Where Is Your Bookmark: Bookish Mewsings on Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano (& Connect 5: Groundhog Day)

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme where readers share the first sentence of the book they are reading, hosted by the amazing Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader. Friday 56 is a weekly meme in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading, hosted by the wonderful Freda of Freda's Voice.

Book Beginning: 

Christopher was dead. [opening of  Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead]

Friday 56: 

"Everything okay?"

"Fine." I couldn't make my smile hold a convincing shape. There was a dead guy in my washing machine (or, at least, part of one, which might actually be worse," Someone was trying to murder my ex, there as a suntanned girl in Julian's kitchen, his social media accounts were set to private, and he wanted to have a talk. [excerpt from 56% of Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead]

My Bookish Thoughts: 

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead (#2) by Elle Cosimano  

(Minotaur Books, 2022; Mystery/Crime Fiction; 360 pgs)

Source: NetGalley (all opinions are my own)

I loved the first novel in the series, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, finding it funny and quite the page turner. Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead is no different. 

In this second installment, Finlay, as usual, has a lot on her plate as a divorced mother of two. Her agent is pressuring her to start on that next novel. She cannot help but worry about her business partner and friend, Vero, who is keeping secrets. Not to mention Finlay is dealing with relationship issue--figuring out what kind of relationship she has with her lawyer lover and what about that sexy cop who keeps showing up in her life? Then there is Finlay's biggest problem of all--finding out who put a hit out on her ex-husband, not to mention trying to keep him alive. He may be a rotten guy, but he is the father of her children. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead. It offers a peek into the dark world of women's online chatrooms, the importance of cybersecurity, more of the Russian mob, and how to overcome writer's block. Okay, so maybe not that last point. It can be over the top, but it works. It was half the fun wondering how Finlay would get herself out of the situations she put herself in because it seemed pretty impossible to me. She keeps getting in deeper no matter what her intentions are though. She and Vero are both very capable and resourceful (and it helps to have connected friends). I am really curious to know what exactly Vero is hiding though--hopefully we will find out in the next book (it's not so much a cliffhanger, but more of a loose thread). 

One of the reasons I enjoy this series so much is the humor. It is also action packed, balanced out by a bit of romance. I admit I am leery of love triangles and am still not sure how I feel about the one Finlay finds herself in with Julian and Nick. I like both guys, to be honest, although I think Nick might be the better choice for her. 

If you enjoy humorous mysteries and an entertaining escape, this is a great series to try out. 

Does this sound like something you would want to read? If you have read it, what did you think?

Connect Five Friday is a weekly meme where readers share a list of five books, 

read or unread, or bookish things, that share a common theme. 

Hosted by the  Kathryn of of Book Date.

Although Groundhog Day officially got its start on February 2, 1887, at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, as a publicity stunt involving a groundhog named Phil who can predict whether winter will linger or spring will come early, a tradition still very much alive today (Phil's success rate averages about 50/50), it was really the 1993 film starring Bill Murray, Groundhog Day, which was set in and around the official Groundhog celebration, that gave the term "groundhog day" a different meaning--the repetition of a day over and over (although the trope itself is probably much older than that).

It is that second meaning that got me thinking of books that use a variation of the groundhog effect as a plot device.  My Connect 5 list today is made up of such books, one of which I have read (In a Holidaze) and the others, which are books I am looking forward to reading.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren ~ The only one on the list I have read (I really enjoyed it!)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.

But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.

The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.

Jam-packed with yuletide cheer, an unforgettable cast of characters, and Christina Lauren’s trademark hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays. [Goodreads Summary]

Paris on Repeat (Wish and Wander #1) by Amy Bearce

GROUNDHOG DAY gets a hilarious French twist in this delightful upper middle grade novel about first crushes and friendship when an eighth-grade class trip to Paris goes horribly wrong and the worst day of one girl’s life keeps happening over and over.

Fourteen-year-old Eve Hollis is ready to push through her fears and finally let her crush know how she feels. And what better place to tell him than on top of the Eiffel Tower in the City of Love? But things don’t go as planned, and Eve is sure she’s had the worst day of her life— until she wakes up the next morning to realize the whole disaster of a day is happening again. She’s trapped in a time loop.

Desperate to make it stop, Eve will have to take some big risks and learn from her mistakes or she’s destined to live the most awkwardly painful day of her life over and over again, forever. [Goodreads Summary]

Life After Life (Todd Family #1) by Kate Atkinson

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right?

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.

Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she? [Goodreads Summary]

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.

For fans of Claire North, and Kate Atkinson, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man's race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem. [Goodreads Summary]

End of the World House by Adrienne Celt

Groundhog Day meets Ling Ma’s Severance in End of the World House, a thought-provoking comedic novel about two young women trying to save their friendship as the world collapses around them.

Bertie and Kate have been best friends since high school. Bertie is a semi-failed cartoonist, working for a prominent Silicon Valley tech firm. Her job depresses her, but not as much as the fact that Kate has recently decided to move from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

When Bertie’s attempts to make Kate stay fail, she suggests the next-best thing: a trip to Paris that will hopefully distract the duo from their upcoming separation. The vacation is also a sort of last hurrah, coming during a ceasefire in a series of escalating world conflicts.

One night in Paris, they meet a strange man in a bar who offers them a private tour of the Louvre. The women find themselves alone in the museum, where nothing is quite as it seems. Caught up in a day that keeps repeating itself, Bertie and Kate are eventually separated, and Bertie is faced with a mystery that threatens to derail everything. In order to make her way back to Kate, Bertie has to figure out how much control she has over her future—and her past—and how to survive an apocalypse when the world keeps refusing to end. [Goodreads Summary]

Have you read any books that use the groundhog effect? Would you recommend them?

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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