While this book took me longer to read then most, I still enjoyed it a lot. The premise itself and the cover are exactly why I wanted to read this book. Things did get a bit repetitive while reading it but overall, it was a good book. The romance was cute, the couple was cute together and it gave me what I wanted in a cute little romcom. Though I will say, I will never just randomly sign a mortgage over to someone to help them out. I'm not that nice lol.

It was a dual POV which is great and I like that part a lot and no third act breakup which is great because sometimes that's not what I want in a book.

Overall, it was a decent book, though Bee is a little overdramatic at times. They were human and that's what made parts of it relatable.

2,5

I just could not get into it. The beginning didn’t feel like it, it felt like we were thrown into the middle of the story and we were supposed to know about the characters.
I like Sebastian (and not just because of the name lol) but I feel like his bi identity was underdeveloped.
Bea was just annoying. I’m sorry, I did not care for her at all.
The spice was hot though!

3.5/⭐⭐⭐💫

Release date: Feb. 27

"Holy shit, he looks like he wants to fight for my honor. I officially rescind every comment I've ever made against damsels. I get it now."

Brother's best friend isn't one of my favorite tropes, but McLean does it well and the characters are very quickly loveable. 

👍Dual POV, LGBTQ+ representation, 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

👎Apparently, "angel" as a pet name is not for me

Thanks to Netgalley & Set The Mood Publishing for the ARC!

I was very excited for this book and I will say that this was a 3.5/4 for me. As I started reading it, I found myself cheering for certain characters and being hooked in. I loved Cassie, I loved Sebastian, even the brother, and I liked Bee. However, while I was hooked at the beginning, I feel like the further I went in, there was a bit less of that excitement. I understand that Sebastian ended up confronting his family and Bee had to make some decisions about her friendships (which I liked the addition of this conflict), and maybe it was just me but they kind of fell short emotionally. I will say, I think this was one of the first time I read a friendship falling out like this in a book and I really liked to read that and I was able to fully get invested in this, but I wish I would have been able to see more of the aftermath especially because this was a childhood friend. It felt a bit brushed over and then no one ever heard of her.

That being said, I did enjoy the themes throughout the book and I thought it was a cute lighthearted sweet read. I truly think that maybe if I had read it all in one sitting, I might have enjoyed it more and not felt the drop in engagement as much, but like I said, this was still such a cute cozy read to pick up. I would recommend this book as a cute read especially with a sweetheart like Sebastian.

This book has some lovely moments and I loved MMC. But I have to admit that I thought the story was developed too quickly, I thought there could have been more moments of tension between the main characters.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the book as much as I expected after reading the description.

Sigh*


I thought this was gonna be good since I can see the potential, but sadly, no. There's a lot of things I wanna say, but I guess I will just make this brief.

Things that I didn't like:

1. The execution. It was bad. The writing was passable to me as an overall, but the execution is just bad.

2. It was so slow. It felt like nothing had happened and just remained stagnant.

3. I don't know what to say about the romance, but the smut was a lot.

I'll add another star for the cover since I kinda like it

~thank you author and the publisher for letting me review this book in advance~

DNF @ 54%

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. The premise of this book had potential, but I don't feel like it was executed in the way I was looking for. I'm honestly still confused as to why the FMC randomly decided to jump in and buy a house with the MMC. Although I share a lot of the FMC struggles, for some reason she got on my nerves. Our MMC was a sweetie that I liked, but not enough to see the book through. It felt like a very smutty book with a plot just thrown in, which wasn't what I was looking for. This book seemed to drag for me and I'm sad because I loved this unique take and a good brothers best friend.

ARC Review: Mortgage of Convenience by Dani McLean

I waited somewhat patiently for Bee and Sebastian's story while Dani did an amazing job teasing it and it was worth the wait!

Seb is Bee's older brother's best friend she's always had a crush on but whom she doesn't realize has also started seeing her differently the last few years. She moves home after years away and they make a deal, ending up buying a house together so he can afford the mortgage. He just has to help her find her confidence as a writer and a person. The mutual pining is STRONG. Swipe through for an example where each of them just can't handle the forced proximity.

I related to the imposter syndrome Bee is going through at the point of having a first draft she knows isn't right and needing to take the next step with it. Seb is outwardly kind, confident in who he is, and a super supportive person, but he also has his own struggles because of his past and family history. I loved these two, individually and together.

This wasn't (and stay with me here) a book I immediately wanted to scream about how great it is to everyone, but only because it left me with such a lovely, homey feeling that I wanted to keep to myself for a while so I could sit with it quietly. That said, I did love it, will most likely read it again (like everything else let Dani has written), and fully believe anyone who loves sweet and spicy romances should read it! Dani calls it steamy and domestic and they're absolutely right.

marriage of convience by author review
aesthetic: ⌨️🍸✏️🏠📖⭐️🐝
📖: brothers best friend, forces proximity, he falls first

Cute fun little romance! He’s an ex *dancer*, she’s a shy ghostwriter. He needs a loan for his dream house, she needs someone to teach her how to be confident. Match made in heaven?

First of all I looooooved the writing style of Dani because it honestly makes the book as good as it is. The way she can play with words to make you feel something is crazy!

Secondly I adored the found family in this book, genuinely the cutest friends & family! Also the brother shipping is EVERYTHING!

It was really cute to see how the main characters supported each other so much and we’re literally each other’s lifelines 🫶🏼

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

While this was a quick read it honestly was not my favorite. I am a huge fan of the forced proximity trope. However something about this book seemed a bit off. There were parts where I felt that the story was too face paced for me. I love a good slow burn but it felt that this boom just jumped into the romance. But once it started I was a fan so for that id rate it a 3/5

This one is for readers who like their romances to be fast paced! Personally, I'm more into slow burn and because a lot happened, I had some issues with keeping engaged as the story developed. I also missed a bit of the tension between the characters, it could have been stronger in my opinion. While the FMC irritated me at times, I absolutely adored the MMC. Not my new favorite romance, but I definitely enjoyed big parts of it.

this was such a cute read, the slow burn was fantastic and i loved the idea of the story - i just couldnt connect with the characters so i think it was more of a me issue! i did enjoy a lot of things in this book though! i loved seeing her deal with the lose of a friendship, its so hard to go through and seeing this on page for once was so healing! bee and seb were so sweet and i loved their relationship

This was a cute fun read.

Sebastian was the true star of this book. He was so patient and kind... I wanted to smack Bee over the head. She did come accross as immature at times, but I was able to get over it.

Book Blurb -

Ever sent a drunk text to your ex and regretted it in the morning? Well, imagine pitching the debut novel you’ve been hiding to your agent, then waking up with a hangover and a deadline. Oh, and you have a debilitating fear of rejection.

Welcome to Bee Montgomery’s life.


The shy ghostwriter has always shied away from the limelight but may never get this opportunity again. So after five years away, Bee returns home with little more than a suitcase of secrets and a dream. What she really needs is someone confident to guide her.

Enter Sebastian Wolfe, her brother’s best friend. The older man spent his twenties avoiding commitment and his whole life trying to be the man his father never was, but the sexy ex-stripper secretly dreams of a white picket fence and a home of his own. He isn’t expecting to come up short on the deposit, or for the woman he shouldn’t want to offer the rest in exchange for his help to get over her stage fright. But if Bee can’t see how incredible she is, he’s more than happy to show her.

It’s not long before they’re stripping away more than her inhibitions, but as Bee’s deadline looms, she needs to decide if she’s going to keep playing house or return to her real life.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this arc. This novel follows Bee and Sebastian. If you like brother's best friend, forced proximity, no third act break-up, and a some spice this may be the book for you!

I wanted to like this book very badly, but I did find some faults with it. The beginning was very hard for me to read. I had to push past the parts I thought were a bit cringe in order to finish the book. Towards the middle of the novel the story did pick up and it kept me engaged. There was some strong character development throughout the story. Overall, I thought this book was just okay. In the end, I was rooting for the characters and thought the novel was entertaining enough to finish the book. However, I think this novel has a lot a room for growth.

this was such an adorable roomate forced proximity romance! bee was so cute and relatable. I kinda wish things felt more slowburn but that's a personal issue. I enjoyed this!

ARC Review: Pub Date February 27 2024

Mortgage of Convenience
By Dani McLean

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️

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

This book reminded me of a combination of Jillian Meadows, Tarah Dewitt, and Chloe Liese books. And those are all auto-read authors for me so I think it might be safe to say that Dani McLean will be an auto-read as well.

One of my favorite things is when the conflict in a romance is outside of the main relationship. Something that allows the romantic partner to be the support person rather than the source of the conflict. Much like the spice can lend good perspective into the relationship, I think how a person supports you on your worst days can also be a great window into the relationship. This book has all of that.

The way Sebastian supports Bee throughout this book is beautiful and heartwarming and gives you no choice but to love him. And the personal journey that Bee is going on both internally and with other relationships is so deeply relatable. I love both of them. And don't worry, the spice is also 🥵🥵🥵

There aren't a ton of additional characters but the ones there are are well written and I formed strong opinions about them. I loved Bee's brother Aiden (and would love a book about him!) and I really enjoyed the fast friendship that formed between Bee and Cassie. And I would like Morgan to eat glass. 😤

Also, this is potentially the prettiest cover I've ever seen and you should read this book for that reason alone. Because sometimes it works out to judge a book by it's cover.

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑩𝒆𝒆’𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒓 , 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏.

Read February 13-14, 2024

#mortgageofconvenience #danimclean #bookstagram #booklover #bookreview #arcreview #fivestarreads #bookrecommendations #spicyromance @danimcleanwrites

“Each breath comes with a different feeling. On the inhale, I belong here. On the exhale, I’m not sure where I belong.”

Sometimes a book finds you when you don’t know you need it. I picked Mortgage of Convenience mostly because the MFC is a writer. What I found, however, was so much more than that!
This story is about finding a home, in a place, your person(s), but first yourself. I loved that journey. Deeply. So deeply that it’s hard for me to find words. I rarely read a bi representation that resonated so intensely in me, and I wish I could have read such books when I was younger. But in this book, I also found an incredible transformation, where Bee discovers herself, the way to accept to be seen and shine. I adored her character, she’s so fragile, like a hiding mouse at first, but she learns how to speak for herself –without crushing anyone. Her story was so inspiring (I wish younger-me could have read that too). And Sebastian… oh, Sebastian… I loved how he’s such a pillar to Bee, never judging, always encouraging –but not pushing– despite his own struggles. This book has zero toxic masculinity (like the author said, Sebastian is all green lights –even his eyes), no drama, and so much great domesticity. Yet, the story of Bee and Sebastian –how they learn to live together in that house they bought together on a “whimsy”, how it feels so natural–was a great page turner. This book will become for me, I’m sure, a place I’ll want to revisit, to read again just to recharge and keep my chin up.



(Also posted on goodreads, storygraph and a couple of FB groups)

This book gives, brothers best friend, dual POV, Forced proximity and smut.

Bee Montgomery and Sebastian Wolfe had an initial attraction which is a big positive for anyone who doesnt love slow burn. It was very faced paced, i really enjoyed Bees character development, with friends and putting herself first. Her cleaning obsession also got a gold star from me (which is similar to my own) I think stuff like this really humanises characters which i always enjoy. Sebastian was a big softie and I love my MMCs soft. He is also Bi which great, hot and there is no third act breakup.

A great filler book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me this arc of Mortgage of Convenience.

Unfortunately, this was DNF for me. I felt myself dragging along to read it, I’m not sure if it’s just I’m not in the mood for how this book is flowing or what, but also it just didn’t keep me interested like I had thought it would when requesting this title. That’s not to say the writing is terrible or the story didn’t flow, it just wasn’t my cup of tea at the moment and the pacing kind of caught me off guard. Along with the MC, Bee and just how she reacts to situations + her big secret which was a little underwhelming, I figured it would be something bigger and more dramatic.

I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes romance, forced proximity, age gap and many other tropes that I know many people love. It’s a book I may have to come back to in the future and give another try.

Rating 3/5 ⭐️

NETGALLEY ARC:

The premise of forced proximity by a mortgage could’ve been super cute but the way it happened felt super bland and rushed. It took me a lot longer to get through the book because I felt like I couldn’t connect with any of the characters