Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)
TITLE: Stand by Your Manny 
SERIES: The Mannies #3
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 232 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 1st, 2018
BLURB:
Learning to trust and falling in love.
Sammy Lowell has his hands full juggling his music, college, some pesky health problems, and making the uncles who raised him proud. He needs help fulfilling his after-school duties with his siblings. Nobody can be in two places at once—not even Sammy!
An injury puts Cooper Hoskins in a tough spot—if he can’t work, the foster sister he’s raising can’t eat. But years in the foster system have left Cooper short on trust, and opening up to accept help isn’t easy.
Luckily, family intervenes—Cooper needs a job so he can care for Felicity, and Sammy needs someone who can see past his illness to the wonderful things he has planned for his life. Each heals the damaged places in the other’s heart. But falling in love is a big responsibility for young men deep in family already. Can the two of them get past their fear of the immediate future to see forever with each other?
REVIEW:
Stand by Your Manny continues the story started in The Virgin Manny, and features Sammy, the kid who brought Channing and Tino together. Now Sammy is 22 and slightly but not totally grown up. He lives with Channing and Tino, and their two adopted children, and is finishing school. He’s hoping to become a music teacher, as he is a fabulous pianist, the problem is his health is an issue. He’s anemic, and is not the strongest he could be, or the best at caring for himself. He’s pretty reliant on his uncles, financially, emotionally, and health-wise. They are happy to be there for him, and tend to smother him. Sammy is also part of the larger family these books follow, which includes Tino’s sister’s family which keeps growing and growing! Also included in the family are Brandon, who is related to Tino’s brother-in-law, and Brandon’s boyfriend Taylor. They were the featured couple in Manny Get Your Guy. Brandon works for a construction company, and befriended a co-worker named Cooper, whom we met in Manny Get Your Guy, briefly. Still with me?? So Cooper is the other half of the couple in this book!
Cooper has been through the foster care system, and when he aged out, he ended up with one of the younger kids in his last foster home. Felicity doesn’t feel safe when Cooper leaves, and follows him, eventually not going home. The two come up with some sneaky ways to stay together, and Cooper works his ass off to provide what he can for her. At the beginning of this story, Cooper is injured and Brandon steps in to help, especially once he figures out Cooper has a little girl counting on him. Brandon and Taylor enlist Channing and Tino, who will need a manny, as Sammy will be too busy with school to help with his cousins I guess they are? But more like siblings. Channing and Tino are happy to offer Cooper a job as their manny, and give him a home and help, and are super kid people, so one more kid isn’t an issue.
Cooper and Sammy meet when Cooper arrives at the house, and a little spark ignites….
There isn’t a whole lot of plot to this book, so I’ll stop there. Mostly this is about the family, the characters, and the slowly developing relationship between Cooper and Sammy. Both have issues to deal with, Sammy’s health becomes a problem a couple of times, and Cooper does his best to take care of him, and keep things from the notice of the uncles. Cooper and Felicity have trust issues, and have a hard time adapting to life in a big family. Sammy is trying to do more than he can do, so we spend time following his story as he struggles with reality versus his life plans. The two move in to sex slowly, as they are both super inexperienced, and also due to Sammy’s health. It was all very sweet, I loved watching the two boys learn to love one another…
So this is just a super sweet book, light and fluffy, and very enjoyable. Cooper and Sammy are very immature, so we see Channing and Tino quite a bit which I liked, since they are my favorite couple of this series. This whole series is very ensemble based, lots of family stuff goes on, and they are all in and out of each others lives and houses. I like that to a certain extent, these books brush up against my tolerance of kids in my romance books. I like some fluffy books too, mostly, and again, these brush up against my tolerance of fluff as well. But that is what the whole line of Dreamspun Desires is about, so no surprise there! But I really did enjoy this one, and it has a very sweet ending for these two, plus a little bonus bit at the end about Brandon and Taylor.
As a contrast, I am listening to Amy Lane’s Red Fish Dead Fish, which is very much NOT fluffy. I appreciate an author who can write such different books!
If you enjoyed the other Mannies books you will probably enjoy this one, it is very similar. If you haven’t read them, you’ll need to before you read this one. I wouldn’t consider this a stand alone book. If you are a fan of Amy Lane’s fluffy books, this book and this series will work for you, but if you are more used to her darker angsty books, these might not be for you. As always, Amy gives us great writing, great characters, a little sex, and a happy ending. Works for me!
RATING: 
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