The Manny - Book Review

By Piper Rayne

Synopsis

She needed a nanny.
I needed a lead actress.
Somehow I became The Manny.

Secrets and lies are a killer way to start any partnership—especially a horizontal one.

Now, I’m a glass half full kinda of guy, so, after the ‘you’re fired’ speech was directed at me, I figure now’s the time to be the screenwriter I came to sunny California to be. Unfortunately, there are about as many people trying to sell a script in L.A. as there are vegans in the pacific northwest.

But lucky for me, a few weeks ago my agent found an investor for my script. Hooray, all my problems are solved! NOT.

Because the investor will only agree to fund my film if I use one specific actress. And that one specific actress? Well of course, it just has to be the same actress I screwed over only months before. But she doesn’t need to know about that one tiny detail, does she? All that matters is getting her to agree to do the film and I’ll do whatever it takes. We can leave the past, in the past, right?

I thought my charm would win her over. Never would I have been prepared for the terms she laid out on the table.

Review

I quite enjoyed THE MANNY, so much so that I already have the second book in the series, DOGGIE STYLE, ready to go on my Kindle.

I am in way over my head. Changing my first diaper is one thing. Changing my first diaper full of shit and dealing with a biological disaster is another entirely.

I liked Vance, who was really a good guy. Did he screw Layla out of a job because he was too busy thinking with his dick? Well, yeah, but he knows that was wrong and hates that he did it. Did Karma pay him back? Yep, and rightly so. For a man intent on staying a bachelor, he took to Layla’s kids pretty damn well. I really enjoyed the scenes where he was interacting with them, because they were all really sweet with just the right amount of humor thrown in.

“But right now I have to go check to make sure a four-year-old little boy isn’t cooking meth or something in his bedroom. It’s too quiet in there.”

Layla was a very easy character to like. She’s a single mother to two kids, and her ex-husband is more interested in sleeping around and maintaining his career than being a responsible and helpful parent. Because of all the people in her life that have let her down, placing her trust in someone is a big deal, so you really felt her devastation and anger when she found out the secret Vance was keeping from her. That anger was good for her though, because it gave her the strength to stand up to both Vance and her ex, and it was good.

“I’m at a crossroads with my career and I need people who will help me push my self-doubt to the side and who will believe in me. I thought you were one of those people, but it turns out you didn’t believe in me either.”

I only have two complaints with this story, but I consider them to be fairly minor. The conflict was predictable right from the start, and I thought the Kimmel scene was a little cheesy.

THE MANNY is told in dual POVs and is the first book in the Dirty Truth trilogy. Vance’s two best friends, Jagger and Leo, will get their own books and all three can be read as stand-alones. THE MANNY comes with a lovely HEA for Vance and Layla, and I hope we see more of them in the next two books, because I want to know if Vance’s film is a huge success.