REVIEW: Her Younger Man by Shannon Stacey

Her Younger Man by Shannon Stacey: Laura Thompson helps run the family business along with her son. She has been a widow for a while.
She was sad to lose her husband, but at the same time she had gone from taking care of her father to living her life in the way her husband wanted. She had to take care of all the cooking and cleaning the way he wanted and watch the TV shows he wanted. Now, she can lead a calmer sort of life and spend lots of fun time with her best friend who is also a widow. They decide they will grow old together and have lots of adventures along the way.

Things change dramatically when her son hires Riley McLaughlin to work for the business. Riley is a man who is good looking and charming on top of being excellent at his new job. Laura is attracted immediately to Riley even though she knows he is a good bit younger than she is. It turns out their age difference is less than ten years. All the same, would Riley be interested in Laura who is his boss’s son?

Riley is immediately drawn to Laura, too, but has his own qualms about being more than co-workers. He’s afraid Lane will fire him over a relationship with his mother. On top of everything else, they both have too many other people around them to spend any private time alone. Will they be able to carve out time for themselves and see how things progress?

I loved how the author showed that Riley didn’t worry that Laura was older and saw her as a beautiful, loving woman. Men have been marrying woman who could be their daughters for years and no one thinks anything of it. But have a woman form a relationship with a younger man and she is called a “cougar”. Granted when there is too much age difference on either side, there can be totally different outlooks on many subjects and lack of shared experience. My husband is three years younger than I am. As we have matured, it makes no difference and we basically grew up in the same time.

The fear of what others will think plays too much a part in who we choose to love or even be friends with, in my humble opinion. Laura and Riley were very afraid of how others would perceive them as a couple.

This novel is fifth in a series. It stands quite well on its own. Shannon Stacey has become a new favorite after this charming story. I look forward to new tales from her.

Book Info:

Publication: July 25, 2023 | Harlequin Special Edition | Sutton’s Place #5

Age is just a number

Riley McLaughlin knows he shouldn’t get involved with a coworker, especially when she’s also his boss’s mom. But widow Laura Thompson is everything he wants in a woman, and their age difference simply doesn’t matter. And though she’s drawn to Riley more than she’ll ever admit, Laura has never been one to jump headfirst into adventure. Town gossip has already run rampant—will Riley and Laura give them something to really talk about?