Bee and Sebastian have a suspenseful relationship from the very beginning of the book. Bee offers to buy a house together, which puts them in a forced proximity, without knowing each individual has a lingering interest for the other. Sebastien is open to helping Bee with becoming more confident and finding herself, in return to her having helped him buy a house. They develop a friendship with a relationship relatively quickly as they spend all of their time together.

Sebastien helps Bee understand that it's completely normal and ok to outgrow her longtime friend in order to feel better about herself and within her skin.

Bee helps Sebastien face meeting with his father so many years after having left him in his past.

The way Sebastien falls quick and hard for Bee and how she slowly opens up to letting him care for her is so sweet to watch.
This brothers best friend was a slow burn with great spice and a lot of moments that made me swoon.

Thank you Netgalley and Set the mood publishing for a free copy for review.

I didnt like the writing style and the characters and I dint like vibe with the story. The promise was interesting but I dint like the delivery.

DNF

There was not a thing that I did not like about this book. I love that there were clearer deeper meanings. I loved the LGBTQIA+ representation. I loved the tension and banter between the MC’s. It was the perfect palette cleanser and I cannot tell you how much I was giggling and kicking my feet! So good. Definitely recommend!

Mortgage of Convenience was the feel good book I needed! The dynamics of this book between the two MCS was a work of art .... ❤️❤️so glad to have the opportunity to read this

An adorable, fluffy, comforting roommates story! It had a lot of heart, emotional growth and some spicy moments to round it all out. It was easy and enjoyable, the perfect

Bee has returned home after sending her agent a pitch for her first novel while intoxicated. She’s terrified of rejection and is looking to her support system to keep her in check. Enter her brother’s best friend, Sebastian, who she’s had a crush on for years. When he’s struggling to buy his dream house, she offers to help him out in exchange for his guidance to becoming more confident. As they move in together, tension and chemistry is undeniable, but Bee has to figure out if she’s home for good before someone gets their heart broken.

Poor Bee was so down on herself, I just wanted to hug her! She had a lot to face in order to reach her full potential, and I’m so glad she surrounded herself with truly positive people and cut out the negativity in her life!

Sebastian was so delicious, I loved this softie with a spicy side! He was so aware of emotional growth, even when dealing with his own problems. Even when he didn’t want to battle his past, he knew it was the important thing to do. He was just so head over heels for Bee, we love a supportive MMC.

At times, it felt the plot moved to quick and I wasn’t able to fully savor everything. Months pass in the story but I was hoping for more detail because I wanted to enjoy every bit of them! I did love the tougher topics, like mental health, sobriety, queer representation and personal growth, and I would have liked these to be mentioned more.

I really struggled getting into this. I couldn’t connect with the characters. The chemistry just wasn’t there. It felt like the story bounced around a lot and didn’t flow. The story did have a lot of potential!

I think this is a good book that could have been great. I felt that it lost the plot to the spice at times and became a little boring but I did enjoy it in parts and I liked Sebastian. I felt Bea was very repetitive about her insecurities and it got a bit old. Overall an ok read.

I would like to thank dani mclean & netgalley for allowing me to receive an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I live a good forced proximity book. Went in blind and was entertained. Reading bee's growth was great. I thought the characters could have had more chemistry I guess. I felt it but didn't feel it. Over all I had fun.

This is a great easy read, it's the kind of book I would devour on holiday. It's not the most sophisticated writing, and sometimes the spicy scenes started to feel a little gratuitous, but it really delivers on some favourite tropes.
-forced proximity
-mutual pining
-Queer representation

And a huge thank you for no act 3 break up!

Mortgage of Convenience follows Bee Montgomery, a ghostwriter who is working on writing her first book under her own name, as she moves back to her hometown and Sebastian Wolfe, a bisexual bartender/former stripper, as he works towards his dream of owning a house.

I really enjoyed Bee's POV and watching her growth throughout the book. I loved every aspect of her finding herself, learning who she truly is, and ensuring that her actions are taken because she wants to and not to make anyone else happy at the expense of herself. It was such a beautiful portrayal of outgrowing friendships and moving forward with grace.

On the other hand, I think this book has cemented for me that I do not like overly cinnamon-roll type male characters. If I'd have read Sebastian only through Bee's eyes, I think I'd have loved him, but getting his POV was just too sugar sweet for me. He didn't read as a 36 year old man. To me, he read exceedingly younger.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. The forced proximity of buying a house together was a unique take. I think someone looking specifically for the brother's best friend trope would be disappointed though as that seemed just to be a coincidental characteristic as opposed to an actual plot point. 3.75 Stars.

Mortgage of convenience - Dani McLean★★★★

I mean who doesn’t love a brother’s bestfriend romance?? I loved how this story really showed Bee’s journey on how she became to believe in herself, trust herself and be herself and not fake who she is to please others, it felt very real. Bee and Sebastian are one of those couples you just know from the very start ever since they’ve been in each other’s lives they’re meant for one another and seeing the journey on how they build eachother up and support each other was so 🥹🥹

📚 Book Review: A Rollercoaster of Emotions 📚

The cover art drew me in, and the plot summary promised a delightful read centered around a trope I adore. However, the book didn't live up to its initial charm. Unfortunately, the story felt cluttered with too many elements vying for attention. The writing, albeit promising at the start, soon spiraled into a messy narrative that left me bewildered. While this book may not have resonated with me, I believe it doesn't reflect the author's talents. Perhaps, it simply wasn't the right fit for my tastes. I'll explore the author's other works in hopes of finding a better match.

This book had a lot of potential to be amazing, the characters all had really interesting characteristics and things about them that made them feel unique, but it somehow fell a little short.
I think the part that was lacking was the main plot, it was very vert slow, and not overly engaging. The parts of the story that kept it going were the side plots and smaller activities that the characters were all engaging in, rather than the fact that Bee (the fmc) went back home to try and write her own novel.

There are a lot of tropes in this book which i loved, but it also felt a little overwhelming at times. The main character Bee is a ghost writer, Sebastian is an ex-stripper, there's an age gap, brothers best friend, forced proximity (they buy a house together on a whim).

It was a cute read, just not one that i'm going to be thinking about for a while now that i've read it, but i did have fun quite a bit of the time i was reading, especially when they were finally getting over their feelings and seeing where their relationship could go.
It was also really cute to see Sebastian cheering on Bee and telling her that she could do anything she wanted to if she just tried. Was adorable that he became her confidence coach and was there for her while she was struggling with her relationship with her brother and best friend (who is the worst character in this book).
Similarly it was nice to see Bee be there for Sebastian when he was dealing with past trauma in regards to his relationship with his dad, and even nicer when she was there for him after he had seen his dad for the first time in decades.

overall i would recommend if you're looking for something fluffy and cute, kind of lighthearted, and slowburn.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an arc of this book to review.

3 stars. happy release day !!🥳

“I never knew where I belonged until now. but it’s here, with you.”


🧡no third act break up
🧡brother’s best friend
🧡forced proximity
🧡LGBTQIAP+ rep
🧡mutual pinning
🧡found family
🧡first person
🧡roomates
🧡dual pov
🧡age gap

Bee, the female main character, was an ambitious author plagued by self-doubts. her overly ambitious phone call to an editor on a drunken evening made her collide with the blank page syndrome, which may or may not have been connected to her impostor syndrome that sent her running back to her hometown. the growth of her character was fascinating to observe because of how she had to juggle with all her day-to-day struggles. for exemple, she stood up for herself and realized that her longest and dearest friendship was more consuming, in a pejorative manner, than anything. Bee’s personality’s development bloomed gradually with the way she gained confidence with the help of the male protagonist, Sebastian.
Sebastian’s character was a breath of french air with the rep' he offered to the narrative, combined with the health way he navigated his masculinity and sexuality. i loved his bond with Bee’s brother and how for once the brotherly homo-sapien act wasn’t a clichéd, jam-packed with testosterone phrasing "stay away from my sister!!!! hohohaga.🧌". but instead, Bee’s brother was more concerned more about Sebastian. and how Bee might broke his heart because he never had a stable household growing up and in addition he had only casual hookups until he decided to be celibate. therefore he didn’t have a model depiction of a healthy matrimonial relationship.
the romance, however, felt a bit rushed for my liking and its synchronization with the characters’ developments didn’t work very well. but all in all, it was a fast pace and enjoyable read. would perfectly fit as plate-cleanser!

many thanks to netgalley and the author for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review!

It was not my cup of tea. I didn’t enjoy the story or the writing.. sadly.
The story was lacking and I didn’t feel any connection between the main characters.

I liked the concept, and I will always love a “secretly both in love with each other” trope. However, the writing style wasn’t for me. I like characters that have more depth and flaws, and the male live interest felt too perfect.

A journey of healing and finding one’s self.

This book was fantastic. Dani brought out their characters in a real and true fashion which made them relatable in their every flaw and action.

It was so easy to see myself in Bee’s perspective: her fear of failing, her anxiety of others expectations, he people-pleasing at the sake of herself. Watching her heal and grow into who she became made her a character I will always hold dear.

Sebastian: What. A. Man.
I loved seeing his perspective, of hearing his inner monologue of worship for Bee. How in her head she saw herself failing and he only saw her conviction to become better. He reminds me so much of my fiancé and how in every aspect of our relationship he has pushed me to believe in myself while also being my biggest champion. Everyone needs a Sebastian.

Dani. You absolute queen of a human. Thank you for this story. Thank you for making your characters so relatable, their struggles so real, and for making the ✨extracurricular activities✨ so hot. Well done my dear.

(thank you NetGalley, Set The Mood Publishing, and Dani McLean for giving me the opportunity to read, review, and give my unedited opinion)

𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 🐝

𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚜 ♡:

author: dani mclean
publication date: 2/27/24
pages: 388
rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
spice: 🌶️🌶️

𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚜 ♡:

*ghost writer/ex-stripper
*brothers best friend
*forced proximity
*age gap
*he falls first
*no third act breakup

𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍 ♡:

I’m a sucker for cute covers and this one sold me! although I only gave it 3 stars, I still really enjoyed this book! It was sweet, heartfelt and everything I needed to read at the moment. I loved the roommate romance dynamic between sebastian & bee and I thought that the author did that very well. It felt very natural and you could tell that the main characters had a lot of chemistry!

bee moves home after suffering from writers block and moves in with sebastian after she needs his help feeling more confident. this book focuses a lot of self discovery topics with some references to mental health & toxic relationships, but both the characters did a great job supporting each other with their past trauma.

I did enjoy some of the side characters like aiden (bee’s brother) & cassie, although I wasn’t too fond of morgan. she was such a bad friend to bee :(

𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 ♡:

- they shared each others secrets
- sebastian is a plant daddy
- he calls her angel
- when bee gets a tattoo of “their” house
- sebastian buys her a lamp at target so she can read her books at night
- 5 year bonus epilogue at the end

𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚘𝚝𝚎 ♡:

⤷ “𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖—𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍.”

𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 ♡:

overall — I would recommend if you are looking something cute & light with roommates, good spice and great banter!

I would like to thank dani mclean & netgalley for allowing me to receive an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

3.5 ⭐️

"I never knew where I belonged until now. but it’s here, with you."

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the early review copy.

When Bee sends a drunk email to her boss pitching her debut novel, she wakes up with a hangover, a deadline, and the crushing weight of her fear of rejection. Bee returns home to finish her novel, but ends up with a new roommate but not in the way she expected. Can Sebastian, her brother's best friend turned roommate, help her gain the confidence to write and submit the idea she's had for years?

This was my first book by Dani McLean and it was a really nice romance, I loved the combination of brother's best friend and forced proximity. There was a few different plot lines going on at the same time which I felt a little bit overwhelmed by but they did all tie up very nicely in the end. I still think buying the house was a crazy idea but the idea of the story was very fun. I liked both of their characters and it was lovely to see the development of Bee's confidence.

Immediately requested - forced proximity, brother's best friend are some of my favorites. It was overall ok, this is the first of Dani's books that I read and I do want to try others but this was just ok. I did love Sebastian, so very much. But there was just something about Bee and the conflict with both her writing and her friend that felt off. I do appreciate the sensitivity that Dani took in approaching some heavy hitting topics.