The Manny

March 26, 2007
Jamie Whitfield, 36, lives on Park Avenue with her three children and her mostly absent high-powered attorney husband, Phillip, and works part-time as a producer for a prime-time news program. She hires Peter Bailey—29 and biding his time until he get funding for his software business—to plug the household's gaps and be a father figure to nine-year-old Dylan. The two, of course, are attracted to each other, and when Peter's money comes through, he doesn't tell Jamie. Phillip's temper tantrums when lacking pulpless orange juice or a wooden-handled umbrella are surprisingly funny, and a subplot where Jamie chases a trashy but potentially career-making story is strong. Jamie's co-workers are more realistically portrayed than her shallow friends, but even Jamie's children come alive when they root for mom's success.

May 1, 2007
Jamie Whitfield has it allshe's just having a bit of trouble juggling it at the moment. She's got a high-pressure job, an oft-absent spouse, and a son who's falling apart emotionally. Enter Peter Bailey, the male nannyor "manny"a smart, thirtysomething entrepreneur whose positive influence on nine-year-old Dylan as a stand-in guy-around-the-house unexpectedly extends to Jamie, too. In contrast to Jamie's alpha-male husband, who doesn't just want to keep up with the Joneses but to surpass them at any cost, Peter's a laid-back, go-with-the-flow kind of guy, seemingly the perfect tonic for an overstressed Jamie. Every Park Avenue mom knows that the man on the household staff is never the knight in shining armorexcept maybe this one. In Peterson's fast-paced debut novel, no topic is taboo, from the working world to preschoolers' birthday parties, from high fashion to sex. The dialog is quick and witty, though the characters are more stock than not. Recommended for larger public libraries and libraries where mom lit is very popular. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/1/07.]Amy Brozio-Andrews, Albany P.L., NY

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