I found this to be a very cute read. Loved the concept of the book and loved the BI representation in this book!!!

The story dragged on a little too much and as much as I tried to get into it, I just couldn't. The book just wasn't for me.

i originally was going to dnf but i hate doing that i pushed through and i just don’t think it was for me the book was well written i liked the characters it just wasn’t for me. i appreciate the opportunity to read.

Uh. Well, that was certainly a book that took me weeks to finish. I felt like it started off strong and then it went downhill. The romance felt forced, it was a lot and a little all at once. The writing felt clunky and all over the place. I liked the premise, the LGBTQ+ rep, and some of the little moments Sebastian and Bee were great, but there was no tension, no excitement or lead up. They just felt like two horny teenage roommates. I have heard the other works by this author were great, so I’ll definitely try something else by them.

This book was good, but just not great. The spice was hot, but overall I found the characters to be bland and I was bored by their relationship. Loved the bi man representation, but that and the spice couldn’t save this book for me.

Thank you to Victory Editing & NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Mortgage of Convenience. MoC has so many of my favorite tropes brother's best friend, forced Proximity (let's buy a house together on a whim?), age gap, so much Pining, and some scenes that will be living rent-free in the brain space for a while.

What I wasn't expecting was to relate to Bee's reckoning with a long-time friendship that was no longer serving her, especially when this friend was so focused on consuming alcohol at every social (and even non-social) function. I have had similar experiences with People I was very close with but now see maybe once a year, and even though there wasn't a big falling out with these relationships, it's sometimes difficult to accept when relationships evolve and, sometimes, fizzle out. This Particular storyline really resonated with me and I thought it was handled super realistically. I appreciate how Dani includes very relatable characters and life situations into her stories, MoC included.

<i>I remember the first night we met. Instant crush. Older, cocky, cool. And so fucking sexy. The eyes, the smile. But I was barely nineteen, and he kept his distance, so I slotted him into my
"unattainable hotties" collection and got on with my life.</i>

First of all: I stopped reading at 43%, so it’s a DNF, but I just couldn’t take it anymore (sorry for everyone who loves this book).

Story 🌟🌟🌟
Do I get why bee needed to buy a whole fuc**** house for this whole interaction to happen?
No.
Did I feel the connection between those two?
Well, I read about it, but I couldn’t really feel any sparks (it’s me, isn’t it?)

Characters 🌟🌟🌟
I like Sebastian. He’s nearly forty (his words, not mine, he’s 36) and works in a stripper bar he danced when he was younger. He’s bisexual and is scared about caring for a plant, but also wants a house and a family (funny huh)
He’s still really nice and supportive.

I’m not so sure what to think about bee.
Would I buy a house with my childhood crush aka big brothers best friend and completely drain my savings so he can help me feel better about making a risky decision career wise?
Girl, you just bought a whole house! With a guy you only talked a bit in the years before? Like wtf
That’s the definition of a risky decision?

Relationship 🌟🌟🌟
Okay, so both know they are into each other (obviously with all these horny glares), but instead of speaking with each other, they torture themselves and the other…
For what? For the miscommunication trope? Can you really call that miscommunication? I mean the horny vibes are communicating pretty good, they just ignore it?
It took us nearly half of the book for them to finally realize and do something about these feelings (Hallelujah)

Writing 🌟🌟🌟
I thought it was an okay writing. There was nothing special about it, but it wasn’t the worst I’ve ever read (those I Dnf).
It was written in two POVs which made it a bit enjoyable than just Bees or just his POV.
Still, kinda tiring.

This book had a lot of potential. I like the brothers best friend trope and especially when a romance has dual pov. I liked the female character‘s journey, but unfortunately I didn’t really connect with the romance. It was a very fast and easy read, though, and I would recommend it to friends that like long pining, the brothers best friend trope and characters who develop alongside their relationships.

This book was cute, I wanted more from the plot and characters though. It felt like something was missing. I will say the spice was spicing though. I needed more of that as well

this was *in fiery* a potentially nice book and nice trope....
But in reality it did left me a little disappointed....... first chapters were complicated to read i had to read back and foward to understand what the author wanted to convey...
FMC is a ninny and insufferable
MMC too much a good guy too accommodating to her.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC
2 stars

I had a hard time connecting with the main characters. I rated this a 2.5/5. It just wasn’t for me but it was not bad and I just didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. She is a very good writer though!


I had posted this review on Goodreads but didn’t realize I had to submit my review via NetGalley. I’m so sorry this is late!

Thank you Netgalley and Victoria Editing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

After being a ghost writer for years one drunken night Bee sends her agent a drunken message with a pitch for a novel she she's been wanting to do for years. Now with a book to write and a deadline fast approaching she returns home after nearly 5 years of being away. Spending only one night on her brothers couch she ends up co-owning a house with her brothers best friend Sebastian Wolfe, So now with a house, a book to write and a fear of commitment what can go wrong?

I struggled a lot with this book. I kept putting it down and forgetting to pick it back up, In fact it nearly took me a total of 3 weeks to complete and normally with a romance book it'll take 3 days at most. I'm going start with a few things I loved before going into the bad things.
- Brothers best friend
- Dual POV
- Forced Proximity
- Age Gap (8 Years)
- Sebastian our BI king who was looking to settle down with the white picket fence and his plant babies
- Character growth especially Bee
- A cosy read
- No third break up act

I did struggle a little with Bee, I think her friendship with her Morgan and how much of a push over she was in really didn't help my opinion of her. It was like she had have her hand held, the path all laid out for her and too insecure.
I felt like the story was just loads of scenes wrote out separately, put together and made into a book. I was having to think way harder about what was going on that I should have for this kind of story.

Will I be reading more of her work in the future? yeh I think I will. I'm still a sucker for a romance book no matter what It is.

𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 3.5⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: contemporary romance 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
I liked this one but there was also a lot I didn’t like

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Forced proximity
Brothers best friend
Second chance romance
Mutual pining
Found family
Age gap
Daul POV
Slow burn
Bookish FMC

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
LQBTQIA+ rep
All the plants!
Mental health discussions
Relatable friendship breakup

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
The steamy scenes weren’t the best (and I didn’t really feel like there was much chemistry between them)
Romance felt a little rushed
Got repetitive

DNF @ 25%

I just don't feel any connection with the characters or any desire to keep reading at this point. There's not a lot of chemistry between the love interests.

3 stars.

I have read all of Dani McLean's work thus far, and unfortunately, "Mortgage of Convenience" is my least favorite of her books. I found the chemistry between Sebastian and Bee to be severely lacking. While the scenes featuring spice are (shockingly frequent, sometimes out of nowhere) well-written, I simply felt no spark between them, so they fell flat for me. I think a lot of my problems stem from them being pretty boring, sometimes contradictory characters. Bee seemed to be hugely outgoing when she moved away from her hometown, but when she got back, she turned into a shell of a person. Usually, McLean's lead characters have terrific chemistry with one another, but I just didn't feel it between Bee and Sebastian. I did not doubt that they both really liked each other, but it never felt end-game permanent, especially for Bee (even at the end of the book). Some of the romance elements felt rushed between them, while others felt like they took an extraordinarily long time (and not in a slow-burn type of way). I have seen many readers complain about the believability of the premise of this story, to which I say, what!? People will believe in shapeshifters and alien romances, but god forbid a person helps their brother's best friend buy a house to help them attain their dreams. In this economy, they need all the help they can get. I don't think this needed to be a full-length novel. I think this material would have been better served in a novella because a lot of the prose and plot details are repeated over and over ad nauseum. I also thought it was a little silly that Bee made such a big deal about her book in the beginning. I totally understand the apprehension of letting anyone see your work in progress. I have been in this position before, and it can be terrifying, but it felt like the bargaining was off between Sebastian and Bee...she helped him buy a house, and he... is going to read her book and give her advice? Like I said, silly. I'm sorry to say, this book is shockingly "mid," as the youths say. I will still read all of Dani's future works, though, because I know what she's capable of.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dani McLean, and Set the Mood Publishing for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

📚 OMG, can we talk about how adorable this cover is?! 😍 This book totally spins the marriage of convenience trope on its head, but instead of just tying the knot, they're diving into a mortgage together for a house! Sebastian had his sights set on the future, and Bee was a key part of it. His confidence was infectious, and it was heartwarming to see him empower Bee to find her own strength and capabilities. 👫💪

I loved how the story delved into the importance of adult friendships, both forging new bonds and navigating the natural drift that happens as we grow older. People change, and sometimes we drift apart, which felt so relatable. 🌟

While I was totally into the story, I wished we had more of a glimpse into their dynamics before moving in together. Around the 60% mark, things got a bit steamy—like, a lot. 🔥 Don't get me wrong, I love some spice, but it felt like it overshadowed the emotional depth of their relationship for a bit. It was like they were dancing around their feelings while getting busy, rather than diving into a real connection. Still, there were these sweet, tender moments that melted my heart. 😌

The side characters were a fantastic addition, and overall, this book was like a perfect blend of spice and wholesomeness! 🌶️💕

Tropes:
- Brother's best friend (who totally ships them, BTW)
- Forced proximity
- Ghostwriter meets ex-stripper
- Age gap
- Bi representation 🏳️‍🌈

i love love loved this book so much, it was so lovely and cute to read - the romance, the chemistry, the descriptions, dialogue … everything just hit the spot. would highly recommend

I don’t have a great deal to say about this book, I enjoyed the majority of it when I got into it, we have Brothers best friend trope however I don’t really feel like we see that happening so it’s mostly just mentioned.

Forced proximity with our main characters suddenly owning a house together and I have enjoyed watching their story develop, parts of this story has kept me interested especially with Bees wishes to become her own writer rather than Ghost writing. Some elements I could have skipped like the inner sexy monologue as it didn’t feel as necessary, the main actual smut was decent smut though!

3 ★ Mortgage of Convenience is the story of Bee and Sebastian. Sebastian wants to buy a house and Bee needs help finding her self confidence so they decide to make a little deal. Together they buy a house in exchange for Sebastian helping Bee put herself out there and write her novel.

What you’ll find is:
✨forced proximity
✨brother’s best friend
✨happy ending

With Mortgage of Convenience, I felt like I was being told a story with endless detail and over explanation without ever once feeling immersed in the story. I hate when this happens because I so desperately want to find some sort of connection to the characters that drag me in but this one just didn’t do it for me. And honestly… who just randomly buys a house on a whim with someone?!

That being said, the ending really turned things around which is why I decided on a 3 ★ rating. Bee and Sebastian navigate their growth in the most beautiful way. Overall, just a middle of the road read for me. Not one I hated but also not one I’ll be recommending.

i have very neutral feelings, sadly. i didn’t love this, i didn’t dislike it.

i struggled to connect to the characters and their chemistry wasn’t really there.

it was a fun, quick read.