Tessa's Trust (The Anna Albertini Files Book 5) by Rebecca Zanetti 
Published by RAZ INK LLC on May 20, 2023
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 316
Format: eBook
Source: Amazon
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.
When the shoe drops, it always hits her on the head
Tessa Albertini has spent much of her life guest-starring in other people's stories. Her older sister is a type-A personality who creates opportunities like other people build hopes, and her younger sister finds trouble like it's an integral strand of her DNA. Finally Tessa's hard work and sacrifice allow her to open that restaurant she's been dreaming about since she was a young teenager working her butt off, regardless of the obstacles now slamming into her.
There's an advancing enemy who doesn't want Tessa to succeed in business, while Nonna Albertini is determined she'll succeed in love, no matter how much meddling it takes. Finally, Nick Basanelli, the most arrogant and sexy man she has ever met, zeroes his formidable focus into actually courting her—and that's before he discovers she’s in danger and morphs into overprotective alpha male mode.
While a family's middle child is supposedly a peacemaker, the world is about to discover that when pushed far enough, Tessa is willing to go to war.
It was much more fun to watch Tessa and Nick avoid their grandmothers’ matchmaking.
Contessa “Tessa” Albertini has finally purchased the restaurant of her dream, or her dream after a lot of elbow grease. It only cost $150,000, in cash, but when a body is found in the basement and the little old lady Tessa gave her money to disappears into the wind, Tessa proves that it isn’t only little sister, Anna, who can get herself into a dangerous predicament.
Prosecutor Nick Basanelli has been ducking the latest attempts by his grandmother and her BFF Nonna Albertini to match him with Tessa, until he realizes that he should be offended that Tessa is even more objectionable to their matchmaking than he is. When someone tries to frame Tessa for murder and then takes a shot at her, Nick is suddenly certain that he is the only thing standing between Tessa and danger and he will whether she likes it or not.
THOUGHTS:
I am confused on my feelings on this whole story. I enjoyed Tessa and Nick trying to duck their combined grandmother’s attempts at matchmaking and ignoring their obvious attraction to each other on many of the prior Anna Albertini stories, so why once we got their HEA was I feeling pretty “meh” over the whole thing. Did I simply enjoy the chase more than I enjoyed Nick’s caveman, overprotectiveness of Tessa? Something about once they were together was just off for me.
Even for an Anna Albertini story, the storyline was a little far fetched with bodies suddenly showing up, and a missing little old lady and false Deeds stealing the property from Tessa. The whole deal was questionable from the start, and her lawyer sister tried to stop the middle of the night secret all-cash transaction, but Tessa trusted the owner of “Shady Sadie’s.” Tessa really didn’t know what she was getting herself into and I think she should have stuck with her friends at the diner.
I love the Anna stories and the cousin short-stories but oddly enough, Tessa and Nick were much more fun when they were trying to avoid getting entangled with each other.
