Finders Keepers by Nicole Williams Review & Giveaway

Finders Keepers by Nicole Williams
Series: Lost and Found #3
Publish Date: September 16, 2013
310 Pages
Source: Author for Review – Thank you! 
Find it here:  Goodreads / Amazon / B&N

There’s tortured. And there’s Garth Black.

His life has been a constant carousel of tragedy and disappointment, including his love life. Of course, applying the term “love” to Garth’s conquests is a gross misuse of the word. Some people were made to give and accept love, and others weren’t. Garth Black redefines the “others” category. He’s made a vow that the day he meets a woman who could sucker him into falling in love will be the day he runs away.

Garth’s plan has one flaw. What happens when he’s already fallen hard for a girl before the warning signs and red flags go up? What happens when the love he’s avoided his entire life brings him to his knees? What happens when Garth Black lets the dirtiest four letter word he’s ever known into his dark, lonely life?

This cowboy’s about to find out he can control some things, and he can’t control others. Number one on the what he can’t control list?


Love. 

My Thoughts:  While I have loved loved loved this series from the beginning, I have not loved Garth Black from the beginning. In fact, I HATED HIM in the first book. And with good reason! In the second book, I started getting nervous because even though he wasn’t the main character – the book still mainly followed the story of Jesse Walker and Rowan Sterling – Garth Black was very much a key player and oh my gosh, my heart started to soften toward him. Like, a lot. In fact, the more I thought about mean ole’ Garth, the more I was really excited to read his story. HOW COULD THIS BE HAPPENING? 

GARTH BLACK IS A COWBOY. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. He works on a ranch, drives a beat-up truck, and rides horses. He always, always wears jeans and boots. But Garth is a bit of a tortured soul, you see, and even though he is very skilled in his work – his people skills are sorely lacking. 


First of all, Garth has had a really crappy life – all 21 years of it. Nothing like a constant reminder that you’re worthless and unwanted and a waste of breath to make a man want to drown his sorrows in Jack Daniels and women, right? Second of all, Garth Black has made some mistakes in his life – plenty of them – but there’s one in particular that has been following him around and haunting him for several years now. It’s on his mind nearly constantly and he just cannot shake what’s he’s done and how it has affected his life. 


The thing about Garth Black that is so interesting is that he is best friends with Jesse Walker, the COWBOY from the first two books. YES, that Jesse Walker that I’ve been telling you about and shouting from the rooftops about and begging you ALL to read about over and and over. Why is this interesting? Because they’re so very different. Where Jesse chooses to always see the good in people and prefers to keep a clean mouth, Garth tends to think the world is out to get him – it’s Garth Black vs. the World – and he cusses like a sailor. Despite their differences, these two have had ups and downs and yet they’ve worked on mending their friendship throughout the course of the series, and I HAVE LOVED THAT. Perhaps that is why my heart softened toward Garth the way it did? No, I KNOW that is why my heart softened toward Garth the way it did – and as much as I love great relationships – I just hated that I was actually beginning to like the jerk that was Garth Black.. 


…until I began to know him. Until I began to read his story in this book. Until I began to read where he is in his life now and see the progression of this character not over just one book, but over three books. Good grief, THIS GUY, y’all. If there ever has been a character that has stolen my heart (even more than this guy), it’s Garth Black. 


Garth isn’t the only thing that is great about Finders Keepers (although I could talk about him all day – and also Jesse Walker):  this book features Josie Gibson. Josie has been present throughout the series right along with Garth – she was Jesse Walker’s girlfriend before, and she’s Rowan Sterling’s best friend now. Josie is just as good as Jesse is, really, with a heart of gold. Josie can see the good in Garth even when he doesn’t want people to know that anything good exists inside of him. With Jesse and Rowan now living out of town (not a spoiler), Josie is the only person left that believes in Garth enough to push him to be a better person – to encourage him, to pick him up when he hits rock bottom. And he does, he does. OH MY HEART. 

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