Veronica Ramirez needed a new start. She had been at the University of Maryland, enjoying her business classes and getting goo grades and living at the sorority house. But when the sorority money she had been responsible for as treasurer goes missing, she gets blamed. Hurt and scared of the police, she heads back home to sleep in the office of her cousin Ramon’s auto shop. But she gets caught breaking in and ends up on his sofa instead.

But she can’t stay there forever. She needs to find a job and get some money of her own, so she can find her own place to live. She sees a Help Wanted sign at a local bank and decides to apply. She could start as a teller and work her way up. She gets an ID as Veronica Ruiz (also her name, so it’s legal, somewhat) and applies. That’s when she finds out that the job being advertised is for a janitor. She’s about to leave when she overhears the manager talking to the security guard about money going missing. Vero thinks that she could figure out who the thief is and have an in on that open job, so she takes the job as janitor to investigate the others.

One by one, she checks out the small bank’s employees, trying to learn their routines and find their secrets. Meanwhile, back at home (her cousin’s sofa), Vero is trying to duck from nosy questions about why she’s there, how long she’s staying, and what happened at college. And if that’s not enough to keep her busy, her very hot ex-boyfriend keeps showing up but not explaining why he’d suddenly ghosted her years before, right before she left for university. Will Veronica be able to figure out the mystery at the bank and find her way to a new life, or will she have to cash out before she’s ready?

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank tells the backstory of how Vero met Finlay Donovan, causing a series of unlikely events and hilarious novels. This short novel tells Vero’s backstory and offers a peek into what gives her the drive and motivation to go on such crazy adventures with Finlay.

I have loved Finlay and Vero since the first book where Elle Cosimano brought these women into my life, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It. I am excited to read anything that Finlay and Vero are in, so I was thrilled at the release of this short in between the full-length novels. Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank is a delicious bite for when you need a quick read for those reading goals you set at the beginning of the year, or just for a burst of fun during a stressful week. Seeing Vero in action on her own is so much fun, but it does leave me hungry for more.