Mortgage of Convenience serves up a uniquely millennial premise layered with a few other beloved romance tropes, including: forced proximity, brother’s best friend, longtime not-so-secret crush, &, while we don’t get a marriage of convenience, we definitely get a partnership of convenience (it’s in the title). I was pulled in by the premise & the beautiful cover art, but this was a new-to-me author & I didn’t know what to expect. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed some elements of this story, overall it felt disconnected & fell flat for me.

For the FMC - Bee - her story is the catalyst of this pairing. She is returning home with a secret that really isn’t as huge as we’re meant to think it is. She pitched a book that she’s basically already written to an agent who already knows that she is a great writer &, while I can appreciate that the stakes are different/higher when the work is tied to your own name vs. ghostwriting something, it just didn’t feel believable, so I never quite got invested in Bee as a character. If you’re worried about your professional (see: financial) future, it’s difficult to believe that you would just drop $20k (basically your life savings) on a mortgage with a man you have a crush on but don’t really know, to buy part of a house in a hometown that you’re convinced you’re not going to stay in.

For the MMC - Sebastian - I loved him. His life experiences, emotional intelligence, & overall general outlook makes him incredibly attractive. Then you throw in his bi identity, self-assurance, ex-stripper status, & incredible found family of both humans & plants, & I was locked, loaded, & ready to swoon. I was able to get invested in his story & wished we were able to see a little more of that. The father storyline could have also presented an alternative way to approach the mortgage issue as a premise. And at the end, I think maybe he & Bee’s brother should have ended up together instead ha.

I enjoyed Sebastian & the side characters, & the story overall was witty & fun more times than it wasn’t. Perhaps this book just wasn’t for me & that’s okay! Even if I hadn’t read this as an arc, I know I would have picked up this book at some point to check out!

Thank you to NetGalley & Set the Mood Publishing for providing a digital advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dani Mclean for this ARC and here’s my honest review.

When Bee temporarily moves back home she unexpectedly buys a house with his brother’s best friend, who she has had a massive thing for ever since she was young.

Sebastian has done a lot of things in his life and now that he is on his third decade of it he just wants to have a house and start a family. He saved all his money from the 2 jobs he has been working on just to get this dream and it still wasn’t enough, thank god for Bee.

There’s a lot of things that happened for both Bee and Sebastian that they had to face and deal with on this book and the way that it was done, I cannot say anything else expect it feels like a hug.

I have read this arc and I was surprised by how it was written, mind you that I have read 4/5 of her novellas, and I truly didn’t expect it. It was beautiful Dani. Thanks for sharing this.

Note: Sebastian has a dirty mouth so spice rating 3/5. This has very very explicit scenes.