Elle Cosimano
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan #1) by Elle Cosimano
Released: February 2, 2021
Pages: 368
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Overall: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting & World-building: N/A
Emotional Investment: 5/5
"It's a widely known fact that most moms are ready to kill someone by eight-thirty A.M on any given morning. That particular morning of Tuesday, October eighth, I was ready by seven forty-five."
Finishing a book in like seven hours has to be a record somewhere. I swear on everything I hold dear this book was the fastest I've gotten through a book and then regretted finishing it because the sequel still has half a year before it comes out.
Quick Summary: Finlay Donovan single mother of two and struggling novelist is just killing at life, isn't she? Nope, she isn't. With mountains of bills left to pay, an ex-husband hell-bent on getting full custody of the kids, and a novel that just doesn't seem to be written Finlay's morning literally couldn't get worse. Until her ex fires the nanny without asking her, her oldest child goes to school with duct tape holding her hair together, and her literary agent plans a meeting in an hour expecting a book. While at her meeting, Finlay is overheard talking about her new suspense murder novel. She, unfortunately, is mistaken for a contract killed and is hired to kill someone for a sum of money that could solve all her problems. But as she tries to deal with her responsibility she realizes murder in real life is much harder than murder being written in a book.
I can probably count on one hand the number of books I have given a rating like this for. The number is not many. This book literally blew my brain away. Not only is it relatable in a way that you just love the main character, but it is also funny and it has murder on top of that. And then for all the romance lovers, there is a dash of that too. There is literally nothing I can say I disliked about this book. I laughed, I wanted to throttle men, and I wanted Finlay to get with the hot bartender.
Finlay Donovan has been through a shitty year. Her whole world was upended when she found out her husband was cheating on her and now everything sucks. She is truly such a great mom, trying her best to keep them happy and make sure they eat and have the means to live. Her rude ex-husband Steven is so obnoxious trying to prove that he is more fit to take care of their kids. He literally got drunk during Finlay's first labor because he was "scared". Screw that, YOUR WIFE IS IN LABOUR. He just doesn't have the same level of empathy she does and I don't trust landscapers. He just wasn't it for me. And don't even get me started on his new fiance. I hate cheaters and homewreckers, the worst type of people in the world. Finlay despite it all is holding strong. When she gets a new book contract with a huge advance, I loved how she told Steven to fuck off. It was truly beautiful.
Now Finley's accomplice Veronica, or Vero, deserved so much. She is the nanny who catches Finley in a rather large pickle and moves in with her. Vero kind of becomes her stay-in nanny as they deal with the person they have to kill. Their bond and friendship throughout this book were honestly the best. She is a college student but she is also like Finley's only true friend. Her comebacks and humor about how they could start an actual contract-killing business were so funny. I loved her so much. She was so good with the kids and when she helped Finley stand up to Steven it was such a girlboss moment. Vero truly was Finley's biggest hype woman, and after living so long without one it changed Finley's life.
Now the plot of this story was honestly so freaking cool. Like there were so many ways that I thought the situations could have gone and I was almost always wrong which is what I love. Finley doesn't truly commit murder (or maybe she does hehe) but the way she is put in all these situations and trying so hard to stay alive was so brave and funny to read. The person who hired her didn't play as big of a role in the book as I thought, which I also thought was cool. This was truly about Finley being paid way too much money to do something she doesn't do but also manages somehow, accidentally every single time.
Now the romance. We meet Julian who is the younger bartender first. I don't usually root for the younger guy but I was so on his team. Later we meet a cop, named Nick and as much as he seems okay, there was something strange about him the entire time. Yes, he was probably the choice everyone thought she would pick but Finley talks about how he only sees versions of her like Steven, and I felt that. So despite it all, I was shipping her and Julian so hard. Every time Vero made jokes about and calling him the Abercrombie model attorney, I absolutely lost it. Finley deserves to feel love and passion with someone, especially someone who understand truly.
God, I had such a blast reading this book. I like genuinely think everyone deserves the joy and pleasure I got from reading this book. It was the funniest thing ever. I am so excited for the sequel, especially from that cliffhanger. I kind of screamed. I'm so scared and intrigued and I need to know what happened right now. So just for that I really recommend this book to everyone, all day every day.
Quotes
"My Google search history alone was probably enough to put me on a government watch list."
"If we're going to be professionals, we need to start acting like professionals."
"And professional contract killers bury bodies with front-end loaders?"
"We are not adding grand larceny of farming equipment to our growing list of felonies."
"If we get caught, we're not hiring some Abercrombie underwear model to keep us out of prison."