Jae's Blog, page 12
March 30, 2023
Sapphic Book with an inheritance (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #7)
For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book in which one of the main characters inherits something within the first three chapters of the book and the inheritance plays an important role in the book.
The inheritance could be money, a house or property, a company, or any other material possession. If you want to get creative, you could also read a book in which the character inherits a title.
15 sapphic books with an inheritance
Here are my book recommendations for the “sapphic book with an inheritance” category:
Just a Touch Away by Jae
Hannah Martin has an unusual job: she’s a professional cuddler. While she has a big heart for her clients, she hasn’t found someone special to snuggle up to in her personal life.
Winter Sullivan isn’t looking for love. She’s an aloof workaholic who’s built walls of ice around herself. She would rather drive toothpicks under her fingernails than cuddle, and she certainly doesn’t want to share her space with anyone.
When Winter’s estranged father dies, he leaves her one last surprise: she and Hannah, a perfect stranger, will inherit a building together. But there’s a catch: first, they have to live together for ninety-two days.
Winter is determined to dislike her rival, but soon finds Hannah isn’t what she expected at all. Thanks to a hilarious doormat war, a cuddle dare from Winter’s half sister, and a kiss in the most unusual of places, the frosty fortress around her heart begins to melt.
Will she be able to accept that love might be just a touch away?
Available at:
The Inn at Netherfield Green by Aurora Rey
New York advertising executive Lauren Montgomery loses her job, inherits an inn, and moves to England – all in the span of a week. It’s not how her career or her life is supposed to unfold. But necessity is the mother of invention, and Lauren has a new plan. She’s going to spruce up the inn, turn the attached pub into a hot spot, sell it for a killing, and start her own advertising agency.
Gin distiller Camden Crawley has a soft spot for the Rose & Crown – the pub where her parents and grandparents got engaged. But the opinionated new owner who wants to turn it into some trendy bed and bar? Not so much. The last thing she wants to do is stick her nose in, but that might be her best chance to save a place she holds dear. And boosting her new line of gin wouldn’t hurt either.
It’s one thing to give in on the cocktail menu. But the very inconvenient, very mutual, attraction? That’s another matter entirely.
Available at:
Lancelot: Her Story by Carol Anne Douglas
A young girl sees a man rape and murder her mother. She grabs a stick and puts out his eye. Her father raises her as a boy so she will be safe from men’s attacks. She practices and practices until she becomes a great fighter – Lancelot. She wants to protect women, and she does. Lancelot hears about King Arthur, a just king across the sea, and journeys to earn a place at Camelot. She vows to serve him, but fears that Arthur and his men will discover that she is a woman and send her away. Lancelot is shocked to realize that she is falling in love with the king’s wife, Guinevere. Guinevere is a strong woman who would have preferred to be queen in her own right, not just through marriage. Saxons attack Arthur’s kingdom, and Lancelot finds out that fighting a war is far different from saving women in single combat. The savagery of war devastates her.
Available at:
The Number 94 Project by Cheyenne Blue
When handywoman Jorgie’s uncle leaves her an old house in Melbourne, it’s a dream come true. Sure, 94 Gaylord Street is falling apart, and she has to deal with her uncle Bruce’s eccentric friends thanks to his unusual Will.
But that’s okay. She’ll fire up her power tools and turn the dilapidated terrace house into a desirable inner-city pad. Then she’ll sell up and head home to the country.
Jorgie hasn’t counted on falling for cute neighbour Marta, who’s found her heart-home among the tight queer-community of Gaylord Street. Between mugs of too-strong tea and Jorgie’s lack of a working shower, the two forge a surprising connection.
But what happens when the renovation’s complete? Can Jorgie really just toss aside her tool belt and saunter away?
Available at:
The Little Red Barn: An Olympic Romance by Dorothy Rice Bennett
After wandering aimlessly for years through the South Seas, tanned, athletic, and wealthy Kate Brighton returns home on a sailboat bound for Seattle. When The Lavender Loafer docks briefly in Sequim, Washington, Kate recalls that she has an old friend living there. Deciding to explore, she strides across the small Olympic Peninsula town, pausing for breakfast at a rustic coffee shop called The Little Red Barn.
Angie, her curvaceous server, sports a long auburn braid and shining, dark brown eyes. Feeling a familiar tingle of desire, Kate considers checking out this stunning young barista, hoping she is a lesbian. First Kate must look up her friend, Marianne, a Cornell University grad student when undergrad Kate was swimming competitively.
Soon Kate discovers that things have changed radically: while she has been wandering the globe having fun, Marianne has survived an auto-accident and is confined to a wheelchair. Her caring partner, Jake Summers, crafts furniture and art objects while watching out for Marianne.
Impulsively, Kate decides to stay in Sequim for a while. She returns to the coffee bar; Angie seems very happy to see her. Kate shortly learns that the barista is a lesbian but has two young children. Having limited experience with kids, Kate wonders how to woo this charming woman. And despite their admittedly mutual attraction, the two are very different: Angie has dreams but can barely feed her family, and Kate, while having deep pockets, has avoided responsibilities and commitments.
Available at:
An Unlikely Partnership: A Lesbian Paranormal Mystery by Katie Trapp
Rue Lovelace was not accustomed to change. She enjoyed her mundane life. So, when her mentor abruptly skips town leaving her in his place as Head Custos witch and new owner of a mystery ring, she doesn’t handle it the best, especially when she finds out part of her new role is to assist the police with Other-world issues. If it got out that she was working with the cops, her family business would be ruined.
An uptick in Other-world crime has workaholic Detective Niko Moscato running on empty, or at least that’s what she’s telling herself. When a man is murdered, her whole world flips upside down upon meeting the sassy witch currently in the Head Custos position. She’s met with a wall of ice that doesn’t help the case. And neither do the new feelings fluttering in her chest.
Both women struggle to navigate the new partnership while keeping a few secrets hidden away. But when the murders start getting a little too close to home, they have to begin doing something neither is good at relying on each other. The pressure is on to solve the case quickly before anyone else is killed. Or their partnership implodes. Either way, it’s going to get messy before it’s all over.
Available at:
Louder Than Words by Lisa Elliot
Strong and kind, Kelly MacGregor is the CEO of an internationally renowned whisky distillery in her hometown in the Scottish Highlands. But she’s unsettled and has let her adventurous side take a back seat. When she meets a younger woman at a gig, she can’t help but be drawn to her, and when this young woman turns out to be the new owner of her whisky distillery, Kelly is put in a compromising situation.
Myla Murray wanted to be a musician but has settled for working in a café. Life is fine. Expressive and introverted, she longs for something more but doesn’t believe she will ever get it. She’s on her own and has no family, so when she inherits a Scottish estate and whisky distillery from a great-aunt she knew nothing about, her world is turned upside down.
When Myla travels to the Highlands to explore her roots and come to terms with her past, she meets the hot older woman from the gig who set her pulse racing. Myla wants to continue what they started. But Kelly is more concerned about the future of the distillery and Myla’s role in it and just wants to be friends.
Available at:
No Strings by Lucy Bexley
Fun is the one thing Elsie Webb takes seriously. Though she’d be having a lot more of it if Haelstrom Media paid her enough to actually get out of debt. She’s determined to hold out on contract negotiations for her kids’ television show Fangley Heights until she gets what she deserves. There’s only one problem, the head of the network just died and left her future more uncertain than ever.
Forty-eight hours and one funeral–that’s all Jones Haelstrom has to get through before she can return to her life in LA that’s as ordered and sparse as an IKEA showroom. When she steps in as CEO of her father’s media company, Elsie Webb is her first problem to deal with. Elsie ends up challenging Jones in ways she never could have predicted, starting with an attraction neither can avoid.
As their attraction teeters on the edge of something more both agree to keep it casual. A no-strings agreement and disclosure to HR should be enough to keep things between Jones and Elsie from getting tangled, right?
Available at:
Love’s Portrait by Anna Larner
Newly appointed art curator Molly Goode is committed to diversifying her museum’s collection. When Georgina Wright, the museum’s aloof benefactor, asks for Molly’s help in identifying the provenance of a 19th century portrait of social activist Josephine Brancaster, Molly welcomes the opportunity, even if it means spending time with the standoffish financier. But passions soon flare as the women uncover the heartbreaking story of doomed lesbian love behind the watercolor painted by Josephine’s lover, Edith Hewitt.
As their love blossoms, Molly is determined to display Edith’s portrait of Josephine and to tell their story in the museum, but she needs the influential Georgina to help convince the board. When an unforeseen twist in the painting’s provenance forces Georgina to confront her own painful past, will history repeat itself, or can Molly and Georgina’s love prevail?
Available at:
The Fabergé Egg by Mia Kazi
The second of the Jo Brigg’s novels, The Faberge Egg follows Jo and Izzy’s relationships after “An Unusual Year”, as they try to learn to live together, they get drawn into a world of Russian money laundering involving a lost Faberge Egg and a Russian teacher with a lot of secrets and surprises. Will Jo and Izzy manage to survive their next adventure and end up together?
Available at:
The Ghost of Emily Tapper by Nita Round
Two families inexorably linked through time and misfortune, come together to face an uncertain, and possibly fatal, future.
Maggie Durrant, heir to a rambling estate is plagued with a curse that will end her days. Providing her brother doesn’t get to her first.
Emma Blewitt is the beneficiary of an aunt who leaves her everything and tells her nothing. She must discover her own legacy before she and Maggie can seek a solution to The Ghost of Emily Tapper.
Available at:
Keep Her Safe by Claire Highton-Stevenson
She’ll do whatever it takes…
On the run for their lives, Cat soon discovers that attraction isn’t so easily ignored, and protecting Laura and Sienna soon becomes more than just a job.
Cat Rogers had been with The Organisation for a while now. Her police background and sense of justice made her the ideal operative. In her 40s now, she’d seen her fair share of, mostly women, ignored by the laws of the land and left to their own devices, and she didn’t like it, not one bit. Especially someone as beautiful and endearing as Laura Ryan.
Available at:
Thundering Pines by Rita Potter
Returning to her hometown was the last thing Brianna Goodwin wanted to do. She and her mom had left Flower Hills under a cloud of secrecy and shame when she was ten years old. Her life is different now. She has a high-powered career, a beautiful girlfriend, and a trendy life in Chicago.
Upon her estranged father’s death, she reluctantly agrees to attend the reading of his will. It should be simple—settle his estate and return to her life in the city—but nothing has ever been simple when it comes to Donald Goodwin.
Dani Thorton, the down-to-earth manager of Thundering Pines, is confused when she’s asked to attend the reading of the will of her longtime employer. She fears that her simple, although secluded life will be interrupted by the stylish daughter who breezes into town.
When a bombshell is revealed at the meeting, two women seemingly so different are thrust together. Maybe they’ll discover they have more in common than they think.
Available at:
Fixer Upper by Cara Malone
Avery Blake has spent years getting by all on her own in a big house on the countryside. As a contractor, there’s not much room for emotion in her male-dominated profession, and she’s perfectly content to keep people out of her private life, too.
After watching her elderly neighbor, Nora, be torn away from her long-time lover by heartless relatives, Avery has seen what it’s like to love and to lose, and she’d rather skip the whole thing and focus on work (and the occasional meaningless fling) instead.
Some relationships can be fixed with a little breathing room… and some are too far gone.
Hannah Grayson has nothing but room to breathe when she finds out her Great-Aunt Nora has passed and left her a house in rural Indiana. Fleeing a dysfunctional and controlling relationship in New York, she moves into the house because she’s got nowhere else to go.
Disasters start piling up almost as soon as the plane touches down – the house is in disrepair, Nora’s grandchildren are trying to evict her, and the gorgeous but chilly woman across the street seems to have a problem with Hannah’s presence.
When a pipe bursts on her first night in the house, Hannah has no choice but to run across the street and beg for help from Avery.
The rest, as they say, is history…
Available at:
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters
When it comes to her career, Cade Elgin has it all figured out. Only “professional talk” has become her default mode, relationships are nonexistent, and don’t even mention the word “orgasm.” All work and no play makes Cade a dull human. But when she inherits a sex toy store, Cade is caught between business and a store filled with every imaginable kind of pleasure—including her infuriatingly irresponsible and deliciously sexy new co-owner.
Selena Mathis learned the hard way that she can have too much of a good thing. Which is precisely why she’s taken an oath of celibacy and is focusing on how to make Satisfaction Guaranteed a success. She won’t mess this up. Not this time. But once again, Selena’s emotions are getting in the way and tempting her with a serious attraction to buttoned-up Cade.
But the shop isn’t exactly vibe-ing, and Cade and Selena are on the verge of losing both their income and the possibility of love. Can they find a way to work together . . . before Satisfaction Guaranteed runs out of batteries?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “sapphic book with an inheritance” category!
The post Sapphic Book with an inheritance (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #7) appeared first on Jae.
March 23, 2023
Sapphic roommate romance (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #6)
This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category features sapphic roommate romance novels. The main character falls in love with their roommate. It can either be a planned roommate situation or more of a temporary arrangement that arises out of an emergency.
15 sapphic roommate romances
Here are my book recommendations for the “sapphic roommate romance” category:
The Roommate Arrangement by Jae
A feisty comedian. A former cop with a wounded heart. An unusual roommate arrangement…
Comedian Stephanie Renshaw hopes to finally get her big break in LA. A chance encounter lands her the perfect apartment close to the comedy clubs, but it comes with a catch: She needs a roommate to afford the rent.
Enter Rae Coleman, a former police officer working the door at one of the top comedy clubs. After getting injured in the line of duty and losing her job with the LAPD, Rae guards her wounded soul behind a tough exterior.
At first, the two clash horribly before a tentative friendship develops. Bit by bit, Steph manages to break through the walls Rae has built around her.
But Steph has never been in a relationship, preferring casual flings, and Rae isn’t sure she’s ready to be happy again. Will they find the courage to open themselves up to love?
Available at:
For the Long Run by Cheyenne Blue
A koala ruined her life. Well, that’s how elite athlete Shan Metz sees it.
When an idiot charity runner in a koala suit trips Shan during a community fun run, her knee blows out, destroying her dream of making the Australian Commonwealth Games team. Recovering from knee surgery will be bad enough, but living on her building’s fourth floor will make it a nightmare.
Consultant Lizzie Carras, aka the dream-wrecking koala, does guilt like a pro. The only decent thing to do is offer Shan her spare bedroom during recovery. Their incompatible lifestyles don’t help matters. Neither does Shan’s training partner, the haughty and possessive Celia. But they’ll muddle through until Shan’s knee has healed enough to get out of Lizzie’s life.
Because it’s not like Shan would ever miss a dream-wrecking koala or anything. Right?
Available at:
Score to Love by Johana Gavez
In the field, hate can easily turn into love.
Antonia Carvalho left her native Brazil in search of a dream: a professional soccer career and better opportunities for her and her brother. The plan is simple; score as many goals as possible with the Houston Starlight and become one of their top players. She won’t let anything get in the way. Not even Camila Sánchez, her attractive but annoying teammate.
Camila Sánchez spent all her life in the shadow of her father, a former soccer star and coach. There’s no time for distractions as she fights to show everyone she deserves her spot on the team. Playing for the Houston Starlight is her opportunity to shine. She won’t let Antonia steal her spot on the team, no matter how much chemistry they have in bed.
Available at:
Warm Pearls and Paper Cranes by E.V. Bancroft
Maud Heaston has been in love with Beatrice Williams since they first met in 1939. They’ve been through hell and back; family, careers, and secrets have threatened to tear them apart, but their love has endured it all. Until now. Old age and illness have forced them into separate nursing homes and the family Maud trusted to take care of them are only out for themselves.
Hannah Jones is trying to put her past behind her and find her place in the world. Midway through a doctorate and living with Suki, the woman she’d like to be more than just friends with, the last thing she needs is Gammy, her interfering great aunt, back in her life. Though Gammy took Hannah in when her mother died, her overbearing nature and constant criticisms forced them apart. Now they barely speak.
Maud needs Hannah’s help to be reunited with the love of her life. Hannah needs Suki to take a chance on love. Can a reconciliation between Maud and Hannah free them both to be with the women they love or will the past destroy their future?
Available at:
Hero Complex by Jesse J. Thoma
Being labeled a mad scientist doesn’t faze Bronte Scales. Accidentally gaining superpowers didn’t even seem that strange. It’s not until she realizes someone is out to get her and her do-it-yourself super tech invention, that she reluctantly becomes one part of a superpowered crime fighting team. Then things really get out of hand. And somewhere along the way she accidentally kidnaps a nurse—a smart, kind, and beautiful sort of nurse. Bronte’s screwed.
Athena Papadaki doesn’t have superpowers, but she’s scary good at squeezing everything she can from each waking minute. That feels heroic until she’s kidnapped by a group of knuckleheads who need more rescuing than she does. Once she’s done saving the day, she’ll walk away and most certainly never think about Bronte Scales ever again. Nothing to see here.
Can Bronte and Athena, and their unlikely friends, work together to defeat Bronte’s archnemesis? The fate of love, humanity, and the world might depend on it. No pressure.
Available at:
Secrets Well Kept by Lynn Ames
It’s March, 1943. World War II rages across the globe, and twenty-five-year-old Nora Lindstrom is about to take a huge leap of faith. One of the few women in the male-dominated field of physics, she travels to an undisclosed destination to undertake a vital, top-secret project that the government insists could help the Allies win the war.
At eighteen, Mary Trask is ready to put high school and the boy who wants to marry her in her rearview mirror. But what alternative could the future hold for the dyslexic daughter of a train conductor? When a cousin in Tennessee provides Mary with a cryptic job opportunity, she jumps at the chance to rewrite her life.
Nora and Mary are drawn together under impossible circumstances. As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, they find solace in their love for each other. But in a place where secrecy is paramount, their relationship is forever changed by the consequences of secrets well kept.
Available at:
If We Meet Again by Nicole Spencer-Skillen
Twenty-five-year-old Ashley is an aspiring writer living in New York City. A recent lack of inspiration leads to doubt in her ability. She can’t envision a career outside of the bar she works in or any possible way to become unstuck from the cycle that consumes her.
But then, an overdue evening out with her two best friends leads to a surreal experience.
When she meets Megan, the energy in the room is enough to captivate Ashley—the infectious smiles that pass between them are electrifying. Smiles that, for a brief moment, make even Ashley—a true cynic—believe in fate.
The beautiful, sweet and mesmerising Megan is a Stanford graduate with one goal—to play basketball in the WNBA. She shares with Ashley a story about unfaltering love that’s compelled by the force of fate—a story about her grandmother, Nancy. It ultimately becomes the catalyst for their future relationship and the inspiration Ashley’s been looking for.
To Ashley, the word destiny has never been anything more than a crossword clue found in the NY Times, but she can’t deny the transcendent depth of their connection as an unseen force keeps pulling them back together. The question is—will it be enough?
Available at:
She’ll Steal Your Heart by Rachel Lacey
Last year, Lauren Booker fled New York with a warrant out for her arrest. Now she’s back and ready to make amends for her crime. She wants to rebuild her life, and Brooklyn is home. There’s not much waiting for her here now, though, nothing except an online friend who’s brought her so much joy during one of the hardest years of her life. When they finally meet in person, Lauren’s unprepared for her attraction to Mia, but she’s even less prepared to discover that Mia has an unexpected connection to her crime, putting Lauren’s plans in jeopardy.
Mia Solano has also had a difficult year. Recently divorced, she walked away from her legal career after a health scare caused her to reexamine her priorities. Now Mia owns a cat café, and she’s struggling to adjust to a slower pace of life. She finds an unlikely friend in Lauren, but Lauren’s legal troubles force Mia to revisit a part of her life she’s trying to leave behind. She can’t explain why she’s so drawn to Lauren. They shouldn’t have much in common, and yet, they just seem to click.
As the connection between them strengthens, Lauren and Mia wrestle with growing feelings, but neither wants to risk their friendship by crossing that line. With Lauren’s court date looming ever closer, they might lose everything, including each other.
Available at:
Song of Stars by Rae D. Magdon
Sefina, a young orphan, studies music at the Temple of Dreams. She loves to sing with her best friend Mirae, but their voices aren’t the same. Mirae’s voice heals the sick while Sefina’s is ordinary. Unable to compete with Mirae’s miracles, Sefina longs for acknowledgment from Lady Lirath, their demanding music instructor. When their temple’s leader dies, Sefina must compete with Mirae for the position—not only against a miracle-worker, but the woman she loves.
Available at:
Just Three Words (SoHo Loft Series) by Melissa Brayden
Sometimes the one you want is the one you least suspect… Accountant Samantha Ennis craves order and structure. As the bookkeeper at the boutique advertising agency she owns with her three best friends, it’s her job to apply logic to the chaos. When one of those best friends, laid back Hunter Blair, moves in to share her loft apartment, Sam’s carefully organized world is thrown wildly askew.
Available at:
Sunsets and Shades by Erica Lee
Grace Harper is a hopeless romantic hanging on every word of the lesbian romance novels she reads. When Grace’s childhood best friend, Leah, suggests that she comes to Philly to get space from her ex, it seems like the perfect opportunity to start over, especially since Leah’s roommate is none other than Laurel Lake, Grace’s favorite romance author. Grace quickly learns that people aren’t always how they appear online and is disappointed to find that the real Laurel Lake (Kinsley Scott) is actually rude and vulgar and, unfortunately, irresistibly sexy. There is also much more to her than meets the eye, and as the two grow closer, her tough exterior is quickly stripped away, revealing much more than Grace ever bargained for.
Available at:
Sweat Equity by Monica McCallan
Avery Simmons’ life is in a rut. As the co-founder and creator of a lesbian dating app meant to help people find love, or at least a fun fling, the irony isn’t lost on her.
Personal trainer Charlie Grant wants nothing more than a clean slate and a fresh start from her old life in New York City. One of her oldest friends offers an extra room in her San Francisco duplex, but Charlie quickly finds out that it comes at an unforeseen cost.
Available at:
Rooting For You by Roz Alexander
Botanist Fisch’s life in Clover Hill is small. Getting physical distance from her tense relationship with her mother was supposed to give her room to breathe. Instead, she’s created a new cage for herself, spending most of her time isolated and working on other people’s projects instead of her own dreams. Admitting she’s lonely is the first step. Doing something about it seems much harder.
When traveling photojournalist Jaeeun Kupperman comes to town, it’s a wake-up call like no other. Jaeeun’s hot, talented, sweet, and the proud cat parent of one perfect angel named Dan. Faster than Dan can take down a dandelion, the two butch women are mutually smitten. But the sun is setting as both of them search for their next assignments and Fisch realizes it’s past time to branch out just as Jaeeun considers planting roots.
They might both be eager to sow the seeds of love, but will they be brave enough to keep it growing? Or will Jaeeun leave Fisch in her rearview mirror when the golden hour is over?
Available at:
North Coast: A Contemporary Love Story by Dorothy Rice Bennett
Two women, who have every reason not to be attracted to one another, share a house and a dog and gradually find they have feelings they didn’t expect—and don’t want to own. Do they belong together, despite their differences, or should they move on to other people and other places?
Available at:
Tricky Wisdom by Camryn Eyde
Darcy Wright is a closeted lesbian who has been infatuated with her best friend, Taylor, since junior high. Leaving her small Minnesota town for Boston in a quest to become a doctor, she moves in with fellow med-student Olivia Boyd, a neurotic, anal, gigantic thorn in the side. The first year of medical school is a nerve-wracking encounter in medicine, learning lessons the hard way, and romance.
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “sapphic roommate romance” category!
The post Sapphic roommate romance (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #6) appeared first on Jae.
March 9, 2023
Butch character who is shorter (Book Unicorn #3)
Have you ever noticed how butch characters are portrayed in sapphic books? I’m not talking about their personalities or how they interact with other characters; I’m talking about their physical descriptions. Most of the time, especially in butch/femme romances, the butch character will be tall and athletic and have smaller breasts compared to her love interest.
If you haven’t noticed before, pay attention to the physical descriptions the next time you read a book with a butch character.
For this category of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book with a butch main character who is shorter than her love interest. If you struggle to find a book with a butch character who’s shorter, I’m fine with a butch character who’s the same height as her love interest, as long as she isn’t taller.
15 sapphic books with a butch character who is shorter than her love interest
Below, you’ll find 15 recommended books featuring a butch character who is shorter (or at least not taller) than her love interest.
Something in the Wine by Jae
All her life, Annie Prideaux has suffered through her brother’s constant practical jokes. But Jake’s last joke is one too many, she decides when he sets her up on a blind date with his friend Drew—neglecting to tell his straight sister one tiny detail: her date is not a man, but a lesbian.
Annie and Drew decide it’s time to turn the tables on Jake by pretending to fall in love with each other.
At first glance, they have nothing in common. Disillusioned with love, Annie focuses on books, her cat, and her work as an accountant while Drew, more confident and outgoing, owns a dog and spends most of her time working in her beloved vineyard.
Only their common goal to take revenge on Jake unites them. But what starts as a table-turning game soon turns Annie’s and Drew’s lives upside down as the lines between pretending and reality begin to blur.
Available at:
Defending Jessica by Benna Bos
Few people accused of murder are as unlikable as Veronica Turner’s client. So to give her the best defense, Veronica is going to need help from her favorite true crime podcast. But when she meets the newest sound tech for “Murder by the Bay” she is instantly enthralled. She wants nothing more than to get close to the stunning, shy woman.
Kaia Kent is too focused on her new job to pay much attention to the pushy attorney defending their latest podcast subject. But Veronica just keeps coming around, and every time she does, Kaia finds herself slipping a little further away from dislike and toward serious attraction.
With an innocent woman to defend, a murderer on the loose, and opposites that are smashed together in a whirlwind of fear, intrigue, and passion, defending Jessica will prove to be anything but easy.
Available at:
Music from Stone by Brenda Murphy
Celebrated concert pianist Nüwa Zhou had it all. Until she didn’t. Forced out of the closet while testifying at the kidnapping and murder trial of her obsessive former assistant turned stalker, she retires from the high-pressure world of performing to recover at her parents’ estate.
Stone mason, and frustrated sculptor Julia Johnson, spends her days stone building walls and patios while dreaming of quitting her day job.
After a chance encounter with Julia leads to more, Nüwa imagines a life with Julia. When her stalker returns, determined to kidnap Nüwa and end anyone who stands in his way, Nüwa will do whatever it takes to keep Julia safe, but will it be enough?
Available at:
Mailboat by Cade Haddock Strong
Wen Apollo dreams of seeing the world beyond the small riverside town where she grew up. But operating the local mailboat keeps her tethered to Coopersville. Islands dot the river, and their residents rely on her to deliver everything from food and medicine to pet food and plumbing supplies.
On a raw spring day, Wen goes to Owl Island—the summer home of the illustrious Gage family—to deliver a package. It’s addressed to the family’s oldest daughter, Estelle, a woman Wen has long admired from afar.
Estelle Gage fled to the islands seeking solitude and an escape. With the deadline for her latest novel fast approaching, her sole focus is to write. But when the handsome mailboat captain shows up on her doorstep, writing is no longer the only thing on her mind.
A steady stream of packages continues to bring Wen back to Owl Island—and to Estelle. But as summer looms, so does the impending arrival of Estelle’s family. The return of the Gages will most certainly spell the end to Estelle and Wen’s idyllic time cloistered together on the island. What will that mean for their budding relationship?
Available at:
Wicked Fem by Edie Marr
Pix is a chubby, scruffy butch, Lois is a beautiful polished fem. Pix has never had a relationship with someone as adventurous as Lois before, although she’s always wanted to.
And Lois has never had a relationship with a woman.
A heart-stopping, star-crossed romance set in Brighton, the UK’s queer city by the sea, that swoops from cocktail bars to bus-stop encounters to fateful meetings in supermarket aisles – as love is found and lost and found again.
Slowly, watching my face, she lifts her hands up and I notice those perfect red ovals of her fingernails. She does something behind her head and her hair falls out of the beehive ’do and bounces down around her face like a big dark cloud — and the effect of this is to reanimate my already lifeless corpse and then instantly kill me dead again, because she just got more beautiful and it really defies all the laws of the universe that something like that could have happened.
Available at:
The Unicorn, The Mystery by Janet Mason
In The Unicorn, The Mystery, we meet a unicorn who tells us the story of the seven tapestries, called “The Hunt of the Unicorn” from the 1500s on display in “the unicorn room” in The Cloister in Manhattan, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The tapestries tell the story of what is still called an “unsolved mystery.” The story is set in an abbey in France not far from the barn in the countryside where the tapestries were discovered. Pursued by a band of hunters, the unicorn is led along by observing birds, smelling and eating the abbey flowers and fruits (including imbibing in fermented pomegranates), pursuing chaste maidens (there is one in the tapestry) and at times speaks to other animals such as the majestic stag.
Available at:
The Found Jar by Jaycie Morrison
Horror fiction writer Emily Harris just wants to be left alone with her work. But plagued by writer’s block, she reluctantly agrees to join her friends at their luxurious beach house for the summer. Maybe a change of scenery will inspire her.
Local housekeeper Beck Reynolds keeps her life simple—saving for a boat and avoiding the town bullies while she attends art classes. Meeting successful but prickly Emily leaves her feeling awestruck, and she wants to make a good impression, even though Emily seems determined to run her off. But Beck’s not the one who is just visiting.
Emily knows all about loss, and guilt, and rejection. Opening her heart has always gotten her hurt, and she’s absolutely not letting anyone in, even someone good, or good-looking, like Beck.
Available at:
The Road To Wings by Julie Tizard
What does it take to earn air force wings? Your heart, your soul, even your very life? Lieutenant Casey Tompkins is starting the most difficult flight training program in the world. She has to face thunderstorms, the death of friends, and male instructors who want to wash her out.
Captain Kathryn Hardesty is the toughest and best instructor pilot on the base and the chief of flight safety. She’s demanding because she knows the price of failure is tragedy and a smoking hole. She looks out for all the students, especially the female ones.
Casey has to learn to fly a supersonic jet, not get killed in the process, and face a growing forbidden attraction. Can she muster the intelligence, courage, and unbreakable determination to become an air force pilot? Does she have what it takes to earn wings, find love, and not crash and burn?
Available at:
Wicked Girls by Kinsey Leigh & Cara Malone
You’re a witch, Teagan!
That’s what my new roommate tells me – not exactly what I was expecting from my first week of college.
My first thought is she’s off her rocker, but when she brings me to a huge, gothic building in the middle of town that I somehow never noticed before and welcomes me to Lilith Academy – a school for witches – it starts to feel real.
And so do my powers.
The little tingles I always wrote off as my imagination turn into surges of energy I struggle to control – especially when my roomie and two of the other girls from class are nearby.
They make my newfound magic go wild. If I don’t find a way to tame it and pass my first-year exams I’ll lose my power… but I can’t stay away from these deliciously wicked girls.
Available at:
Bright Lights of Summer by Lynn Ames
It’s March, 1941. Captain America appears in a comic book for the very first time. New York City receives 18.1 inches of snow, its 3rd largest snowfall in history. In Holland, the Nazi occupiers forbid Jews to own businesses. In Poland, Heinrich Himmler inspects Auschwitz. World War II is raging in Europe, but America has yet to enter the fray.
And in Phoenix, Arizona, a 16-year-old scrap of a girl named Theodora “Dizzy” Hosler, takes the field to try out for the World Champion P.B.S.W. Ramblers softball team.
Set against the backdrop of perhaps the most dramatic time in US history, comes the story of Diz and Frannie, two women fueled by an unquenchable passion for the game of softball and feelings for each other that go far beyond the bounds of friendship. Will their love for the game bring them closer together or tear them apart?
Available at:
Seconds Out by Ruby Scott
Abs (Abby) is a fit, smart, twenty-something, ex-boxing champion with a big heart. Hayley is a divorcee with a wayward teenage daughter, an alcoholic ex-husband and a demanding job with crazy shifts. When Abs meets Gracie she is reminded of the pressures of her own childhood. Compelled to offer Gracie the same helping hand which she benefited from as a teenager, Abs invites Gracie to train at Sapphy’s, the all womens gym where she works. That is until Hayley, Gracie’s mom finds out. Hayley is adamant that her daughter will have nothing to do with boxing or Abs. After sparks fly, Hayley is left questioning what she really wants.
Available at:
Walk Between Worlds by Samara Breger
Sergeant Major Scratch Keyes of the King’s Guard is having a bad day.
On what should be the biggest night of her life, everything suddenly goes horribly wrong. First, her king denies her the promotion she rightfully earned, as well as the knighthood that goes along with it. And then, when Scratch is wallowing somewhere near the fetid rock bottom, she and her best friend, the flamboyant and carefree Sergeant James Ursus, are arrested for orchestrating the abduction of Princess Frances and sentenced to death. On the whole, things could be better.
Luckily, help comes in the form of the mysterious Shae siblings—Vel and Umbrella—who inform the doomed pair that the issue of the missing Princess is far more complicated than it appears. After a daring escape, the four embark on an ill-advised rescue mission through a forest filled with beasts, bandits, and mysterious fair folk, bringing nothing with them but a kitchen knife and the vague outline of a plan. Their destination is the Between, a sacred and shadowy fae-guarded place that promises to deliver Scratch and James to the princess—if they manage to survive.
But Scratch didn’t rise above her humble childhood in the Royal City slums by accepting things at face value. It’s clear that the enigmatic Shaes are hiding something, but what do they know? Who are they working with? And why, in the name of all the divine constellations in the scrambled sky, can’t Scratch stop staring at Brella?
Available at:
Heroes by Serena J. Bishop
Coming of age. Coming into power.
Aurora and Leela have succeeded in their quest to balance work and family. Aurora has risen in the ranks at her company and has become a well-known environmental advocate. Leela’s business has grown and is the president of the farmers’ market. They have done this all while raising their conceived-by-magic eleven-year-old daughter, Kari. However, the time has come for them to tell Kari about her mystical origins, as Kari’s mind and body start to evolve in powerful ways.
As the family focuses on ways to test Kari’s new abilities, Aurora is placed in the public spotlight due to an ongoing public battle with Houston Energy. The corporate monstrosity dislikes Aurora, but no one despises her—or Leela—more than the social media group, God and Country, or G and C. Rather than get swept up in the hate, they focus on Kari’s emerging supernatural talents.
But that changes when the attacks migrate from the internet and move closer to home.
Will G and C’s taunts and threats cause Aurora and Leela to fall back in the shadows? Do they have what it takes to take the fight to G and C? Or, is Kari the key to saving them all?
Available at:
Almost Perfect by Tagan Shepard
Olivia Duran has made being a TV fangirl her life. Creating fan art sure beats her job as a parking lot attendant, and immersing herself in fictional worlds where girl gets girl helps her cope with her less-than-happy reality. If anyone deserves a little escapism, it’s Olivia.
Queer entertainment influencer Riley St. James has a huge following and an even bigger secret that could tank her career. Somewhere along the way her love for TV turned into a job that pays the bills. She’s never told anyone she sometimes has to fake it.
When Riley and Olivia attend QueerCon, Olivia gifts her favorite actress one of her drawings and goes from unknown to overnight sensation, while devoted fans flock to Riley, who only has eyes for Olivia. Navigating the world of long-distance dating, career crisis, and family obligations, Olivia and Riley begin to wonder: Can their real-life love ever be as perfect as those they see on-screen?
Available at:
Only Human by Audrey Wilson
Have you ever had a crush? Have you ever had a crush so astronomically huge you were willing to tell the person anything to make them fall in love with you? If you’re Annalise Dresden, then the answer is yes. Yes you have. And you’re in way over your head.
Before Frankie, Leece was like any other girl in her mid-twenties – a pre-med student with unreached potential, too much debt, a drinking problem, and no memory of her life before her nineteenth birthday. Alright, maybe she wasn’t like any other girl, but still. Her life was somewhat normal. But Frankie changed everything. Frankie, the simple girl with the first crush eyes, working at a Big Lots in Northwest Indiana after dropping out of college. Frankie, who somehow changed Leece’s whole life with a single look.
Even though the two women can’t be more opposite, Leece feels a connection to Frankie unlike any she’s felt before, compelling her to tell Frankie lie after lie to try to win her over. But when Frankie suspects Leece might not be exactly who she says she is, their relationship grows rocky. Plagued by visions of her sketchy past, Leece must figure out who she really is before she loses everything she loves, including Frankie.
Coming soon from Flashpoint Publications
Listen to an excerpt (author reading)
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Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “butch character who is shorter” category!
The post Butch character who is shorter (Book Unicorn #3) appeared first on Jae.
March 2, 2023
Co-authored sapphic book (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #5)
This week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo features co-authored sapphic books, meaning books that have been written as a collaboration of at least two writers.
It can’t be an anthology in which each author worked on their story independently or a book that uses two different pen names of the same author on the cover.
Most of the time, both authors names will be on the cover, but sometimes, the authors create a pen name that they use for their co-authored books, so you might have to do a bit of research to find out which books have really been created by two (or more) different authors.
15 co-authored sapphic books
Here are my book recommendations for the “co-authored sapphic books” category:
Good Enough to Eat by Jae & Alison Grey
Robin’s New Year’s resolution to change her eating habits is as unusual as she is. Unlike millions of other women, she isn’t tempted by chocolate or junk food. She’s a vampire, determined to fight her craving for a pint of O negative. When she goes to an AA meeting, hoping for advice on fighting her addiction, she meets Alana, a woman who battles her own demons. Despite their determination not to get involved, the attraction is undeniable. Is it just bloodlust that makes Robin think Alana looks good enough to eat, or is it something more? Will it even matter once Alana finds out who Robin really is?
Available at:
The Executive Liaison by Anna Stone & Hildred Billings
Isabel Diaz’s post-college life couldn’t be better. While relationships have always proved elusive to her, she’s finally putting herself out there on dating app Darkest Desires. Plus, she has an amazing job leading the graphic design team at a hot Seattle startup.
But everything changes when the startup is sold off and Scarlett Black takes over as CEO. Scarlett is just as ruthless as her formidable reputation suggests. But there’s something mysterious about the icy older woman that draws Isabel to her.
Scarlett Black has it all. The oldest daughter of Seattle’s wealthiest family, she’s been groomed to take over the family company and is engaged to the perfect man. Yet her picturesque life isn’t what it appears to be. And at night, she escapes that life as her seductive alter ego, Dominique.
When she encounters a woman on Darkest Desires who is seeking the same escape, things heat up between them. But little does Scarlett know that the woman she’s having an anonymous liaison with is her young employee. And Isabel has no idea that Scarlett and Dominique are the same captivating person.
As their sensual fling escalates, tensions rise in the office. It’s only a matter of time before their real identities are exposed and both women are forced to confront their true feelings.
Available at:
One Golden Summer by Clare Lydon & TB Markinson
Saffron Oliver is the golden girl. Golden hair. Golden skin. Golden movie career.
Only one problem: she hates it.
She flees to her sister’s seaside town – where she meets the confident & charming Kirsty McBride.
Kirsty is everything Saffron wants to be. Perhaps also, everything she wants.
But Saffron can’t have it all. So now, she has to decide: does she crave Kirsty enough to blow up her golden life?
Available at:
Roadblocks by D.J. Fronimos and Elke Lakey
Silke has newly professed her love for Lauren, but her happiness is short-lived when Lauren’s grown daughter moves back home to recuperate after an accident. Lauren, overwhelmed with working at night and taking care of Kayla during the day, struggles to make time for Silke and their fledgling relationship. Silke hates her sudden roommate status and soon resents Kayla. Still Lauren stubbornly refuses to come out to her daughter.
Sexy Ana, who still carries a torch for Silke, is more than willing to come to the rescue. Frustrated by her home situation, Silke enjoys hanging out with the chivalrous Ana. Suddenly Alex from Germany shows up and claims she and Silke are still an item. Aware it was Silke’s life choices that broke them up and not the lack of mutual attraction, Alex manipulates her into spending time together. After all, it’s hard to ignore an ex who knows how to push all your buttons, especially if you’ve never stopped caring.
Against all odds, Lauren and Silke prevail. Lauren even accompanies Silke to Germany for a family crisis. Watching her niece reminds Silke how much she wants her own baby, and she is devastated when Lauren is perfectly fine with having been there and done that already.
Can Silke and Lauren overcome their biggest roadblock and somehow compromise? Or has Silke’s baby wish become a deal breaker?
Available at:
Her Christmas Escape by Frankie Duncan & Jo Cox
Lexie knows exactly how you feel. Convinced she’s worked through every available woman in the city of Jersey and not wanting to endure another ‘single’ Christmas, she hits on the perfect solution—a women loving women Christmas cruise. Days of unbridled sex surrounded by Scandinavian blondes in bubbling hot tubs awaits her… or does it? Having travelled 3,500 miles, Joss thinks she’s found the perfect distraction from Christmas in the form of the tantalising, tall, tux wearing French siren, Esmée. She’d do just about anything to get under that body, but perhaps not the one thing she’d need to.
Available at:
Errant, Volume Two by L. K. Fleet
Aspen and Charm meet again, and Aspen dreams of finally having a quiet moment to explore what they mean to each other. Can a wandering swordswoman and an actress with a penchant for picking pockets have the lasting connection Aspen longs for? Would Charm even want that?
With old enemies still chasing them and new problems cropping up at every turn, Aspen worries that she’s dragging Charm into her unpredictable and dangerous life. If Charm gets hurt, she’ll never forgive herself.
But as she and Charm rescue a winged orphan, journey across the continent, and navigate their way through a series of magical trials, Charm proves herself clever, resilient, fearless—and devoted to Aspen. They both want to fight for a future together, but first they’ll have to survive the day.
Available at:
All’s Fair in Love & Vegas by M Leigh Morhaime & Shannon O’Connor
Two strangers. One bed. A steamy weekend in Vegas & a wedding.
Violet:
All I need is for the damn stick to not turn blue. And for the wedding to go off without a hitch.
But my best friend keeps trying to tell me he’s in love with me and I don’t know how to let him down gently.
When the blue haired goddess catches my attention, I can’t help but wonder if she’s what I’ve been missing.
Dakota:
All I want is for my little brother’s wedding to go well. And maybe a nap.
So when the hotel tells me all their rooms are booked, I’m about to lose it.
That’s when the beautiful maid of honor swoops in to save me.
Now all I want to do, is save her from herself.
Available at:
Moonflower by Max Ellendale & A.M. Corbi
Daria Grayson spent the last year crawling out from the rubble of her previous life with nothing save for the clothes on her back and the hand of her little girl clasped in hers. She never expected to find herself back in Seattle, starting over, and attempting to reconstruct some semblance of normalcy for her and her kid. With best friend Molly at her side, Daria begins to take a few cautious steps back into the world. When Molly convinces her to go on a silly adventure to raise her spirits, she meets Charlotte, Molly’s cousin. Daria falls for the free-spirited artist and risks fracturing her delicately-structured existence. If Daria hopes to foster her connection with her newfound love, she must stand and face her greatest foe—herself.
Available at:
Heart of Ice by T.B. Markinson & Miranda MacLeod
Laurie “the Hatchet” Emerson is a ruthless leader in Boston finance who’s rumoured to have a block of ice where her heart should be. If only. Recently widowed, Laurie fears she’s broken beyond repair, until a once-in-a-lifetime business deal reignites her passion for work and gives her a shot at proving to the world she still has some life left in her.
Jack Kennedy is a young portfolio manager who aspires to greatness. Unfortunately, she’s so many rungs down the corporate ladder she can’t even scrape up enough money to move out of her mother’s apartment. Her luck changes when her work ethic is finally rewarded with the job opportunity of her dreams.
A blizzard forces their worlds to collide, but what was meant to be a no-strings night of passion becomes more complicated when they both arrive at the office the next morning to discover they each spent the night with the one person in the city who could crush their futures.
Together, they just might hold the keys to everything they’ve ever wanted, but the difference in their ages and positions could spell the end of their careers. Will the ice queen and the protégé find happiness together or lose everything?
Available at:
Hat Trick by Ali Spooner & K.L. Gallagher
Alexandra “Alex” Hawthorne is on the fast track to the top of one of the most formidable, white-collar, criminal defense law firms in New York. She can ill afford any distractions, especially those with dark-brown eyes, who can rock a power suit while coaching professional hockey players. Not now. Not when Alex is so close to making senior partner. Not after all she has sacrificed.
After a devastating end to her playing career, Janelle Leblanc channeled her passion into coaching and reached the pinnacle of success as the first female head coach in NHL history. Despite her accomplishments, she hears whispers that she was hired as nothing more than a publicity stunt. Janelle’s focus needs to remain on the ice if she is to prove them wrong, not on a certain curly haired attorney with the most arresting emerald-green eyes she has ever seen.
Once the spark is lit, their chemistry is impossible to ignore. Can Janelle break down Alex’s walls to give them a real chance? Or will Alex’s past heartache be too much for them to overcome?
Available at:
A Swing at Love: A Sweet Lesbian Romance by Harper Bliss & Caroline Bliss
Diane Thompson is happy enough. Her successful accounting firm allows her plenty of time to play all the golf she wants and enjoy her life in small Sussex village Tynebury. She’s finally over the divorce from her husband, but potential suitors are few and far between for a fifty-something woman in the English countryside.
Tamsin Foxley is determined to keep matters of the heart separated from her new teaching job at the Royal Tynebury Golf Club after a disastrous romantic experience put an end to her previous employment. She has also vowed to no longer fall for women almost half her age.
When the new season starts at the golf club, Diane and Tamsin become fast friends. Their feelings for each other quickly go in an unexpected direction and they both have to reevaluate what it is they want from life.
Can Diane overcome her fear of falling for a woman? And can Tamsin accept her taste in women may have changed?
Available at:
Wasteland by Kristin Keppler & Allisa Bahney
Danielle Clark is done with the Resistance. After years of leading a relentless charge against the National Armed Forces, she has nothing left to give. Her brother Lucas in tow, Dani leaves the frontlines for the solitude of the wastelands, content to start a new life as a scavenger. Dani thought she’d finally found peace until the general’s daughter, Katelyn Turner, shows up on her doorstep and brings the fight right back to her.
Now Dani has to decide what to do about Kate, ranking member of the NAF, a once-sworn enemy…and a woman she can’t keep out of her head. The growing spark of attraction forces Dani into an impossible choice between her newfound life and Kate’s fate. She must act quickly or risk losing everything.
Available at:
A Marine’s Conflict by Jax Meyer & Elle Armstrong
Mags Newsome has already given over a decade of her life to the Marine Corps. She’s learned to compartmentalize her life to survive the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that keeps servicemembers from serving openly. But that’s also kept her from any meaningful relationships.
Elaine ‘Lane’ Chapman moved to the US from England with her girlfriend who soon left her. Remaining in sunny southern California, Elaine built a life for herself as a college math professor, content to experience love through romance novels rather than risk her heart again.
A chance encounter in a bookstore cafe brings the two women together where they discover an off the charts attraction. As they battle their feelings to maintain their ‘friends with benefits’ agreement, another war looms in the Middle East, threatening everything they’ve built.
Available at:
Driven by Susanne M. Beck & T. Novan
When the legendary Pallas Dylan Lambert (aka The Goddess) selects Catherine “Cat” Hodges as the new Point Guard in the revamped Basketball team, the Birmingham Badgers, Cat is overjoyed. She can’t wait to become part of a team that will fulfill one of her lifelong dreams. What Cat was not anticipating was falling in love with The Goddess…
Pallas Dylan Lambert, aka the Goddess, is a legend in women’s basketball. Dylan was forced to retire due to a career-ending injury. She’s now the coach of the Birmingham Badgers, a modest team that she plans to take to the top of the league. She recruits Catherine Hodges, a short but extremely talented player in the coveted position of Point Guard, to be the star of her team.
Against all the odds –Dylan’s popularity and lack of privacy, the sleazy owner of the Badgers, homophobia, and the pressures of the game itself, among others, Dylan and Cat fall in love.
Can their love withstand the stresses that come their way?
Available at:
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amar El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war. That’s how war works. Right?
Available at:
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Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “co-authored sapphic book” category!
The post Co-authored sapphic book (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #5) appeared first on Jae.
February 23, 2023
Sapphic book with “heart” in the title (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #4)
For this category of the Sapphic Book Bingo, you shouldn’t have any problem finding enough books to choose from. Romance novels are the most popular genre of sapphic fiction, so there are plenty of books with the word “heart” in the title. Of course, you can also read a sapphic book in another genre, as long as the title includes the word “heart.”
The word heart can be part of an open compound, e.g., Heart Trouble, or a closed compound, e.g., heartfelt. It can be single (heart) or plural (hearts).
Book sale
Before I list my reading recommendations, let me share one sapphic romance that doesn’t have the word “heart” in the title, yet still has plenty of heart within its pages.
My award-winning romance The Roommate Arrangement is on sale until February 28. You can get it at 70% off on Amazon worldwide.
15 sapphic books with the word “heart” in the title
Here are my book recommendations for the “sapphic books with heart in the title” category:
Heart Trouble by Jae
Dr. Hope Finlay loves her job as an emergency room physician, especially since it allows her only brief encounters with her patients. She learned early in life not to get attached to anyone because it never lasts.
Laleh Samadi, a waitress at her aunt’s restaurant, is the exact opposite. She easily connects with people and loves her big, boisterous Persian family, despite their tendency to meddle in her life.
When Laleh needs to be rushed to the ER with heart trouble, Hope saves her life. Afterwards, strange things begin to occur: Why does Laleh suddenly know even the most obscure diseases, while Hope is fluent in Farsi?
Soon, they can no longer deny that there’s a mysterious connection between them—one that becomes stronger with each passing day.
Are they losing their minds…or their hearts?
Available at:
Ensnared Hearts by Anna Stone
Broken-hearted and working long hours as an intern at Mistress Media, Kat Walker is desperate for an escape. So when the opportunity to join Lydia Davenport, the company’s new CFO, on a trip to Paris arises, Kat jumps at the chance. The older woman has occupied Kat’s fantasies since the day she started her internship.
Lydia Davenport lives a solitary existence. After her wife’s death years ago, she hardened her heart to love. Instead of relationships, she prefers a beautiful woman at her feet, calling her “Mistress.” A woman like Kat—sweet, innocent, forbidden fruit desperate to be plucked—is everything Lydia desires.
One night is all it takes for Kat to discover that Lydia is even more commanding in the bedroom than in the boardroom. Soon, they are immersed in a secret affair that threatens to consume them both. As they find solace in sensual pleasures, they also find solace in each other.
Can Kat and Lydia break free from the chains of the past, or will their hearts remain locked away forever?
Available at:
Heart of Ice by T.B. Markinson & Miranda MacLeod
What happens when the one person who makes your heart sing is also the one person who could destroy everything you’ve worked for?
Laurie “the Hatchet” Emerson is a ruthless leader in Boston finance who’s rumoured to have a block of ice where her heart should be. If only. Recently widowed, Laurie fears she’s broken beyond repair, until a once-in-a-lifetime business deal reignites her passion for work and gives her a shot at proving to the world she still has some life left in her.
Jack Kennedy is a young portfolio manager who aspires to greatness. Unfortunately, she’s so many rungs down the corporate ladder she can’t even scrape up enough money to move out of her mother’s apartment. Her luck changes when her work ethic is finally rewarded with the job opportunity of her dreams.
A blizzard forces their worlds to collide, but what was meant to be a no-strings night of passion becomes more complicated when they both arrive at the office the next morning to discover they each spent the night with the one person in the city who could crush their futures.
Together, they just might hold the keys to everything they’ve ever wanted, but the difference in their ages and positions could spell the end of their careers. Will the ice queen and the protégé find happiness together or lose everything?
Available at:
Heart Failure by Chris Zett
Dr. Jess Riley’s life is perfect, ticking all the boxes—successful cardiologist, newborn daughter, and a luxurious condo. That is, until she suddenly collapses from acute heart failure. Her entire world crumples along with her exhausted body.
Jess is forced to face facts—she can’t keep working endless hours, and she’ll have to move back home to recover.
To her shock, her mother has already taken in Lena Walker, a struggling artist who isn’t a stranger to heartbreak either.
At first, an unimpressed Jess resents Lena’s cheerful presence. Gradually, though, the two women form a tentative friendship over tai chi, picking fruit, and evening walks with the baby. A sexy massage leads to friends-with-benefits fun. But is it all too soon? Should two barely mended souls try to risk a future together?
Available at:
Change Of Heart by Clare Lydon
When Erin Stewart hires a fake date for her parents’ anniversary party, she gets more than she bargained for. First, she snags Steph Mitchell, a professional actor with a side order of drop-dead gorgeous. Second, she runs into a brick wall of family tension. Deep breaths; it’s only five days. Plus, with Steph’s help, she can totally get through it, right?
Only, Erin doesn’t expect the fake romance with the charming Steph to feel so incredibly real. She also doesn’t predict their sizzling attraction will spiral out of control, with dizzying consequences for everyone. Is Steph Erin’s destiny, or will she be her downfall?
Available at:
A Game of Two Hearts by Iona Kane
Tess Kennedy isn’t where she thought she’d be at forty-six. She’s focusing on keeping things together as a single parent as she returns to a town that holds mixed memories. As she tries to build a new life for her family, she’s relieved that she’s finally in control of her own destiny. The last thing she’s looking for is a relationship.
Rowan Russell is living her regular, predictable life. She works hard and plays harder, to drown out the voice in her head reminding her of all the bad choices she’s made. When Tess’s return stirs up old, complicated feelings, she has to question whether she’s happy letting life happen to her.
When Rowan and Tess end up working together, they both need to decide how much they’re willing to risk for happiness.
Available at:
Heart’s Orders by Jaycie Morrison
Can the heart’s orders overrule the chain of command?
September 1944. Private Helen Tucker has two goals—to drive for the Women’s Army Corps motor pool and to convince Tee Owens to be more than best friends. Helen has always done whatever it takes to survive, and she’s not good at waiting for what she wants. But Private Teresa Owens is a good Baptist girl who’s struggling with how her feelings for Helen can be wrong when she can’t bear to be without her.
Sergeant Gale Rains has learned to make her way in both the Sioux and White worlds, but will her love for Bett Smythe put her career in the WAC at risk? Private Elizabeth Smythe hopes Rain will be her future, but is she truly free from her past, including her class-conscious family?
Available at:
Save Her Heart by KC Luck
Sal, Nat, and Catherine are back!
After six months of exile, Salishan Bransen wonders what the future holds for her until a sexy blonde walks into her life. Before she knows it, Sal is mixed up in a Space Ranger mission to rescue a hostage. Only nothing goes right and once again, Sal is on the run.
Working as a trainer at the Space Ranger academy, Captain Nat Reynolds is living a simple life with her love, Catherine Porter. When a mysterious distress call from Sal comes through, Nat must decide if she will risk everything and take on a new adventure to save her.
Available at:
Scatter: Hearts of Heroes 1 by Molly J. Bragg
When Deputy US Marshal Danielle ‘Danny’ Martin was told she’d gotten a promotion, she expected to be leading her own fugitive retrieval team. Instead, she got transferred to Pontian Florida of all places, and assigned to a Superhero support detail for Focus, a seemingly immortal superhero who is also one of the most famous lesbian icons on the planet.
Bad enough she’s got to spend every day working with a woman she’s had a crush on since she was five years old, but when she arrives at her new post, things start getting weird. It turns out that Focus asked for her by name, and it quickly becomes apparent that Focus wants to be more than just coworkers, or even friends.
After Focus has a violent reaction to Danny getting hurt in the line of duty, she starts looking into why the Superhero might be so fixated on her. She begins to suspect that seeing the future might be one of Focus’ powers, but when a mission leaves her stranded thirty years in the past, right at the start of Focus’s superhero career, everything becomes clear, except why the Focus in the past can barely seem to tolerate her presence.
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She’ll Steal Your Heart by Rachel Lacey
A thief seeking redemption forms an unlikely connection with a former lawyer looking for a fresh start of her own, but what starts as friendship soon feels like much more…
Last year, Lauren Booker fled New York with a warrant out for her arrest. Now she’s back and ready to make amends for her crime. She wants to rebuild her life, and Brooklyn is home. There’s not much waiting for her here now, though, nothing except an online friend who’s brought her so much joy during one of the hardest years of her life. When they finally meet in person, Lauren’s unprepared for her attraction to Mia, but she’s even less prepared to discover that Mia has an unexpected connection to her crime, putting Lauren’s plans in jeopardy.
Mia Solano has also had a difficult year. Recently divorced, she walked away from her legal career after a health scare caused her to reexamine her priorities. Now Mia owns a cat café, and she’s struggling to adjust to a slower pace of life. She finds an unlikely friend in Lauren, but Lauren’s legal troubles force Mia to revisit a part of her life she’s trying to leave behind. She can’t explain why she’s so drawn to Lauren. They shouldn’t have much in common, and yet, they just seem to click.
As the connection between them strengthens, Lauren and Mia wrestle with growing feelings, but neither wants to risk their friendship by crossing that line. With Lauren’s court date looming ever closer, they might lose everything, including each other.
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Heart Stopper by RJ Samuel
What keeps your heart beating..? It could stop at any moment. Think about it.. Are you worried..?
Dr. Priya Joseph is an Irish-Indian coder working at a new pacemaker clinic in Galway, a small city on the west coast of Ireland that is a research and manufacturing hub within the multi-billion-dollar medical devices industry. Priya’s life is already off the rails; in fact, the train has disappeared screaming into a ravine when, after a night out that she does not remember apart from a vague memory of being with a mysterious woman, she wakes up in an unfamiliar apartment and finds the dead body of her boss, American cardiologist and inventor, Dr Daniel Fairer III.
Priya is dragged by his family into an investigation of Daniel’s death. As they uncover secrets about the groundbreaking pacemaker technology that Daniel and his research partners developed and the wireless controllers that communicate with the implanted pacemakers, their investigation threatens a multi-million dollar enterprise. Priya learns that she has unwittingly been involved in research that could have consequences far beyond the small city where she has been trying to hide from her life. She discovers that her past is not what she thought it was and now that she actually wants a future, she may not survive long enough as she is being pursued her and her pursuers will do whatever it takes to complete their mission but time is running out. And they have a problem. Which they need Priya to solve.
Available at:
Rescuing Hearts by Ruby Scott
When blocking out pain means never allowing yourself to be loved, can you really believe you are living?
For Kristi Ivers, a forty-four year old flight attendant, life has proved itself to be unfair. By her twenties she’d already had more than her share of pain. Alone and unable to process the ache of loss she finds in stillness, Kristi’s life has become a busy throng of perpetual movement. Between work, travel and volunteering at Corazon De Las Colina, a dog shelter in central Costa Rica, she believes she has a full and happy life…until one fateful flight to San José.
Fenna Vargas, is a pediatric surgeon who has just completed her neonatal fellowship, and has the world at her feet. With the support of a large family headed up by her Nicaraguan grandmother, Yaya, Fenna believes in love. All you have to do is be bold and passionate… But is life really that easy?
Can Fenna’s belief in all that is good break down the lifetime of barriers upon which Kristi has built her life? Will the optimism of youth be enough to overpower the sage lessons of reality?
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A Heart to Trust by A.L. Brooks
Change is not Jenny Quinn’s strong suit, but she’s happy enough with her easy-going life, friends, and job as a TV production assistant. That is until a company shake-up foists the infuriating Olivia Sinclair on her. The woman is uptight, snobby, and has some perfect and famous motor-racing husband.
TV and theater producer Olivia moved to New York from the UK to marry her longtime friend. It’s a sham marriage, a favor to a man she loves as a brother, but the strain is beginning to take its toll. How can she even meet women when she’s the picture of heterosexual bliss? Add in her stressful new job, an irritating colleague called Jenny, who thinks being goofy is some kind of admirable work ethic, and life can be a grind some days. The worst part isn’t the office politics or clashing personalities, but the fact there’s an attraction between both women that’s gradually becoming impossible to ignore.
So…should they stop ignoring it? That would mean learning to trust your heart that this is the right woman. And that’s a huge step.
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A Heart This Big by Cheyenne Blue
Australian country girl Nina Pellegrini runs a program for city kids to experience a taste of rural life at Banksia Farm. But when a child is hurt and a lawsuit threatens, Nina is determined to find the best legal assistance to help her save the farm.
Enter high-flying lawyer Leigh Willoughby, whose city world is far from the farm’s chaotic mix of kids and animals. She certainly doesn’t have time for small cases that don’t pay or farm visits that wreck her cool—and her clothes.
Still, the warm-hearted Nina and her challenging, twelve-year-old daughter, Phoebe, are awfully hard to say no to. What on earth has she gotten herself into?
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The Lonely Hearts Rescue by Morgan Lee Miller, Nell Stark & Missouri Vaun
When a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast, the animals at the Lonely Hearts Rescue Shelter need love, and so do the humans who adopt them.
Something About You by Morgan Lee Miller. After rescuing a cat stranded in the hurricane, animal control officer Reese Shepard is adamant about finding shy, timid Apollo the best forever home. When she discovers Apollo giving cheek rubs to Hannah Marsh, Reese’s high school crush, she’s captivated by her all over again.
Force of Nature by Missouri Vaun. Rebekah Hawks has stepped in to help with hurricane disaster relief. Challenges are no match for Rebekah. At least until she agreed to foster an impossible dog. Rebekah has no choice but to seek the aid of handsome local dog trainer Rory Maclaren. But who is training whom?
Test of Faith by Nell Stark. Rescuing a dog is a dream come true for Faith Kincaid—and a chance to prove to herself that she really can, in the words of her therapist, “commit to commitment.” When Faith takes her new best friend, Pinoe, to the vet, she can’t stop staring at Dr. Delphine Wu. Del is completely out of Faith’s league. Or is she?
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Matters of the Heart by Catherine Maiorisi
Darcy Silver has everything money can buy except for a way to erase the past. A tragic car accident has left her temporarily dependent on others for even the most basic of needs—but everyone she cares about seems to have abandoned her.
Dr. Andrea Trapani would like to forget the past too. Being a full-time medical caretaker for a cantankerous woman is not where she expected her career to take her. But when Andrea sees that Darcy’s frustration will have serious medical consequences, she vows to bring peace and stability to Darcy’s world.
As two wounded souls fight to overcome their past and face the fears of the future, will love be the right medicine?
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Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “sapphic book with heart in the title” category!
The post Sapphic book with “heart” in the title (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #4) appeared first on Jae.
February 16, 2023
Sapphic books with imperfect sex (Book Unicorn #2)
In most sapphic romance novels (and in romance novels overall), the sex is always perfect. Even the characters’ first time together or one character’s first time with another woman is mind-blowing, which isn’t always realistic.
For this category of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book with a love scene in which the sex isn’t perfect. Something goes wrong—the dog jumps onto the bed, one of them falls asleep in the middle of things, or they fumble around for a bit while they learn what their partner likes.
I know that as readers, we sometimes want escapism and the perfect fantasy, but I think those little awkward moments can make a love scene even sweeter because we see the characters laugh about it together and witness them treat each other with respect and kindness.
Sapphic books with imperfect sex
Here are my book recommendations for the “imperfect sex” category:
Just Physical by Jae
After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, twenty-five-year-old Jill Corrigan takes herself off the romantic market. Not wanting to become a burden to a potential partner, she focuses on her career as an actress instead.
On the set of a disaster movie, she meets stunt woman Kristine “Crash” Patterson, whose easy smile instantly makes Jill wish things were different. Meanwhile, Crash is trained to fall, but she didn’t count on falling in love.
Despite their growing feelings for each other, Jill resolves to let Crash into her bed, but not her heart.
As they start to play with fire on and off camera, will they really be able to keep things just physical?
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Something’s Different by Quinn Ivins
Unemployed academic Caitlyn Taylor comes home to family drama. Her carefree twin Chloe plans to ditch her job to visit a guy she met online. Caitlyn steps in to impersonate Chloe so she won’t get fired for skipping town. Unfortunately, this means answering phones for an icy, dismissive boss.
Busy college president Ruth Holloway never paid much attention to her mediocre assistant. Suddenly, “Chloe” demonstrates insight into faculty politics and a baffling talent for analytics. And since when has she been so attractive?
Caitlyn dreams of getting closer to her sister’s boss but how can she? Everything they’ve shared has been based on a lie.
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Up on the Roof by A. L. Brooks
When a storm wreaks havoc on bookish Lena’s well-ordered world, her laid-back new neighbor, Megan, offers her a room. The trouble is they’ve been clashing since the day they met. How can they now live under the same roof? Making it worse is the inexplicable pull between them that seems hard to resist. A quirky romance, laced with classic British humor, about the power of opposites attracting.
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Beyond Any Experience by Anne E. Terpstra
Olivia Northman’s world shattered the day she lost her wife to a drunk driver. Three years later, she still struggles with grief and the demands of being a single parent to their autistic son, Ben. After her first attempt at a new relationship crumbles, Olivia retreats to the simple, the predictable. It’s what’s best for her son and her heart.
Ellie Vasquez isn’t simple or predictable. In fact, she’s charmingly impulsive, as well as gregarious, confident, and attracted to Olivia, which she reveals in an unguarded moment. Olivia doesn’t know what’s more surprising—Ellie’s interest, or her own—but a quiet conversation over drinks soon spins into something more. As Olivia’s caution gives way to hope, she sees another chance at love, both for her, and for Ben, who takes to Ellie with a tender openness. Ellie is fearless about love in a way that makes Olivia want to be brave, but the deeper their passion, the closer she gets to drowning—in grief, in fear, in guilt. To have a future with Ellie, Olivia must come to terms with her past. If she can’t, she risks losing the second love of her life.
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Bookends by Brenda Murphy
The life of university librarian, Amari Foster, is neatly cataloged. Work, home, and securing a future for her daughter are her focus. Hard-edged and handsome, she manages her private life with ruthless precision, cutting ties, and maintaining distance to protect her battered heart.
Plumber Thalia Makris has given up her dream of long-term love after a series of bad relationships. Desperate to have her own business, Thalia fills her days working overtime and her nights with fantasy novels.
After a chance encounter leaves both women wanting more than a one-night stand, they find themselves on the precipice of love. Will they take the plunge?
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Caring for Amelia by Eva Reddy
Coral is a middle-aged woman caring for her mother, Amelia, in the home they share with Coral’s long-term partner, Nick. Coral’s life is turned upside down when her mother is admitted to hospital with pneumonia and is not expected to survive. Adding to Coral’s woes – after thirteen years together – Nick chooses this tumultuous time to leave Coral for another woman.
Both Coral and Amelia show true grit and personal fortitude in facing their battles and demons. Together, they begin rebuilding their lives with the help of Dr. Olivia Thomas – Amelia’s lung specialist – and Clancy – the nurse assigned to help Amelia with in-home medical treatment and personal care.
Coral accepts that she is unlikely to find another lover while she is providing her mother with such high level care in her home. Especially since she is ‘over the hill’ and unable to get out and about to meet new people anyway. Then Nick breaks-up with her girlfriend and wants to try to rekindle their relationship. At the same time, Coral begins to sense that some other women in her life might be sending her signals of their interest as well. However, Amelia’s fragile state of health makes it difficult for Coral to even consider moving on with her love-life.
Fortunately, Coral has a supportive network of family and friends to help her feel comfortable about her future with her mother. But will that support be enough for her to find the confidence to think about loving another?
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The Game Changer by Finley Chuva
Elena Torres has it all. As a successful soccer star playing for the Denver Defiant, she has money, fame, and, best of all, gets to do her favorite thing for a living. Sure, she’s also a 31-year-old divorcée, has no idea how to go about dating again, and is still deciding how open to be about her recent autism diagnosis. But she’s dealing. Then Harper Wright arrives back in town, and Elena is surprised to discover she has more in common with her best friend’s little sister than she’d ever imagined. As much as she tries, she can’t seem to get those messy red curls and bright smiles out of her mind…
Harper Wright has a Plan with a capital P. Step one, get her new board game café up and running. Step two, stop subsisting entirely on muffins from the vegan bakery next door. Step three, stop thinking about Elena Torres, no matter how amazing her arms look in a tank top. Or that she’s beginning to look at Harper in a way she had only dreamed of back in high school. Starting something with Elena would be a disaster waiting to happen, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember why. After all, they’re grown-ups now. Elena isn’t looking for anything serious, but Harper will just have to be careful not to let her heart get involved…
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A Fish Out of Water by Karin Kallmaker
An above sea hunt for the pleasure and song of human women turns disastrous when Ariel, 77th daughter of the Mer Queen, shares rising tides — powerful passion — with the forbidden Erica. Court rivals quickly report her transgression and Ariel finds herself an example of what happens to those who defy the Queen.
Stripped of her voice and placed under a powerful curse, Ariel makes her way above water to Erica’s side. Erica, who is now dying for want of the one thing they can never share again.
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Golden Hour by Kat Jackson
Lina Ragelis prides herself on her bravery and strength, two traits that have served her well in her career in the US Army. Having been disconnected from her family since she turned eighteen, Lina has learned to rely solely on herself—and her slightly overbearing best friend—and she swears she prefers it that way.
It’s an easy lie for someone who has spent her entire life dodging love. Lina’s pretty certain that she’s damaged goods. But the truth is, she’s the kind of person everyone wants in their corner, and the kind of woman many women want to love.
Having had more than her fair share of challenges and hardships, there isn’t much that scares Lina. Life would be so much easier if she were afraid of something basic—like spiders—instead of something significant. Something like real, true, healthy love.
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Howl by Lucy Bexley
Lou McCallister owns Howl, the only surviving queer bar in Boston. When an investment opportunity to save the floundering bar is inadvertently sabotaged by Clementine Darby, Howl’s newest employee, Lou is ready to give up. Now Clem will do anything she can to make it right and keep Howl alive, but will she be able to save the bar in time? This sapphic Coyote Ugly reimagining brings the funny and the feels.
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A Whisper of Solace by Milena McKay
Neve Blackthorne, head of one of the most successful Studios in Hollywood, is the one to rule them all. Powerful, beautiful, and aloof, she’s ruthless, yet irresistible. Above all, she has an unquenchable survival instinct.
Surely a fleeting entanglement with one Audrey Avens, a bright, young, rising star in her company, won’t bring down the Wicked Queen of Tinseltown. Or will it?
Neve’s public persona has no chink in the untouchable armor, but when the lights go out and the cameras stop rolling, what becomes of an Ice Queen whose heart is ruled by love and fear?
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Safe Passage by Rachel Ford
For privateer Captain Magdalene Landon, it’s all about going big. For Kay Ellis, it’s about getting home. Together, they’re about to architect the most daring heist in the galaxy.
Kay knows too much. She knows it’s a matter of time before a Conglomerate hitman finds her. She’s desperate for safe passage back to Union space. Then Magdalene shows up, promising a way home in exchange for that information. It’s a risky bet, but Kay is out of options.
So she strikes a deal: the heist of the century for her freedom. Kay is playing a dangerous game, and she knows it. She’s made herself Enemy Number One of the Conglomerate. She’s relying on privateers for her safety.
It’s a fool’s game. But the worst part is, her fool’s heart is starting to warm to the enigmatic captain. And that’s a risk for which she hadn’t planned.
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Out of the Ashes by Rita Potter
When unusual seismic activity is detected on Mount St. Helens, volcanologist Nova “Cano” Kane, along with a team from the United States Geological Survey, is sent to investigate. The year is 1980, and there hasn’t been a large-scale eruption on the mountain in over one hundred years.
Dr. Allison “Allie” Albright is a prominent professor at the University of Washington where the seismic activity is being tracked. As more scientists pour into Seattle, she braces for the possible return of Cano.
Neither Allie nor Cano has fully recovered from their breakup four years earlier. Both live with the pain and regret of how their relationship ended. Maybe it’s best to leave it in the past and focus on the job at hand.
They must battle the limits of predictive science, the shortsightedness of bureaucracy, and the bias of the media, while fighting their complicated feelings for each other. As Mount St. Helens continues to churn, so too does their attraction.
Which will erupt first—the volcano or their feelings for each other?
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When It Feels Right by Tagan Shepard
Marlene Diggs has her whole life figured out and a ten-year plan for success. You know what’s not on that plan? A one-night stand with a woman who makes her question everything. How could she have spent thirty years not knowing she’s a lesbian? Her first lesbian relationship ends in disaster and leaves her even more confused than before. Of course, the lingering crush on a certain bartender doesn’t help.
Abby McCallister has always felt good in her own skin. It’s everyone else who has a problem. When yet another girlfriend labels her “too much,” another relationship bites the dust, and she winds up sleeping on the couch in her art studio. A cute regular at the bar offers up her spare room in exchange for some tips on fitting into the gay scene, and Abby jumps at the chance. What’s the worst that could happen?
Marlene and Abby know that falling for your roommate is the worst cliché ever, and it’s absolutely not going to happen to them. But resisting their feelings is hard to do when being together feels so right.
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Leveled by Serena J. Bishop
After having her travel papers stolen to research in India, Dr. Persephone ‘Perse’ Teixeira succumbs to living in her sister’s basement and working in retail. Just as she’s about ready to hit rock bottom, Perse is offered an opportunity to teach anthropology and history at Chesapeake Bay University. Perse is thrilled; now her only worry is managing her anxiety. However, that changes once she meets a science professor, Dr. Stefanie ‘Stef’ Blake.
Stef is cute, quick-witted, and a touch neurotic. She’s also very interested in dating Perse. When Perse declines her romantic advances because it is imperative that she focuses on her new job, Stef explains she has a relationship system that consists of six levels, which will ensure perfect compatibility before marriage. It’s casual, slow, and, really, what are the odds of getting to level six?
Perse is amused, yet intrigued by Stef’s analytical approach, and agrees to go out with her. But logic only goes so far and when feelings start to grow, Perse must contend with her anxiety issues, because history has taught her nothing good comes out of falling in love.
Are Perse and Stef compatible enough to get through the levels? Will Perse’s past cause her to run before they can find out? Or did Stef create the perfect system for happily ever after?
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Vicious Devotion by Aveda Vice
Her pack is destroyed. Her Alpha is dead. All that Pheir has left is rage.
According to the Conclave, that isn’t punishment enough. For her mutiny, she’ll be married into the enemy Timber pack and forced to abandon her old loyalties.
As far as Pheir’s concerned, being held captive is just a hitch in her plot for revenge. She will find a way to bring her former leader back from the dead. If the Timbers try to stop her, they’ll learn what happens to people who get in her way.
But the Timbers aren’t as united as they seem.
Even outside of Alpha Lev’s newly-assigned marriage, there’s tension between her most trusted officers. Aren and Caius are diametrically opposed, yet the three of them keep finding their way into each other’s beds.
Adding their rival, Pheir, to the mix is fuel to the fire – but the more they learn of their entwined histories, the less they recognize each other.
What if they aren’t the people they thought they were?
What if digging for each others’ weaknesses unearthed their own?
What if the restless feelings they have for each other have developed into something other than hate?
Available at:
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Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “imperfect sex” category!
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The post Sapphic books with imperfect sex (Book Unicorn #2) appeared first on Jae.
February 2, 2023
Sapphic book featuring a blind date (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #3)
This week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo features blind dates! Usually, the two main characters go on a blind date with each other, but you can also read a book in which the protagonist goes on a blind date with someone else.
Have you checked out “Blind Date with a Sapphic Book”?
Speaking of blind dates… Have you discovered my month-long event Blind Date with a Sapphic Book yet?
Every week of February, you can go on blind dates with 20 sapphic romances. Each book is either free, discounted, or part of a giveaway, giving you many opportunities to find your next literary love without breaking the bank!
Check out Blind Date with a Sapphic Book
15 sapphic books featuring a blind date
Here are my book recommendations for the “sapphic books featuring a blind date” category:
Blind Date at the Booklover’s Lair by Jae
Even though Tricia pens sapphic romances for a living, she hasn’t been out with a woman in forever. Her best friend sends her on a blind date in a bookstore, but the woman she meets in the LGBT section isn’t who Tricia thinks she is. What will happen when the wrong date turns out to be just right?
Available at:
Something in the Wine by Jae
All her life, Annie Prideaux has suffered through her brother’s constant practical jokes. But Jake’s last joke is one too many, she decides when he sets her up on a blind date with his friend Drew—neglecting to tell his straight sister one tiny detail: her date is not a man, but a lesbian.
Annie and Drew decide it’s time to turn the tables on Jake by pretending to fall in love with each other.
At first glance, they have nothing in common. Disillusioned with love, Annie focuses on books, her cat, and her work as an accountant while Drew, more confident and outgoing, owns a dog and spends most of her time working in her beloved vineyard.
Only their common goal to take revenge on Jake unites them. But what starts as a table-turning game soon turns Annie’s and Drew’s lives upside down as the lines between pretending and reality begin to blur.
Available at:
The Setup by TB Markinson
Can a weekend change your fate?
As soon as Rory Price’s plane touches down in Britain for her two-year work contract, she has big plans to see and experience everything she can. The one thing that isn’t on the twenty-seven-year old’s agenda is a relationship.
Tell that to her matchmaking British friend who sets Rory up on a coffee date on her first full day in the new country.
Imogen Wright doesn’t want any more complications in her life. The only thing she’s considering committing to is adopting a dog.
Their blind date starts off disastrous, but there might be more than meets the eye.
Will the two headstrong women continue to clash, or will they see what’s so obvious to their matchmaking friend?
Available at:
Falling Blindly by Abigail Taylor
Shay is an attractive tomboy with everything going for her except self-belief.
She works from home as a statistical analyst but spends all her free time working on her popular cult fan page, Lost-and-Found Girl, which doesn’t leave much time for socializing.
But everything changes when Shay meets Charlotte, an enthusiastic fan, who lives life to the fullest and loves Shay’s individuality.
As their online friendship develops, Shay’s confidence rises, and she begins to claim her life back, starting with finding her self-worth and eliminating people who didn’t belong in her life no matter how long they’d been there.
Available at:
The Game Changer by Finley Chuva
Elena Torres has it all. As a successful soccer star playing for the Denver Defiant, she has money, fame, and, best of all, gets to do her favorite thing for a living. Sure, she’s also a 31-year-old divorcée, has no idea how to go about dating again, and is still deciding how open to be about her recent autism diagnosis. But she’s dealing. Then Harper Wright arrives back in town, and Elena is surprised to discover she has more in common with her best friend’s little sister than she’d ever imagined. As much as she tries, she can’t seem to get those messy red curls and bright smiles out of her mind…
Harper Wright has a Plan with a capital P. Step one, get her new board game café up and running. Step two, stop subsisting entirely on muffins from the vegan bakery next door. Step three, stop thinking about Elena Torres, no matter how amazing her arms look in a tank top. Or that she’s beginning to look at Harper in a way she had only dreamed of back in high school. Starting something with Elena would be a disaster waiting to happen, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember why. After all, they’re grown-ups now. Elena isn’t looking for anything serious, but Harper will just have to be careful not to let her heart get involved…
Available at:
Tell Me What You Want by Johana Gavez
A failed blind date turns into the start of an unexpected connection.
Since her divorce four years before, love hasn’t been in the cards for Olivia Fernández. She focuses on work, her children, and the occasional fleeting encounter that never becomes more. The last thing she wants for Valentine’s Day is to be set up on yet another date that will end with her bed warm but her heart as lonely as ever.
Canceling the date arranged by her nosy friends should be simple and the end of any interaction with Isabela Santamaría, CEO of Santamaría Media. Except, life insists on putting Isabela on Olivia’s path and she can’t deny her attraction and the easy connection they share.
Not falling for the woman she initially rejected becomes harder than expected the more time they spend together and explore their chemistry in bed. Will passion turn into love for Olivia and Isabela?
Available at:
Waiting For You by Anne Hagan
What if the server was more appealing to you than your lunch date?
The Starlite Diner seemed like the perfect place for a blind date. Broad daylight. Good food. Great service. What could go wrong?
Marketer Kelly Dawson took herself out of the dating game after a failed engagement. She let a good friend talk her into a blind date. Some friend. Her date was late, and the time Kelly spent waiting on her was a better time than the half hour they spent together.
Alyssa Tyler is just helping out in her parents’ busy diner. An MBA candidate and future general manager of a Starlite Diner mini empire, she’s usually completely focused on operations and not on the front-end customer experience. Her focus changes when a gorgeous butch gets seated in her section for the lunch rush.
Kelly’s failed date is dispatched away quickly, but the journey to love for her and Alyssa won’t be as easy as pie.
Available at:
Love Is Enough by Cindy Rizzo
Angie Antonelli has the life she’s always wanted—a promising political career, a supportive family, and great friends. The one thing missing is what she hoped she’d have by now, a committed relationship with the woman of her dreams.
Jan Clifford has been taking a break from dating while she figures out how to create a life that is more fulfilling than the country club society of her parents and her job in the family’s investment firm.
When Angie and Jan are set up on a blind date to go sailing, the chemistry is immediate and the attraction undeniable, but each wonders if she can really fit into the other’s world. Can the politician who fights for the little guy make things work with the financier who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth?
Before it has time to get very far, this new relationship is put to the test. First, Angie must decide how she really feels when the woman who broke her heart many years ago suddenly comes back into her life. And then the worlds of politics and finance collide when Jan refuses to walk away from a business deal that threatens Angie’s re-election to a second term in Congress.
Can the intense connection they feel keep Angie and Jan together? Only hopeless romantics believe that love is enough. Or is it?
Available at:
Skimming around Murder by Edale Lane
Top detective Jenna Ferrari winds up with too much on her plate as Christmas approaches when she becomes entangled in three cases. Allowing her emotions to run amuck, she concludes there’s no use trying to pursue a new relationship with Randi.
Randi senses something is very wrong with Jenna and refuses to give up on them, but she consents to engaging in an experiment to date someone else.
Crimes overlap while Jenna struggles with feelings of guilt, remorse, and inadequacy. Can she accept the fact that even a strong woman needs help, or will her world shatter from the inside out?
Follow Lieutenant Ferrari as she tracks down multiple suspects while juggling a budding relationship in book two of the Lessons in Murder series. Maybe she’ll end up with a Christmas miracle of her own, affirming hers can also be a Wonderful Life.
Available at:
Matzo Match by Roz Alexander
After a brutal break-up, Sam is ready for a lot of things: spring, hosting on her own again, a casual fling or two. Sam is definitely not ready for anything real, but her best friend Virginia has decided she’s taken long enough. When loving encouragements aren’t enough, Virginia takes fate into her own hands.
With Passover just around the corner, will a surprise blind date, three celebrations in eight days, and approximately 100 glasses of wine be enough to finally move on?
After one taste of the hard-bodied, immaculately dressed butch Jordan, it just might be time. Too bad Jordan has her own baggage to work through.
Available at:
Month of Sundays by Yolanda Wallace
Love doesn’t always happen overnight; sometimes it takes a month of Sundays.
Conservative accountant Rachel Bauer is recovering from the abrupt end of a long-term relationship when she’s tossed into the dating pool against her will. Expecting to meet friends for drinks, she finds herself in the middle of a blind date with Griffin Sutton, the sexy celebrity chef with a reputation for being easy on the eyes but hard on the heart. Rachel isn’t interested in becoming the latest notch on Griffin’s well-worn bedpost so she rebuffs her advances. Griffin, who hasn’t met a woman she couldn’t seduce, decides the best way to Rachel’s reluctant heart is through her stomach. She offers to take her on a culinary trip around the world one Sunday at a time.
If Rachel accepts Griffin’s proposition, will she find more than a good meal?
Available at:
Magic in Her Touch by Kate McLay
She’s the baddest witch in town…
Darby Guerin hustles pool, gets in bar fights, and wears the mantle of black sheep and screw-up with pride. No way will she consent to an arranged marriage with some debutante from a rival witch family just to satisfy her mother. A night of passion with a beautiful stranger is more her speed. Her one night stand gets complicated when sparks fly and Darby can’t stop thinking about Mina.
Mina Poole never planned to return home…
Never is a long time, and when she finds herself back in town her mother insists that she bind herself to a stranger in the name of duty. Mina scoffs at her mother’s plans, and rushes into the arms of a beautiful, brawling woman at the local bar.
What’s a little danger between lovers?
A friend in need and a desperate rescue turn one passionate night into something neither Darby nor Mina expected. As their lives intertwine, their hearts collide and bind them together more tightly than their families could dream. And an unwanted match suddenly becomes just the thing that two lost women need more than anything.
Available at:
Nurturing Hope by Kara Ripley
Desiree Adler does not want a girlfriend. Why would she? She has a demanding career as a photographer and content creator, an eccentric but supportive family, and a huge responsibility as a foster parent to a teenager named Hope.
Desi’s life is just fine the way it is. Why risk another heartbreak?
However, Desi’s sister is annoyingly persistent and when she arranges a blind date for Desi, it’s less trouble to agree, get it over with, and return to normal life. The blind date is every bit as terrible as predicted. So why can’t Desi stop thinking about Soledad Reyes?
If Desi has any hope of finding balance in life, she must help Hope confront the ghosts of her past, while confronting her own assumptions about race, power, and identity in the present.
Available at:
30 Dates in 30 Days by Elle Spencer
Veronica Welch has made it. She’s about to be named a partner at one of the most prestigious law firms in New York City. She’s on top of the world, except for one tiny ridiculous thing: she promised herself she’d be married by thirty-five. After a drink too many, she accidentally lets her “life plan” slip to Bea, her steadfast, ever meddling assistant, and now Bea won’t let the idea go.
Rachel Monaghan doesn’t do serious relationships. As a busy wedding photographer, she’s jaded about lasting love, has a thriving repeat business, and hasn’t had much luck with love herself. While bartending at her cousin’s bar, Rachel learns of Bea’s plan to get her boss married off by scheduling thirty dates in thirty days.
In this sophisticated contemporary romance, Veronica Welch tries to find love in the most efficient way possible, while Rachel Monaghan avoids love at all costs. What could possibly go wrong?
Available at:
Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass.
Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy… a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle’s new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because… awkward.
Darcy begs Elle to play along and she agrees to pretend they’re dating. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family during the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a faux relationship. But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “sapphic book featuring a blind date” category!
The post Sapphic book featuring a blind date (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #3) appeared first on Jae.
January 19, 2023
Sapphic book with a bodyguard or security guard (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #2)
The bodyguard trope has been a staple in romance novels not just since the movie The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. It’s a popular trope in sapphic romance too.
For this category of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a book with a main character who’s either a bodyguard (often protecting the other main character) or works in security, e.g., as a security guard or a doorwoman.
Check out the rules & download your Sapphic Book Bingo card
If you haven’t done so already, check out the rules of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read the descriptions of the categories, and download your bingo card. Then come back here to take a look at my suggestions for the “bodyguard” square below.
15 sapphic books with a bodyguard or security guard
Here are my recommendations for the “bodyguard or security guard” category:
The Roommate Arrangement by Jae
Comedian Stephanie Renshaw hopes to finally get her big break in LA. A chance encounter lands her the perfect apartment close to the comedy clubs, but it comes with a catch: she needs a roommate to afford the rent.
Enter Rae Coleman, a former police officer working the door at one of the top comedy clubs. After getting injured in the line of duty and losing her job with the LAPD, Rae guards her wounded soul behind a tough exterior.
At first, the two clash horribly before a tentative friendship develops. Bit by bit, Steph manages to break through the walls Rae has built around her.
But Steph has never been in a relationship, preferring casual flings, and Rae isn’t sure she’s ready to be happy again. Will they find the courage to open themselves up to love?
Available at:
Keep Her Safe by Claire Highton-Stevenson
She’ll do whatever it takes…
Barely into her 30s, Laura Ryan was living the perfect life. She had everything she thought she wanted until the moment her mother-in-law passed away. Instead of leaving her fortune to Laura’s husband, her son, she skipped a generation and left the house and £5m to her granddaughter, under the supervision of her parents, who must both agree and sign for any spending on Sienna’s behalf…unless one of them were to die, then the other would have full control of the money.
So, is it a coincidence when the same blue car almost hits Laura three times? She doesn’t think so, but the police aren’t interested. When The Organisation hears about it, they jump in to offer help, and Cat Roger’s is dispatched, with one instruction: Keep Her Safe.
Cat Rogers had been with The Organisation for a while now. Her police background and sense of justice made her the ideal operative. In her 40s now, she’d seen her fair share of, mostly women, ignored by the laws of the land and left to their own devices, and she didn’t like it, not one bit. Especially someone as beautiful and endearing as Laura Ryan.
On the run for their lives, Cat soon discovers that attraction isn’t so easily ignored, and protecting Laura and Sienna soon becomes more than just a job.
Available at:
Elemental Attraction by K. Aten
Two people find themselves in a quandary: Aderri, a powerful dragon shifter with some light defensive magic, and Ellys, a half-elven swordswoman for hire, one of the best across the six nations.
When Aderri gets news that she must come home for the naming ceremony of a new hatchling, she’s forced to hire Ellys and her telepathic steed, Roccotári, to see her safely there. Of course, things are never as simple as they seem. Not only do they have to traverse the land between two kingdoms on the brink of war, but Aderri’s Clan expects her to return with a romantic interest. So, for the added promise of triple Ellys’s normal fee, the half-elf agrees to pretend to be Aderri’s suitor.
Ellys and Aderri have to convince a Clan full of magical mixed-shifters for a week that creatures of differing elements can burn with the flames of love, without actually lying. A situation made even more difficult by a matchmaking mare, steamy baths, and an innkeeper with mischief on the mind.
Caught between the weight of the past and expectations of the future, they must find their true destiny within the heat of fire.
Available at:
Ignis by KJ
Felicity Davis, principal of Rawson Girls Grammar School, is a passionate educator, an inspirational leader, some say even an ice queen, although she’s not sure about that last one. But one thing Felicity knows is that she is perfectly happy with her life. That is until the trauma, the darkness of her past, comes crashing into her present, revealing a deeply buried secret, and placing Felicity and those she loves in incredible danger. Inspector Tal Diamandis takes on the case, attempting to extinguish the flames of Felicity’s past before they consume her. Matters become complicated as Felicity and Tal realise their mutual spark of attraction but when they finally connect the shocking links, the explosive conclusion will leave everyone reeling.
Can Felicity play with fire or will the fire become an inferno?
Available at:
Glorious Day by Skye Kilaen
Elsenna Hazen left spaceport security and ended up a royal bodyguard. She should have known better than to fall in love with a princess.
It’s been two years since one ill-advised kiss in the garden pulled them apart. With uprisings in the streets, the nervous princess transfers Elsenna back into her service. Her Highness has no idea Elsenna is leaking data to the revolutionaries bent on overthrowing the princess’s oppressive father.
Now Elsenna wakes up each day wondering what will happen first: her own execution, or that of the woman she could never stop loving. When rebel attacks escalate and the king plans retaliation, Elsenna discovers that the fights for her love and her life are one and the same.
Available at:
The Bodyguard Affair by Anna Stone & Hildred Billings
Bianca Black lives a privileged but sheltered existence. The youngest daughter of the wealthiest family in Seattle, she yearns to spread her wings and gain her independence. So when her mother insists she get a personal bodyguard to protect her from a threat she refuses to explain, Bianca isn’t happy. Until she meets her protector.
Founder and CEO of Rainier Protection Services, Sam Reddy has built her bodyguard firm from the ground up. She and her team are the best there is. When she takes on Bianca Black as a client, she’s expecting it to be a simple job. A young heiress is no match for a hardened military veteran like Sam, whose past has taught her to never let down her impenetrable guard.
But Bianca has a way of getting under Sam’s skin. And Sam longs to put the bratty princess in her place in more ways than one.
Embroiled in a scorching hot game of push and pull, temptation ignites. But with a malicious stranger targeting Bianca’s family and a secret threatening to shatter her world, she and Sam risk losing everything—from their budding relationship to their lives.
Available at:
The Lesbian Billionaires Seduction by KC Luck
European billionaire Lila’s well-being, even quite possibly her life, is in danger. While keeping her promise to the club of no lovers for a year, she hides at extravagant locations around the world. Unfortunately, the threats still come and the billionaires decide she needs added protection. Only the woman they pick drives Lila wild with passion. Jael Nassar, the tall, dark, and handsome soldier from the Middle East is asked to take leave and serve undercover as her bodyguard.
When she joins Lila at a lavish and very private resort in the French Alps, Jael takes one look at the woman she must protect only to be struck with an undeniable desire. With a passion forbidden, how will Lila and Jael coexist while they crave each other? Will they be seduced by the burning chemistry pushing them together?
Available at:
Guarding Evelyn by Erin Zak
After an unfortunate incident and a forced leave of absence from the Secret Service, Arden Ryan is moving back to Chicago where she can get over her failures in the comfort of her childhood home. Her parents, who are lovely, if not a tad overbearing, will provide the support she needs. Healing is hard, though, and when she’s prodded by her best friend to get back out there, Arden reluctantly takes a job guarding one of Hollywood’s leading ladies, Evelyn Glass.
Evelyn Glass disappeared from the silver screen unexpectedly when she decided to have a family. At least that’s what the public thinks. She’s making a comeback, though. After landing a role as the star on a top-rated television show, she feels invincible once again. As her ego starts to grow, so does her fan base, and attention, unwanted and otherwise, comes from every direction.
Evelyn and Arden butt heads at every pass. Evelyn’s desire to prove herself puts her in harm’s way more than once, until a situation occurs that put her children’s lives at risk. Her change of heart regarding not just Arden’s protection, but the attraction simmering between them, will change her entire life.
Can Arden prove her love means more to Evelyn than fame before it’s too late?
Available at:
The Blood We Spill by Jo Havens
What would make the most ruthless ice-queen assassin in the Kingdom hesitate?
Bound to the Kingdom for life, Cie serves a cruel King, her knives pledged to his word, her life at his mercy. She is also one of the Kingdom’s most privileged slaves – one of the Praetoria: five of the best, sworn to protect the Prince and, one day, to rule at his side. It’s not a bad life – luxurious parties in any of the eighteen worlds, beautiful women falling over themselves to land in her bed, her orders to be obeyed by over forty-eight billion citizens.
But when a routine job goes spectacularly wrong, Cie discovers there is a witness to her failure – a witness to a political assassination the King would never want revealed. It’s Cie’s intense misfortune that the witness is a beauty – a woman with sweet, warm skin that Cie longs to sink into, with deep, brown eyes that hold promises that Cie has only ever dreamt of, a woman whose embrace offers a gentleness and a kindness Cie craves above all else.
Jemma thought she’d been in love before, but when she falls for the King’s assassin, she falls hard. Cie burns her up – the assassin plays fast and loves harder, and Jemma’s head is whirling even as her body is thrilled. Jemma watches as a growing terrorist threat pushes the King to madness and Cie’s orders become more and more violent. The woman she thinks she loves is steeped in red. Is it even possible for a girl from the suburbs to love a person so drenched in blood?
Available at:
Errant, Volume One by L. K. Fleet
Aspen Silverglade used to be a force for good, but now she’s just a sword for hire. On the run from the people she once trusted most, she needs to keep her head down and keep moving.
But old habits are hard to quit. One night in a tavern, Aspen tries to save a woman from some unwanted attention. The woman, Charm Linville, is in the middle of a subtle and delicate act of thievery, and she does not appreciate Aspen blundering in.
The disastrous and public rescue-gone-wrong makes the townspeople think Aspen and Charm are a couple. This mistake sets Aspen’s bloodthirsty betrayers on Charm’s trail, tying the two of them together.
Even if Aspen can’t run from her past any longer, Charm shouldn’t have to suffer. Despite Aspen’s determination to work alone, Charm insists on helping—and she has a past of her own. The two of them don’t care for each other’s methods, but as they journey through the villages and wildernesses of Falland, solving problems and meeting magical friends and foes, Aspen and Charm grudgingly come to care for each other. Can these two guarded, stubborn women admit their feelings, or will Aspen’s enemies kill them first?
Available at:
Her Royal Bodyguard by Margaux Fox
Following an accident, Sergeant Erin Kennedy gets the promotion of her life, becoming bodyguard to Princess Alexandra, the future Queen of the United Kingdom.
Rule Number One in the Bodyguard handbook is: Never fall in love with the client.
Princess Alexandra is due to marry a Prince. So, when Erin starts to secretly develop feelings for the charismatic Princess she knows it can only ever end in tears.
Erin finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into a tangled web of duty, responsibilities and secrets with the Princess.
How much pressure can both women take before they begin to break?
Available at:
Securing Ava by Anne Shade
Ava Prescott has had one goal in life, to carry on the Prescott legacy by taking the reins of Diamond Unlimited Wealth Management. Her father’s determination to uphold the company’s wholesome family image propels Ava into a reluctant fake relationship with Kyle, a man she’s sure is a threat to the business. When her father is the victim of a suspicious accident, Ava believes Kyle is responsible and has no choice but to run.
Paige Richards saw enough violence to last a lifetime during her years as a counterintelligence specialist. She’s ready for some peace on her ranch in Oklahoma and is paying the bills as a private investigator. Paige takes a case to locate and bring back runaway heiress Ava Prescott. It seems simple enough, until she stumbles upon a bungled kidnapping attempt and her peaceful life is turned upside down. Now she must use every skill she has to secure Ava.
As they try to figure out who is out to hurt Ava and her family, Paige and Ava fight to stay one step ahead of the threat and resist their growing attraction. But ignoring their feelings may prove impossible when their hearts and lives are at stake.
Available at:
Saving the Star by Rachel Bowdler
Hollywood actress Atlanta Stone has always been regarded as a vain, out-of-control party girl, and she’s more than happy to play that part. However, when she’s assigned a bodyguard after surviving a near-fatal robbery, she finds herself chafing against the sudden loss of her independence — the damsel-in-distress role has never been her style.
And close protection officer Beck Harris isn’t too fond of her new charge, either. As a bodyguard to celebrities, Beck has spent years perfecting her cool composure around the rich and famous, but when forced to handle a wily, superficial actress intent on pushing her boundaries, her professionalism is pushed to its limits.
Their clashing lifestyles and temperaments take a back seat when a string of attacks on Atlanta suggests that she has become more than a victim of a botched robbery — now she’s a target, and if Beck can’t figure out who’s behind it, they’ll never get the chance to see who they are behind the masks they’ve perfected.
Available at:
Deadly Secrets by VK Powell
Special Ops Agent Rafe Silva has always been a dedicated soldier, content in the military and jetting from one mission to the next. Her life is structured and clear of emotional entanglements until an old friend requests she provide protection for an industry whistle blower.
Jana Elliott had found her ideal career and a second home within the corporate environment of Alumicor until a coworker dies and Jana suspects the company is covering up a deadly secret. When she starts investigating, her boss quickly shuts her down. Jana is determined to uncover the truth even if it means risking her life. Her friend’s suggestion of a bodyguard seems like overkill, but then Rafe Silva shows up and their irresistible attraction changes everything.
Available at:
Secret Sanctuary by Nance Sparks
Alexandria Trenton is tired of living alone, but keeping secrets comes with a steep price. After growing up in witness protection, Alex is now a US deputy marshal specializing in protecting those awaiting trial. It’s a life that she simply can’t share, especially not when omitting the truth feels so wrong.
Alex’s world is turned upside down when her mentor passes away and his granddaughter, Elina Hawkins, shows up at the ranch the marshals are using to hide witnesses. Will the ranch be able to continue the sanctioned work? Or will she get a new assignment and be pulled away from the only place that feels like home? If she stays, can she resist the attraction she feels for Elina?
Even love has to wait when danger threatens everyone at the ranch. It’s the fight of Alex’s life to defend the secret sanctuary, and most importantly, protect Elina.
Available at:
Upcoming event
In February, I’ll be hosting a fun event called Blind Date with a Sapphic Book on my website. Each week, you can go on a blind date with 20 different sapphic books. There’ll be giveaways, free books & discounted books. If you’d like to get a reminder email each time a new round of books is available for you to discover, sign up for the reminders. They aren’t part of my newsletter or my blog, so you won’t get any other emails.
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the sapphic book with a bodyguard or security guard category!
The post Sapphic book with a bodyguard or security guard (Sapphic Book Bingo 2023 #2) appeared first on Jae.
January 12, 2023
Sapphic book with an ice queen who’s younger (Book Unicorn #1)
Welcome to the first Book Unicorn post of the Sapphic Book Bingo! The Book Unicorn categories of the Sapphic Book Bingo represent books with a harder-to-find theme, and the category we’re starting with is a true unicorn: ice queen characters who are younger than their love interest!
In sapphic romance, you’ll find a lot of books that combine an ice queen character with an age gap romance, but usually, it’s the ice queen who is older.
Since ice queens are in a position of power and often at the very top of the food chain in their profession, it takes them a while to get there. That means ice queens are often in their late thirties or forties or fifties. Of course, they could still fall in love with a woman who’s older, but most authors seem to prefer pairing their ice queens with younger love interests.
Download your Book Unicorn bingo card
A quick reminder: The Book Unicorn bingo card is an additional bingo card that you can tackle in addition to the regular bingo card or by itself. The goal is to read one book for each of the 12 squares of the Book Unicorn card. If you haven’t done so already, download your Book Unicorn bingo card here. The PDF is clickable, so you can fill in the titles of the books you read on your computer, or you can print it out and fill it in by hand.
More recommendations for the Sapphic Book Bingo
If you need more book suggestions, here are a few places where you’ll find them:
My Facebook group for readers. We have a folder to which authors are adding their book cards, showing you where their books fit into the Sapphic Book Bingo categories.The Sapphic Book Bingo Goodreads group .I put together a page that lists how my own books fit into the Sapphic Book Bingo as well as the IHS Reading Challenge categories.The Ylva Publishing book bingo list shows how the Ylva books fit into the squares of the reading challenge.Sapphic books with an ice queen who is younger than her love interest
Here are my book recommendations for the “ice queen who is younger” category. It’s a much shorter list than usual because younger ice queens are so rare!
Next of Kin by Jae
For years, ambitious Deputy District Attorney Kade Matheson has taken case files and law books, not lovers, to bed, ignoring her personal life in favor of her career. When she finds herself with a stalker, she tries to handle the situation the way she always does: on her own.
Lieutenant Del Vasquez has admired the standoffish lawyer for a while, and she’s determined to protect her at all costs.
When Kade’s stalker situation escalates and she and Del have to hide at her mother’s, Kade is finally forced to face her attraction to women for the very first time.
Suddenly, she’s no longer sure which one is more dangerous—the threat to her life or to her heart?
Available at:
The Awkward Truth by Lee Winter
This funny opposites-attract lesbian romance digs up the awkward truth about what really matters in life.
Ambitious ice queen and corporate lawyer Felicity Simmons has spent her life focused on one thing: scuttling up the career ladder. She’s achingly close to taking charge of a media empire for her boss when she’s sent to investigate a South Bronx charity that helps homeless people’s pets.
Has the charity made off with her boss’s generous donation? And who on earth is that gorgeous soft-butch veterinarian who looks as if she could toss a Shetland pony over one shoulder? Not that Felicity has any interest in some opinionated Amazon or her adorable fleabag of a dog.
Felicity is quite sure she will not be distracted, thank you very much. She has a minor mystery to solve, a mentor to impress, and her life’s dream to fulfil. Even if a distraction might be exactly what she needs.
Available at:
Kissed by Her by Chelsea M. Cameron
I was so looking forward to this summer. My job as a nanny for eleven-year-old twins means never a dull moment, and I’m excited about hanging out with my best friend, Joy, and reading all the books we can get our hands on next to my employer’s fabulous pool.
Then my boss goes and hires a new assistant who is clearly gunning to be his second wife. Honor Conroy could not be more obvious in her motives and I can’t understand how he doesn’t see it.
She keeps getting under my skin, and even the twins are pulling pranks to try and get her out of their lives. I deny any involvement when their father finds out about their hijinks.
Then Honor decides to invade my book club—my sanctuary. I’ve had it, so I decide to confront her and, somehow, in the heat of the moment, her lips end up on mine in the fiercest kiss I’ve ever had in my life.
Turns out the gold-digger I imagined isn’t the real Honor, and my heart may never recover from finding out who she really is under that ice-queen facade.
Available at:
Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler
As Olympic snowboarder Corey LaCroix and skier Elise Brandies ride the razor’s edge between victory and defeat on the slopes, they also face a heat neither of them is prepared for in their safe worlds of snow and ice. The stakes become steeper than any mountain either of them will ever face when legacies and hearts collide at breakneck speed.
Available at:
Evermore (A Mystic Meteor Tale Book 2) by Elle Hyden
In Book Two of this Mystic Meteor Tale, the meddling spirit Lily is back in matchmaking mode, working with a few new cohorts to help two women find their Evermore.
Raven, a reclusive but wealthy video game developer, needs more than just a paid caretaker; she needs true healing to melt the cold core of her deeply wounded heart. She’s lived her entire life without love and trusts no one. Only once did Raven allow anyone close, but it wasn’t to be, and she vowed Nevermore!
Lynn, a gifted empath, seeks a safe haven not only for herself but for a little girl that she’s sworn to protect. Like Raven, she experienced an early childhood rejection. Although she didn’t close herself off to others, Lynn has never shared herself entirely with another. It has kept her moving on from one relationship to another.
The advent of a spectral raven starts these women down a path that can potentially redress these old hurts if only they can open their hearts to each other. Join these two women in their quest to discover if the spirits and fate will bring them together or tear them apart.
Available at:
Coming soon: Sapphic books with a younger ice queen that will be published in 2023 Inside These Halls by Adrian J. Smith (out in August 2023) Playing by the Rules by Finley Chuva (out in September 2023)
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “younger ice queen” category! If you know of a sapphic book with an ice queen who’s younger than her love interest, please let me know, and I’ll add it to the list.
Subscribe to this blog to get future Sapphic Book Bingo posts
If you’d like to get all future Sapphic Book Bingo posts sent to your in-box, subscribe to my blog.
The post Sapphic book with an ice queen who’s younger (Book Unicorn #1) appeared first on Jae.
Sapphic book with an ice queen who’s younger
Welcome to the first Book Unicorn post of the Sapphic Book Bingo! The Book Unicorn categories of the Sapphic Book Bingo represent books with a harder-to-find theme, and the category we’re starting with is a true unicorn: ice queen characters who are younger than their love interest!
In sapphic romance, you’ll find a lot of books that combine an ice queen character with an age gap romance, but usually, it’s the ice queen who is older.
Since ice queens are in a position of power and often at the very top of the food chain in their profession, it takes them a while to get there. That means ice queens are often in their late thirties or forties or fifties. Of course, they could still fall in love with a woman who’s older, but most authors seem to prefer pairing their ice queens with younger love interests.
Download your Book Unicorn bingo card
A quick reminder: The Book Unicorn bingo card is an additional bingo card that you can tackle in addition to the regular bingo card or by itself. The goal is to read one book for each of the 12 squares of the Book Unicorn card. If you haven’t done so already, download your Book Unicorn bingo card here. The PDF is clickable, so you can fill in the titles of the books you read on your computer, or you can print it out and fill it in by hand.
More recommendations for the Sapphic Book Bingo
If you need more book suggestions, here are a few places where you’ll find them:
My Facebook group for readers. We have a folder to which authors are adding their book cards, showing you where their books fit into the Sapphic Book Bingo categories.The Sapphic Book Bingo Goodreads group .I put together a page that lists how my own books fit into the Sapphic Book Bingo as well as the IHS Reading Challenge categories.The Ylva Publishing book bingo list shows how the Ylva books fit into the squares of the reading challenge.Sapphic books with an ice queen who is younger than her love interest
Here are my book recommendations for the “ice queen who is younger” category. It’s a much shorter list than usual because younger ice queens are so rare!
Next of Kin by Jae
For years, ambitious Deputy District Attorney Kade Matheson has taken case files and law books, not lovers, to bed, ignoring her personal life in favor of her career. When she finds herself with a stalker, she tries to handle the situation the way she always does: on her own.
Lieutenant Del Vasquez has admired the standoffish lawyer for a while, and she’s determined to protect her at all costs.
When Kade’s stalker situation escalates and she and Del have to hide at her mother’s, Kade is finally forced to face her attraction to women for the very first time.
Suddenly, she’s no longer sure which one is more dangerous—the threat to her life or to her heart?
Available at:
The Awkward Truth by Lee Winter
This funny opposites-attract lesbian romance digs up the awkward truth about what really matters in life.
Ambitious ice queen and corporate lawyer Felicity Simmons has spent her life focused on one thing: scuttling up the career ladder. She’s achingly close to taking charge of a media empire for her boss when she’s sent to investigate a South Bronx charity that helps homeless people’s pets.
Has the charity made off with her boss’s generous donation? And who on earth is that gorgeous soft-butch veterinarian who looks as if she could toss a Shetland pony over one shoulder? Not that Felicity has any interest in some opinionated Amazon or her adorable fleabag of a dog.
Felicity is quite sure she will not be distracted, thank you very much. She has a minor mystery to solve, a mentor to impress, and her life’s dream to fulfil. Even if a distraction might be exactly what she needs.
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Kissed by Her by Chelsea M. Cameron
I was so looking forward to this summer. My job as a nanny for eleven-year-old twins means never a dull moment, and I’m excited about hanging out with my best friend, Joy, and reading all the books we can get our hands on next to my employer’s fabulous pool.
Then my boss goes and hires a new assistant who is clearly gunning to be his second wife. Honor Conroy could not be more obvious in her motives and I can’t understand how he doesn’t see it.
She keeps getting under my skin, and even the twins are pulling pranks to try and get her out of their lives. I deny any involvement when their father finds out about their hijinks.
Then Honor decides to invade my book club—my sanctuary. I’ve had it, so I decide to confront her and, somehow, in the heat of the moment, her lips end up on mine in the fiercest kiss I’ve ever had in my life.
Turns out the gold-digger I imagined isn’t the real Honor, and my heart may never recover from finding out who she really is under that ice-queen facade.
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Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler
As Olympic snowboarder Corey LaCroix and skier Elise Brandies ride the razor’s edge between victory and defeat on the slopes, they also face a heat neither of them is prepared for in their safe worlds of snow and ice. The stakes become steeper than any mountain either of them will ever face when legacies and hearts collide at breakneck speed.
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Evermore (A Mystic Meteor Tale Book 2) by Elle Hyden
In Book Two of this Mystic Meteor Tale, the meddling spirit Lily is back in matchmaking mode, working with a few new cohorts to help two women find their Evermore.
Raven, a reclusive but wealthy video game developer, needs more than just a paid caretaker; she needs true healing to melt the cold core of her deeply wounded heart. She’s lived her entire life without love and trusts no one. Only once did Raven allow anyone close, but it wasn’t to be, and she vowed Nevermore!
Lynn, a gifted empath, seeks a safe haven not only for herself but for a little girl that she’s sworn to protect. Like Raven, she experienced an early childhood rejection. Although she didn’t close herself off to others, Lynn has never shared herself entirely with another. It has kept her moving on from one relationship to another.
The advent of a spectral raven starts these women down a path that can potentially redress these old hurts if only they can open their hearts to each other. Join these two women in their quest to discover if the spirits and fate will bring them together or tear them apart.
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Coming soon: Sapphic books with a younger ice queen that will be published in 2023 Inside These Halls by Adrian J. Smith (out in August 2023) Playing by the Rules by Finley Chuva (out in September 2023)
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Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “younger ice queen” category! If you know of a sapphic book with an ice queen who’s younger than her love interest, please let me know, and I’ll add it to the list.
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The post Sapphic book with an ice queen who’s younger appeared first on Jae.
