Thank you all for this early gifted copy of Finlay Donovan Jumps The Gun!

Finlay has been a favorite story and character in my home for the last year. Funny, quirky and different. This book is my least favorite of the stories so far, and I think that’s because it felt a little dull. The story felt like a filler for the most part, and almost like it was more about Vero than Finlay. There were also so many new characters to keep track of on top of previous ones.

I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others to read. And I will definitely be continuing to read Finlay’s story as it comes!

One of my favorite detective duos is back!

This one answers a few of our burning questions from the first two books, and sets us up for more questions in the next in the series! You definitely need to read this series in order and this cannot be read as a standalone.

I love the banter and relationship between Finlay and Vero, but just didn't love this book overall. Almost the whole story takes place at a police academy training for citizens while the two are in hiding and researching for Finlay's next book.

This book moves quickly but I found myself putting this down a lot and it just didn't have the same spark as the first two for me. It definitely felt like a filler book to answer some questions, move things along. Many subplots tied things up neatly but really just added to reading like filler.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun
by Elle Cosimano

Overall 5
Spice 3

• Comedic and Cute
• Less Mom Humor
• Slow Burn
• Third Book in an Unfinished Series
• Cliffhanger
• Found Family
• Consequences and choices
• Mystery
• Pop culture references (more than in any book but I didn’t hate it too much)
• Must Read in Order

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Netgalley for ARC of Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, by Elle Cosimano. This book is the third in a series and this is a must read in order series. No skipping around.
I expected this to be the end of the line for Fin and Vero but it’s nowhere close. This book plays with the possibility of ending things smoothly however… the course of love (and lies) never did run smooth.
Without any spoilers …another great mystery and comedy of errors await you in book 3. Again, Elle manages to avoid the sophomore slump and tedious trio and keeps things engaging entertaining and with a twist I somehow didn’t see coming. Leaving us on another semi cliffhanger I have questions… so many questions…. But I can’t wait for book 4.
I’m watching you Steven.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun

I’ll love Finlay forever. I’ll never forget being absolutely obsessed with the first one! It will always be my favorite. Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun is the third in the series, and I liked it. At first, I was bored/confused by the storyline, but it got better in the last half.

I’m 10000% team Nick + Finlay. I love them together. The fact that Finlay’s writing mirrors her real life is so fun, and I feel like she’s going to have a lot of material moving forward. 👀

I thought the book was going to wrap up everything in a nice + tidy bow, but no… there has to be a fourth one now. I need answers! 😳

bookish things:
🔫series (not stand alone - read in order)
🔫slow burn
🔫 mystery + rom com
🔫 A CLIFFHANGER ending!!!

Listen, between my library holds, the physical stack of unread books in my house, and the hidden stack of books on my Kindle, I have a lot of books and waiting for me to acknowledge their presence and read them. I try not to browse NetGalley too often, because it only makes the problem worse. So know when I shoved all of them aside for an uncorrected digital galley of Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun it was for a good reason.

This is the third installment of the Finlay Donovan series and will be released on January 31. And let me tell you, this was exactly the right book for me at this point in time. I think it’s hard to capture the magic of the first book. I mean, it was such a fresh and original idea—how do you top that? The answer is that you don’t, but you do give fans exactly what they want. And that’s what Elle Cosimano does here.

You want more Finlay and Vero content? You got it. You want mystery plus a healthy dose of humor? Absolutely. You want more scenes between Finlay and Nick? Done. You want to be nervous because everything could come crashing down around our female leads? That’s here too. The bonus for me was that this book is set at a “citizen’s police academy.” This sounds very much like what Cosimano once described at an author event—although the camp she attended wasn’t for mere citizens, but rather for authors so that when they wrote about police investigations they did so with some knowledge. It was fun to kind of see behind the scenes.

In any case, I think this book was a blast and if you have liked the previous installments of this series you’ll like this one too.

This was a fun and fast read. I enjoyed catching up with Finlay and crew on their latest mis-adventures. I loved the action and antics that Vero and Finlay unwittingly find themselves in. I especially enjoyed the police training aspect of this storyline. Also, the chemistry between Finlay and Nick really heats up in this instrument. I’m not always a fan of books with cliffhangers-but I am excited to read what’s next for Finlay Donovan.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I really, really enjoy the sage of Finlay, her happenstance into crime, her friendship with the full of life, off the pages Vero, and of course, the hot cop, Nick.

Finlay's story continues with the need to uncover the identity of Mr. Clean....under the eyes of basically all the suspects...in a Police Academy for citizens. No loss of hijinks to be had.

Cosimano does a wonderful job of unfolding the story, just enough, to want the reader to beg for the next chapter, the next book.

Already cannot wait to see where the story goes....again.

Another Finlay book that doesn't disappoint! This series is just fun, entertaining and a quick read that will have you hooked from the first page. Definitely recommend reading these in order to really absorb all the details.

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to @minotaurbooks and @netgalley for my gifted copy of Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, by Elle Cosimano. This book is out in 2023, and is the third in a series. You will definitely encounter spoilers if you read these out of order, so I’d recommend starting with the first one. Be warned, you may encounter spoilers if you continue reading my review.

Synopsis: 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.

I’m here to tell you, friends, that Cosimano has continued to be a hilarious, well-thought out writer. Finlay is still one of my favorite characters I’ve read about! She’s a hoot, and her and Vero’s antics are something else, especially while they were at the police academy. I’m already looking forward to Cosimano’s next book, and devouring it as quickly as I can!

I will add one more tidbit to this - if it’s been a while since you’ve last read a Finlay Donovan book, I’d do some rereading or at least refreshing before starting Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun. I was still fuzzy on some details, and wish I had done some rereading.

Vaguely remiinscent of early Stephanie Plum novels, Finlay Donovan is a fresh new, hilarious lead. Her wit and charm make up for a lack of cohesive storyline.

Ok ok ok…I’m obsessed with the Finlay Donovan series and the third book did NOT disappoint!

A struggling author failing to provide an adequate plot/storyline for her agent finds herself tangled with the mob as she kind of dates a cop and deep dives into HANDS ON research (with her nanny…*ahem…accountant) for her murder mystery book. It’s everything you want with a Desperate Housewives meets Agatha Christie vibe. *chefs kiss*

The twists and turns, the laugh out loud circumstances (turn super intense), the confusion between who’s an ally or an enemy…not to mention the slow burn romance?!? 🔥 It DEF left room for a fourth book which I *fingers crossed* hope it’s already being written!!!

Thank you St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

Finlay is an absolute gem! Thank you to @minotaur @netgalley and @ellecosimano for the #arc to review.

Once again we're taken on a laugh out loud adventure with Finlay and Vero. Zhirov is becoming impatient with Finlay for not doing the task he's assigned her fast enough, and is threatening to turn over more than enough evidence of prior shenanigans to put her away for a lifetime.

The third installment of Finlay was the most memorable for me. Getting to know Vero on a more personal level, Finlay giving in to a few of her wants (finally!), and her ex husband with a few tricks up his sleeves in the hopes she will return to him. A court room mock trial that made me giggle and gasp, and an ending I didn't see coming!

Finlay is becoming a favorite series for me. I absolutely adore Stephanie Plum and the One For the Money series, so this is a fresh take and a wild new adventure that keeps to the heart of fun, and memorable adventure series!

I have found the three books in this series to be highly entertaining, totally outrageous, funny, absurd, and great escapes. I believe this is just what the author intends for her readers: pure enjoyment. I look forward to the next one!

This is such a fun series. I love the characters of Finlay, a now-divorced mom of two young children and a romantic suspense novelist, and her nanny/accountant Vero. They are both in big trouble. Vero owes money to a bad guy for a mistake/misunderstanding, and Finlay also accidentally got into debt with the mob boss Feliks. What he wants from her, while he’s sitting in jail and his lawyer and other henchmen are free to hurt her and her family, is for her to discover a hitman who uses the moniker EasyClean on the dark web for various jobs. One of the people EasyClean was supposed to kill was Finlay’s ex-husband. While Stephen isn’t the greatest guy in the world, he is the father of her children, and she worked hard to keep him alive, which is what landed her in her current predicament.

When the opportunity to spend a week at a citizen’s police academy arises, Finlay and Vero think that hiding out with a bunch of well-armed cops while they figure a way out of their messes is a good idea. It doesn’t hurt that hot cop Nick, who is still recovering from his injuries, is running the thing.

There is a lot of humor in all of these books, which should be read in sequence. I don’t remember the first two ending with quite such a cliffhanger, but it’s still super fun.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 31, 2023.

Might be my favorite book of the series. I thought this was the final installment, but there’s a nice cliffhanger at the end, so there’s hope…. Finlay was at her best, as were Vero and Nick. Fun reprisals of characters from books 1 & 2, and many new faces. I may have especially enjoyed this having read books 1 & 2, but this can be read as a stand alone.

Thank you #MacMillanPublishing and #NetGalley for the ARC e-book!

I like Finlay. I like Vero. I like Georgia and Nick. I even like poor innocent (I think he’s innocent) Javi. But I can’t truly say that I’m in love with the “series” of Finlay Donovan books. Book number one was by far my favorite; number two fell flat; and number three was just mediocre to me. If the trilogy continues into more books in the series, I’d like to suggest an exotic location, perhaps, or something to make it more unique. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the parallelism between the three books is too much for any one book to truly stand out.

3 ⭐️

CW: fire, gun violence, discussion of dismemberment, murder

This is the 3rd book in a series. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say I was pretty disappointed with this book. I loved the first 2 books.

This one just seemed like a filler book in a series that didn’t really offer too much. The humor and some of the mishap is definitely in the book so that was enjoyable.

Here is my biggest issues:
1. There has never been and will never be a civilian police academy for a week In a form like setting with active police officers teaching civilians things like forensics, shooting, how to handle a murder investigation or Court process and in fact it seems pretty counter intuitive to teach the community how cops function so they can commit crimes and get away with them. How is this even possible or likely?

2. Finlay leaves her kids with 2 cops that she is investigating for the possibility that they are hit men, hello——- nope as a mom that would never happen

So I was just frustrated because this book seemed to fail into lazy writing patterns with the hopes of capitalizing on the other 2 books sucking in readers to read this one.

There will be more books and I’m honestly on the fence if I will continue.

I can't get enough of this series! I was struggling to select something to read and thought, "This will make me laugh," and I couldn't have been more correct. With laugh-out-loud hi-jinks, this series continues in a stellar fashion.

In book number three, with see Finlay and Vero off to the citizen's police academy. Under the guise of research for her next book, Finlay is really on the hunt for a dirty cop she suspects is the contract killer who evaded her in the last book. Finlay and Vero at essentially a sleep away camp for adults with Finlay's hot cop love interest a few rooms away and her ex attempting to watch the kids? What could possibly go wrong?

While the ending had some messiness--likely an unnecessary sacrifice to set up book number four--the rest of the book had me smiling and enthralled. While not as steamy as the Stephanie Plum series, it does give the bestselling books a run for for the money with an original concept that the author has made work for a long run.

Thanks to Minotaur Books for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

I would love to interview Elle on my podcast! Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun is a hilarious thriller/comedy book. Finlay accidentally stumbles into a mystery when someone else asks her for a deadly favor. This book is charming and fast-paced.

Finlay's got writer's block and Feliks, of the Russian mob, is still keeping a close eye on her and Vero, her friend / live-in nanny / accountant. Nick is still around too; but will Finlay feel ready to take the plunge into what's between them?

This is a fully continuous series - that definitely needs to be read, in order, before beginning this title.

Fun and funny, this third title in the Finlay Donovan series I found to be a little slower paced in parts but still enjoyable.

Looking forward to the next.