Buyout by Dev Bentham
Released: February 8, 2017
M/M Contemporary Novella
Dreamspinner
Reviewed by Mandi
I’ve read a lot of Dev Bentham over the years and I love that each of her stories is so different – set in so many different places. Buyout takes place in Lisbon with two guys I liked – but the problem with this story is that it is way too short. Everything felt rushed and that frustrated me.
Sean is a financial guy working for a greedy boss who loves to find failing hotels, offer them a loan with a ridiculous payment/interest and then grab the company away when they later can’t pay. Sean is the go-to guy for this, and he puts his head down and does his job. But when he learns he has to travel to Lisbon to foreclose on a hotel, he gets sweaty as it’s owned by his ex-boyfriend and his family.
Ten years ago, Sean met Martim at Harvard, and they started a passionate love story. They traveled and lived together and Sean thought he was the one – until he walked in on Martim blowing his drug dealer. Sean decided tough love was the only way to go, kicked Martim out and never saw him again. But now Sean has to tell Martim and his family that they are two years behind on their loan and their hotel will no longer be theirs.
I really enjoyed Sean – his reluctance to have to face Martim with this bad news. And I like that they broke up over Martim being a drug user – I felt like that is not always a path shown in romance books and it felt like it could go to some interesting places. But like I mentioned, this book was too short to explore Martim’s past. We actually barely get to know Martim at all. What has Martim been doing these past ten years?? I needed more background on him.
Their reunion lacked passion too. I felt like the sparks that could have been there after this long absence was missing. Coming in at about 70 pages, this one just needed more.
Grade: C
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