Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano

3 reviews

misterushi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

maggies's review

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

On its own merits, this book is hugely entertaining! As usual, Finn and Vero are a great duo, racing around Atlantic City on a series of missions and being hampered by what seems like all law enforcement and bad guys on the eastern seaboard. I love how Finn and Vero are so supportive of each other, importantly without telling each other what to do! They are truly women supporting women 🤝 On the other hand, when compared to the previous novels in the series, it was the weakest for me. The pacing felt inconsistent and the action didn’t really thrill until much later in the book (
it was a lot of conversations with various people in various locations, and that didn’t inspire the urgency to jump off the page
). Regardless, Finlay Donovan has me in a chokehold and I will be back for book #5!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I had to continue in this series after I enjoyed the previous Finlay Donovan books so much.
"Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice" is the next installment in the Finlay Donovan series. Finlay and her best friend/nanny, Vero, find themselves on a road trip to Atlantic City to hopefully rescue Javi, Vero's childhood crush. To their dismay, they also have Finlay's two children, ex-husband, and mother along for the ride. Can Finlay continue to keep her second life a secret and rescue Javi?
This series is just a really fun mystery read. Finlay is a comical main character who brings so much life to the page. For being a struggling single mom, she has really grown into her own badass detective who is equal parts cunning and strong. Finlay does not need anyone, and I love seeing her character grow to realize that her ex-husband has been holding her back all these years.
As this series progresses, I do think it pushes the reality of whether this could really be happening. The situations Finlay and Vero keep finding themselves in are outlandish, but entertaining. I think to really enjoy these books, you have to suspend reality and just enjoy what is happening. Could a single mom feasibly find her way into a situation in which she continually has to murder bad guys AND make it home in time to feed her kids dinner? Maybe.
I did enjoy getting more of Vero's backstory in this installment and I LOVED seeing Finlay put her cheating ex-husband in his place time and time again. He is not even a good father, and I really want him to get written out of the series somehow.
I will definitely be continuing with this series if Finlay decides to go on more adventures. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...