Stand by Your Manny

Dreamspun Desires

De: Amy Lane

Narrado por: Peter B. Brooke

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?

©2018 Amy Lane (P)2018 Dreamspinner Press

A fun story

This is the mannies book three or Sam and Coopers story. It does stand on its own pretty well but The other characters make very big appearances and you will know them better if you've read their books. But as I said, it has enough backstory you can follow it on its own.
Cooper has been working hard for Brandon in construction but it's not easy for a man his size. One day a mistake lands him in the hospital and in a new job as manny.
Sammy has anemia and forgets to eat a lot during his busy schedule.
My heart goes out to Sammy. He is absolutely adorable. Cooper is too. I love how the two fit together so well. There are also lots of cute kids.

Peter M Brooke does a fairly good job of narrating though at times it felt like he was reading. But he still did justice to this wonderful story.
If you like two sweet young men, and lots of cute kids you will love this!

I love Amy's story but Peter was a disappointment

I absolutely loved these guys! The hurt/comfort between these two was off the charts in the sweet factor and I fell in love with them and their little extended family/ies.

I kinda wanted their “de-virgininzing” to be hotter – but I guess that’s more the Dreamspun thing than anything else. Book 2 was a bit steamier and so this was a bit of a let down.

The glimpses of previous MCs was appreciated and I’m looking forward to the next in the series very much.

I really hope Nick Russo gets to do the narration…. Just my hopeful hint!

For fans of the author and the series this is a must, if you’re new to the series this isn’t my favorite of the bunch but it’s Amy so it’s great!


4 of 5 stars

Audio


Sigh
Disappointed. It’s not Nick Russo.
Peter B Brooke is just did not live up to my expectations. His accents were good, but many times his voice lacked the emotional depth that this type of story really needs. This made it really frustrating to listen to.
While his voice overall is enjoyable at the end of it all, the frustration won out.
I’d give the narration 3 of 5 stars and overall 3.5 of 5 stars.

Stand By Your Manny

Third book in the Mannies Series and we get to see Sammy grown up. I do think you would have a better concept of this book if you read the others first, only because some of the side characters here are previous leads.

Sammy is in college now, studying music and doing some nanny duties on the side, while still making sure his health issues don't get out of control. The other main character, Cooper, grew up in the foster care system and knows what it’s like to not have a steady family or the support that one needs. I was happy to see Cooper open up and let Sammy help him when it was needed, and I really liked how these two came together as a couple and a team and worked together to give each other the exact support and care they each needed at the right times.

This book was super sweet, fluffy and cute to the point where it had a “younger” feel to it almost like a young adult book would, with no real drama or angst, it is just a feelgood romance type story with some adorable younger men and some cute kids added in.

Audio – Peter Brooke does an alright job with the narration. I was not super impressed, but it was decently good. There were a few times his voice and tone seemed off to me and it felt like he was more reading us the story instead of narrating the storyline for these characters to us. But overall he did put in a good effort and I liked this book so it all worked out.

Sweet story

You probably know by now that the books in the Dreamspun Desires line is mostly fluff and have that harlequin feel to them. Stand by Your Manny was no exception, but hey, I love my fluff so I don't mind that at all. You know what to expect when you pick these books up.

Cooper Hoskins works in construction. He's dirt poor and turns every penny to make ends meet so that he can take care of is foster sister Felicity. An acciedent at work puts him out of comission and in a tight spot to care for his small family.

Sammy Lowell wants to stand on his own two feet. Wants to work with music, tour with it, at the same time he's also taking care of his siblings. It's a stressful life for sure and his health is getting worse, and he knows in his heart he's not taking care of himself as much as he should have and he can't keep going in the pace he's set for himself. He needs to accept some help.

Their love story is a sweet one. It's not a hot and heavy one. But one of exploring, of discovery, first kisses, first touches and first times. Cooper and Sammy have so much in common, the deep caring for others, nurturing. The feel things deeply. The need for family. This book is all about family, the blood kind, but mostly the one you choses. Helping and loving each other through the ups and downs. It's a pure sweet and feel good romance.

Peter B. Brooke was an okay narrator. Not a great one, but okay. His narration felt a bit stilted a lot of the time and didn't quite have that natural flow of words. Adding pauses where there shouldn't have been. Which meant I spent a lot of the time focusing on his narration instead of the story he tried to convey. It wasn't an effortless listen, I really had to focus on it and that's not something I particularly wnjoy with my audiobooks. I want to be immersed into the story, be a part of it, but Brooke didn't manage that. Another issue of mine, and that is a preference of mine, was that he added no real feeling to his narration. He was just reading the words in front of him, he felt detached and it made me feel detached from the story so I was never invested one way or another.

Stand by Your Manny was at the core a cute and fluffy read/listen. I would say that you should go for the printed version rather than the audio this time around, I think you'd enjoy that more.

A copy of this audiobook was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

William Shatner style narrator ruined it

This constant 2-3 words then pause narration killed the story! There are no voices for the characters, no attempt at differentiation for gender or age, it's like some guy who super sucks at reading aloud is just... reading me the book. Or a constantly buffering computer voice. And that is HORRID! I've had to put it on 1.5 just to keep from yanking out my headphones and trying to strangle myself to make it stop. If I hadnt read the eBook like 5x because I love Sammy's story, I wouldn't be able to visualize this, it's so broken.

What a shame and huge waste of money!!