Rose's Food & Book Blog: Blog Tour: My Mr. Manny by Jennifer Garcia

Mia Balducci misses her childhood days and yearns for the big, Italian family that she left behind in small town Massachusetts. At the tender age of sixteen, Mia moves with her bachelor father to Los Angeles, but no matter how many years pass, it never becomes home to her. The years spent living with her father aren’t easy, especially since she can’t stop thinking about what she once had. Her enrollment in the University of Southern California promises to bring exciting changes to her life, but Mia winds up with big problems instead. When she runs into an old friend from her old hometown of Winthrop, she gets swept up in nostalgia, and she soon loses herself in a quickly-progressing romance. When the fantasy falls apart, she is left to raise her precious little girl, Lucia, on her own. The demands of Mia’s work schedule and Lucia’s needs increase, and their lives become increasingly hectic. It is soon clear to Mia that she needs help. Luckily, her life-saving cousin saves the day and brings the mother and daughter a male nanny – their new “manny.”

After losing his high-pressure job on Wall Street, Dominic Roberts wants to follow his dreams to have a family. He’s already one fiancée down, and there are no likely prospects for another. In order to find the family he so desperately wants, he finds himself getting into the manny business. Since he is fully qualified to provide child care and is eager to leave New York City behind, his sister-in-law is able to land him a job in California working for his first client – the beautiful and intriguing Mia Balducci.

Will Lucia like the new man in her mother's life? Will Mia? And will this new trio discover the happily ever after they all so desperately seek?

I rolled over to face Dominic and he began to stir. I watched him breathe and took inventory of his precious face. His lashes were thick and short against his cheek. The stubble on his face had thickened a bit more and his lips stuck out in a pout. I pecked them and his eyes opened.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” I said as he stretched and yawned. He scratched at his stubble and rubbed his eyes. He was adorable in the morning.

“Mhmmm, it is a good morning,” he said with a sleep-coated voice. He wrapped and tightened his arms around me and then squeezed. “A very good morning.”

“I need to get up and get ready for work. Lucia will be up in a bit. But ...” I began to say.

“What’s wrong?”

I exhaled a deep breath. “No, nothing’s wrong, but ... well I really want you to move into my room now. Too soon?” I wasn’t afraid he’d say no, but for some reason I felt strange asking him that.

He scoffed. “Did you think I was going to sleep in my room after last night? I had the best night of my life” he said while peppering soft, slow kisses on my face.

“It was my best night, too, baby.” I kissed him one more time and got up. “So, it’s official then. You’re moving in here and we’re a real couple.” I jerked my head in a nod to emphasize my statement.

He rolled on top of me, pinning me down on the bed. “I thought it was a given, Mia. You’re stuck with me forever now. I hope you can handle me.” He laughed.

“Mhmmm, I can handle you all right. I just hope you can handle me.” I kissed his lips.

Mia Balducci grew up in Boston. When she turned sixteen she moved to Los Angeles to live with her dad. She misses her big Italian family and her friends from her hometown. She forces herself to change things like her voice so she’ll fit into her new high school. She’s always felt out of place that is until she gets to college and becomes best friends with her roommate Susan. While Mia still feels out of place, it’s at a football game that she runs into Alex who was her friend growing up.

Alex and Mia reconnect and start dating moving into a condo together as they grow closer. Much to their surprise Mia becomes pregnant and Alex quickly proposes to her a short time later. Lucia has become the light of Mia’s life over the last five years. Gone is the supportive loving husband that she married. He’s never home, he can’t be bothered, and never sees his child. Mia understands that being CEO he’s very busy but it’s almost like Mia has been a single parent for their daughter’s entire life taking her to school, feeding her, and helping with her homework.

Finally one day Mia wakes up and decides that it’s time for Alex to start spending time with them, but Alex can’t seem to be bothered and even when Mia tries to rekindle some of their passion, Alex ignores her. Fed up with his treatment towards her and their daughter, Mia decides to go to his office to confront him only to discover a sobbing woman in his arms who he’s been having an affair with. Mia isn’t upset about the affair, she’s upset because he’s strung her along all this time without being honest or spending time with his kid.

He’s quick to move on with his life, giving up all parental rights to their child, leaving Mia without a husband and Lucia without a father. Mia begins to realize that as Lucia gets older, she’s going to have a hard to managing everything that will be going on her life. Between school, ballet, and coming home every night to cook for her, Mia thinks she needs help. Her cousin Lori who is in town visiting knows exactly what Mia needs, a nanny. She has the perfect man for the job. Dominic is her husband’s brother who just lost his job on Wall Street, his fiance left him since she was only after him for money, and he’s looking to start over somewhere else and as a manny.

Lori is quick to arrange an interview between Mia and Dominic and Dominic quickly moves in and takes over. Dominic is so much more than a manny to Mia and Lucia. He cooks, cleans, and takes care of them both, never taking time to himself. Mia thinks he’s too good to be true and from the moment she first laid eyes on him, she’s been in love with him. But Mia is afraid if she voices her attraction to him, he’ll run away and leave them when they both desperately need him in their lives. Can Mia get over the hurt and betrayal caused by her ex and take a chance on a man who has quickly come to mean so much to her and Lucia?

This story was such a refreshing change from some of the other books that I have read. It was sweet, heartfelt, and enjoyable. I loved the relationship between Dominic and Mia, there was not a whole lot of drama to their love story other than Alex, and I loved having an easy and light read to fill my day with. This is the second book by Jennifer I have read and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future, 5 stars!

***ARC provided by author in exchange for a honest review***

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Jennifer Garcia’s (aka Forbes Arnone) love of travel began when she went to the West Coast to visit her father at the age of three. Her home until she was sixteen was a small coastal town near Boston. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, two sons, and two dogs.

Her lifelong love for reading and writing was put aside for many years while she made her way in the world and nurtured her young family. Even though she is older, and life never seems to settle, she’s finding her way while attending college full-time in pursuit of a B.A. in English Literature. She also runs a business, and is still caring for her family. Believing she can do it all, with the help of her family, she worked on her first novel during the late hours of the night while balancing the rest of her life during the day. Her hard work paid off, as her first novel, My Mr. Manny, will be published August 2013.