A grad student who is only just learning how to talk to women and a politician who has never let anyone get close agree to keep things simple, until simple stops being enough for either of them.

If you love friends-to-lovers slow burns, a friends-with-benefits arrangement that quietly turns into something real, and a heroine learning to be herself in public as much as in private, Those Who Wait by Haley Cass belongs on your list. It is especially suited to readers who want a long, patient burn with genuine emotional stakes rather than a quick spark that fizzles out by the second act.

Our take: this is a patient, character-first slow burn that earns its considerable length, though the deliberate pacing and a stretch of third-act miscommunication will test readers who prefer their conflict resolved quickly. If you’re willing to sit with two guarded women slowly choosing each other, it more than delivers.

Quick Facts

Author	Haley Cass
Publisher	Independently published
Publication date	March 31, 2020 (current edition: March 20, 2025)
Pages	562
Language	English
Series	Those Who Wait
Series order	Book 1 (standalone-first)
Genres	Contemporary Lesbian Romance, Slow Burn
Format	Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook
ISBN	979-8988492917
ASIN	B0F24GNJ6W

Reader Match

Perfect for readers who…

• ✓ Love a friends-to-lovers slow burn with a genuine friends-with-benefits stage in between
• ✓ Enjoy a discreet or closeted love interest whose career keeps her guarded
• ✓ Want a long, immersive read with room for the relationship to breathe
• ✓ Like a sweet, still-learning heroine paired with a confident, take-charge love interest
• ✓ Are fine with an explicit, open-door heat level

Avoid If

Skip this if you want…

• A short, quick read (this is a 560-plus-page slow burn)
• No miscommunication-driven conflict (the third act leans on a prolonged separation)
• A closed-door or low-heat romance
• A plot-heavy book rather than a character- and dialogue-driven one

Book Synopsis

Sutton Spencer is finishing graduate school with a literature degree in hand and very little idea what to do next, on paper or in her love life. She has only recently started to admit to herself that she’s attracted to women, and she has no idea how to act on it. When a friend creates a dating profile on her behalf and sends a message she never would have written herself, Sutton braces for an awkward, embarrassing reply.

Instead, she ends up talking to Charlotte Thompson, a rising politician who has built her entire adult life around discipline, ambition, and keeping her personal life completely out of view. Charlotte isn’t looking for anything serious, and definitely isn’t looking for anything public, but she’s charmed enough by Sutton’s honesty to keep talking anyway. What starts as an unlikely friendship between two women who seem to want opposite things turns into something neither of them planned when Sutton suggests a no-strings arrangement so she can get comfortable with a woman she already trusts.

Charlotte agrees, reluctantly, worried about taking advantage of Sutton’s inexperience, and for a while the boundaries hold. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to separate the physical from the emotional, and both women start noticing how much of their day quietly revolves around the other. As Sutton grows more sure of herself and Charlotte’s career reaches a turning point that will force her to decide how much of her life she’s willing to keep hidden, the label they’ve both been avoiding becomes impossible to ignore.

What follows is a slow, sometimes painful reckoning with vulnerability, ambition, and the cost of staying guarded for too long, as Sutton and Charlotte try to figure out whether the safest arrangement they ever agreed to might actually be the love story neither of them saw coming.

My Review

Those Who Wait earns its length by refusing to rush the parts that matter. Cass spends real time on Sutton and Charlotte’s friendship before either woman touches the word romance, and that groundwork is what makes the eventual shift so effective. The dialogue is a particular strength, teasing, specific, and revealing of character rather than generic romance-novel banter, and the push-pull between an unpolished, still-learning Sutton and a composed, controlling Charlotte gives the courtship a genuine sense of discovery on both sides.

The middle section, where the friends-with-benefits arrangement slowly stops being just physical, is where the book is strongest. Small domestic moments and unhurried tension do more work here than any single grand gesture, and reader consensus consistently points to this stretch as the most swoon-worthy part of the book. The open-door intimacy is frequent and well written, treated as an extension of the emotional relationship rather than a separate ingredient dropped in for heat.

Where reader consensus is more divided is the back third, where a lengthy, near month-long separation driven by miscommunication and Charlotte’s fear of vulnerability slows the momentum the book spent hundreds of pages building. Some readers find the reconciliation, nudged along by supportive friends and family rather than purely by Charlotte’s own reckoning, a little too tidy given how much space the falling-out is given. Others feel it earns the emotional payoff of the eventual reunion. Either way, it’s a shift worth knowing about going in, since the tone noticeably darkens before the happy ending lands.

Taken as a whole, this is a book that rewards patience: a slow burn in the truest sense, carried by two well-drawn leads and a friendship-first structure that makes the romance feel earned rather than assumed.

Romance Profile

Relationship	FF
Trope	Friends to Lovers, Friends with Benefits, Political Romance, Slow Burn
Age Gap	No
Slow Burn	Yes
Forced Proximity	No
Heat	Explicit, open door
Ending	HEA
Representation	Lesbian, bisexual awakening
Dual POV	Yes
Steam	[Add rating]

Emotional Profile

• Swoony
• Angsty
• Hopeful
• Tender
• Bittersweet

Content Warnings

Not officially published by the author or publisher; compiled from reader reviews and should be verified before use. Please add or adjust after reading.

• Extended on-page miscommunication and a prolonged breakup
• Closeted/discreet relationship due to political career pressure
• Explicit sexual content
• Career setback and public scrutiny tied to an election

Book DNA

Main Tropes	Friends to Lovers, Friends with Benefits, Political Romance, Slow Burn
Relationship Dynamics	Guarded, controlled love interest vs. earnest, still-learning heroine; friendship-first foundation
Emotional Journey	Curiosity to intimacy to vulnerability, with a painful detour through fear and avoidance
Reader Moods	Swoony, Angsty, Hopeful, Tender
Themes	Living authentically vs. staying hidden, ambition vs. intimacy, learning to trust
Tone	Slow-building, dialogue-driven, with a sincere emotional core
Heat	Explicit
Ending	HEA
Representation	Lesbian, bisexual awakening

Similar Books

• On the Same Page by Haley Cass
• Truth and Measure by Roslyn Sinclair
• When You Least Expect It by Haley Cass
• Midnight Rain by Haley Cass
• Magdalene Nox

For more similar books visit: Slow Burn Lesbian Romance Recommendations

About the Author

Haley Cass is an American author of contemporary sapphic romance based in Massachusetts. She began publishing independently in the late 2010s and built a devoted readership through serialized fiction before releasing Those Who Wait, the book that became her breakout title and the start of an ongoing, loosely connected series set in the same world. Cass is known for long, patient slow burns, dialogue that favors specificity and wit over stock banter, and heroines who are allowed to be imperfect and still figuring things out. Her backlist includes companion titles such as Forever and a Day and Midnight Rain, along with standalone novels like On the Same Page and When You Least Expect It. She remains an active, independently published author who engages directly with readers online, including through a Patreon where she shares additional content between book releases.

Read more Haley Cass reviews →

FAQ

Is Those Who Wait spicy?

Yes. It sits at an explicit, open-door heat level, with several detailed intimate scenes woven throughout the back half of the book.

Does Those Who Wait have a happy ending?

Yes. Despite a difficult stretch in the third act, the book ends with a clear HEA for Sutton and Charlotte, including an epilogue.

Can Those Who Wait be read as a standalone?

Yes. It’s the first book in the loosely connected Those Who Wait series and works perfectly as a standalone, though a companion novella and further books share the same world.

Is Those Who Wait slow burn?

Yes, it’s one of the more patient slow burns in the genre, building from friendship to a friends-with-benefits arrangement before either woman admits to real feelings.

Is there an age gap in Those Who Wait?

No. Sutton and Charlotte are both adults without a significant age difference driving the story.

Who narrates the audiobook?

The audiobook is narrated by Lori Prince.

Is Those Who Wait a friends-to-lovers romance?

Yes. The central relationship moves from friendship, to a no-strings arrangement, to a committed romance.

Does Those Who Wait use dual POV?

Yes, the story alternates between Sutton’s and Charlotte’s perspectives throughout.

Final Verdict

Who should read it: fans of friends-to-lovers slow burns, friends-with-benefits arrangements that turn real, political romance, and dual-POV storytelling with room to breathe.

Who shouldn’t: readers who want a fast-paced plot, minimal miscommunication, or a shorter read.

Final score: [Add score]

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