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First of all, being able to read Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice early is, in and of itself, an entire reason to have a Netgalley account, but these three books also gave me another reason: I wouldn’t have read The Friendship Study for AGES if I hadn’t had the push of an ARC to prioritize it and it’s a new favorite that I can’t stop thinking about. I also did enjoy Not Your Crush’s Cauldron so I’m really just all around delighted to get to talk to y’all about these three books today. Shout out to Netgalley for the e and audio ARCs of Finlay Donovan and Not Your Crush’s Cauldron and the e-ARC for The Friendship Study (although I listened to this via Hoopla).

Not Your Crush’s Cauldron
by April Asher

Not Your Crush’s Cauldron by April Asher follows Professor Olive Maxwell who has moved in with her bestie, Bax, because she was in a pretty sketchy roommate situation and her friends/family put their foot down that she was not to stay there. She’s also trying to get a pretty big grant for this project promoting inter-species relationships. This project winds up pushing her outside of her comfort zone and Bax finds his friendship with Olive being tested as he’s given a new work task as a guardian angel. 

Things I liked about this book: I love books with a list of things to do/accomplish. I like the idea of pushing a character out of their comfort zone and I enjoyed the way that was done in this book. I liked the friendships and sister relationships in this book and in the series as a whole. 

But, here’s the thing. As a lover of friends to lovers romances, I really feel like I should have connected to this romance more. And sometimes there were snippets of the dynamic that I wanted, but other times I just sort of wanted to scream. The problem is that there is an element of deception here and I struggle with deception at the best of times, but it’s really difficult for me to reckon with when it’s taking place with a friends to lovers romance and it specifically impacts the other character. So, all in all, although this book had a lot of great personal development and the relationships between the friends was great, I wound up not loving it as much as I wanted to. Also, though, why does Bax, an actual angel, call Olive angel as his term of endearment? That made no sense to me and I really hated it. 

Anyway, if you’ve liked the other books in the series, I would still recommend this one, but if you haven’t, definitely don’t jump in here.

The Friendship Study
by Ruby Barrett

My initial reaction/review literally written in the drive thru on my drive home last weekend: I’m typing this from my car while waiting for a drive thru Diet Coke so this will be brief: This book is EVERYTHING I have been wanting. It made me laugh AND cry and also made me want to stop everything and get a physical copy to highlight and flag and then shove in the general direction of everyone. I am in love and obsessed. Also I feel so seen because while my ADHD and Lulu’s don’t line up 100%, this book also made me realize some things are because of my neurospicy brain that I didn’t know had an explanation before. 

So, if that doesn’t express to you how much I love this book, I’m not really sure that more words will help. But let me at least try and tell you what this book is about. Essentially, Jesse and Lulu get talked into going on a blind date by their mutual friend. Both of them are lonely, for their own respective reasons, and although the date ends with a spicy kiss, it doesn’t go any further. The two of them ultimately join this academic study called The Friendship Study where one of the biggest rules is no fraternization, just friendship. That… doesn’t go well for them.

Essentially though, this book has intense themes of loneliness, knowing (or not) your own worth, and millennial angst over the difficulty of making friends as an adult. I’ve thought about this book SO MUCH since I read it. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It was the exact book I needed and I am pretty positive it will be in my top five books at the end of the year if not my number one. I loved it that much. Oh, and I don’t think I mentioned it, but Jesse is bisexual and is dealing with recovery from an injury due to a car accident. Also, content note, Jesse’s grandpa is dealing with dementia and is living in a care facility.

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice
by Elle Cosimano

I am so in love, obsessed with this series and this book had me stressed out and screaming at Finlay and Vero just like the others. If this was the end of the series, I would be satisfied with where it wrapped up, but if it’s not, I am thrilled and ready to be along for the ride. 

First of all, can we just start this review off by acknowledging that Steven is the actual worst? Admittedly, his presence did allow for the events of this book to go in some truly wild places, but still. The book starts off with the most ridiculous set up for this road trip with Finlay, Vero, the two kids, Finlay’s mom, and Steven on their way to Atlantic City. Ultimately, so many of the characters we’ve come to know and love wind up in this book, which is what makes me think that this could be a conclusion to the series. 

If you’re not here though, content to yell at Finlay and Vero for committing probably their 60th felony in four books, I wouldn’t recommend this series to you because truly, these books have been wild. If there’s a right move, Finlay and Vero won’t make it. Find a dead body? Let’s cover it up. The love of Vero’s life has been kidnapped? Best not involve the authorities, the women will figure it out. But if you do love their antics, then this book is full of them and it’s so funny and fun and sometimes stressful. 

Ultimately, as I’ve stated a couple of times, if this was the conclusion to the series, I am satisfied with where Cosimano leaves us. But if she wants to keep tugging on the thread she laid down at the end of the book and give us more adventures, I’ll be right here waiting anxiously to devour them.

Oh, and PS, you really need to read the audio novella before diving into this one in my opinion. Vero’s back story is especially important to the overall plot of this book.

Conclusion

Sometimes I really love reading and sometimes reading is just fine. I’m grateful that two of these three books had me kicking my feet and screaming (though for entirely different reasons). Have you read any of these? Do you want to? Let me know down below!

xx