Book Club October 2025- Finders Keepers
By: Sarah Adler
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 400
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Two estranged best friends find that a long-abandoned treasure hunt might be the key to a fresh start—for both their futures and their feelings, from USA Today bestselling author Sarah Adler.
Last week, Nina Hunnicutt was a professor about to move into a gorgeous new apartment with her long-term boyfriend. Now, she’s single, unemployed, and living with her parents. Even more surprising is the fact that Quentin Bell, her childhood neighbor (and okay, fine, crush), is also back in town—and wants to resume the treasure hunt that ended their friendship almost two decades ago.
Hoping the reward promised to whoever finds the rumored riches left behind by the town’s eccentric turn-of-the-century seltzer magnate will help her get her life back on track, Nina agrees. Granted, last time the search resulted in a broken heart and seventeen years of silence. But Nina’s older and wiser now—surely things will be different.
Except, Quentin is also older and wiser…not to mention distractingly handsome. As they resume their hunt, Nina and Quentin begin to rediscover all the things they once loved best about each other. But unlike the treasure, the secrets that left them empty-handed the first time refuse to stay buried. If there’s any hope of finding what they’re looking for—and for a future together—Nina and Quentin will have to be brave enough to excavate their past as well.
What I thought
We had previously read Happy Medium by Adler, and Logan enjoyed it so much she wanted to pick a second book written by her.
Nina moves back to her parent’s house after losing her job, boyfriend, and apartment in one week. When she pulls up to their duplex feeling like a complete and utter failure, she finds her old crush/best friend Quentin on the front porch. She hasn’t spoken to Quentin in over 15 years and isn’t ready to deal with the heartbreak over the friendship on top of the implosion of her life. When Quentin shares he’s back because his life has also imploded, he challenges Nina to join him in finishing the treasure hunt that ended their friendship all those years ago.
I really enjoyed this one. It was so much fun. Quentin and Nina were really cute together. They had some good banter that was never mean or over the top. I also appreciated that it was obvious that Quentin was trying to be clear in his feelings but he could tell Nina wasn’t picking up on things. So when there was a misunderstanding at any point in the book, he would catch it and explain it!
The treasure hunt itself was a little silly, but I did enjoy it in the end. I liked the action and activity of the hunt more than I liked what they were hunting for. The seltzer king felt a little Willy Wonka-esque to me and not like something that would’ve existed and I found the treasure itself to be a slight letdown.
I also liked Nina’s parents. I found her mom to add some good comic relief without being over the top. I think in general I enjoyed this book more than Happy Medium. I didn’t feel the pull to pick up more by Adler after reading that one, but I do now.
What Book Club Thought
The funny thing is that book club enjoyed Happy Medium more than I did, yet I enjoyed this one more than they did. One of our members even chose not to finish it because she couldn’t get into it. While we were talking about it, I did realize there were more parts of the book that bugged me than I had initially realized, but I don’t like to change my ratings when reflection changes my feelings. It was interesting to see how we differed on our feelings with the author’s writing. I don’t know if we’ve ever had and instance where we’ve read two books by the same author and had such differing opinions on their books. I would recommend checking Adler out if you’re looking for something light. She’s not a new favorite romance author, but I do enjoy her.