Title: And Manny Makes Three
Series: N/A
Author: Trina Solet
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella (346 pages)
Publisher: Trina Solet (January 16th, 2014)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Blurb: Mark, a struggling college student, has been working as a nanny for a nice family, but they don’t need him anymore.
Zack has been raising his son, Al, by himself and needs help. Al is a funny kid, and Zack is a funny dad, but more serious issues lurk under the surface. Will Mark be able to deal with these two? And how will Zack and Mark deal with their attraction for each other?
ISBN: 9781301895038
Product Link: http://www.amazon.com/And-Manny-Makes-Three-Romance-ebook/dp/B00EZC3XJO
Reviewer: Prime
Review: This is one incredibly sweet story. I enjoyed the slow build up of the relationship as it started between Mark and Zack from employee and employer, to friends to finally admitting the growing feelings (and the instant lust both men had felt). Zack’s son, Al, is also a hilarious scene-stealer. But to be fair, Zack’s unconventional parenting (broccoli anyone?) is not only effective but funny to read as he and Al pout at each other and boss each other about.
Zack is a successful accountant who adopted his dying stepsister’s son at her request. Work keeps him busy and he’s always in need of some help when it comes to Al. Before Al, he had been a workaholic, but now is a strict 9 to 5 type of person. His friend, Mia, insists that Zack’s solution to his problems is a live-in nanny and recommends her own nanny, Mark, for the job. Al is an adorable 5-year-old boy and certainly has breathed some life into Zack’s world since he arrived.
It’s too difficult for me to choose a favourite character out of Mark and Zack and Al! Then again, Al’s pet cat PJ is a character herself, although she is constantly harassed by her young master.
Mark is nineteen years old. He’s part time at college and trying to work to get some money to live. At seventeen, he was kicked out of home by his parents for being gay and was taken in by Mia, who he had been a babysitter for. Well, it wasn’t all charity. Mark also became her live in nanny. But with Mia and her family being transferred, Mark is left in a bit of a quandary of what he can do next. Mia mentions to Mark that her friend needs a nanny and he’s open to the idea.
The plot is simple. The first half of the book is interesting and sweet because we get to see these two guys interact and become friends as pine for each other. Zack does the usual thing as the older guy in the budding relationship and worry over the fact that there is ten years between the two. But quite nicely, both these guys are mature because of the circumstances that have been thrown to their way in life.
Of course, and more realistically, Zack also has to worry about bringing someone new into Al’s life. The plotline with Mark and his childhood friend and occasional lover, Roy, seems to just appear and disappear. While it adds some depth to Mark’s character, it was overplayed.
An editing issue, there are a number of typos and while they did trip me up I wasn’t too irritated by them.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *