Book Review | Veronica Breaks the Bank by Elle Cosimano | (Contains Spoilers)

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank

Published: November 2023

Anyone can spot a window of opportunity, but not everyone can manage to fall straight through one.

Veronica Ruiz is on the run for the first time in her life—though certainly not the last. After being falsely accused of stealing money from her college sorority, she packs up and heads to her cousin Ramón’s apartment, planning to change her name and rebuild start over away from backstabbing girls and university drama (and far, far away from her arrest warrant in Maryland).

At the local bank on the first morning of her new life, it occurs to Vero that she’d be a better bank teller than most of the current employees: she may not have much money, but what little she does have, she knows how to manage. Unfortunately, the only available position is a cleaning job and so, desperate for a fresh start, she takes the bank manager’s offer.

But nothing in Vero’s world has ever been simple, so of course shortly after she begins work, she overhears a conversation between her new boss and a security guard: someone who works there has been stealing. Seeing a window of opportunity, Vero sets out to find the identity of the thief, present the evidence, and then push for the perfect job. All of which would be easier if her irresistibly infuriating childhood crush Javi wasn’t living in the same damn town.

Characters

• Veronica (Vero)
• Ramon – Vero’s older cousin
• Javi – Vero’s ex boyfriend, Ramon’s best friend and working for Ramon now
• Aunt Gloria – Ramon’s mom
• Mr. Singh – bank manager
• Terrence – the security officer for the bank
• Daren – ‘frat boy’, son of higher up at the bank, working one of the desks
• Helen – works one of the windows at the bank, been working at the bank for about 6 months
• Philip – works the other window at the bank, he has bad IBS and spends at least an hour in the bathroom every day, been working at the bank for 12 years, never taken. a sick day

My Review

This is a short story – less than 200 pages. It was a super quick read and fun to read about Vero’s past and how she got where she is.

I feel like making it a short story had its perks, but it was almost too short. There wasn’t as much of the Vero that I love from the Finlay books. I also wish it would have ended after she had started as the nanny for a bit to get some of the kid stories pulled in.