Release Day Review ~ The Virgin Manny by Amy Lane
Title: The Virgin Manny
Series: The Mannies
Author: Amy Lane
Release Date: January 1, 2016
Category: Contemporary, Dreamspun Desires
Pages: 228
Growing up and falling in love...
Sometimes family is a blessing and a curse. When Tino Robbins is roped into helping his sister deliver her premade Italian dinners when he should be studying for finals, he’s pretty sure it’s the latter! But one delivery might change everything.
Channing Lowell’s charmed life changes when his sister dies and leaves him her seven-year-old son. He’s committed to doing what’s best for Sammy… but he’s going to need a lot of help. When Tino lands on his porch, Channing is determined to recruit him to Team Sammy.
Tino plans to make his education count—even if that means avoiding a relationship—but as he falls harder and harder for his boss, he starts to wonder: Does he have to leave his newly forged family behind in order to live his promising tomorrow?
4 Stars
When Tino Robbins went away to business school, he never imagined his teenage sister would be the one to start the successful business. When she calls on him for a favor delivering a pre-made dinner to a house in Granite Bay, he's surprised to meet Channing and his nephew Sammy.
Channing Lowell has recently lost his sister and now has the responsibility of raising her seven-year-old son, Sammy. Sammy is not adjusting well and still expects his mom to walk through the door. Channing needs help since he has no clue what he's doing. Meeting Tino is serendipitous. Now he needs to get Tino to agree to work for him helping with Sammy.
I am going to be honest, I really was not Tino's biggest fan, I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly why but something about him just rubbed me the wrong way through most of the book. I really liked Channing and found him pretty endearing. I think they were good together and had good chemistry.
I love Amy Lane and I was so excited to get this book. While it wasn't my favorite of her stories it was still a highly enjoyable book. I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*
*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*
The Virgin Manny is Book 1 in Amy Lane's The Mannies series. Channing is a successful businessman who has just lost his sister and finds himself struggling with the care of his nephew, moving to his sister's house, dealing with her difficult housekeeper, dealing with his business, his grief and trying to take care of his grieving nephew. Then one night amidst all the chaos, he opens the front door to see a young man with a premade dinner. He has no idea what's going on, but his nephew is very unhappy that it's not Box Dinner Girl standing there but her brother.
Tino is close to graduating college and pressured into helping his sister make her box dinner deliveries when she's busy with classes. Though he's also busy, he's willing to help her out, because she's the one in the family that is going to make something of herself. Things have gone smoothly until he gets to the last delivery of the night and isn't able to just hand the dinner over. He finds a hot, older man struggling with a child throwing a tantrum and a housekeeper causing problems. He invites himself to stay for dinner and before the end of the night, finds himself with the job offer to be a manny. This is not a job he has pictured himself performing but Channing makes him an offer that is hard to refuse.
I loved Channing's character! The author didn't write him as the typical businessman who's just looking to pawn his nephew off on someone. Channing was trying to do anything and everything he could to help his nephew but he was struggling. Tino was young and that really was obvious throughout the story, especially when the relationship between Channing and Tino changed to something more. I sometimes didn't understand Tino's thought processes. He really struggled with what he felt his life should be and what it actually was. He had a great support system in his parents and friends. He had pigeon-holed himself with his place in the world, but that was his doing, no one else's. I really loved this line from his mom: "Life is what happens when you're making plans." I think this is applicable in many of our lives!
Overall, this was a sweet story that you should definitely check out!
Rating: 4.5 stars!
4.5 Stars!!!
A lovely tale that ended just before I got the icing on the cake...but I still loved it.
With the Dreamspun Desires range of books from DSP, I do expect the icing on the cake, as they're written like, and I mean this with total respect, old-fashioned Mills and Boon tales, where's there's an alpha lead and a non-alpha lead, and the tale leads me to believe that it'll end with bells and ribbons on. This didn't quite, but it's still an excellent read.
AL managed to make the leads entirely believable, to give them a perfectly plausible reason for coming into each other's lives and didn't make said reason the entire focus of the tale, which could have made the romance feel fabricated. As it was, I could see the leads' interest in each other from their very first meeting, and believe in it. I loved how their romance played out sweetly and innocently, and that when they did get together, they didn't race to the finish line and do any...cherry popping. When it did happen, it was sort of hinted-at and then we got told the deed was done, and the leads were as close as could be.
I liked that (not that I normally do in a romance, as I like stuff full-on), as it suited the tale and the leads. I also liked that I knew where their relationship was heading and that I believed in the outcome - I just wish there'd been an epilogue three years down the line, which ties in with what Sammy had suggested was a good time for a certain happy event, showing the leads living that HEA full-on. Still, I really enjoyed this and it's a Keeper.
ARC courtesy of Dreamspinner Press and Bayou Book Junkie, for my reading pleasure.
With the Dreamspun Desires range of books from DSP, I do expect the icing on the cake, as they're written like, and I mean this with total respect, old-fashioned Mills and Boon tales, where's there's an alpha lead and a non-alpha lead, and the tale leads me to believe that it'll end with bells and ribbons on. This didn't quite, but it's still an excellent read.
AL managed to make the leads entirely believable, to give them a perfectly plausible reason for coming into each other's lives and didn't make said reason the entire focus of the tale, which could have made the romance feel fabricated. As it was, I could see the leads' interest in each other from their very first meeting, and believe in it. I loved how their romance played out sweetly and innocently, and that when they did get together, they didn't race to the finish line and do any...cherry popping. When it did happen, it was sort of hinted-at and then we got told the deed was done, and the leads were as close as could be.
I liked that (not that I normally do in a romance, as I like stuff full-on), as it suited the tale and the leads. I also liked that I knew where their relationship was heading and that I believed in the outcome - I just wish there'd been an epilogue three years down the line, which ties in with what Sammy had suggested was a good time for a certain happy event, showing the leads living that HEA full-on. Still, I really enjoyed this and it's a Keeper.
ARC courtesy of Dreamspinner Press and Bayou Book Junkie, for my reading pleasure.
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