Worth the Wait is a FANTASTIC romance with a "stuck together" trope!

Meet Alex Noonan who was injured on the job and not working due to PTSD, anxiety and depression. Alex inherits half a house, LOL. I love that! However, the other half is left to his ex step sister Mandy Reynolds, and it's been over 10 years since he has seen her.

As they attempt to settle the estate, they become unexpected roommates.

Mandy helps not only Alex's anxieties, but also helps tear down his protective walls.

The characters are well complex, complicated and well fleshed out. I applaud the author for tackling tough mental health issues with such respect and understanding.

This author never disappoints.

The romance is one that I really enjoyed!

A mother has plans for her daughter, even from the grave. Mandy’s mom has died and left her half of a house. Alex was her stepbrother and teenage crush and he owns the other half of the house. He is healing from a severe injury and suffering the effects. They both have different plans for the house. As they spend together things change. It gets emotional as they battle their feelings. There is humor and warmth as each character develops and becomes a better person. It is a sweetly romantic story that you will enjoy reading.

Mandy is ready for her big break in Hollywood, but first she needs to get the house she inherited from her mother fixed up and sold. Throwing a stick in all of those plans is Alex, her ex-step brother who her mother left the other half of the house to and he's determined to stay. Old memories are dredged up along with some old feelings that may have been pushed down.

I was fearful going into this book because it does feature ex-step siblings. But I feel that this situation is different than the common "forbidden romance between step siblings." Their parents were married for a year before splitting up (not really a spoiler since it doesn't really have any bearing on the plot).

But anyway, onto my thoughts.

This romance felt very run of the mill for me. I enjoyed it, but it didn't necessarily stand out to me. It was well written and the character development was done very well.

Alex is suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks after being involved in an accident. I think that the author handled it very well, though certain aspects rubbed me wrong a bit. But I think overall the general message that Traci Douglass was getting across was well done.

I would recommend this if you're looking for a super quick, fun, clean romance that thas a bit of a deeper message going on.

Mandy Reynolds finds herself in a place she never thought she'd see again. She's returned to her home town, having inherited half a house. She has plans to sell the house and use the money to take her career to the next level in Los Angeles. She just has to convince her ex-stepbrother Alex.

Alex wants to keep the house. He sees it as a fresh start for him. Now they must live in the house together while they fix it up. A temptation neither of them wants

I liked this book. A solid romance. Mandy and Alex having history made it easy for them to comfortable around each other. And easy to root for them.

ARC provided by EntangledPublishing via NetGalley

Worth the Wait by Traci Douglass a four-star read that will leave you wanting more, more about this couple and more about the lovely places described in Heavenly Falls. This was a little predictable in a couple of small places, but it was still an enjoyable read, the characters are interesting and real, some complex issues are brought up and done in a refreshing way, its not the same old types, I really liked that aspect of the story. If you are in the mood for some sweet small town romance, with some awkward real moments, thrown in to keep you hooked in then this is definitely one for you.

Worth the Wait is a sweet story about a couple of former step-siblings, Mandy and Alex. Mandy was several years younger than Alex when their parents were married, but she always had a crush on him. They didn't have any contact after their parents divorce until the death of Mandy’s mother brought them back together. She left them both joint ownership of a fixer upper.

As they worked together to fix it up, they fell in love; although, neither was willing to admit it. Mandy’s plan was to leave for an acting career in Hollywood once the house was finished, and ‘Alex hoped that fixing the house up would help him to recover from the PTSD that he was suffering from as a result of a shooting.

However, things between them began to fall apart after a disagreement. Would Mandy be wiling to give up a potential career in Hollywood to make a life with Alex in their hometown?

Worth the Wait by Traci Douglass, published by Entangled Publishing LLC is a stand alone romance novel.
Meet Mandy and Alex.
Mandy is back in her home town to settle the estate of her mother. What she didn't expect was to meet her formerv step-brother and become roommates with him. She dislikes him with passion, but Alex is a bit a mystery. He's a former pro sports star, now all on his own, a guy who keeps his secrets close to him.
All in all, a great read, well written and with characters I easily connected with.
4,5 beautiful stars.

A great read.

Mandy and Alex are thrown together when Mandy's mother leaves a house to the two of them. the house needs a lot of work, and as they spend the time working together will they give in the attraction to each other?

A quote (from ARC):
“Plus, sure, he was still a hottie. Maybe even more so, with that whole growly, grumpy, wounded alpha thing going on.”

“Worth the Wait”, by Traci Douglass (Entangled: Bliss), is just a really very good story with believable and relatable characters and a different kind of wounded hero.
I loved Alex and Mandy, their past, their personalities and the unhurried progression from friends to lovers and the fact our wounded hero was a IRS investigator, suffering from anxiety, PTSD and other injuries after traumatic work injuries.
The affection and awkwardness between the romantic couple was such a pleasure to read. The romance is not entirely predictable because of their hesitations and fears and I enjoyed it so much more this way.
Alex is such a great wounded hero. In a way, he’s recreating his identity after so much of it was affected by devastating physical and psychological injuries. The process is hard and I loved the fact that Traci Douglass doesn’t make any concessions to romanticize it and make it easier for our hero.
I also liked how the geographical setting (Heavenly Falls, Illinois) and the house became vivid throughout the story.
I found delaying reading Mandy’s mother letter was a bit artificial and its content unrealistic. The dual bequeath was unclear (or thin), too.

I’m not quite sure if I liked this book, the story was okay, but the two main characters kinda annoyed me. It was extremely predictable, but not my favourite storyline

I started this book thinking that it was a part of a previous book from a series, but I was wrong. Anywho we get this one in this one we meet Alex who is grumpy and suffers from anxiety and PTSD, so yeah this dude needs help. He finds out that while he did get this house bequeathed to him it was not only his but his once upon a time stepsister who used to have a crush on him. He’s surly and full of anxieties.Mandy has always wanted to leave her hometown and as actress she feels she will finally get a chance to do so, however her mom left her house to her and her step brother and she wonders why? As they spend time together you guessed it walls were slowly slowly crumbling down. However when Mandy tried to step in and have Alex get reunited with his dad, all hell breaks lose.. who needs to apologize to whom. It can pass the time, however I would probably pick a book that you feel you will really enjoy.. This story also left a lot of unanswered questions? How did Mandy not know that her mom had this house? that is just one...

The set-up was interesting in this book as Mandy has to work to help fix up a house that she inherited from her mother and needs to share with her former step-brother, Alex. Except Alex has changed from when they were teenagers. He’s still sexy, but he’s dealing with PTSD from having been shot while on the job. He’s surly and full of anxieties. Since this is a romance novel, we know that she’s going to help him deal with his issue while breaking down the barriers he’s put up around himself. It all gets resolved rather quickly though and there were still lingering questions that I had after I finished reading. For example, where did Mandy’s mom get this house from and why had Mandy never known that she had it? Why are Alex’s two friends always available to drop by and help out or go out for karaoke? Do they live in this town? Wouldn’t the IRS investigative office be in Chicago instead of this suburb that seems to be about an hour from downtown? How do Mandy and Alex seem to have money for fixing up the house, taking Ubers everywhere and ordering in food almost every night if they’re both supposed to have money problems? How does Alex think he’s going to get the money to buy out Mandy’s half of the house anyway? And would this gorgeous, historic house in a suburb really be worth only $200,000?

If a reader has this many questions about various plot points, the story is just not distracting enough. I liked the idea of these two people coming together and finding ways to help each other. I liked how plucky Mandy was about looking for jobs and her attempts to help Alex. But I still thought that there were holes in the whole story.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.