Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Night of the Living Manny
SERIES: Dreamspun Beyond #21
AUTHOR: Julia Talbot
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 210 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 5, 2018
BLURB:
Something besides love is growing….
Manny Brenden Torrance is good at his job. He’s dealt with all sorts of children and parents, but he’s never met anyone as intriguing as Liam Whitehouse. Liam is a scientist with three kids, whose job is keeping him away from home more and more. That’s where Brenden steps in to help.
Liam has secrets, though. He’s working on a project for a pharmaceutical lab that could change disease management. Or destroy it. While he and Brenden start a romance they both want to continue, things at Liam’s job come to a head, and suddenly the whole family of Dad, manny, three kids, and a big drooly dog is on the run from the one thing that might keep Brenden and Liam apart. And infect the world.
REVIEW:
Come October 1st, I am all about getting my yearly fix of anything that even remotely looks like it fits with the Halloween holiday and I’m pleased to say that this book fit into that niche quite nicely! An apocalyptic story with zombie like creatures? Yes, please!
I loved this; there’s just something great about an author that manages to take something so unbelievable, from the outbreak to the set up with Brenden and Liam’s family, and makes it completely plausible. Add in the fact that it was entertaining on top of that, and you have a winner. 😀 The set up for the story was pretty straight forward; Liam needs help with his kids, desperately, and if hiring a manny will get him what he needs then that’s what he’s going to do. There was a lot of love between Liam and his children, that much was obvious, but work stressers and his inability to be around as much as they all would like had led to some problems that Liam wasn’t willing to let continue. Right off the bat I liked the whole bunch of them and Brenden fit in with them right from the beginning.
It was easy to see when things started to go badly at the lab and, when sh** basically hit the fan, I felt Liam’s panic and desperation right along with him. I can’t tell you how much I love it when a book draws me into it that deeply! From that point on it was a matter of survival for everyone involved and I didn’t want to put the book down. Above everything though, was the fact that I could completely believe the entire set up and resulting situation the author came up with here. Nothing seemed out of place or forced and the developing relationship between Brenden and Liam worked really well without overwhelming the story itself. I found it to be the perfect accompaniment to the overall plot.
If you enjoy anything that deals with the apocalypse, zombies or are just looking to expand your Halloween reading list, I’d really recommend giving this one a look!
RATING: 
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