17 years.

Quentin is also in tricky circumstances and living at his childhood home next door to Nina. He proposes a truce and asks Nina to continue the treasure hunt they were doing before trust was broken and their friendship turned to crap.

Overall a really fun storyline with slap stick humor, which I do enjoy for the most part. There were situations that had me cackling and then others that had me cringing. I appreciated that Quentin wasn't described as a "Greek God" and that he sounded like an "average" guy. There can only be so many MMCs with chiseled abs and a perfect face and overly large package... gets a bit old. So Quentin fit the bill for a more realistic male character. Nina also came across as pretty realistic, especially with her overly anxious mind.

3 stars means I liked the book, but would only recommend to people I think would enjoy it. There was a lot to like and then some things in the plot and humor that didn't resonate with me. Some parts felt like they dragged a bit, while others felt like I couldn't read fast enough. Overall an enjoyable book!

Decently written. However, the plot was a little silly, the characters weren’t all that relatable and we spent way too much time rattling around in the main character’s head. She seemed quite emotionally immature and couldn’t get an accurate read on the adult version of the boy she’d once known so well. She talked about the professionally successful version of herself but I couldn’t for the life of me see it reflected in the character who was telling the story. All that said, I did finish it and I didn’t hate it as a quick, light read.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley for the e-ARC! I thought this was a really cute contemporary romance. A story of two childhood friends who find themselves back in their hometown at the same time after years of distance and no communication between them. The treasure hunt aspect was okay for me but didn’t seem to add much to the plot one way or another. The conflicts could have been easily resolved through clearer communication so if you hate miscommunication be warned 😅 But with that being said, I thought the second chance romance was done well and the pacing was not too fast or slow. I’d recommend for a quick palate cleanser!

I just finished Finders Keepers by Sarah Adler, and honestly, it’s such a feel-good, quirky read. The story revolves around this group of pretty oddball but lovable characters who get caught up in the chaos of a missing pet—yeah, it sounds simple, but it turns into this funny, heartfelt exploration of friendship, community, and all those messy moments life throws at us.

What really stuck with me was how Adler balances humor with some genuinely touching scenes. The characters feel real and flawed, which makes their ups and downs easy to relate to. Plus, the story moves at a great pace, with plenty of little surprises that keep you hooked without feeling heavy.

If you’re into books that are warm and light but still have depth, this one’s a solid pick. It’s like that comforting story you didn’t know you needed—funny, a bit chaotic, but ultimately about finding connection in unexpected places.

first experience with this author and i had a good time! solid 3.5 stars, will look for more from this author in the future

I absolutely love all of Sarah Adler’s books so much!!! The banter, depth, wit, adventure, and love always pours off the pages! I loved this story so much! Nina and Quentin have the sweetest relationship; I love how they are second chance friends, first chance lovers in this story! they have so much love and tenderness built up for each other and going around on a fun, extravagant, hilarious treasure hunt brings all that right to the surface, as well as some feelings about their lives and relationships. I just found this book so fun, cozy, adventurous, hilarious, lovely, and fully engaging right to the last page!

thank you for the arc!!!

I would like to thank Net Galley and Berkley Press for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. To me, this book is just ok. It is a rom com of 2 people who used to be friends, and then had a falling out. Now some 10 years later, they are back in their old home town ( as next doo neighbors again). Both have had recent downfalls in life, loss of job, significant other, etc. They decide to take on a treasure hunt . The back story is that a wealthy man who loved in their area, had hidden something in his estate ,that would be with 10 Thousand dollars to whoever found it. They had tried once before, and that is what led to the end of their friendship. So it is an interesting premise, but to me the characters were not likeable nor compelling. It jsut wasn't for me.

If anyone was going to get me to enjoy second chance romance it was this author! Their banter was UNMATCHED and I loved the treasure hunting as a secondary story.

A great summer read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

This was a fun romance novel, and I enjoyed it a lot. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

I loved this book, which was no surprise. Sarah Adler is a master at balancing humor and emotionality and I will always pick up anything she writes. I love the way her characters physicality is palpable and fleshed and I think that they just hit you in the gut and are really grounded. I think that balance is wonderfully done, especially when you have the clever humor flowing throughout the story.

What I enjoyed a lot about this story was the characterization of Nina. The way her anxiety manifested onto the page felt very close to home and I appreciated the portrayal of those feelings. Alongside that, I felt like I could relate to her heavily with the over-achieverness and the constant feeling of always wanting to be striving towards the next best thing. I think that a lot of people who pick this up will be able to relate to that feeling. I liked how she displayed her emotions, and the physicality bursting off the page- she just felt very real to me. (Shoutout to when she was laying on her bed thrashing a bit to get the angry feels out. I felt very seen there haha)

With Quentin, I feel like right away when you meet him you get to see the glimmers of his love for Nina, and I liked all the small showings that were peppered in build the slow burn. I liked his boldness, and tongue in cheek behavior. He felt like the perfect foil for Nina. He grounded her in a way that still left room for whimsy, and it makes me smile to think about their interactions throughout the story. Had me feeling like EEEEEEEK!!!! haha

For the romance between them, I think that the way that they were with each other felt soothingly comforting and familiar, but not stale. I like the idea of knowing someone so well, and how that manifests when your relationship changes, and that played out wonderfully here. It made me giggly swoony when he called her Neen and you just know right away it has always been her, will always be her. You get that familiarity and it is not stagnant, but full of passion and compassion. I loved feeling the desperate yearn with them. You could see the genuine care Quentin had for Nina, whether he was with her or not. I think this is one of the best friends-to-lovers I have read in a long time. I feel like this trope can often be very frustrating, but with this story, I felt excited by uncovering the past between them, and reconciling who they are now. It kept me turning the pages and the slower burn and payoff was well worth it. I would not say that the love scenes were overly-explicit, but they felt just right for this story, and they were not out of place, overdrawn and disengaging- they were very sensual and steamy and like I have said, you could feel the love and care and that is what made it exciting to me.

Special shout out to Nina’s mom; she was really funny and just very mom-like. The quirk factor with the enigmatic Julius and the Fountain Seltzer empire was fun to unravel and I liked that though the treasure hunt was a huge plot point, it did not overshadow everything else for me. I felt that it was balanced really well with the interpersonal conflicts and romantic parts of the story. It was fun to try solve, and I really liked the descriptions of the estate. I would love a dreamy star room myself!

Overall, I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a romance that is deliciously swoony with a heavy dose of smart humor and a bit of mystery as well.

4.5 ⭐️
This one was so cute! Friends to lovers and second chance romance are some of my favorite tropes and I think Sarah did a great job with Quentin and Nina. They were both so quirky and funny. I found myself laughing a lot throughout at the self talk in Nina’s head and the banter between the characters. The story was told from only Nina’s perspective so we never know what’s in Quentin’s head. But I liked that aspect of it because I had to figure out what I thought he was thinking just like Nina did. The slow burn was so good! I couldn’t wait for them to finally get together after all these years! The treasure hunt was such a cute aspect of the book that added a little bit of mystery that kept me turning the pages! I really enjoyed this one!

So I was hoping to like this more than I did, but there were still cute parts that I enjoyed. It was my first book by this author and I still want to read Mrs Nash’s Ashes because my trusted bookstagram friend loved it. That fact was the reason I grabbed this one when I saw it.

Nina is a professor who is now jobless and single. She was supposed to move in with her boyfriend but is now living with her parents. She is surprised to learn that her childhood neighbor friend (and crush), Quinton, is also back in town. He wants to resume a treasure hunt that ended their relationship almost 20 yrs ago.

I just felt like this was slow and It just didn't feel realistic to me. The treasure hunt was just too cheesy. There were some cute parts but other times it felt forced. Not a bad read, just not a favorite.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Nina and Quentin were childhood best friends, but they haven't spoken for 17 years. When things fall apart in Nina's life because she loses her job, breaks up with her boyfriend, and needs a place to live, she moves home with her parents. She's surprised to see that Quentin is living next door again. They used to spend so much time together until they had a falling out when they were searching for buried treasure. Quentin has moved home to renovate this childhood home, and he has also lost his job recently and ended an engagement. When he sees Nina again, he convinces her to continue their treasure hunt.

Quentin and Nina had such great banter, and I really enjoyed seeing them work through their past hurts. Nina's anxiety rep was well written because I could feel her anxiety through the pages. I also liked the slow burn of the story because they had both just gotten out of relationships, and I think that they shouldn't jump into something.

What didn't work for me was the plot of the story. I don't want to give out spoilers, so I'll just say that the miscommunication really brought the story down. My enjoyment of the story diminished when I discovered more miscommunication.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.