Karelia Stetz-Waters Books In Order

Publication Order of Ivers & Wilson Books

Publication Order of Out in Portland Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Karelia Stetz-Waters
Karelia Stetz-Waters writes happily ever afters for women that love women. Whether it is thriller or romance, her characters get the epic wins that they deserve and more. She lives out her own happily ever after in Oregon with her wife of twenty something years.

When she is not busy writing, she is teaching college writing to students that inspire her each day, drawing, gardening, or attempting to figure out how to make a clitoris model out of paper mache. Karelia also teaches for the Golden Crown Literary Society Writing Academy, which is a creative writing program for queer women. It has been her honor to mentor that are her colleagues and peers now. She also loves playing with Willa Cather (her pug mix).

She has an MA in English from the University of Oregon and a BA in Comparative Literature from Smith College.

She was fifteen, she can remember sitting in her parents’ basement, writing or reading, and suddenly had this very clear sensation that her older self was looking in on her somehow, thinking about her. Visiting her somehow. It was like her future self was a friendly ghost sitting in the room with her.

When she wrote the first draft of “Forgive Me If I’ve Told You This Before” it was a lot closer to memoir than fiction. As she wrote it, she thought quite a bit about her life, her former self, and her past. She can remember where she was sitting when she realized that she was the future self, that she was the older-me that visited the fifteen year old me.

She can still remember a time when happy endings and romantic love was but a holy grail that she believed she would never find. Tales about lesbians only ever ended tragically. At the age of seventeen, she figured the best she could hope for was just to die nobly for the woman that she loved, who wouldn’t ever love her back, obviously. Four years later, she saw her true love across the crowded room, and they have been together ever since.

Knowing that a happily ever after is possible for everybody, Karelia has made it her mission in life to craft happy endings about women finding true love with women. She is on a quest of her own to spread “cliteracy” across the country, using her work as a writer of romance to teach readers about female sexual desire, pleasure, and anatomy.

“The Admirer” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2013. A serial killer “makes” women perfect by amputating their legs. One troubled girl walks into the killer’s arms knowingly. One ambitious college president spirals down into madness.

Helen Ivers is still grieving her sister’s recent suicide when she takes a job as the president of Pittock College. The remote campus seems like it’d be a good place to recover, however soon after she arrives, two severed human legs are discovered bound to the train tracks. Local cops explain away this gruesome occurrence, however Helen is certain that the police chief, and possible the entire town, is covering for this killer.

She investigates the case herself, however starts doubting herself while nightmares of her sister’s suicide turn into waking hallucinations and everybody just discounts her fears. The only person that shares her apprehensions is this young professor whose aggressive sexual advances are equally frightening and alluring as impending madness. A woman that is either the killer or Helen’s only ally.

“Something True” is the first novel in the “Out in Portland” series and was released in the year 2015. Tate Grafton has got a tough exterior, however underneath she is fiercely loyal, kind, and caring. That is why she first began working at Out in Portland Coffee, as it was her way of repaying the shop’s owner for taking her in as a homeless teen.

Nine years later, the coffee shop is now failing and Tate feels like she is allowing her life just pass her by. Until she shares one unforgettable night with a beautiful stranger. When this mysterious woman vanishes the next morning, Tate doesn’t even know what her name is.

Laura Enfield was only supposed to be in Portland for just a few days, only long enough to oversee this simple business deal before she joined her conservative dad on his political campaign. However when closeted Laura romances one of the coffee shop employees her company is working to shut down, things get complex all of a sudden. Now, the lies which she has told for years have begun to unravel, and her largest secret will be exposed. Laura cannot quit thinking about the barista with those soulful eyes, however after a lifetime of deception, can she embrace something true at last?

“Satisfaction Guaranteed” is a stand alone novel that was released in the year 2021. An out of the box novel about mixing business with battery-operated pleasure.

When it comes to Cade Elgin’s career, she has got it all figured out. Only “professional talk” has become her default mode, do not even mention the word “orgasm”, and relationships are nonexistent. All work and no play makes her a dull human. However when she ends up inheriting a sex toy store, Cade gets caught between business and a store that is filled with every sort of pleasure imaginable, which includes her deliciously sexy and infuriatingly irresponsible new co-owner.

Selena Mathis learned the hard way that she can in fact have too much of a good thing. Which is exactly why she has taken a celibacy oath and focuses on making Satisfaction Guaranteed a success. She isn’t going to mess this up, not this time. However yet again, her emotions get in the way and tempt her with a serious attraction to the buttoned-up Cade.

However the shop does not quite vibe, and Selena and Cade are on the brink of losing their income and potential for love. Can they find a way to work with each other, before Satisfaction Guaranteed runs out of batteries?