Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Buyout – A Love Story
AUTHOR: Dev Bentham
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 69 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 8, 2017
BLURB:
Everyone deserves a second chance. Or do they? Sean and Martim fell in love at Harvard. Things broke apart when Martim fell into a downward spiral of addiction after his father died. Sean kicked him out but has regretted it ever since. He’s never gotten over losing Martim. But then, not many aspects of his life have lived up to his collegiate dreams.
When he’s sent to evaluate Martim’s family hotel for foreclosure, Sean is once again in the position to put Martim out on the street. In the time since they parted, Martim has pulled himself together, although both health and financial problems linger as a result of his years as an addict. Can the two men bridge the gap of distance and time to rekindle their relationship, or will they fall apart again under the burdens of guilt and disease?
Set in Lisbon, Portugal, this is the story of lovers reunited after more than a decade apart, and their second chance at romance.
REVIEW:
This was a very quick story about two men, their reunion ten years later, and their chance at second-chance love.
Sean and Martim had been college lovers. But Martim had hurt Sean horribly when his depression over losing his father had lead him into the dark world of drug use. Sean had literally kicked Martim out their apartment when he discovered him betraying him with his drug dealer for another fix. Fast forward ten long years. Sean works for a ruthless financial institution. He is in Amsterdam, working on one of their problem investments, when he is redirected by his heartless, money hungry boss to go repossess the family owned hotel of his former lover. “Buyout” is the story of what happens when Sean and Martim are forced to see each other after ten years.
The very first thing that struck me was that Sean is a complete germ-a-phob! I mean the man carries packages of sanitizer wipes with him at all times. He completely wipes down everything he comes in contact with. It would drive me totally crazy to be around him! Martim endeared himself to me however. He may have been a major drug user who tried to destroy his own life but he came across as completely believable in his sincerity that he is remorseful in his past actions. Getting clean and staying clean is a huge accomplishment, especially for someone who had be using for so long. But the person who stood out the most to me was Martim’s aunt, Tia Bel. She truly loves her nephew and is very protective of him, as family should be.
This was a very short, quick story. Although it went deeply into Sean’s career, the story is told completely from his point-of-view, I felt that it lacked the essence of who these two men truly were. Although the epilogue was sweet and just what you hoped for, but I felt a bit gypped. The ending was too rushed and it skipped over too much to get to the resolution. Plus I felt that Sean’s germ phobias were tossed aside as nothing much in the end. In my opinion, too much was left out to make me fall for the story. It’s not that I didn’t like the story. I really liked the plot but just felt that it would have benefited with a longer storyline.
RATING: 
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