Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)

SSTITLE: A Fool and His Manny 

SERIES: The Mannies #4 (Dreamspun Desires)

AUTHOR: Amy Lane

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 230 pages

RELEASE DATE: July 17th, 2018

BLURB:

Seeing the truth and falling in love.

Dustin Robbins-Grayson was a surly adolescent when Quinlan Gregory started the nanny gig. After a rocky start, he grew into Quinlan’s friend and confidant—and a damned sexy man.

At twenty-one, Dusty sees how Quinlan sacrificed his own life and desires to care for Dusty’s family. He’s ready to claim Quinlan—he’s never met a kinder, more capable, more lovable man. Or a lonelier one. Quinlan has spent his life as the stranger on the edge of the photograph, but Dusty wants Quinlan to be the center of his world. First he has to convince Quinlan he’s an adult, their love is real, and Quinlan can be more than a friend and caregiver. Can he show Quin that he deserves to be both a man and a lover, and that in Dusty’s eyes, he’s never been “just the manny?”

REVIEW:

As we know, there are two families featured in this series. Nica and Jacob have a ton of kids, and need the help of a good manny, one of which was Taylor from Manny Get Your Guy. Nica’s brother Tino WAS the manny in The Virgin Manny, before needing to hire Cooper as a manny in Stand by Your Manny. Now with A Fool and His Manny, we go back to Nica and Jacobs house as they need a new manny. Sammy from Stand by Your Manny is a musician, and his friend and fellow musician Quinlan, ends up being offered the job as the family manny when he catches Dustin smoking behind the bathroom at a wedding. Quinlan has never been a manny, and has no experience with kids, but a job would be handy as he finishes school, and the Robbins-Grayson family is pretty nice…. it also comes with an over the garage apartment, and they’ll work around his summer music gig and his class schedule. He’ll also be able to continue to crush on Sammy, so he takes the job. Even though Dustin, the oldest kid, is kind of an asshole.

This gets Quinlan and Dustin in the same general vicinity, but we are years away from a romantic relationship. The two have lots of growing up to do first! And we get to watch it…

Quinlan has some issues. He comes from a wealthy family, but his parents are horrible. His dad kicks him out when he finds out Quinlan is gay, and his mom just lets it happen. His dad also tries to steal all of his money, but Quinlan is quick enough to stop that shit. He makes his way through school working toward a degree in music, and meets Sammy there. Accepting the job as the Robbins-Grayson family manny is just what he needs, but ends up challenging since he never had a family like that as a child, and he spends lots of time on the outside looking in. Nica and Jacob try to force him to be part of the family, and eventually he finds that resistance is futile.

Dustin was a little shit from an early age, and is not happy about the introduction of the new manny. Even more so when he finds out that Quinlan is friends with, and also crushes on Sammy, who Dustin has been in love with since before he knew what that was. Dustin is also a big fan of Taylor, and Quinlan is clearly NOT Taylor. Eventually Quinlan is able to earn Dustin’s respect, when he helps Dustin and his sister out of a sticky situation at school. Dustin soon switches his crush from Sammy to Quinlan, but it takes some time and effort before Quinlan realizes where his heart lays.

Quinlan goes through quite the journey in this book, from loner to part of a huge family. From single and lonely, to in a loving relationship. Dustin doesn’t have as far to go, he basically goes from being an asshole kid, to being slightly less of an asshole as an adult. And from a childhood crush on his cousin, to a committed relationship with the real man of his dreams. Then there is the sex…. Both of these guys are pretty innocent, but once they hit their stride, man does it get hot! And emotional. By the time they become lovers it is clear they are in love and meant for each other. I loved watching them grow as individuals, and as a couple, and as sexual men!

So I just wrote up a review of a different Dreamspun Desires book, and commented on this line of books being mostly fluffy stories, at least the ones I have read. The exception to that rule has been several of these Mannies books by Amy Lane. The first one was kinda fluffy, but the others not so much. Especially this one. Quinlan (which I have typed Quinland every single time I have typed it so far!) has had some drama in his short life up until he meets the Robbins-Grayson family. And really after as well. At one point he comes home from a tour sick, and just about dies, Dustin is the one to save him. His family shit comes back later in the story, and it’s only through the help of the extended Robbins-Grayson family that the issue is resolved. Nica is determined to love him, and there is only so long Quinlan can fight it off. Then Dustin gets in on the act and it’s all over. Quinlan is part of the family. The ending was so sweet and made me cry, I just loved it!

My issue with this book, and really several of the mannies books is the large cast of characters. Yes, it’s about a big family, but sometimes I find the relationship of the couple can get overshadowed by the family aspect of the series. There are so many people coming and going, so many kids, and I can lose track of the romance. Also the time span threw me off. Twenty years have passed from the first manny book, and I found myself wondering about cars, the environment, how different the world could be, has technology changed, etc, etc. I know, that’s stupid and it’s a book, shut up and enjoy it, but that’s where my brain went!

But when I could focus on Quinlan and Dustin, not worry about the rest of the family, or what cars they could be driving it was a very enjoyable story. I did like the process these guys went through, especially Quinlan, and I liked that he was able to find a family that loves and accepts him as he is. Basically this is a well written, slightly fluffy, but not totally fluffy book by one of my favorite authors!

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon