Worth Waiting ForRating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Nick has been in a relationship with Kyle for several years. He recently uprooted his life, left his job as a lawyer, and moved with Kyle to NYC. Anticipating taking some time off to concentrate on his relationship with Kyle, Nick is instead offered a job in a publishing company and can’t pass it up.

For literary agent Marcus, it’s love at first sight the moment Nick walks into the office. Marcus has had too much to deal with in recent years when his very wealthy parents disowned him for being gay. Realizing that Nick is in a committed relationship, he keeps his feelings to himself, even as Nick plays the starring role in his dreams.

When Marcus sees Nick alone and drunk at a local bar, he offers him a ride home and works to keep his feelings to himself, even as he learns that all might not be what it seems in Nick’s relationship. Marcus knows Nick needs a friend and any romantic thoughts will just have to wait.

This book is the third book in LaRocca’s Dare to Dream series, with the first two being M/F. Worth Waiting For is billed as a standalone and I have mixed feelings on whether or not it truly is. From the perspective of Nick and Marcus, it can be a read on its own, even though they initially met in a previous book. There is enough of a background on their initial meeting to catch us up. There is time dedicated to the discussion of Nick’s childhood and it is not clear if this was dealt with in another book and truly what the intention is with the pieces we do get here. My main issue is with the cast of secondary characters. Many of the main characters from the previous books are present and Marcus has an intense bond with them. The connection is enough and the characters are present enough that I was definitely missing out on the previous interactions that got them to the place they are now. There is also significant catching up on the lives of those characters about whom I had no prior knowledge.

Moving on to the story of Nick and Marcus. New Year’s Eve does not turn out quite like Nick was hoping or expecting. Several nights later, Marcus comes to Nick’s aid when he is too drunk to drive home. There has always been attraction between them, Marcus always knew it, and Nick never thought about it too much because he was with Kyle. So, Nick is drunk, makes a comment to Marcus that hurts his feelings, kisses him, and then has no recollection of it. Is that really all so bad? Nick apologizes for the comment and when he learns of the kiss it seems way more awkward then it needs to be. Nick has to pull himself together after his relationship with Kyle and, while it’s totally expected, the story of them getting together was just a bit slow for the most part. And Nick does let Kyle get away with a whole lot when the time comes for that.

Nick and Marcus together is a good story. They have both had tough family issues, both really want a stable partner, and are intensely attracted to each other. It is the cast of secondary characters that did not hold my interest. Marcus and Nick work together, we get a reasonable amount of information on the expansion of the e-publishing world, and the office is entirely too gossipy and the immaturity level is too high for my tastes. Marcus works with his best friend Claire who is all over his personal business and when Marcus asks Claire for no more “shenanigans” (that is the word he uses), she agrees to his face but crosses her fingers behind her. There are other instances as well, and at times the story reads like a teenage novel. When Claire keeps interfering, she arranges for a ski trip. She tells the men about the trip (separately) the night before and informs them to get on the road early to avoid the impending snow. She gives them just a few hours to head out to an upscale ski resort in another state. Once at the resort, both men are not bothered when they think that they may be sharing a cabin with a stranger. Are there any upscale resorts that rent out bedrooms in a cabin by the single room without you having any knowledge you may be sharing with someone? There is also noticeable head hopping, sometimes from one paragraph to the next.

This would have read as a better story for me without all of the side plots. Nick and Marcus offer promise, as they both just want to find that special person to share their lives with. If I had read the previous books, the full impact of the story would have been realized as well. But, as it stands, the characters did not interest me enough to want to go back and hear their stories. The tone and style of this book is just not for me. If you have read and enjoyed the first two in the series, then I’m certain you would enjoy this one as well.

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