Wow, lol. I loved this book. It reminds me a lot of Lucy Score’s books, without the paranormal element. It’s funny yet the characters are strong, resilient women who power through although there’s also a hot cop & a sexy bartender. Definitely reading the next. #aFinlayDonovanisKillingIt #NetGalley

I never got into this series when it first came out so I'm so glad I got a chance to read via Netgalley! Thank you to the publisher & Elle Cosimano for offering them all as Read Now, what a wonderful treat!

I liked this a lot. It's a cozy style mystery, you're going to have to deal with a regular degular person doing some investigating on their own outside of an official police investigation (and sometimes alongside the police). I thought Finlay was a fun character! At the beginning I wasn't sure if I would feel for her or find her to be a hot mess in a life of her own making. I leaned more towards the former, as it seemed like her ex-husband really screwed her over.

The relationship between Finlay and Vero was one of my favorite aspects of this story. They truly have each other's backs and they also have fun together.

The mystery in this gets a tad convoluted in the middle, like was having, "where did that character come from and how do they relate to this story" kind of thoughts. But it all gets resolved in the end. This leads right into book 2.

I listened to the audio as well and thought the narrator was one of the best I've heard in a while. She did sound effects such as laughs, her different character voices were great and she packed this with the perfect emotions. Well done!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I adore Finlay! She is a mystery write who is newly divorce with children. She's trying to navigate this new life and what fun it is.

I originally borrowed the Finlay Donovan series from the library, but I loved it so much that I just had to get my own copies—thanks to NetGalley for making that possible! Finlay's adventures are such a perfect mix of humor, suspense, and charm, and I can't get enough of her. We absolutely adore Finlay and her chaotic, crime-solving life!

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Finley Donovan is my new favorite heroine. She has a terrible knack for finding herself in situations that no one wants to be in, but she also manages to find creative ways to get out of them. I wish I had a Vero in my life - she's a hoot! Overall, this is a great read for those days when you want something with a little bite but not dark and twisty. In Finley's words, neat!! I regret not picking up all of the books in this series when they were available as Read Now.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

This was a fun read that kept me entertained! I haven’t read anything like this and some parts actually had me laughing out loud. It was a page turner and there were a lot of twists so that kept my interest!
It took me a bit to like Finlay but I loved Vero!

I thought the author’s writing was great and the cliffhanger makes me excited to read the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press as well as Minotaur Books for the ebook.

I have always wanted to start this series and now I am mad that I waited so long to start. I loved the interactions between Vero and Finlay. The plot was fun, twisty and kept my guessing and laughing the whole time. I am so happy that I was able to read this and look forward to reading more books in the series.

When I heard about this, I was so excited, and it's even better than I thought. Finlay Donovan is a writer with a lot of stresses in her life, even before she's mistaken for a contract killer. Her ex is annoying, and he's already fired her babysitter, the woman who helped hold the pieces of her life together.
The mystery is interesting and clever enough. The children are messy and hilarious. And Finlay is a wonderfully sympathetic character.
Thanks to NetGalley for making this available

There’s nothing I don’t love about this series - it reminds me a bit like an updated Stephanie Plum series. I love how relatable the characters are - especially Finlay. She’s not perfect — in fact, more often than not she’s struggling through something with her ex, her kids or her conscience - but going through her tribulations with her makes us root for her more. I’ve enjoyed each entry in this series and can’t wait for more.

This was the perfect way to break up my romance book reading! Finlay is the perfect blend of a hot mess but still functioning lol
I absolutely adored this novel and could relate more times than I could count as an overstimulated mom. She was determined to make it work at all costs. This novel has some of the best humor, angst and relatable that I’ve come across in awhile.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this work of art. Cannot wait to dive into the rest of this series.

This is a cute book that kept me wanting more and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! It was funny, the characters were great, and I'd probably go for the next book in the series.
Thanks to the publisher Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the review copy!

I couldn't put it down. I remember being a single mom and my boys were about the same age as Finlay's.

As a stressed-out single-mom of two, Finlay’s life take a decidedly about face turn when she is heard discussing her latest novel plot with her agent. She is mistaken for a contract killer and is hired by the person listening to the conversation. In the mode of everything goes wrong at once, she accidently accepts the job to get rid of a problem husband.

How many things can go wrong at once? In a heated divorce settlement battle with her ex-husband, she finds out he fired her as he is paying her bills right now. The fired nanny comes to pick up her belongings thinking Finlay is not at home but is. They plot together to get back at the ex and complete the "contract" without being the ones to kill him. Writing about crime is easier than real life. Finlay uses the information to complete the novel her agent wanted.

Describing the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood makes for a wonderful read especially when mistaken identity is thrown into the mix.

I can't even really put into words how much I enjoyed this. What a hilarious way to tell a story about something that should be really dark, and instead had a heartbeat.
When we first meet Finn, she is on a struggle bus with no real end in sight. The husband has left her to be with his side piece (now fiancee?!) and she is a struggling author turned bread-winner. When she meets her agent to discuss the 'new project,' the woman sitting a table over mistakes the discussion and believes Finlay to be a literal hitwoman. She offers her $50,000 to kill her husband. And that's just the beginning. Now I, like many others, can't really be behind an MC that is killing for money. I was pretty worried this was going to turn into that, and that we were going to have to sort of ignore the bad things that were happening.... I was glad to find that it wasn't at all!
There were so many elements layered into this story--the nanny and accomplice, the Russian mob, the hot cop, the attorney bartender, ex husband and his fiancee--that if Elle had handled it any differently, it could've been a real mess. The author crafted this with care and it SHOWED. Perfect amount of sort of subtle romance being added in, too.
The cliffhanger.... ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I'm so many levels of relieved that I don't have to wait a year for the second book.
With that said, I MISS THE HOT COP, ELLE. BRING HIM BACK. LOL.

thank you to St. Martin's for the gifted copy which allowed me to check out (and fall in love with!) this story.

Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.

When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

This book was so fun. I read this as a buddy read with one of my friends, and she HATED the end. And I LOVED it. Any book that makes people feel that strong is a winner in my eyes!

This was exactly what I needed, a simple small-town murder mystery.

Struggling author Finlay Donovan attempting to navigate life after a divorce with two kids, no money, and a craptastic ex, finds herself in a tight spot when she is mistaken for an assassin.

This entire book was a series of unfortunate events..smh.

Good grief!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and Elle Cosimano for the ability to read this book and to leave my honest review.

Bravo!

This was such a FUN read. From the very first sentence, i was hooked!

Finlay is your every day mom who got herself in a little pickle.

The characters are fun and relatable.
The story line is intriguing and you truly don’t know what’s going to happen.
Not sex.
Lots of curse words- but it didn’t ruin it for me. (No crude words though)
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Running to read the next one!

I loved this book so much. It turned out to be such a different story than what I was expecting within the first few pages. I am excited to continue to series and see the layers that unravel just like an onion

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital version of this book. This was such a fun read, and now I want to read the other books in the series. This had the right mix of murder mystery, comedy, and light romance. I didn't want to put the book down as the mystery kept me interested, and the humor was sprinkled in just the right places. I recommend, and look forward to reading the other books in this series!

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and author Elle Cosimano for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

I’ve been a fan of the zany-woman-in-over-her-head-with-a-murder genre since I read my first Stephanie Plum novel more than twenty years ago. I’ve found that they can be a lot of fun, even if I end up rolling my eyes in disbelief. Elle Cosimano has written young adult books up until this point and Finlay Donovan is Killing It is her first book aimed at an adult audience.

Finlay Donovan’s life is a disaster. Her ex-husband left her for Theresa, a blonde real estate agent, and is seeking custody of their two young children. Finlay is an author and although she has an agent, she hasn’t met with much success just yet. She thanks God every time her minivan actually starts and has to call Steve, the ex-husband, to get the electricity turned back on when it’s shut off.

On a morning when everything seems to be going wrong, Finlay meets with her agent at a local Panera Bread. She’s coming up with a deadline for an advance for a book she’s already received (and spent), and she hasn’t written anything yet. Over coffee, she rattles off an idea for a plot and is overheard by a woman sitting nearby, who mistakes Finlay for a contract killer and offers her $50,000 to take out her husband.

The book follows Finlay as she wavers about whether she wants to kill him or not. The money is so tempting, and she finds out he’s not such a nice guy. Still, the thought of murdering someone in cold blood doesn’t sit so well with her, until it happens. Did she accidentally cause his death? Or was there someone else involved?

Finlay Donovan is Killing It is a rather convoluted tale, but it’s a fun one. I could sympathize with Finlay, although I think any divorce court would have given her a much better deal. She’s getting a raw deal from her ex-husband and is overwhelmed with what life is throwing at her. Fifty thousand dollars could mean she gets to keep her kids. Steven fired their nanny, Vero, who shows up at Finlay’s house to collect her things and becomes involved in the murder for hire. Vero is the buddy Finlay needs to prod her along, as well as help her get her life together. When Vero uses the down payment to pay off all of Finlay’s bills, there’s no looking back.

There’s some romance as Finlay is set up by her sister, who is a police officer, with another police officer who just happens to be working on the case of a missing local couple. The wife is the woman who hired Finlay and she knows where the husband is. There’s a lot of tension here. At the same time, Finlay meets a bartender who is studying law and who has a sympathetic ear. Both men are hot and Finlay is single.

It took a while to figure out what happened as there were many red herrings along the way. I had many different suspects, and it didn’t help that the victim in question had ties to the Russian mob. The story was fun to follow, though, and it wasn’t so outrageous that I found it unbelievable. Finlay has a good heart, she’s just in a very rough spot at this point in time. From the beginning to the end of the book, there’s a transformation in her as she gains confidence in herself, which she lost when her husband left her.

This is the first book in a series where all of the books were offered to me as advanced reader copies. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. As the first adult fiction book of Elle Cosimano, it’s quite good and a lot of fun.