A Manny and his Grump, more so than 'A Fool and His Manny' but no matter what you call it this was a totally enjoyable story. 

Amy Lane is another one of those authors who just never fails to delight me. I've been enjoying this series on audio and while I have to admit there is one that I haven't listened to the audio yet, I'm feeling fairly comfortable saying that this one...right here is my absolute favorite of the series...not that I haven't enjoyed them all, just that I've enjoyed this one more than the rest.

While you could probably read this book without reading all of the other stories...I would strongly recommend books 1 and 3 at the very least and I say this  based on the fact that book 2 is the one that I missed and while I wish I hadn't I can also say that I had no problems following the story in this one or knowing who was who because there are a number of characters from the previous stories in this one.

First off there's Quinlan (ir Q as Dustin likes to call  him)...he's one of the MCs in this book but he's also Sammy's best friend and we met him in a previous story and it's Sammy who helps Quinlan get the job as manny to Nica and Jacob's six children...one of whom happens to be the grouchy Dustin a 14 year old with an attitude...cause this is a rare creature...NOT!!! 

So here we are a few years down the road Q's  settled in to his position as Manny for the Robbins-Grayson family and whether he realizes it or not that same family has taken him not only into their home but he's securely entrenched in their hearts as well. Especially that of the no longer 14 year old Dustin. 

Dustin's quietly watched Q from the sidelines for years and he's been paying attention to all the things that Q's done quietly and without hesitation over the years to help make his family work but he's seen more than that. He's also seen the pain, loneliness and heartache that  Q's tried to hide over the years and as he grows and watches he begins to realize that he wants to be the one to care for Q, to soothe his heartache and ease his pain. Finally the day comes and Dustin's decided that he needs to make his move.

While this may sound off-putting to some there are a couple of things that factor into the dynamics and made a world of difference for me...

1. There's only a 6 year age difference between Q and Dustin.

2. Dustin's the one who makes the first move and when he does he's around 20 years        old and initially Q is a bit resistant to a relationship between the two men and make        no mistake bout this by the time things happen between these two...Dustin is    definitely an adult.

3. Everyone should have a Dustin in their life. (kidding...well maybe not).

For the most part I've found all of the characters in these stories to be absolutely delightful but Dustin and Q are just so damned perfect together. The care and consideration that Dustin gives to Q might have let me a melted puddle of goo on more than one  occasion and Q...damn, I want to be his momma...because he got so freaking short changed in the parent department it was just heartbreaking.

There was honestly only one thing about this story that I really didn't like...passionately didn't like and that was Qs mother...she's getting added to my 'whack a biotch game' ...because DAMN that woman was rage inducing!!! I could rant about her for more than a few paragraphs but I'll spare you all the rage and just say 'read the story!' then we can rage together. 

'A Fool and His Manny' is my fourth audio book narrated by Kenneth Obi and as with the previous stories he's definitely done this one justice. I like the level of depth and emotion that his narration brings to a story giving it a balance that's not always achieved on audio books with the voices conveying just enough emotion to draw the listener in without it being too much or too little. It's a balancing act and Mr. Obi seems to be  mastering it quite nicely.

Amy Lane does something that few other authors can do...she creates a world that has a place for everyone...a place where they can be safe, loved and sheltered. Where even if the family you want isn't the one you were given you can have the family you want and the love we all deserve. It's not an impossible thing...just a thing that doesn't exist...yet.

I could probably put together a nice long list of everything that I loved about this story or I could just say that I loved everything about this story...however, I did especially love Dustin and Q and the ending...one of the best endings because yes...it was an absolutely perfect HEA.

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An audio book of 'A Fool and His Manny' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable.
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table.
David Hume could out-consume
Schopenhauer and Hegel,
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as sloshed as Schlegel.

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

I think Salt N Pepa said it best: "What a man. What a man. What a mighty good man. " Lincoln takes the unconventional route to success. He follows his heart. Sexy, sweet and sensitive are just the skills to make an impression on a brokenhearted mom and her rambunctious trio. It took Vera being in over her head to finally listen to her heart. Also lightens the mood with a sassy tale of love lost and found. Misadventures with a Manny is irresistible fun.

Sorry about that but this title just begs for a bit of Loretta Lynn...

'Stand by your Manny' is the third book in Amy Lanes 'Mannies' series and while I listened to the first book on audio, I unfortunately took a pass on the second book and I honestly wish I hadn't. I was ok with this one because having listened to the first book on audio I was familiar with Sammy, one of the MCs, Sammy's Uncle Channing and Channing's partner, Tino. Since Channing and Tino are the MCs from 'The Virgin Manny' the first book in this series and Sammy is or was the seven year old in that story.

Now, where things fall short for me is that some of the other secondary characters are from 'Manny Get Your Guy', the second book in this series. So needless to say I was a little bit 'who? what? where?' when it came to this part of the story and while it didn't make it hard for me to follow the story it was a bit distracting and I actually found myself going back and reading the blurb for the second book to try and give myself a better perspective of how these characters connected to the others and it did help a little bit. But while I wouldn't say that reading the first 2 books is necessary, I would definitely say that it would have made the reading experience better. So all things considered while 3.5 stars isn't quite my usual rating for an Amy Lane book it's still pretty good and first chance I get I'm going after book 2 on audio and redoing the whole experience...because re-dos on Amy Lane books are such a hardship...NOT!

So, as I mentioned before we first met Sammy 14 fictional years ago on the pages of 'The Virgin Manny' when he was a sweet little 7 year old and now he's 21 and basically the light of everyone's life. His family adores him and he's an incredibly gifted young man with so many hopes, dreams and plans...full of ambition and an illness that could keep those dreams from coming true.

Cooper's had a very different life from Sammy and his dreams have consisted of having the basics in life...a place to life, food to eat, health insurance all the things that so many people take for granted and eventually to being able to provide those things to a sweet, young girl who like Cooper has fallen through the cracks of the foster care system and has come to be the beginnings of the family that Cooper's going to make for himself.

Together Sammy and Cooper begin to make each other whole again...filling in the holes and missing pieces. Creating new hopes and dreams for themselves and for each other.

It's not very often that I get to read a book where one of the MCs was a child from a previous story so this was actually a bit of a reading treat for me and it was nice to get a peek at the MCs from the first book so many years later. Plus there were some delightfully humorous moments in this one. 

Peter B. Brooke was the narrator for 'Stand By Your Manny' and in spite of the fact that he has 54 audio books to his credit this was in fact my first time listening to a book narrated by him and for me the jury's still out on this one. At times when I was listening to the book I found that things just weren't working for me but there were other times that the narration was going really well so, in all fairness to this narrator I went and checked out the audio samples on a few of those books. What I found was that for the most part his voices in the samples I listened to showed a varied range and there may have been more than a couple of them that are now on my audio TBL list (To Be Listened-to) so at the end of it all for me on this one the narration was ok but I definitely think there's strong potential and I'll be checking out a few books by this narrator...you know purely for research purposes, right?

My recommendation on this one...best when read/listened to in order, after enjoying 'The Manny Virgin' and 'Manny Get You Guy'...not required but strongly encouraged.

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An audio book of 'Stand By Your Manny' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Murder of Manny Grimes has everything a good crime thriller should have. The opening chapter pulled me in to the mystery and the characters are so well developed that I felt like I knew them. While the case of Manny Grimes' murder is interesting enough with its twists and turns to keep a reader turning pages, I was equally interested in the life of Jim DeLong and those around him. None of these characters are perfect by any means and DeLong has his share of flaws, but there's something endearing about him in spite of those flaws. DeLong's determination to find a killer while dealing with a crumbling marriage pulls at the heartstrings throughout this gripping tale. Overall, this first Cases of Lieutenant DeLong is wonderfully written and a solid introduction to what I hope is a long running series.