Mortgage of Convenience is a truly enjoyable read. Featuring some of the most enjoyed romance tropes, it was easy to fall in love with the characters and their story.




Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Mortgage of Convenience follows Bee, a ghost writer as she embarks on a new journey becoming a published author under her own name. She needs help becoming confident in her own talent, so she agrees to a deal with Sebastian, her brother’s best friend. In exchange for helping him buy a house, he agrees to helping her become more confident as a writer.

If I could do 3.5 stars on Goodreads for this I would. I found this book hard to continuously pick up. The plot was moving fast, sometimes a bit too fast, but it was not keeping my attention. I didn’t find anything annoying with the characters themselves but I just wasn’t invested in their story. I thought the beginning and the ending both were very abrupt. We didn’t really get to see a lead in to the process of buying the house in the beginning. The entire plot was guided by this one moment that seemed to happen almost instantly without a thought or discussion. I thought the ending that was being built up the entire story was too quick of a resolution. I don’t want to give any spoilers but I wish we heard more about Bee’s book at the end. Instead, we only got a few lines of a resolution. It was a cute read but I just didn’t connect as much as I thought I would.

I'm a bit torn with where to begin with this book. If I'm honest, I could have DNFed through the first half. It had promise, but it just didn't capture me. I loved the premise so I kept reading and there were some aspects that I did enjoy. For me, I think the writing style just wasn't to my taste. There was a lot of internal monologue which slowed the story.

The slow burn romance didn't work for me at the beginning as I found there was little to no chemistry between them. However, once they got together something seemed to click.

As I say, I really liked the premise of the book and I loved how it dealt with childhood trauma, growing in confidence and growing out of friendships. The friendship sub-plot was really well written and emotive.

*I Received a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review*

Book - 4.25 stars Spice - 2/5 peppers
"How much time do you have?" "For You? The Rest of My Life"
While the romance plot in this book was WONDERFUL, (we love a big strong kind & considerate plant daddy) my absolute favorite part of this book was the exploration of the hard parts of adult life. Bee's struggles with friendships and outgrowing certain stages of our lives struck a chord with me. I also could really relate with Sebastians' feelings of being behind because he doesn't have everything figured out by his 30s, but you know what it's NEVER too late to reinvent yourself and pursue your dreams. So many times in books we are just presented with a happy fluffy romance novel where everything goes according to plan, I loved that McLean didn't shy away from harder situations in her book. I also LOVE the LGBTQIA+ representation in this book!

tropes : Brothers best friend,

I look forward to reading more from McLean in the future.

I wanted to love this book I just felt it was a bit jumpy. The beginning of the book felt rushed to me, one second Bee is coming home and the next she’s bought a house with her brothers best friend. I appreciated the spice just felt it needed to be a little slower.

This was a very cute romcom! I liked the premise of it and really loved Bee’s quirkiness! Sebastian was super swoony!

Unfortunately, this didn't really work for me, which was a bummer because the synopsis and cover were both right up my alley. I didn't really connect well with the main characters or even really understand their motivation for buying a house together, which was kind of the whole point of it. Bee is a successful ghostwriter who drunkenly emailed a pitch for her own original novel to her agent and now, for reasons I didn't completely understand, has to move back home temporarily to write it. She struggles to reconnect with her best friend and her older brother, and through an unexpected series of events ends up buying a mortgage with her brother's best friend (and her long term crush) Sebastian. I did like that this was a fresh spin on the marriage of convenience, so it may just have been that I wasn't in the right mood for this, but I did feel like the narrative jumped sometimes, like between one paragraph and the next we were in a completely different setting. That may have just been a formatting issue with the ARC, but it was jarring enough that I was sometimes confused about what was going on.

It’s definitely fine to pick up a book because of the tattooed MC featured on the dreamy cover… right?!
The book was my first Dani McLean and it didn’t disappoint. I saw a lot of myself in Bee’s character, and it was very informative about the realities of ghostwriting and the tensions between ghostwriting gigs and having your own ambitions for authorial recognition. As for Sebastian, well - from the very first scene of him asleep on that air mattress, I was hooked. Thank goodness for dual perspective!
Here’s hoping this can get made into a audiobook as well, I’d listen!
I appreciated McLean’s thoroughness regarding content warnings, too.
Thank you to indie publisher Set the Mood Publishing for the ARC on NetGalley!

The spin on the typical marriage of convenience was so interesting and hooked me from the beginning. I loved Bee’s growth into becoming more confident, including the friendship journey that seemed to relatable to many people!

I could not put this book down!! Bee was such a relatable character full of worries and imperfections that just made her perfect. The author’s writing style shows how much thought, care, and effort that went into writing this book. While this book is a work of fiction, it was written in a way that I could imagine the scenarios happening in real life. It was so easy to imagine myself as Bee and I feel like I learned some things from every single one of the characters. If you love a good “will they, won’t they” story that makes you absolutely fall in love with the characters then you need to read this book! The steamy scenes are just the cherry on top!

🐝 Arc Review 🐝
Tropes:
* Dual POV
* Brother’s best friend
* Age gap
* He falls first and hard!
🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴

Thank you so much to the author and NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance.
While I was reading this book, I was thinking about how wonderful it would be if it were made into a movie. 🎥

I loved and devoured this book in no time, and it has clearly entered my top favoritos of the year!

It was so nice to be able to see Bee's evolution throughout this book, to see her being free and not worrying about what others will think of her.

What can I say about Sebastian... there are clearly no words that can describe what an extraordinary person he has become, even though he didn't have a happy childhood.

I just wished I had more interactions between Bee and his brother Aiden.

I can only add that I love this book as much as Sebastian loves his wildlife tv show!

Bee Montgomery is a writer, or at least she would be if she could find the courage to finish her novel and submit it to her publisher. She has been ghost writing for others, never before ready to set off on her own. One drunken night with her best friend and she sends her novel idea to her publisher. Now she has actually has the chance to make her dream come true. She after being away for 5 years, she finds herself back in her hometown to get this book done. Sebastian Wolfe is her brother’s best friend. Sebastian has been working hard on getting his life together. He’s completely comfortable in his own skin, he knows the kind of man he wants to be, or rather the kind of man he doesn’t want to be. He is ready to buy a house and hopefully settle down with someone and be the kind of father that he wished he had growing up. When Sebastian needs someone to sign the mortgage on a house with him, Bee steps in and agrees to do it. In exchange, she needs his help to gain the confidence she needs to be the main character in her own life. Owning a house together and getting to know each other might be exactly what they both need. When they finally get together, their connection is genuine. It makes the spice that much better.

This book is a romance, obviously. It is spicy and sweet. However, it also touches on a lot of important themes that you don’t normally see in romance. I love love love the representation of the LGBTQ+ community and the way that Sebastian lives proudly as a Bi man. This book has the positive masculinity that I wish all books had- strong, confident, tattooed, sexy men that can express emotion and are authentic. Sebastian’s character nailed it. I loved the journey that Bee goes on as well. She realizes that she has outgrown her best friend and realizes that she is not the kind of friend that a positive influence in her life. She finds the courage to end that friendship, which is such a hard thing to do. It is often worse than ending a romantic relationship. This book really had some great themes are are so important and aren’t often represented in romance books. The spice was hot, the chemistry was there. Overall a really entertaining read and I definitely recommend it.

Quick Summary: After 5 years away, Bee returns to her hometown with a bag full of secrets and ends up buying a house with her brother's best friends in the first 24 hours. Bee has had a thing for Sebastian since long before she left and ending up sharing a house with him while she is figuring out her next steps proves more challenging than she thought. Can Seb help Bee live her life out loud? Can Seb heal past trauma and find what he's looking for? Can Bee see a life in this town, leaving her live in the city behind? So many questions and this book answers them all.

My thoughts: I started out really loving this. I was giggling and swooning from the start but I ended up feeling like this fell flat for me. The LGBTQ+ representation was so strong and meaningfully written that I want to give the author a standing ovation for that feat alone. I did find that the spicy scenes were pretty basic and it felt like they only happened around important conversations/moments which made the deeper connection of the characters hard to feel and kind of cheapened what could have been a really incredible relationship. I also sometimes felt like I was lost in the timeline - things would jump around a bit and I'd have to go back to try to figure out where and when exactly we were. Overall the story is super cute and I loved the characters individually - I just really wanted to love them together more.

My favorite moments:
"Holy shit, he looks like he wants to fight for my honor. I officially rescind every comment I've ever made against damsels"
"You're allowed to take up space, Bee. I want you to. You don't have to hide from me."
"I've never been nonchalant a day in my life. I was born chalant. Might as well call me the surface of the sun, because there is no chill here."

“𝙄'𝙙 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩
𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨.”

It took me longer to finish this book than a fantasy book with more than 800 pages…Every time I started reading this book, I was only able to get through 10 to 30 pages before nodding off or turning to TikTok🥲🥲. The book wasn’t even slow; in fact, it was a bit too fast for me, especially the romance!! If you want to read something (really) quick, go for it! If you prefer slow burn, stay far away from this book!!😭


𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀:

I didn’t really connect with them, especially Bee. The only thing I really liked about her was her cleaning obsession (I’m a clean freak). Sebastian was really cute, but again no connection…


𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗾𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:

💌

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦?"
"𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦."

💌

"𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥, 𝘉𝘦𝘦. 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮."

💌

“𝘏𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦.“

💌

thank you NetGalley for the arc!

firstly how cute is this cover!! I thought this was a fun take on the marriage of convenience trope expect this time they take out a mortgage on a house together. Sebastian knew what he wanted in his future and bee was apart of that. he was confident in himself and it was nice seeing him help bee learn her own confidence and how capable she was of doing whatever she wanted to do. I also really liked and appreciated the focus on friendships and making new ones as adults but also losing other ones as we get older because people change and just grow apart. whilst I did enjoy this, i wish we got to see some of their interactions before moving in with each other. it did lose me around the 60% mark because as much as I love spice and there was a lot of spice, I feel like it overpowered the emotional aspect of their relationship for a long time. I felt like we saw more of them denying their feelings whilst sleeping together than we did with them in an actual relationship. however, in saying that they did still have some sweet and tender moments which I liked, I also like the side characters and overall it was a very spicy, yet cute and wholesome read!

tropes:
-brothers best friend (& he ships them)
-forced proximity
-ghost writer x ex stripper
-age gap
-bi rep

releasing february 27th & it’s on ku!

This is a traditional romance with a twist on the theme of bisexual rep and a queer community. However, the author's choices, such as the MMC's non-interest in dating men even though he is openly bisexual, felt confusing and unrelated to the story. The book is too long and lacks enough story to justify its length. The sexuality piece seems like a marketing approach. I feel like if you are part of that community, you will be disappointed by this. It doesn't make sense for this plot at all, just a strange binary choice from a non-binary author. I did like some of the banter and I thought the writing was pretty good, but there was no major conflict, just a lot of insecurity on both sides. The best friend "break-up" was also very strange to me. The cover is awesome which is why I requested it.

Thank you NetGalley, Dani McLean, and Set The Mood Publishing for a free copy of Mortgage of Convenience (coming out February 27th) in exchange for an honest review.

Super cute novel filled with pining and so. much. sexual tension. Loved the sex positive and queer rep. The spicy scenes were good and I enjoyed the sub-plots as well. Honestly, the loss of friendship scenes really spoke to me and I think those were especially well done.

What drew me to this book at first, was the cover. It really is quote cute.

This book started incredibly strong. Bee comes back home after 5 years because she hit an obstacle in her working career and she decided to go back rather than to face the situation head on. She goes back to stay at her older brother's, where she runs into his best friend, Sebastian (btw I'm a sucker for this name), the boy she's been crushing on for almost a decade.

It's a dual POV so we find out soon enough that Sebastian has a thing for Bee. So, when an innocuous lift back home to her best friends, leads to Bee co-signing off Sebastian's long awaited mortgage on house, they move in together.

Of course, the physical attraction is there, they avoid each other at firt, but every small little moment becomes flirty and humorous.

We come to understand quite soon that Bee has problems believing in herself and her insecurities make the book a bit slow. She's the one who moved to stay away from her family for a bit 5 years prior, to then being self conscious and scared to even strike up a conversation with people at a library while her actual job is ghostwriting so she deals with a lot of people all the time.

Sebastian was quite good though, he had a rough life growing up, and even though he still has his daily challenges with regards to his possible behaviours in specific triggering situation - which he's been going to therapy to help him - he's been doing pretty well. And also his arc is quite well executed in my opinion.

It thought there was going to be more spice, as it was kind of advertised, but many scenes faded to black.

Overall is an interesting read and I've been quite happy to have read this book. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

“How much time do you have?”
“For you? The rest of my life”
This book had me absolutely giggling and kicking my feet. Loved their relationship. Loved how much Sebastian brought our Bee’s true self.

I really enjoyed reading Bee and Sebastian’s story. Their relationship was real and wholesome. It was very easy to connect with them and cheer for them to heal and develop a strong relationship.

Sebastian was so supportive of Bee. He worked hard to get to where he was and I just loved reading his character development. I feel as if Bee would have been more likeable for me if her insecurities weren’t so forced for a majority of the book.