AUDIO REVIEW: 'Manny Get Your Guy' by Amy Lane
Title: Manny Get Your Guy
Series: The Mannies #2
Author: Amy Lane
Narrator: John Solo
Published: July 1, 2017
Audio: August 10, 2017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; Dreamspun Desires #37
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond/Paul Richmond Studio
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 236 Pages/6 Hours 16 Minutes
Tags: Gay; MM; Comfort/Hurt; Virgin; Wounded Warrior; HFN; Audiobook; Standalone; CW: Off-Page War Violence
About Manny Get Your Guy
Starting over and falling in love.
Tino Robbins’s sister, Nica, and her husband, Jacob, are expecting their fifth child. Fortunately, Nica’s best friend, Taylor Cochran, is back in town, released from PT and in need of a job.
After years in the service and recovering from grave injury, Taylor has grown a lot from the callow troublemaker he’d been in high school. Now he’s hoping for a fresh start with Nica and her family.
Jacob’s cousin Brandon lives above the garage and thinks “Taylor the manny” is a bad idea. Taylor might be great at protecting civilians from a zombie apocalypse, but is he any good with kids?
Turns out, Taylor’s a natural. As he tries to fit in, using common sense and dry wit, Brandon realizes that Taylor doesn’t just love their family—he’s desperate to be part of it. And just like that, Brandon wants Taylor to be part of his future.
Review:
When I saw the title Manny Get Your Guy, I admit I figured it for the kind of sweet and easy comfort read Amy Lane does so beautifully. On one hand that is completely true, but nestled in amongst the banter between old friends, some scorching sexual tension, and several just plain adorable scenes with the kids, Lane slips in a powerful message. Duty, family, honor, and appreciating what we have.
Manny Get Your Guy is the second in The Mannies Series but can definitely be read as a standalone.
There are some very poignant moments when Taylor looks back at his life before being wounded in the Army. He says his life was full of one want after another - a job, an education, leisure time, hot sex “‘I wanted it all and I wanted it now.’” Then his unit was attacked and he woke up in a hospital bed, which slammed everything into perspective.
The Taylor who returns to his home-town is a very different man from the guy who left years before.
He’s burned some bridges with actions from his past, but it’s not long before people see him for who he is now.
As the story progresses Taylor develops a relationship with Brandon, cousin to the family who’s given Taylor a manny job.
Brandon, with his open and honest nature, is able to coax Taylor out of his shell.
Brandon’s support helps Taylor start to recover from the injuries he sustained, both physical and emotional. It broke my heart how starved for affection Taylor was after spending a year in rehab, and Brandon is the perfect guy to give Taylor a start on a new life.
Amy Lane’s character descriptions are so vivid, and listening to them read in John Solo’s beautifully expressive voice is the perfect combination.
Solo’s Taylor is gruff and a little bit unsure of himself, while his Brandon is macho with a huge side of sweet and tender. One of my favorite narrators, Solo has an incredible variety of voices which he needs in this story. There are quite a few women and kids, which he did very well. I was especially impressed with the voice he uses for Mitchell Grayson, Brandon’s father, who is ill and old. He has the crotchety old codger down pat.
Manny Get Your Guy sure gave me something to think about. It wasn’t what I was expecting but I was incredibly pleased. Amy Lane really gets into the heart of these characters and delivers an intense message without coming off preachy. I highly recommend this story and I’m going to look into book one in the series, The Virgin Manny.
An audiobook of Manny Get Your Guy was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Dreampsinner Press, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Author
Angst and pain, Amy Lane has two kids in college, two gradeschoolers in soccer, two cats, and two Chi-who-whats at large. She lives in a crumbling crapmansion with most of the children and a bemused spouse. She also has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and m/m romance--and if you accidentally make eye contact, she'll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She'll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.
For more from Amy be sure and visit her website.
