Nanny Returns

**Book 1**

I'm not going to lie to you guys. This book was a bit of a disappointment after the wonderful and emotional book that is The Nanny Diaries. This was more of a "let's tie up those loose ends and throw in a bunch more complicated story on top of it" books.

So, Nan is back in New York after twelve years away. She's married to the Harvard Hottie from the first book (his name is Ryan by the way), and she's trying to start a consulting business...during the beginning of the recession. Ryan wants babies, Nan does not feel she's ready, especially after the disastrous end to her relationship with Grayer X.

And then Grayer comes back into her life. Granted, he's completely wasted when he shows up on her doorstep, but he's angry and wants to know why she left him all those years ago. He also has a younger brother named Stilton (seriously, what's with the weird names?). Mr. and Mrs. X are finally over. How they'd managed to make it that long, I'll never know. Grayer's world is essentially collapsing around him and Nan is forced to step back in to help him, and herself, find something resembling peace.

I felt like this book was a bit of a forced venture. It seemed to be an effort to please the fans, but the story lines just didn't come together in a very coherent way. I was hopeful this would be a good book, but, like I said, I was disappointed.

The Nanny Diaries

I so loved this book. It was funny and sad and just plain enjoyable.

Nan is a nanny. Weird right, her name basically being her job? Anyway, she's hired to work part time for the X family watching 4 year old Grayer. Now, this is New York City, so naturally she's essentially a replacement parent because Mr. X works all the time and Mrs. X is too busy with her social engagements to watch her own son. So Nanny and Grayer begin to form a super strong bond. But Nanny struggles with her employers, particularly after discovering Mr. X's dirty little secret. But she tries to make things as normal as she can for Grayer.

I think I enjoyed this book so much because I was sitting there feeling the pain and frustration that Nanny went through while trying to get her charge's parents to understand that he needs them to take a more active role in his life. Grayer wants to spend all this time with his father, but really only sees him for a couple of hours every few months (really, that's what it seemed like). And every time Grayer tries to give his mother a hug or show some affection, she basically redirects him away from her. He is obviously a somewhat broken child because of how neglectful his parents are. At least he has Nanny.

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would read it over and over. I hope that the second book in the series is as good.