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!

A fun, hilarious novella set in the Finlay Donovan world about Finlay’s nanny and how she came to be her nanny! Full of the same hilarious shenanigans!

Good, but I think the humor is definitely found in the duo.

Thanks NetGalley and Minotaur books for this advanced copy!

Before there was Finlay and Vero, there was Veronica Ruiz.

In the grand scheme of the Finlay Donovan series, Veronica Ruiz has a mysterious past with a bright future stripped away.

As it turns out, there's warrant out for her arrest for allegedly stealing money from her college sorority. She didn't do it, but she leaves the state to crash on her cousin Ramón's couch and start fresh.

With her background in finance, she decides to try to get a job at her local bank as a teller. The only available job is a cleaning job, so she takes the offer. Soon after, she learns that somebody has been stealing money and decides to take matters into her own hands. She's also tense because her childhood crush Javi is also staying nearby.

Can Vero pinpoint the thief?

This short story/novella was fun. I feel like it covered quite a bit of story in just over 100 pages, though I'm not entirely sure it's a necessary installment to the Finlay Donovan series. Vero is one of my favorite characters in the series, so it's always fun to see what kind of mess she'll end up in! I do feel like something was missing, though, and for that, I can't give it more than three stars.

Our beloved Vero from the Finlay Donovan series is back with a story all her own. When she finds herself framed for stealing money from her sorority, something she absolutely did not do, Veronica sneaks back to her hometown to try to start her life over. The first step for her is getting a job, preferably one in finance, leading her to take a job at a bank. The only problem is it's a janitorial position. However, when Vero overhears the bank manager talking about money going missing from the bank, Vero decides that she can solve two problems at once, finding the perpetrator for the manager and taking their job.

As with the other books in the Finlay Donovan series, this book has heart and humor in spades. I loved getting to dip back into this world through this novella, and hearing the story told from Vero's point of view added quite a bit of fun. If you want a fast mystery with a memorable, independent main character, this is the book for you!

These books always make me laugh. This is good for a quick, short read. I can’t say it added anything to the series, however.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this e-book copy!

I really enjoyed this short story about Vero, her background and more information about how her and Finlay first met. I did find it was not as funny and witty as as the other books in the series, but it was a short story and still kept me wanting to pick up the next book!

4 stars!

The book was a short and sweet story featuring our favourite fearless sidekick, Vero. One of the things we love about Vero is her witty banter and her amazing relationship with Finlay. I felt like this one might have been missing that special spark a bit. We still got a chance to see how Vero came to be the nanny and partner-in-crime for Finlay, and we did see a bit of her one-of-a-kind backstory. Full of action and comedy, it's still a fun read and worth it for fans of the Finlay Donovan series.

A very short backstory about Vero and also Javi, two characters in the Finlay Donovan series and much beloved. The short story was just ok, I still feel like I am missing something from her story and I hope we get more in the next couple books. I would love more Javi backstory also.

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank was a fun little detour, but it didn’t quite give me the same chaotic sparkle I love from the full Finlay Donovan series. I liked getting more of Vero’s backstory—she’s always been a scene-stealer—but this short story felt more like a bonus feature than a must-read. The vibes were decent, a few laughs here and there, but it didn’t hit with the same energy or tension as the main books. Honestly, I missed Finlay’s unhinged narration and their wild dynamic. Cute for fans who want all the Vero content, but I wouldn’t say it’s essential.

This was a fun short story and an welcome exploration of Vero's life before we first met her in the full novels. This was great addition to the series, if you are already a fan you will round this up to four stars, but this is not the story to test this series out with. A lot of questions about Vero's past are addressed that fans have been asking for but best of all is the first meeting between her and Finley.

For me, the brief format kept Cosimano from developing the wit and sharpness of writing that always pulls me with that killer frantic pace that defines a Finley Donovan story