Avery Crown, darling of the reality TV scene comes back to her high school reunion. She knows she may bump into the girl who stole her heart 15 years ago. Merrit has never really gotten over her unrequited love for Avery and it has marred every attempt at a relationship since. Avery loved Merrit too but can’t risk her career if anyone finds out. How can it ever work for them?
I’ve never felt such a connection between two characters. It was powerful and emotional and the feelings were so real. Merrit has such a vulnerability that was fragile . The desire and wanting of so many years had built up into such an intensity that I was overwhelmed with the emotion. I couldn’t bear for it not to work out. I can’t imagine anyone reading this without a tear in their eye.
The writing style was fast-paced and immediate and left me in no doubt just how important Avery and Merrit were to each other. I loved it so much and I can honestly say it’s my favourite book so far this year. I just wish I could give it more than 5 Stars!

I was provided with a copy from Netgalley and Forever Yours Publishing.

Enjoyed the story, the characters and the setting. The secondary characters were very engaging--would like to see more of them in a future novel maybe! The plot got a little bogged down in the middle, but I wanted to stick with the characters because I liked them so much. Makes me want to go to Portland!

When you have second chance at love you need to take it. You will follow a beautiful story about to lives that were always meant to be together. They have to learn that second chances do happen. You take a journey with them so they can learn who they are. I love any HEA books but this one touched me.

Avery and Merritt grew up being best friends. Avery is now very well know for the home improvement show that she stars in. Avery is very well known and everyone (the viewers) assume she is in a relationship with her co-star Alistair. Avery is actually secretely attraced to women and is madly in love with her childhood best freind Merritt. Avery can not be "out" because she doesn't want to risk the ratings of her show.
Merritt is and out and loud lesbian. She has also been madly in love with her childhood best friend Avery. The thing is when they were young and hanging out Avery broke her heart and left her without saying a word. She resents Avery for running out on her when they were younger. Avery has come back into Merritt's world and she is not sure if she is there willingly or if there is an ulterior motive.
This was a great book and the story line kept you reading. Truly enjoyed.

**I received an ARC copy of this book for my honest review.

I am not generally a reader of romance themed books, so this was an interesting diversion from my normal reading patterns and plans. Thanks to the folks at NetGalley who gave me the opportunity to read this in exchange for my thoughts and opinions.

One of the negative stereotypes of romance novels is the lack of story. That was not the case with Worth the Wait. While I didn't find the story to be gripping, or edge-of-the-seat exciting, there was a good storyline. It is a story of redemption, of change, and of course finding love, even if it may be a previous love lost. I was committed to seeing the book through, although it isn't one that would find me returning for future reads.

I struggled to connect with the characters. I thought they had potential. I just never found myself drawn to them or ultimately caring about them or the outcome of their relationship drama. I thought the drama levels were high, and that while 15 years post high school, they both still acted much like my high school aged kids and their friends. The element of believability fell away due to that.

As I mentioned, I am not a frequent reader of romance type novels. I will say that I was a little surprised that there wasn't as much sex as I expected. That isn't necessarily a complaint on my part. If you are looking for a book with lots of sex, then this isn't where you want to stop. The sex that was in the book was well written and carried an intensity with it that was believable.

All in all, the book wasn't too bad. I wasn't overly excited by it, but I was interested enough to see it through and see what the ending held in store for the various characters.

This is book 3 of the 'Out in Portland' series by this author that can be read as a standalone novel. In a high school reunion, television presenter Avery Crown meets Merritt Lessing, her former best friend and teenage crush. After fifteen years, their mutual attraction is still alive but past and present get in the way as Merritt cannot forget an old betrayal and Avery is a closeted lesbian who cannot build a relationship without putting her career in jeopardy. Do they have any hope of having their happily ever after?

I have to admit that I'm not into high school reunion romances or stories about decades-long grudges held from teenage years. Normally my theme preferences don't influence a book rating or critique. But beyond the subject I'm afraid that I have a few issues with this book, starting with the plot which seems a bit unrealistic and over the top dramatic. Additionally, I couldn't warm up to the main characters, Avery with her low self-esteem, stuck in her mother issues and self-pity while Merritt... well, much the same. Some of their behaviour or conversations felt childish and immature for a thirty something. On the other hand, the secondary characters were much more interesting, specially DX and the couple of Iliana and Lei-Ling. I would read a book about them as they are quirky and multi faceted.

Overall, an ok read if you are into school reunions and drama. 3 stars.

ARC provided by Netgalley and the author in exchange for an honest review.

See all my reviews at
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The writing was good except for the the many times the author used references to something that’s not very popular that I had hard time getting which led me to skip a few pages. Adding to my agony was the stressful scenes which at a point or two I had to put down the book. Would I recommend this book? I’m not sure.. I would give it 3.5 stars though.

This is the second book I have read by Waters. I read the first book in this Out in Portland series. This book Worth the Wait is the third. I have to be honest I don’t remember a lot of the first book Something True, but I do remember liking it. This book I had more trouble with. The early reviews seem to be all over the map. I’m finding myself coming down right in the middle with just an okay rating. I do want to mention, while this is a series these stories do standalone. In fact I don’t even think characters from the previous books were in this book. It seems the only commonality is Portland. Therefore, if you decide to try one of these books, you do not have to read them in order.

I have to be honest I did not like the beginning of this book. I found myself almost getting angry and wanting to yell at one of the characters to find her lady balls. I was very close to just saying forget it and putting a DNF on this book. I did keep reading and it did get better, but I found myself being disappointed again by the ending.

This is one of those high school crushes ends badly and then the characters meet up in the future stories. Of course they are in their 30’s now, but there was still plenty of angsty high school drama to go around. Of course that didn’t really sit right with me, feeling the immaturity of the characters. Not sure what is going on lately but I keep finding books where characters don’t act their age.

I think what really stopped me from thinking this book was better than okay was the believability. I found too much of the conflict to be unbelievable. Maybe if this book took place in the 90’s it would make more sense. But I found the idea of an actress on the home and garden channel being gay equals the end of the world to be a little ridiculous.

I just complained plenty, but I do like Waters writing style. Sometimes it can be a little choppy, but it works for me. It worked enough to draw me into the story even with all these issues I was having. I found myself reading to figure out how everything would play out. But again I felt a bit burned by the ending. Too many issues where left unresolved. If you are going to go into all this conflict, at least take the time to wrap it all up. For instance what even happened with Avery’s mother?

This is not a book I can recommend, but I would not say stay away either. Parts of it I did enjoy and I do like how Waters writes. I just wish it didn’t have so many issues for me. Because I like Waters writing style I will read more from her, this just wasn’t my cup of tea.

I really wanted to love this book, but I found myself confused most of the time. I didn't grow attached to the characters like I had hoped and the story was lack-luster. I am disappointed.

This book is a nice second-chance romance but somehow I could not connect with the story or the characters though the story has a lot of elements and potential I really like. One of the maincharacters is a famous star of a show which reminds me of Fixxer Upper - a show I like a lot - and is deep in the closet. So this story is about love and kind of coming out in order to live the life that's wanted. For Avery, the famous one, it is a future with her highschool best friend Merritt who she did not see in 15 years. They loved each other secretively back then and the chemistry is strong again this time.

The plot was good but really slow paced and some topics just scrached in the surface - for example there is a conflict with one of the main characters mother (she's Avery's manager and forced her into this career which leaded to a sudden breakup with Merritt before something could even have started in the past. If not for her mother Avery's future might have lead to a lucky life with Merritt. This conflict was never really shown, just told.

It is sad that I was not really caught by this book because it is not bad written and it is entertaining. It's fun and slow and light. It is a good read but that's it. At least for me.

This book is a lovely summer read. It has everything: a romance with heroines I desperately routed for, prose that went from light to poetic to touching, a solid setting, and a memorable cast of characters that I desperately need spin-off books for.

First: Any book that takes me from “the name Merritt reminds me of feret” to “OMG MERRITT IS SO COOL” in one chapter is going to be awesome. I loved how many inversions of narrative expectations there were: Merritt isn’t the small town girl left behind—she’s the girl who was too self-assured and cool to relentlessly pursue fame. Avery’s on TV, but she’s not the exceptionally beautiful one. Avery is the one who broke Merritt’s heart, but Merritt is the ice queen. Et cetera.

You can tell Karelia Stetz-Waters really knows the city of Portland, and it is such a breath of fresh air to read a contemporary romance that isn’t set in New York (or even on the East Coast!). I loved how submerged Merritt is in her community, particularly since it’s filled with other amazing queer women.

Stetz-Waters writes in-depth, layered relationships really well. One niche thing I love in books but rarely see is when characters are well-developed but never get any direct “screen” time. I don’t think we ever actually see Avery’s “momager,” but her mother is nevertheless constantly in the background. She shapes Avery’s life and psyche so much, and I thought it was the sign of a talented writer that the mother’s presence could be so deeply felt without ever having her on the page.

The secondary characters were all amazing. Having skipped right ahead to book 3, I had assumed that Merritt’s two best friends had their own story in a past book, and I was so sad to find out this wasn’t the case. And Avery’s celebrity friend, DX? She is AMAZING, and I am desperate for a book on her. These are the kind of bad-ass roles that are always given to men in Hollywood. Stetz-Waters paints amazing portrayals of women martial artists, women millionaires, women rock stars, etc. God bless quality lesbian fiction. :’)

One drawback is the ending. There were sort of two climaxes when there only needed to be one. I think the novel is about 5,000 words or so too long, and dragging it out for the final few scenes actually made me less convinced the characters belonged together. The easy solution to the problem, after we were told there were no easy solutions, felt like a cop-out that could have been avoided if the characters had just gotten together earlier. I respect trying to make things as hard for two characters as possible, but dragging out an obvious HEA can sometimes backfire. Overall, though, the novel did not drag—only the last bit did.

I really loved this book, and I’m honestly surprised by the low reviews. It’s well-written, with wonderful characters. It’s always a gamble to write a second chance romance with emotional drama that occured in high school, but since both narrators acknowledge that they feel infantile for still being hung up on each other, it feels realistic to me. I think many of us are more emotionally attached to our pasts than we would live to admit. And besides—Avery and Merritt were made for each other. :)

Long lost loves is a trope I am always drawn to. I think because you always have that angstiness. I love angst. Totes adore it! I love that emotion of I miss you, I want you, what the hell did I do to F it up so badly. Roll that into some heartache and throw in past high school drama and you have me interested. Add that to it that one of our leading ladies is an actress, okay twist my arm, give it to me. Give me this book! So when Karelia Stetz-Waters reached out to me, I could not resist in giving this book a go. I am so glad I did. This was a fabulous read that kept me interested the whole time.

Avery Crown has been a reality television star for the past fifteen years. She has a good thing going with her home makeover show. She works with a great crew, her co-star is her best friend and she is adored by her fans. Avery loves what she does. Everything is perfect career-wise, but what eats her up is that one fateful day her senior year in high school that she turned her back on her best friend and her mega-crush. She chose a chance a stardom over her heart, and her heart has never forgiven her for it. When her tv show, King & Crown delivers her back to Portland to do a remodel and it coincides with her high school reunion, Avery crosses her fingers and toes that this will be her chance to reconnect with the girl that she let get away.

Merritt Lessing has zero intention of returning to Vale Academy for her fifteenth-year high school reunion. She doesn't want to go back but at the insistence of her friend, Merritt agrees under duress. She wants to help her friend Lei-Ling get a cameo on King & Crown to jumpstart her food truck business. She knows that this opportunity could help her friend break out into this competitive industry. She agrees to aks Avery Crown, the girl that shattered her heart for help, but it takes all of her willpower to go back. Avery walked out on her and never looked back, those scars have stayed with Merritt for years and have defined every relationship she has attempted.

I totally loved Avery and Merritt. I thought they had a great chemistry together that just jumped off the page. This is a book where you know these two are meant to be together but like most star-crossed loves the universe is going to throw everything including the kitchen sink in their path. They are going to go through obstacle after obstacle including a lot of miscommunication to come to happily ever after. If you have patience I promise you will love this book. A lot of fun, some angstiness and a good romance. 3.5 stars

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38824830-worth-the-wait" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Worth the Wait (Out in Portland Book 3)" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1523297559m/38824830.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38824830-worth-the-wait">Worth the Wait</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6905360.Karelia_Stetz_Waters">Karelia Stetz-Waters</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2403848304">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I rec'd an ARC from NetGalley/Forever Yours in exchange for an honest review. No synopsis needed.<br />Avery and Merritt are the leads in this "second chances" romance. The storyline was somewhat of a roller-coaster with loose ends which left me a bit unsatisfied. An okay read with 2.5 stars
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

This book leverages the whole "second chance" subgenre in lesrom, the well worn trope of being separated for X number of years before reuniting and attempting to rekindle. In this we have Avery and Merritt who had been friends all of 2 years is high school, until Avery stood Merritt up at the prom to run off and start some Fixer Upper-type reality show with a male co-star she is also "dating" on the show and in real life. Fifteen years later they meet again at a high school reunion and, well, it's not a huge surprise what will happen. However, the things keeping them apart just seem so contrived and silly, not to mention unrealistic. There is so much yo-yoing of feelings, actions, and emotions with no real cause and it got to the point where I was confused and ultimately didn't even care about whether they got together or not. The characters were just so juvenile for being in their 30s and the entire conflict of being "owned" by some home renovation show was ridiculous. MAYBE I could have bought it if the story took place in the 50s or 60s and it was a movie studio versus what sounded like a low-rent HGTV station. Even so, I just plain ol didn't like these characters, together OR separately. Their interactions didn't read cute or sexy--not even in their love scenes--despite all claims to love each other, it felt closer to hate-sex. The other nail in the coffin for me is the fact that moving the story along and moving the characters together relied almost complete upon the friends of the mains. I cannot stand it when these friend characters are the ones that have to convince main character A to pursue character B or provide them with their life altering realization that they're in love. It's heavily handed and lazy writing. And that's really all I see in this book--an unoriginal hook with a contrived conflict, heavy handed attempts at telling the reader how a character feels instead of showing, crummy dialogue, stereotypical character types, and a laughable climax, all products of lazy writing.

I liked it, it was definitely slow but it was intense and funny and pretty worth it. It’s always exciting when you have this old love that never went away and this weird thing called fate happens.

I wasn't wild about this book. It was by no means awful, but I just couldn't connect with the story. Avery and Merritt were supposedly 33, but they felt more like high schoolers with the way they acted. They've been friends since high school so maybe that was why? I have no idea.

Everything was very much back and forth with these two. I was getting a whole lot of whiplash and lots of "wait..what happened? Who is at fault here?" I'm still honestly confused. There seemed to be a lot of meaningless angst. One minute they would be all over each other and then the next Merritt would be pushing Avery away...but then Avery would look at her and Merritt would come back. Like I said, very high school.

There was really no resolution with anything. Avery's mom, the show, repercussions Avery may have suffered. It just ends with a HEA in the epilogue and a brief mentioning of what everyone is doing. I'm still left with a lot questions.

It held my attention enough to finish it, hence the two stars, but overall I don't recommend it. I liked the author's writing style, but I think it needed a lot more structuring and a lot more thought.

This book had a way of drawing me into the leads emotions; enough to make it hurt. I was firmly on team Merritt and at times it was hard to understand why Avery did all the things she was doing. They made it in the end, but I have to say Merritt was far braver of the two for putting up with all the BS and nonsence of show business.

Knocked off a star for not getting the appeal of Avery and why she couldnt stand up for her happiness.

I like reads about second chances especially when there are likeable deserving characters. After 15 years, the fire still burns between Avery Crown and Merritt Lessing. The second chance appears simple, but Avery has carved out a career for herself on television where she has to project a certain personality and lifestyle. Unfortunately, I had difficulty connecting with the story. The story was choppy and did not flow well due to sentence structure and word choice. Maybe that will be taken care of during editing. I was confused about Avery's mother Marlene? Huh? Alistair. Huh? DX. Huh? Although DX was "out of the box" different, which made her unpredictable and interesting.

This book was well written and also related in a way especially with both main characters. Coming out isn’t always easy and this book gave a insight on how each of these ladies dealt with there struggle.

This is a terrific book! It is well written and in some ways is very realistic of how our fears and dreams can cause us to make decisions early or late in our lives.

Merritt and Avery are wonderful examples of how the influence of those around us and our own insecurities and dreams can shape us at an early age. The author does a wonderful way of crafting the story of enough reveal of the teenage years for the reader to understand the who the two women are now. The book is entertaining, funny and and also share a realistic view of relationships and our dreams. The author weaves a way about hope for all the people who believe love has passed them by, only to find that love does not discriminate when it arrives. It can come at any age or in any location.

Highly recommend this book.