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?
Narrator: Peter B. Brooke
Listening Length: 6 hours, 1 minutes
Reviewer: Annika
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 accident at work puts him out of commission 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 enjoy 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
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