Thanks toNetgalley, St Martins Press and Elle Cosimano for this ARC. It’s a short story but it works well with the rest of the series. I’ve read them all and can’t wait to read more. I am addicted to the characters !

Favorite Quotes:

Darren was all clumsy hands and overly optimistic tongue. It was a little like playing Whac-A-Mole with a clingy octopus with boundary issues. It was obvious he wasn’t keeping any big secrets in his pants.

Her mother was a tiny whirlwind. A five-foot-two-inch wrecking ball of unfiltered honesty and brutal determination. She was unstoppable, like the Terminator,

Javier Romero had the most disarming smile Vero had ever seen, but he could also turn bad assery into a full-time job.


My Review:

I gleefully bounced in my chair and frequently laughed aloud while I inhaled this amusing and cleverly penned series. I loved every well-chosen arrangement of words. Elle Cosimano is absolutely brilliant, and her Finaly Donovan creation is a gift. Poor Finaly, she was a semi-successful writer who had an ex-husband who couldn’t keep it in his pants and a toddler who refused to keep his pants on, or toilet train. Finaly was a hot mess.

Her adventures started with an inadvertent slip of paper on a Panera tray, which eventually led her to helping various women living in difficult situations who were “seeking a specialist with a certain skill set.” Finaly didn’t actually have the skill set, but she and Vero, her ever helpful nanny, kept managing to accidentally kill bad people, some they were supposed to, others just had the bad luck to die in their vicinity.

The engaging storylines were active, eventful, smartly plotted, and populated with a colorful cast of oddly compelling characters, many of whom were unlikable, yet quirkily and knowingly drawn. I downed six in a row and finished the last one hoping there are more to come.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank
By: Elle Cosimano
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Pub Date: 11/7/23
Elle is back with a short Vero story! This one gives Vero’s backstory that you don’t learn all of in the Finley Donovan series. As with all of her books, this one is just as funny and of course, in true Vero fashion a mess. She somehow finds herself in the world of financial crimes. It’s gonna take her wit and smarts to outsmart some of the people she’s up against. It was a quick read, only took about an hour, but definitely filled in Vero for me.

Much thanks to Elle Cosimano, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this short story more than I thought I would. I'm not a huge Vero fan, but I admit, she can hold her own as a lead. It was fun to explore her character and fill in some of the blanks in her background. I am so on board for her and Javi's HEA.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

A quick, fast paced and lighthearted read that gives the reader the background scoop on Finlay Donovan’s partner in crime. She’s strong-willed and confident but just has a string of bad luck. I loved the ending where she meets Finlay and could picture the scene in my perfectly. 3.75 stars

This is a novella in between the finlay series and it’s not totally necessary? I didn’t love this. I felt like it didn’t add anything and wasn’t as fun as the actual series.

Fun, quick read filling in Vera's backstory. Nice to get the details. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank by Elle Cosimano is book 3.5 in the Finlay Donovan series.

This was a cute short story diving into Vero's past. IT was cute to be able to get a peek into her story. Veronica Ruiz is on the run after being falsely accused of stealing money from her college sorority.

Nothing is going right for Vero and nothing is simple. After she begins work, she hears about a stealing, so Vero sets out to identify the thief and then move into the perfect job. If only Javi wasn't living in the same town.

This was a fun view of the moment Finlay and Vero first meet and is an interesting portrayal once you've already read about her in the previous books!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. This was a quick 107 pages!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

A fun little short story to give those reading the Finlay Donovan series more of an insight into Veronica’s backstory. I’m not always a huge fan of short stories, but I did find this one enjoyable. Nothing bad about it.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love this series and this novella hit the spot but I WANT MORE VERO! I liked getting a peek in to how Finlay and Vero met and all about her shady past, but this little nugget was not enough to sustain me! On to Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice now!

Veronica is my unequivocal favorite character in this series, and where I struggled to like Finlay, Vero is just hilarious & somehow more relatable. Liked the addition of this back story to the series!

I thoroughly enjoyed this short story featuring Veronica Ruiz, Finlay Donovan's future nanny and partner in an occasional crime. This story happens before Vero and Finlay meet.

Vero has run away from her college in Maryland, where she was doing well. When she was accused of stealing money from her sorority where she was the treasurer, she left and drove to the city her cousin lived in. She was waiting to apply for a job at a local bank when she overheard two employees talking about money going missing. Vero is hired to be custodian, and while she is cleaning floors and toilets, she is also observing the other employees' habits ... and she notices something a little out of the ordinary. I thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse into Vera's past.

I received an e-arc from the publisher St. Martin's Press, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.

Loved this book baby Elle Cosimano that gave us Veronica’s story/point of view. Hope there are more books starring Veronica.

A super quick read! A novella where we get Vero’s origin story and it’s such a delight.

I loved getting Vero’s POV, after falling in love her in quick wit and sarcasm in the main series. The ending of this leading to where she ends up working for Finlay.

After reading the most recent Finlay, it looks like we’ll be getting more Vero and I can’t wait!

Thank you @netgalley and @minotaur_books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this story. I loved this look into Vero’s past - it was a short and fun read!

A short story/novella clocking <100 pages, Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank offers insight into a favorite character in the Finlay Donovan series. Vero has dropped out of her senior year at U of Maryland, where she's been falsely accused of stealing treasury funds from her sorority. She chooses to couch-surf at her cousin Ramon's apartment and take a job as janitor at a local bank, which she's more qualified to run than mop. Nevertheless, she sees the opportunity to "clean up" an inside job theft by sleuthing as she "takes out the trash." Fun to have backstory of this strong and quick-witted character.
[Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an opportunity to read and share my opinion of this book.]

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and author Elle Cosimano for the advanced reader copy of this book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

I jumped at the chance to read all of the books in this series when they were available to review. I didn’t know anything about it, but it sounded like a lot of escapist fun. I’m so glad I did because I’ve been enjoying the series so far. Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank is actually a short story in the series. It fills in many of the gaps about the background of author Finlay Donovan’s new best friend, Vero, whom we met in the first book.

Vero is just 21 years old when she drops out in her senior year of college. “Drops out” really doesn’t describe it; she runs away from school after being accused of embezzling money by her sorority. She changes her name a bit and tries to dodge anyone who might be looking for her. Her intention is to sleep on the couch in her cousin Ramon’s body shop, but he catches her and sends her to his apartment instead. Vero’s intention is to reinvent herself and get a job and an apartment.

The bank she applies at offers her a custodial job. Vero knows she’s better than that and sees an opportunity when she overhears the security guard and the bank manager discuss small amounts of money disappearing on a regular basis. Vero figures if she can solve the mystery of who is stealing from the bank, she can get a position as a teller. Being a janitor means she’s around all of the tellers and sees what they throw away on a regular basis. She also manages to engage them in conversation and even goes through their personal items. In one case, she dates the head teller, thinking she can get evidence that way.

If you’ve read the earlier books in the series, you’d know that Vero eventually quits her job as a bank teller and becomes a nanny for Finlay. There’s no real surprise that Vero solves the mystery and then lasts a week as a teller because she has more empathy than anyone else.

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank is funny but not as wacky as the other books. The humor here is Vero’s missteps and how she’s trying to cover up what happened to her at college. She knows if she tells Ramon, he will tell her mother, which is the last thing she wants. We learn more about Vero, Ramon, and Javier, all of whom have a presence in the Finlay Donovan books. It’s a quick read at just 100 pages, which eliminates some of the more elaborate schemes I’ve read in other books in this series.

I really enjoyed Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank. I liked learning more about the secretive Vero and her family, who we have seen appearing here and there in the stories so far. I’m looking forward to Finlay tackling the problem of what really happened at the sorority in Vero’s college. Someone was obviously setting her up, but Vero hasn’t wanted to go down that path just yet. This short story really sets up that story for the future quite well.

Short and sweet. Nice to fill in some blanks in Vero’s story, but I’m surprised more questions weren’t answered. Looking forward to picking back up in book 4. Thanks to Minotaur for the ebook copy.

This was a fast and enjoyable read. I loved learning more about Vero and getting to hear more of her perspective. I’m intrigued by Vero and Javi’s history and can’t wait to see how their relationship develops in the next book.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC!