Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano -> Restarting May 26th, 2025

[Alaina]

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.

Fast-paced, deliciously witty, and wholeheartedly authentic in depicting the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood in all its messiness, hilarity, and heartfelt moment, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a brilliant new series from YA Edgar Award nominee Elle Cosimano.

[Kelly]

Started this earlier, I'm almost done :)

[Kelly]

Ch 10 - (view spoiler)[I didn't know anything about this book before starting it but I'm liking the plot, it's fun (hide spoiler)]
Ch 21 - (view spoiler)[ Why do I feel like they might need that new big trunk ? lol (hide spoiler)]
Ch 28 - (view spoiler)[Yeah writing about her crime wasn't her smartest move. (hide spoiler)]
Ch 39 - (view spoiler)[He.. shot himself? wait what? (hide spoiler)]
Finished - (view spoiler)[Okay this was pretty good, and I can't wait for book 2! I want to know more about that lawyer of hers. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

yay! Love that you loved it! I'll be starting soon!

[Trisha]

Kelly wrote: "Ch 10 - [spoilers removed]"

Yes!(view spoiler)[ it's really cute, I'm loving it too!
I really don't like her exhusand though. who tells the nanny she can only keep her job if she sleeps with him. Ewww! Love that she jumped right in to help though. Cuz this girl needs some help! lol (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Kelly wrote: "Ch 21 - [spoilers removed]"

well(view spoiler)[ they can't get a new car every time they kill someone and stick them in it!! LOL I guess her minivan gets an upgrade next?!
l love this so far. it's silly but also real. her marital and exhusband issues are awful - but holy crap she has done EVERYTHING to frame Theresa so far! I hope she doesn't end up getting her arrested or killed?! and I can't believe Vero took the next hit! Yikes! I wonder who will stop by to help kill this guy? (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Kelly wrote: "Ch 28 - [spoilers removed]"

oh my gosh(view spoiler)[ I love that she wrote about it!! and it made her so much money so far! I love that she's found her groove back

I can't believe she's okay talking to her ex and helping him - she has a far bigger heart than I would have. I can't believe HE's cheating again.

and yikes about the Aimee bit. I guess we know now that it was probably those two. I wondered since Theresa would have already known how to pop the garage...but it sure is a coincidence

I wonder what she IS doing with that other guy though and what's with the money!? definitely something more going on there. I love Finlay has completely framed her though (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Kelly wrote: "Ch 39 - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I'm totally not going to try to figure out the logistics of that too much
I love that they also piled all the bodies on top of each other - easier to find all in one big swoop lol who does that?!

at least they got away (and she gets to take credit for killing another guy and gets EVEN MORE MONEY! LOL)
and her ex, he can just go cry at his new company. he was such a jerk when she ended up with money and he was all mad!!

omg and that article talking about her book! woops! lol (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Kelly wrote: "Finished - [spoilers removed]"

and I loved it (view spoiler)[ this was so fun! I love Vero and I loved her attorney underwear model! I love how she stumbled in to these conclusions but was an all around good person!

there will be a book 2 right?! Because I'd absolutely read it!! Who would put a hit out on her exhusband?....hmmmm (hide spoiler)]

[Kelly]

Trisha wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Finished - [spoilers removed]"

."

(view spoiler)[ahah I loved your comments and I was wondering what your reaction would be like when you saw there's the hit on the guy you hated ^^ (hide spoiler)]

[Kelly]

Yeah, I hope there's a book 2 coming up, I don't see why not :)

[Trisha]

Yes!! I just saw that it had a series title!!! I loved it! Can't wait to get my grabby hands on #2 lol

[Aly]

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RESTARTING JANUARY 12TH, 2023

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[Melanie]

Started this tonight.

Chapters 1-11
(view spoiler)[
I am loving this so far. The set up for this is great and that scene at the Panera was hilarious and I can see how Patricia got the wrong idea about Finn.

The scene where Vero walks in on Finn with the body was hilarious and I love that she said she'd help and haggled for 40%.

I'm interested to see where Finn wants to bury the body.
(hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

I'm loving this.

Chapters 12-22
(view spoiler)[
Finn and Vero are oddly good at this whole thing. I like how logical Vero is and that's she taking charge of things. Also, what are they going to do about the second job they accepted?

I'm so curious about what happened to Patricia. Where did she go? Did she run or did the people her husband worked with find her?
(hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

Finished this one.

Chapters 23-33
(view spoiler)[
Things are getting complicated for Finn and Vero. I wonder how Theresa is involved? She's clearly got something to do with what's going on.

Nick is a nice addition. There's great chemistry between him and Finn. She also has great chemistry with Julian too. I like them both.
(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 34-44
(view spoiler)[
Damn, they really managed to pull all that off without getting caught. And I loved how they managed to complete the Andrei job by accident when he confronted them at the farm.
(hide spoiler)]

I loved this one. I need to buy book 2 now so I can read it sometime soon.

[Kira]

Chapter 1-8: (view spoiler)[Despite my reservations this is quite entertaining so far, I am liking Finlay's character way too much and immediately started hating Steven. The whole scene with Finlay getting the note and leading upto the moment she had the man in her car was absolutely hilarious. I am curious to find out if she'd actually turn in the man to her sister or something completely opposite is about to happen (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 9-19: (view spoiler)[It's somewhat creepy how calm and collected Vero was since the moment she saw Harris' body in the garage and considering they buried him in Steven's home and Finn used Theresa's name at the bar, I am thinking this is going to cause some problems for the couple in the future. Finn and Vero have landed themselves in some deep shit with this whole mafia thing, I certainly wasn't expecting this to escalate so much so soon but it IS getting better and better and I am having a lot of fun! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 20-28: (view spoiler)[Damn Theresa is more deeply involved in this all than I had thought, I wonder if Finn and Vero are in the right direction with their theory of Theresa and Aimee being the one who snuck up and killed Harris that day. Why would Theresa be working for Feliks though and why did she have such a large sum of money? Irina sounds pretty dangerous to me ngl, the way she accepts to "taking care" of Patricia terrified me. Nick is interesting and I am confused whether I want to see Finn with him or Julian. Finn did a great job with landing such an amazing book deal though! (hide spoiler)]

[Kira]

Chapter 29-36: (view spoiler)[Ok so what if Feliks is interested in the farm because he knows that Harris was buried there? I am wondering why hasn’t Theresa said anything to Finlay if she knows that Finn is involved as well. I feel so bad for her tbh, she is in so much trouble now. Nick and her share a pretty amazing chemistry and I am excited to see their relationship progress. (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[That was a lot of twists and turns and mind blowing way by which Finlay and Vero managed to escape unscathed. Nick being hurt upon reading the news article was kinda understandable but they did have a pretty huge blowout because of it. I am still rooting for Finn and Nick if I am being honest here. Vero and Finlay have developed a strange sort of friendship which I am liking a lot and this whole wrap up was amazing ngl with the epilogue making me pumped for the next book (hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

I'm glad you enjoyed this one Kira! Let me know if you have any interest in buddy reading the second book.

[Kira]

I plan to read in soon Melanie! And the third book as well once it releases on 31st! Shall we have this thread changed to a series thread?

[Melanie]

Kira wrote: "I plan to read in soon Melanie! And the third book as well once it releases on 31st! Shall we have this thread changed to a series thread?"

Perfect. Yes, I'll go request this thread be changed over to a series one.

[Kira]

Thank you! Excited to pick up book 2 soon!

[Ellen-Arwen]

Chapters 1 -10
(view spoiler)[ Wow, this got going so quickly! I mean, we go from babysitting problems to murder (or manslaughter but with drug abuse and stalking) within only 10 chapters! I really thought she was going to hand the guy in, but - oops! - he died.

I'm fascinated as to why Vero is so eager to be in on it. The scene where she walked in on Finlay was hilarious - I agree with you Melanie. Immediately goes to haggling! But I think it's gotta be more than just student debt...

Looking forward to finding how she gets rid of the body hehe (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

Chapters 11-20
(view spoiler)[

Okay, so I thought she was going to do something clever with the body considering her extensive knowledge of covering up murders from her writing expertise ;) But I like the fact that he's buried on Stephen's land - he's easy to hate.

This is escalating SO fast, what with the mafia and the fact that they're even CONSIDERING the other murder for $750,000! I would be determined to never do anything like it again.

And I agree with you, Melanie - it's freaky how calm they are! Also, Finlay writing up the story as her novel, even with the names changed... isn't that going to end up in some trouble? Well, if that doesn't, then pretending to be Theresa is...

SO many things to go wrong lol, really fun! (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

Ah, I finished it but didn't manage to write any more comments as I went along - too hard to put down! Great fun read, thanks for the recommendation Kira :)

Chapters 21-30 (view spoiler)[
I didn't think Theresa was going to actually be involved - I thought she was kind of harmless tbh! And Irina is flipping terrifying, Patricia was 'taken care of' - I was seriously freaked at that point. I really felt for Finlay and Vero at this point because they were trying SO HARD to back out of the second assassination, but they literally couldn't! (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 30- end
(view spoiler)[ Omg. when they Nick was looking for a warrant to dig up the farm I was like NOOOOOOO! And then there were all Feliks' other victims there! That was kind of horrific lol.

So many twists and turns at the end, literally couldn't put it down! I agree that Vero and Finlay's friendship is something I'm really down for - but I still feel like maybe Vero's motive to get involved isn't quite strong enough?

The epilogue made me SQUEE, looking forward to the next one :D (hide spoiler)]

Assuming you guys bought ebooks, how much did it cost? Just out of interest!

[Melanie]

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RESTARTING MAY 26TH, 2025

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[Ellen-Arwen]

Ooh, I need to read past the first book, I'll pick up with you for the series read if that's okay? :)

[Jamie]

Absolutely!! The more the merrier! :)

[BabyLunLun]

Chapter 1-12 (view spoiler)[ are they seriously gonna get away with burying a dead body?? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 13-24 (view spoiler)[ who killed Harris???!!!!(view spoiler)[

Chapter 24-34 (view spoiler)[ Theresa is really up to no good but who is her accomplice if not Amy (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 25 - Chapter 34 (view spoiler)[ Theresa is really up to no good but if Amy is not involved then who is Theresa's accomplice? (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[BabyLunLun]

Chapter 25-34 (view spoiler)[ Theresa sounds like she is up to no good but who is her accomplice if not Amy (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 35-End (view spoiler)[ Interested to know how the love triangle will go and oops Steven is next. (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

Oh my goodness, I forgot about this series! thanks for the reminder although I'm very behind sorry :(

[Jamie]

keeping alive...

[BabyLunLun]

Chapter 1 - 13 (view spoiler)[ Steven is such an asshole. Why does Finlay even tolerate him . Of course he don't deserve to die but ugh (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 14 -25 (view spoiler)[they always have to bump into another dead body (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 26- 40 (view spoiler)[ who the hell os fed up (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 41 - End (view spoiler)[I like how we have a continuation to the story and maybe we might know more about Vero back story in the next book (hide spoiler)]

[Ellen-Arwen]

I do hope to get to this series sometime, thanks for keeping it alive - hopefully I will respond to your thoughts at some point BabyLunLun *fingers crossed*

[Trisha]

I've LOVED this series!!

Did you guys see it's still going? We have a new one coming in 2026!

[Ellen-Arwen]

Trisha wrote: "I've LOVED this series!!

Did you guys see it's still going? We have a new one coming in 2026!

"

I look forward to getting to all of them when I get round to book 2 first lol. Exciting though!

[Jamie]

keeping alive...

[Jamie]

keeping alive...

[BabyLunLun]

Ok time for the next book!!

[Ellen-Arwen]

I'm sorry; I'm not going to be able to get round to this series in the foreseeable future, so I'm bowing out. I've totally overcommitted myself and it's just stressing me out - big apologies!

[Jamie]

keeping alive...

[BabyLunLun]

Chapter 1 - 11 (view spoiler)[ Police Academy is going to be fun (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 12-20 (view spoiler)[ oh can they ever find EasyClean. Such a sneaky guy (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 21 - 28 (view spoiler)[ want more of Vero and Javi (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 29- End (view spoiler)[Someone kidnapped Javi !! Stakes are higher than ever (hide spoiler)]

[BabyLunLun]

Going to start Veronica book

[Jamie]

I'm hoping to get the audio from the library on the first book soon!

[BabyLunLun]

Starting book 4 soon

[Carrie]

THROUGH 10ISH
(view spoiler)[ OMG, this is going so fast and is laugh out loud. I sure was worried she was going to accidentally kill the Nannie when she realized she had seen the body. But oh no, she just jumped right in and haggled a price to help. Now she is moving in and is going to take referrals. Of course, wife has Finlay convinced he is connected, so they can't possibly turn themselves in. This is great!!!! (hide spoiler)]

[Carrie]

ch 12 (view spoiler)[ NEXT TIME, HAHA that didn't take long.... and now they need to act professional, this is hillarious (hide spoiler)]

[Carrie]

CH 13-I'VE WATCHED EVERY EPISODE OF BONES, LOL

[Carrie]

THROUGH 20~

[Trisha]

ugh, still scouring Netgalley for the next one! 🤞🏼🤞🏼
this series is so fun!