Release Reviews: Boy Toy: Sarina Bowen and Tanya Eby
Boy Toy (Man Hands #3)Sarina Bowen and Tanya Eby
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Release Date August 14, 2018
*Stand alone
A brand new romantic comedy from your favorite snort-laughing duo!
Liam
The moment Sadie Matthews walks through the daycare center door, I feel my world tilt in her direction. Again. I fell for her when I was fourteen, and I'm still not over her. Problem: she still thinks of me as a teen she used to babysit. But I've learned a few things about pleasing a woman in the last fifteen years. I can't wait to show her how good it could be. I need to move quickly before I lose her again. This is more than a game to me, but I still plan to win.
Sadie
I've just survived the worst year of my life. As a single mom of twin toddlers, I don't have time for a man. I barely have time to finish a thought. Who knew that Liam McAllister would grow up to be so devastating? He's everything my husband was not: tall, built, and willing to have a tea party with my girls.
I can't possibly get involved with him. He's too young for me. Too handsome. But he's so persuasive...
Sadie has had a hard time of it lately. Just as her friends, Brynn and Ash have both found their soulmates, her marriage was crumbling. Now she is beat down by life, divorce, and motherhood to twin toddlers. But she is a sweet, good, and dependable person who is focused on making her girls happy. But she is also untrusting about men and questions her own decisions and value.Liam is the girls' new daycare teacher among other things. He's good with the kids, but he also has the hots for Sadie. He's younger, fit, charming, and persistent. And they have a bit of a history...
He seems perfect and just fits. He's sexy and make her feel beautiful. But he also makes her wonder if she is a cougar. Their lives are different and there are other issues that could impact them ever being more and put them on a timeline that could end things.
Can Liam convince Sadie that he can be the man she and the girls can depend on?
This is less slapstick and over-the-top funny than previous stories in this series, but it is still humorous, sexy, sweet, and heartwarming. The twins were precious. Liam with the kids was just heartmelting. And I really liked him and Sadie together.
I loved getting more with Brynn, Tom, Ash, and Braht and seeing their progressions. There were also some antagonists that were easy not to like, but it was fun to see things not always go their way. I enjoyed the unique story line and their shared history that made it an engaging, fun read.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Sadie is struggling to find balance as a single, working mother, as well as to find time for herself. She doesn’t like that she has to rely on daycare to take care of her twins, but isn’t left with much choice if she wants to be able to work.
Liam had a crush on Sadie when he was a teenager, and she was his family’s babysitter. When she walked through the doors of the daycare center he works at, those teenage feelings come back with a decidedly adult twist.
Liam has his work cut out for him in convincing Sadie that 1) she has time to date, and 2) their ages are not a factor, and 3) he knows what he is looking for in life. Sadie worries that dating her will limit Liam, especially as he is so much younger than she. Surely he wants to go out to clubs and do things other mid 20 year olds enjoy.
I enjoyed watching the push and pull between these two. Sadie feels the chemistry with Liam. How could she not? He is young, active, and good looking. And I fell for him hard. He is so sweet to Sadie and her girls. He recognizes Sadie’s worth, and falls for her girls at the same time he falls for her.
Boy Toy continues this series’ humorous bent, but takes a slightly more subtle approach to the humor. Where the humor in Man Hands and Man Card is over the top reaching towards slapstick, the humor here was light and fun.
This was a pleasant change of pace from some of the more emotional books I’ve been reading lately. It has a great story arch with characters who are working through their own challenges while working on letting someone new in. Sadie had a lot of trust issues and her challenges learning to rely on and trust Liam were fun to watch.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Liam had a crush on Sadie when he was a teenager, and she was his family’s babysitter. When she walked through the doors of the daycare center he works at, those teenage feelings come back with a decidedly adult twist.
Liam has his work cut out for him in convincing Sadie that 1) she has time to date, and 2) their ages are not a factor, and 3) he knows what he is looking for in life. Sadie worries that dating her will limit Liam, especially as he is so much younger than she. Surely he wants to go out to clubs and do things other mid 20 year olds enjoy.
I enjoyed watching the push and pull between these two. Sadie feels the chemistry with Liam. How could she not? He is young, active, and good looking. And I fell for him hard. He is so sweet to Sadie and her girls. He recognizes Sadie’s worth, and falls for her girls at the same time he falls for her.
Boy Toy continues this series’ humorous bent, but takes a slightly more subtle approach to the humor. Where the humor in Man Hands and Man Card is over the top reaching towards slapstick, the humor here was light and fun.
This was a pleasant change of pace from some of the more emotional books I’ve been reading lately. It has a great story arch with characters who are working through their own challenges while working on letting someone new in. Sadie had a lot of trust issues and her challenges learning to rely on and trust Liam were fun to watch.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I messed up. Big time.
These are my thoughts as I rush into the bathroom for the world’s fastest shower. The hot spray of water judges me as I hastily wash Liam off my thighs.
A better mother wouldn’t let this happen. I shouldn’t have a younger lover. If I didn’t, he wouldn’t be so deliciously appealing. I couldn’t lose my mind, wake him up out of a sound sleep to ride him like a pony. And then collapse beside him in peaceful, sated slumber.
Seriously, how did I let that happen?
You know how, my hormones scold me. Because he’s the hottest thing you’ve ever tasted.
Oh yeah. That.
After showering I get dressed at top speed. Poor Liam is currently shouldering all my parental responsibilities. Throwing on yesterday’s sundress, I pause for a moment to pop a birth control pill, because that’s one thing I won’t goof up.
Then I hurry downstairs.
The sight in the kitchen gives me heart palpitations. But not because there’s flour dusting much of the countertop. Rather, it’s the hot, shirtless guy holding my toddler and making a dump truck sound as Amy tips the measuring spoon over a bowl.
“Yes! Well done, little miss,” he says, relieving her of the spoon. “Batter up!” he says, easing her to the floor and catching Kate, who’s trying to climb him like a tree.
Aren’t we all.
Liam easily rests Kate on one of his perfect arms, measures a half teaspoon of baking powder one-handed and then hands the spoon to Kate. “Beep beep beep,” he says, making the sound of a truck backing up. “Look out below!”
Kate dumps the spoonful into the bowl and giggles.
“Awesome. Who wants to add the milk?”
“My do it!” Amy yells.
Boy, I need another minute of alone time to compose myself. Because I love this picture a little too much. I love Liam’s ease with my girls. I love how calm he is at the center of toddler-induced mayhem.
It causes a little pain in my heart as I allow myself one more comparison to my former life. The truth is I never once saw Decker elbows-deep in kitchen chaos with a kid on one arm. Starting breakfast with twins in tow? He was more likely to captain a NASA expedition to Mars than he was to do this simple Saturday morning thing.
I feel like crying for no reason at all. Clearly I’m on some kind of emotional overload. Maybe coffee will help.
Sliding into the kitchen, I go right for the coffee grounds.
“Mama!” Amy says. “Wiam making pancakes.”
“That is amazing,” I say in a wobbly voice. “What a lucky girl you are.”
“Sorry about the mess,” he says, casting a glance in my direction. And I know he doesn’t just mean the flour on the counter, but the bigger mess of waking up naked in my bed.
“You know,” I say with a small sigh. “Messes shouldn’t scare me so much. It’s going to be fine.”
Liam’s smile is so filled with relief, that I now feel like an ogre. This man wants to make pancakes with us on Saturday morning, and I said no to that before? I’m clearly insane.
“Which frying pan should I use?” he asks, casting an eye on the cookware hanging from the rack over the sink.
“Oh, no. You want this.” I pull a double-burner griddle out of a lower cabinet.
“Oooh,” he says. “Mommy has the fancy pancake griddle.”
Kate giggles. She’s gazing at Liam as if he invented fun.
And in my life, I guess he did.
Here’s the tricky thing about being a shrink—sometimes you notice that you’re doing something that’s exactly contrary to the advice you’d give your patients.
I’m having one of those moments right now.
If I had a single mom in my office telling me there was a lovely guy in her life who was kind to her kids—and yet she was giving him the stiff arm? I’d tell her: “Be kind to yourself. Don’t push away the good people in your life, especially if you think you don’t deserve them. Let people surprise you.”
I’m such a hypocrite.
Also, I need caffeine.
Ten minutes later I’m sipping from a mug of coffee, but Liam’s is cooling on the countertop. The man has his hands full right now as he puts pancakes on the griddle with “help” from my daughters.
“How about a few of these?” he asks, holding up a bag of chocolate chips. Meanwhile, Kate waves the spatula around like a ninja. “A guy needs to make smiley faces in his pancakes sometimes.”
Good. Lord. It’s a miracle I’m not just a puddle of my former self right now. This is some serious mommy porn I’m watching. Shirtless guy feeds toddlers before eight a.m. I walk over to the high cabinet where I keep the ramekins. “We could make smiley faces with dried organic currants,” I say, just to be a pain in the ass.
Liam makes a face of disgust as I take the chocolate chips from his hand and pour some into a ramekin. “Joking! Here.”
He gives me a big, hot smile. Okay, it probably wasn’t meant to be hot, but I feel flutters down below.
“Choc-it!” Kate yells, grabbing for the ramekin.
“Easy,” Liam says with a laugh. “That’s for my artwork. Come here and I’ll show you.”
I set the table and pour the sippy cups of milk. And Liam manages to serve up two smiley pancakes—one for each girl—at exactly the same moment, in exactly the same size. This is a man who knows his way around toddlers.
“Not cut it!” Amy yells when I approach her plate with a knife. She picks up the pancake in two hands and takes a bite right out of the side of its face.
“Okay, right.” I back away. Forks are optional today, then. No big deal.
Liam takes advantage of this moment of quiet to quickly pour six more pancakes onto the griddle. He leans over his work, dotting them with chocolate chips.
I step closer to him and put a hand on his lower back. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“For trashing your kitchen?”
“No.” He glances at me and I give him a shy smile. “For being so amazing all the time.”
His eyes get very warm, and I just want to stay right here in that blue-eyed gaze as long as I can. “This might be a good time to confess that I didn’t make smiley faces on my own pancakes.”
“No?” I look down at the griddle. Side by side, two of them have a different design—little bullseyes in their centers. “Those are…?”
“Boobs,” he whispers. “My inner fourteen-year-old has a dirty mind. He can’t shut it off sometimes.”
“Drink your coffee,” I whisper, handing him the mug. “Sit down. Let me finish these for you. Or go put on a shirt because my inner fourteen-year-old has her tongue hanging out all the time, too.”
He gives me a wicked, wicked smile and then runs upstairs to find his shirt.
Our 4.5 star reviews
He puts the "screw" in screwball comedy...
BRYNN
At thirty-four, I’m reeling from a divorce. I don’t want to party or try to move on. I just want to stay home and post a new recipe on my blog: Brynn’s Dips and Balls.
But my friends aren’t having it. Get out there again, they say. It will be fun, they say. I’m still taking a hard pass.
Free designer cocktails, they say. And that’s a game-changer.
Too bad my ex shows up with his new arm candy. That’s when I lose my mind. But when my besties dare me to leap on the first single man I see, they don't expect me to actually go through with it.
TOM
All I need right now is some peace and quiet while my home renovation TV show is on hiatus. But when a curvy woman in a red wrap dress charges me like she’s a gymnast about to mount my high bar, all I can do is brace myself and catch her. What follows is the hottest experience of my adult life.
I want a repeat, but my flying Cinderella disappears immediately afterward. She doesn’t leave a glass slipper, either—just a pair of panties with chocolate bunnies printed on them.
But I will find her.
Nothing ventured, nothing banged...
Ash
I still don't know how it happened. One minute I was arguing with my arrogant competitor--our usual trash-talk over who deserves the larger commission. But somehow I went from throwing down to kneeling down...
It can never happen again. I don't even like Braht. He's too slick. He's a manipulating mansplaining party boy in preppy clothes.
So why can't I get him out of my head?
Braht
There are two things I know without question. One: Ash and I are destined for each other. Two: never trust a man with a unibrow.
Ash is my missing my piece. She's the sweet cream to my gourmet espresso. And nothing gets me going faster than her contempt for me. They don't call her the Ashkicker for nothing.
Eventually I'll win her over...if my past doesn't ruin everything first.
Eventually I'll win her over...if my past doesn't ruin everything first.
Sarina Bowen
Sarina Bowen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance. She lives in Vermont's Green Mountains with her family, six chickens and too much ski gear and hockey equipment.
In 2016, Sarina became a Rita Award winner! The Romance Writers of America honored HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy with Best Contemporary Romance, Mid-Length.
In 2016, Sarina became a Rita Award winner! The Romance Writers of America honored HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy with Best Contemporary Romance, Mid-Length.
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Tanya is a starving artist without the starving part. Maybe, then, she's a snacking artist. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her two kids and tiki-obssessed husband and writes quirky fiction.
Tanya is a starving artist without the starving part. Maybe, then, she's a snacking artist. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her two kids and tiki-obssessed husband and writes quirky fiction.
After writing a gripping, dark, gothic novel IN THE GARDEN ROOM, Tanya decided to switch it up. She's hard at work on a romcom, which doesn't feel like work at all.
She likes to keep things interesting.
She is also an award-winning narrator and audiobook publisher. She has been lucky to narrate some of the best books around...600 and counting! Many of the books she narrates are NY Times bestsellers.
She loves the challenge of narrating and truly adores words. Reading other writers' work encourages her to keep working on her own.
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