Even though I’ve read all three in the series, each one is definitely a standalone. Portland is the main commonality, which is what drew me into reading this series in the first place. And it’s always a bit of a thrill when my hometown of Astoria gets a mention.

It took me a while to get into this one. And the third person narration took some getting used to for me. I think it made me feel like more of an outsider watching the story unfold from afar. But eventually, I found myself really rooting for these characters. And the end was so perfectly poetic that it just warmed my heart and put a big grin on my face.

I saw the blurb on the story and knew it fit into my type of book. It drew me in and made me turn pages and never lost interest. I have checked several more of this Authors books to read in the future.

I just felt that, in comparison with her other books, this was disappointing. Very boring. I read all of it, but for me, it just wasn't a keeper.

this book had a MC with a cute job. sometimes I think most people resort to doctor or actress, but she was the star of a home network type show. i think it was good but not the best read i've read.

Stevie‘s review of Worth the Wait (Out in Portland, Book 3) by Karelia Stetz-Waters
Contemporary Lesbian Romance published by Forever Yours 19 Jun 18

Portland is a popular setting for LGBT+ romance stories, and I really must visit the city some day; in the meantime, though, there are series like this one to remind me of all the fun I seem to be missing. Or not, in the case of how our story opens. I quite like school and college reunions, but I know that’s not true for everyone. It certainly isn’t for Merritt Lessing: fully aware that attending her high school event means coming face to face with her planned date for the prom, who unceremoniously dumped her on the night in favour of a man. To make matters worse, said failed prom date is the guest of honour at the reunion. Avery Crown is now the star of a reality house restoration show, partnered by the man she took to the prom all those years before. He’s attending the reunion with her, but she’s not looking exactly forward to seeing Merritt again, no matter how much she regrets the loss of their friendship after the prom disaster.


When the two finally meet at the reunion, they put old misunderstandings behind them and try to catch up on the missing years. Avery longs to stop living the lie that she and her co-star are an item and come out as a lesbian, but she fears the wrath of her mother (and agent), as well as worrying what work either star will get if the show is cancelled. Merritt, meanwhile, has become a success in her own way, rebuilding the hardware business bequeathed to her by her favourite uncle, not long after Avery left, into a successful buildings reclamation and vintage materials centre. Having worked construction to make ends meet in the early years, Merritt now saves her skills for special projects and is in the process of buying the now dilapidated building her uncle once lived in to create her perfect forever home.

Avery and Merritt explore Portland together; Merritt shows off the house and details her plans for when she owns it, while Avery talks about her rekindled excitement at filming the show’s next series in her old hometown. They spend the night together, but then Avery discovers the next day that the show runners have lost their deal on the house the crew were supposed to be renovating, and their proposed replacement is going to devastate Merritt when she finds out.

At this point, I feared the whole book was going to revolve around one big misunderstanding between our heroines, but actually that issue was dealt with quite neatly. Instead, the major dilemma has far more to do with how the pair could be together without destroying the careers of the many people working on Avery’s show. Avery’s mother has filled her mind with insecurities of what will happen if she comes out, coupled with the idea that Avery is a good enough actor for reality TV, but not for ‘real’ screen or theatre work. Nevertheless, our heroines work at making the most of the time they have together, although they can’t dodge the press forever. When they’re spotted in a gay club, even though Avery’s co-star is with them and tries to protect her, it looks like all Avery’s fears are going to come true.

Although I loved Avery’s last-minute escape from the cover-up attempt that’s forced on her, I did feel that the overall ending to the story felt a little rushed with just a few pages and an epilogue to give our heroines a happy ending and catch us up to where all their friends had ended up. On the other hand, I did love those friends and hope to see more glimpses of them as the series progresses.

Grade: B

A good fun second chance romance this is the first book I have read by Karelia and I enjoyed it and would check out more from her in the future. I liked both Merritt and Avery their relationship starts out quite rocky and I found myself not wanting to put it down wanting to know how they were getting on they are both really great likable characters and I really enjoyed their book a good friends to lovers romance

I just felt that, in comparison with her other books, this was disappointing. Very boring. I read all of it, but for me, it just wasn't a keeper

Yet again another good read from this author and I will look forward to reading more from you from from you thank you for my arc

received in exchange for a honest review.

I liked it. I wasn’t a fan of the beginning with Avery and Merritt but enjoyed the book. I loved Lei LIng and King-these two were a hoot. King because he was clueless. He tried so hard to understand but was clueless.

Avery begins the book by creating her own angst as does Merritt. Years ago Avery let others influence her more than they should and let her dreams come in the way of her heart and now she is back and looking to reignite either a friendship or more. Only Merritt is angry and closed off. Merritt doesn’t really trust things. She and Avery see each other at the reunion and Merritt tries to act like a cool cucumber but doesn’t pull it off . They reconnect in intimate ways and the next day the shoe drops.

AVery finds out something and tries to talk to Merritt but Merritt in her I knew I was right to not trust you and see you haven’t changed and are like everyone else jumped to the wrong conclusion. She goes all commando and is now wanted on the show King and Crown. ONly she doesn’t want to be there she wants the home she was supposed to have to fix. Avery convinces her to come on and buy the house afterwards and this way she gets the house and what she wants. This allows Avery more time with Merritt.

We see a reporter dogging Avery and her co-worker trying to get dirt on them and we see Avery need to make tough decisions. Most of the angst was self created by Merritt and Avery. 

Avery overall is a good character but at the beginning she just is too disconnected from herself. She doesn’t see really what her decisions did and almost repeats that history. Avery is kind and sweet but loses herself at times in herself and doesn’t always see the big picture. 

Merritt is stubborn and scared. She is sweet and sassy as well. I love watching her speak her mind. Didn’t like how distrusting of everyone and everything she seemed but it was understandable with her mom the way she was.

The romance was sweet and cute. The side characters were awesome. The story of choosing love over career when you find what you want is good. The story is one that you just sit down and enjoy once you get by the beginning.

I struggled to get into this book in the beginning, but it did get better as it went along so I'm glad I stuck with it.

It had a good premise, and I appreciated that it wasn't a love story between two twenty-somethings (bit of a f/f trope there), but the backstory for the romance made it feel like they were emotionally still stuck in high school.

Overall, an enjoyable enough read. You just need some patience to make it through the start.

I enjoyed this book of the two young women.  It was an engaging love story and one that has its ups and downs.  If you enjoy these in a story, this is the book for you.
I would recommend and you don't have to be a YA to enjoy!

I received an ARC copy from Netgalley for my honest review.

Bit silly of me but hadn't realised it was a female-female romance. However there was enough of a story that i was able to skip the female steamy parts back to the story. I liked the story actually, it was sweet without being sugar sweet and romantic enough that i went ahh a few times. It was also enough of a story to keep me intrigued.
Avery and Merritt were both strong characters in their own right and together made a good combination.

I normally hate leaving a book unfinished, so I seldom do so. But this book was one of the few that was absolutely impossible for me to get through. I had a lot of problems with it, to say the least. *Worth the Wait* follows Avery Crown and Merritt Lessing, two former high school best friends and secret loves who reconnect after fifteen years. Avery works for a home renovation show and is in a fake relationship with her co-star, making it impossible to be with Merritt, despite how much she likes her. 
My first gripe about this book is the writing style. While reading, I felt like there just wasn't a good flow to it, everything felt choppy and all over the place, especially during dialogue. The dialogue between the characters was long and drawn out, to the point where I would lose focus and have to reread it to remember what they were even talking about. The writing style alone was enough of a reason for me to not finish reading it, but I still have other issues. 
The characters, themselves, were insufferable. Both came off as immature, despite the fact that were adults. Their approach to feelings was particularly immature and confusing as a reader. There was too much of a love/hate relationship going on. They went back and forth between loving and hating one another, which made it an ongoing conflict. I felt like I was watching a tennis match of their feelings. Additionally, I thought they got together too fast. I know the stereotype for lesbians is that they move fast, but they hooked up within the first few chapters of the novel. I would've appreciated more time being taken to develop the characters themselves and the relationship. 
As an LGBT+ reader, I find it hard to find solid, good representation of wlw and unfortunately, this book was just another let down for me. The poor writing style, drawn out dialogue, and confusing characters made it impossible for me to tolerate. I wish I could've liked it, or found some kind of enjoyment while reading it, but sadly, I did not.

What a cute love story!! I wasn't sure if Worth the Wait would be up my alley but it was. I would recommend this.

Avery Crown is half of a home & garden show host duo; her partner is a hunky guy whom everyone assumes is her romantic partner. But Alistair's asexual, while Avery far prefers the ladies. The book opens with the two attending Avery's high school reunion in funky Portland Oregon, and once again encountering the girl she left abruptly behind, Merritt, who runs a funky hardware store. There is a lot of "I don't trust you/I don't want you/Let's have sex" back-and-forthing here (a trope I find annoying in both het and queer romance), as well as a lot of ridiculous reasons and justifications for said distrust, which makes for a less than satisfying read. There's good ideological stuff about poor body image, parent-shaming, and public vs. private images, but it wasn't strong enough to outweigh the lack of character development that would have made Avery's low self-esteem feel believable rather than just told about, pasted on in the service of plot.

I pretty much enjoy the book and the series, but there are still. parts of it hoping to be more.  I do like how Waters writes and I would definitely read more from her.

If I were just looking at the plot of WORTH THE WAIT, I’d probably say it was an okay book. It’s a second chance romance between high school best friends who had unrequited crushes on each other. And 15 years later at a reunion, they see each other, trade some barbs over their falling out, and then sleep together. What comes next includes a misunderstanding, some forgiveness, a little freak-out over one character being closeted, and some will-they-or won’t-they. All of which makes an okay-ish plot, but I am a read-for-characters person. And the thing is that the protagonists in WORTH THE WAIT are okay except for the biphobia, bi erasure, transphobia, and an occasional slur; but they aren’t compelling enough for me to really engage with the book (ignoring the other problems).

Avery is the cohost on an HGTV-type of show, and Merritt owns a vintage hardware store. For reasons that only really make sense in the book, Merritt ends up appearing on the TV show while they are in Portland. This is when they become friendly again, but mainly pine for each other. Avery asks if they might have a secret affair while she’s in town, and Merritt refuses because she doesn’t want to hide. My problem with the relationship is that I am told how much they cared when they were younger, but in the present, they behave like people in lust who used to know each other. The attraction between them never seemed like it would keep them interested unless it was solely built on nostalgia, which it sort of was. Then, there’s barely a hint that they actually like each other beyond thinking the other hot, which makes it really difficult for me to buy into their romance.

And their biggest conflict isn’t that Avery is going to leave after a few weeks, but that she isn’t out and Merritt is. This is probably a personal preference, but I’m not a fan of queer romances that use being closeted as the primary conflict or books where the love interest threatens to, or actually does, out the closeted character. With the latter, a person who threatens to out (or does actually out) their love interest strikes me as a villain; it amounts to complete betrayal and threatening a person’s safety. As regards the conflict of one character in the closet, it almost implies that the only interesting thing about a person’s life is that they are queer, which is incorrect. (This is a good time to remind you that my opinions are not the opinions of this blog. I’m just a tired, middle-aged, angry woman.)

The book outdoes itself and in addition to the but-you’re-closeted conflict, Merritt threatens to out Avery (she acknowledges that she never would, but it seems like a genuine threat to Avery at the time). The book relies on a fear that the world wouldn’t accept Avery if she’s gay to maintain some momentum and strain for their relationship.

Then, there are the series of microaggressions towards non-lesbian queer women that the book basks in. Almost from the start, the book settles into the idea that there are straight women and lesbians. Reading this book as neither of those categories amounts to subjecting yourself to pinpricks and tiny cuts that leave you wondering why you feel uncomfortable and uneasy. Avery reflects on Merritt in high school with:

“Merritt had always made the Vale girls nervous, and even the straight girls had looked at her at least once and thought, Maybe.”

 

And when Merritt is reflecting on her attraction to Avery (prior to knowing that Avery is a lesbian), the binary of lesbian or straight exists too:

“Avery touched Merritt’s arm the way she had when they were kids, a gentle pat that lingered a moment too long, the kind of gesture that lesbians had to remember meant nothing when coming from straight girls.”

 

The one time there is a reference to bi women, it comes with the idea that they are dangerous for closeted Avery: she refuses to sleep with bi women because they don’t have as much to lose as she does. Now we return to the reason they fell out as girls. When they were 18, Avery and Merritt were meant to go to prom together as friends, except Avery stood up Merritt and went to prom with her future TV cohost, Alistair, essentially mimicking the great bisexual threat of “she will leave you for a man.” So, in a way, the entire book is based on a very flimsy biphobic platform.

 

And speaking of phobias, the book has a miserable scene with Avery’s rock star friend DX where not only do we see that DX is not a good person, she uses an offensive term for an intersex person and possibly displays some transphobia:

“‘I know this performance artist in Milan,’ DX said, “who will have sex with you in a hammock strung between two cathedral towers. And he’s a hermaphrodite, so, best of both worlds.’”

 

I said it in a review for another book, but there is really no reason for this. An author owes it to her readers to not use an offensive word or slur.* And to add to the insult, Merritt then uses the term, and no one interrogates how wrong it is. Even worse, none of it serves a purpose except the make DX seem edgy, when she’s really horrible.

Here’s my confession: I tried to read the first book in this series and I couldn’t finish it. I made it maybe 25% before the weird microaggressions got to me. With WORTH THE WAIT, I did read 65% and skimmed the remaining 35%; however, as I complained to friends, they asked me to stop reading. Perhaps they were tired, but likely they could see my sanity fraying.

This review is already too long, but I need to comment some more on the friends in the book. Alistair is asexual for convenient plot reasons and I can’t tell if he’s written inconsistently or not, but in one scene, he’ll care about Avery’s happiness and then the next make her feel guilty for wanting to be out and with Merritt. DX is outrageous and wealthy for one bit of plot, but otherwise insufferable. Lei-Ling is over-the-top cutesy and naive, and I’m a tiny bit afraid that she might be a caricature, but I was so sensitive to this book that it could be me seeing issues where there isn’t one. And Iliana was fine, sort of flat, but nothing to complain about.

Overall, it’s clear that WORTH THE WAIT is written for a lesbian audience. As a queer woman who is not a lesbian, there are enough jabs at bisexual, pansexual, and questioning women that at best this book will feel like a pebble in your shoe; and at worst...I really don’t know. This book felt like tiny pinpricks and papercuts for me; one, I can manage, but a steady stream makes me wonder why I bother.

Gah- I loved this book! It is everything I love about romance, swoon-worthy, emotional, and with the perfect HEA. I immediately went for her backlist!

This is the third in the Out in Portland series and it's a bit of a doosey.

It's about Avery and Merritt. Avery is one of the stars of the King and Crown Home Improvement show and very very in the closet pretending to be with her asexual co-star Alistair.

Merritt is still in Portland, now the owner of a reclaimed hardware store (and, it's sorta interesting now that I think of it, the store is reclaimed and the hardware within it is reclaimed too, cool). And she's not lucky when it comes to love (although some of that is self-inflicted).

Avery comes back to Portland to film her show and go to the class reunion. They meet and while there's an attraction, there's also a whole lot of tension and problems for the two of them to overcome if they want to be together.

The twists and turns weren't super surprising, but I liked how diverse and complicated the characters were. I do wish that there'd been a little more Alistair though.

It was a unique novel ('cause of the Portland characters) and a fun read.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Forever (Grand Central Publishing).

Worth the Wait was a great romance.  The story between Avery and Merrit meeting and falling in love after 15 years was awesome.  Avery went to her High School reunion hoping to see Merrit and apologize for standing her up for their senior prom.  Merrit is still angry and hurt from the event, put also wanted to see Avery if for nothing more than to show her how indifferent she was about it, instead of how hurt she really was.  
 
It turns out that Avery is in Portland to film her newest season of her Reality Show King and Crown.  Merrit gets upset when the show buys out from under her the building she’s wanted to buy and remodel.  It’s a great story and there are lots of back and forth between them getting together or not.  It is a great story and I highly recommend it. 

I think this book can stand alone from the “Out in Portland” series.