Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Elle Cosimano
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Minotaur Book
Pages: 315

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero are in sore need of a girls’ weekend away. They plan a trip to Atlantic City, but odds are―seeing as it’s actually a cover story to negotiate a deal with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and hunt down a stolen car―it won’t be all fun and games. When Finlay’s ex-husband Steven and her mother insist on tagging along too, Finlay and Vero suddenly have a few too many meddlesome passengers along for the ride.

Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all―he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.

But when they sneak into the loan shark’s suite to search for clues, they find more than they bargained for―Marco's already dead. They don’t have a clue who murdered him, only that they themselves have a very convincing motive. Then four members of the police department unexpectedly show up in town, also looking for Ike―and after Finlay's night with hot cop Nick at the police academy, he’s a little too eager to keep her close to his side.

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?

First Impressions

I flew through listening to the first 3 Finaly Donovan books last year and was so excited to read the next one. Admittedly, it’s not my favorite of the covers, but it’s still cute and eye catching.

What I thought

I need this book series to be picked up and made into a TV series.

This story picks up exactly where the 3rd on left off. If you haven’t read these books and you want to, don’t read this review because there will likely be unintentional spoilers.

Finlay and Vero need to save Javi and find the car gifted to Finlay by the mob. So they head to Atlantic City. However, Finlay’s ex-husband, mother, and 2 small children tag along. While there, hey get into their usual shenanigans and troubles. They find dead bodies, become in charge of a tiny dog named Kevin Bacon, and of course Detective Nick shows up to continue wooing Finlay.

I adore listening to these books. Angela Dawe does a fantastic job narrating. All of her voices really make the characters come to life and I honestly can’t imagine enjoying them as much as paper books as I do listening to them. I wasn’t as into Nick this book, but I think that’s because there was les of the will they/won’t they, and more of the they’re together so now what. It’s hard because Finlay is tied into murder, coverups, and the mob, so how is this realistically going to work with her and Nick in the long run? It’s probably the hardest plot point for me.

It was also interesting to have more of Steven in this book. I don’t think I needed him, but I understand wanting to set up mysteries for future books in this series. I also love how Vero hates him and finds ways to pick on him.

Without giving spoilers, there were some storylines from previous books that got wrapped up in this one that I was excited about. I think it’ll help move the series along and stop it from getting stale. They weren’t my favorite, so I’m looking forward to what Finlay and Vero get up to next.