The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown

 

I did it! I finished the series before we go see the movie (later today... probably just in time to catch it in the theaters honestly. I'm a little late to the party with the books and the movie)!

In book one, Roz builds a life on the island as a wild robot, communicating and befriending animals. In book two, she's taken from that life and sent to work on a farm among humans. I felt like that covered two possible worlds really well, and was unsure what book three would be about.

In this book, Roz wants to protect her island from the poison tide before realizing it impacts all ocean wildlife and much of the rest of the natural world as well. I thought that was a really good premise, and important considering everything changing in our natural world and all the impact those somewhat gradual changes are happening.

The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown

Well, it took me several tries over several years to read the first book, but I finished the second in about two days!

I think part of it was already knowing the characters... and maybe having the ticking clock of seeing the movie in theaters over my head. I've found different things online - it's just the first book, the ending is the same as book two, it covers all three, etc. I didn't know what to believe but also just got incredibly invested in the book and wanted to finish it!

Seeing Roz interact with humans was really interesting, especially as she grew closer to the children. And I liked seeing her in charge of other robots. I always love how she wins over the animals, too, so I felt like there was more action in this book, and more at stake.

I liked it more than the first, but it didn't really end on a cliffhanger like the first one did, so I'm really curious to read the third. Think I can finish it before Friday?

The Finlay Donovan Series

 The Finlay Donovan Series by Elle Cosimano

I read Finlay Donovan is Killing It as a Kindle Unlimited book and was immediately hooked! The library had the second but not the third, even though it was out already, so I played the waiting game.

Actually... I kind of forgot about this series until someone mentioned the fourth book was out.

Fourth?! I wasn't sure how I had missed that, but I knew it was time to re-read the series and catch up. By that time, the library had the third book but not the fourth. Once I found out there was also a digital short story as "book" 3.5, I figured I'd just buy that and the fourth book on Kindle so I wouldn't be waiting forever to finish the series (to this point anyway).

The first book makes me think of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series... or at least the first few books, before it seemed like she was phoning it in. I do think Cosimano is a better writer though. 

When I initially read the second book, it felt like a placeholder (as many second books are!), but when I re-read it recently, I really enjoyed it! The third one seemed a bit out of place and the storyline was a bit confusing to me, but I liked that the stakes seemed higher than in the previous books. I also loved how Mrs. Haggerty played a more prominent role!

Vero's short story might be my absolute favorite from this world, funny enough, since it's the shortest. I just love the character and it seemed like a nice cozy mystery with the bank issue. I felt like her sorority issue wasn’t really fleshed out in the books, and even here it’s a bit thin so I hope it gets wrapped up later.

Book four was a lot of fun. While book three took Finlay and Vero away from their home turf with the police training, I think the trip to Atlantic City in book four seems more natural for them. And I especially loved that everyone came along! Again, it gave Stephanie Plum vibes with Finlay's mother filling Stephanie's grandmother's role, but I think it's just different enough to work. The corpses seemed like overkill (no pun intended) but the cliffhanger made it worth it - I can't wait to see what comes next!

Have you read this series? What did you think of it? Do you have any book recommendations that read like these?