Waverly Called 911 on Her Sister's Ex and Kept Her Sense of Humour the Entire Time — Wavier
The Deal Series, Book 16 · by Desiree Sandz · Sci-Fi Romance · 18+
Book 16 opens its Earth thread with one of the funniest and most quietly frightening scenes in the series, and the tonal control is genuinely impressive.
Waverly's sister's ex is outside the door, hammering on it, refusing to leave. Waverly is on with the emergency operator, informing her flatly that no, she does not want to offer him a snack or let him in to use the bathroom. Windie is texting their mother, probably asking whether she knows a good exorcist. The banging is loud enough that the operator winces down the line. Waverly gives her address, confirms she is not in fact equipped with pepper spray, and promises to stay inside unless she suddenly develops superpowers.
Then the police arrive, lights flashing, neighbours peeking through blinds like it's the season finale of their favourite drama. Windie is sobbing on the couch like she's up for an Oscar. And Waverly is just… so tired.
She jokes the entire way through a genuinely dangerous situation, because that's the only tool she's got. Every woman reading this knows exactly what that feels like.
The sister relationship is the real love story
Waverly and Windie are the best sibling pair Desiree Sandz has written. They bicker, they roast each other mercilessly, and they are absolutely immovable when it counts. Later, when grief hits Waverly properly, it's Windie who stays close — bringing tea, sitting beside her in silence, never pushing for words she can't offer. That's the standard everyone deserves.
The grief arc
The middle of this book is quiet and devastating. Waverly loses someone, and the days blur, time marked only by light and shadow moving across the wall. Her phone buzzes with messages and missed calls from Wavier, each one a fresh pang of longing and guilt, and she can't bring herself to answer.
And then, on a Thursday, her father's voice from downstairs. Wavier on the porch step, head bowed, hands clasped between his knees, looking like he's been there for hours. He won't come in, her father says, unless she goes and gets him herself.
She assumed her silence would send him back to his world. Reader, it did not.
Trope list
- He waits — the single best grand gesture in the whole series
- Grief and withdrawal, written honestly
- Sisterhood as the emotional backbone
- Dangerous ex / protective hero, handled with real tension
- Neon-city sci-fi setting: hovercars, rooftop bars, landing pads
- Dual POV alternating chapters
Spice check
18+, and notably tender given the emotional weight the book is carrying. It's intimacy as reassurance more than conquest, and it fits perfectly.
Read this if…
You want sci-fi romance that takes grief seriously, a heroine whose humour is a survival skill rather than a personality, and a hero whose big romantic move is simply refusing to go away. Book 16 is a beautiful place for the series to land.
Content notes and placement
Book 16 of sixteen. Adults only with explicit content. Themes include stalking and harassment by an ex-partner, bereavement, grief-driven withdrawal, and a childhood spent inside a household that didn't match its shining exterior. The stalking sequence is tense but handled with dark humour rather than dread, and the grief section in the back half is the quietest, saddest writing in the series.
Perfectly readable as a standalone, and a decent entry point if the neon-city setting appeals more than the military stuff.
The verdict
A beautiful place for the current run to land. Waverly's humour-as-survival, Windie as the gold standard of sisterhood, and a hero whose grand gesture is simply sitting on a porch step for hours and letting her decide — that's a better romantic climax than most books manage with a chase to an airport.
Book 16 of The Deal. Neon skylines, hard grief, and a man sitting on a porch step for as long as it takes.
