Jae's Blog, page 19
October 14, 2021
Adventure in nature (Sapphic Reading Challenge #40)
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features sapphic books with an adventure in nature.
The book’s plot revolves around an outdoor adventure, e.g., hiking, kayaking, rafting, sailing, rock climbing, snow-shoeing, etc., or just trying to survive in nature.
It could be a planned trip the characters are taking together for fun, or it could be a fight for survival in the wilderness.
Before I share the book list for the “adventure in nature” category, I would like to share a free book with you. If you don’t already have my paranormal romance Second Nature, you can download it for free on Amazon worldwide this week. It’s book 1 of my Shape-Shifter Romance series.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
15 sapphic books with an adventure in nature
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books that have the characters go on some kind of adventure in nature. I hope you find at least one you’ll enjoy.
Backwards to Oregon by Jae
“Luke” Hamilton has always been sure that she’d never marry. She accepted that she would spend her life alone when she chose to live her life disguised as a man.
After working in a brothel for three years, Nora Macauley has lost all illusions about love. She no longer hopes for a man who will sweep her off her feet and take her away to begin a new, respectable life.
But now they find themselves married and on the way to Oregon in a covered wagon, with two thousand miles ahead of them.
Available at:
Wildwater Rendezvous by Kim Baldwin
Danger, destiny, and romance on the river.A wilderness kayak adventure brings together two very different women—Chaz Herrick, a laid-back outdoorswoman, and Megan Maxwell, a workaholic news executive.
As they battle the challenges of nature for survival, they discover that true love may be nothing at all like they imagined.
Available at:
The Stars at Night by Gerri Hill
Self-described city girl Lexie Walton is a million miles from nowhere and completely out of her element.
Park ranger Kyler Clemons had loved the vibe and the beach of Mustang Island. Getting caught with her boss’s wife, however, got her transferred to the wild and remote Davis Mountains State Park—literally in the middle of nowhere. Now after four years, she’s forgotten about the beach and has embraced the mountain life, feeling like a local. She hangs out at the Cottonwood Creek Bar and Grill. She watches football with Mark Walton. She’s taken up birdwatching and stargazing as hobbies. She is perfectly content. No stress. No drama. And no desire to date.
Then Lexie Walton waltzes into her life.
After losing her cushy job in Austin―and unable to find another one―Lexie accepts her parents’ offer to join them and her brother in running a rustic lodge and restaurant in the remote Davis Mountains of West Texas. Hesitant to commit to such a drastic move, she agrees to a trial run―two months. Two months would get her through Christmas and the New Year. Her friends thought she was foolish to make such a move. There was no nightlife, no parties, no spin class, and no green smoothies. And no chance of dating. That was a plus, however. After her breakup with Crazy Cathy, she wanted no part of the dating game. This remote area would do nicely.
But then she meets this cute, tree-hugging park ranger who turns her world completely upside down.
Available at:
Flight to the Horizon by Julie Tizard
Airline captain Kerri Sullivan has a perfect life. Only one thing is missing—a woman to share it with. She’s had plenty of women on the road to success, but she’s never met “the one.” Flight attendant Janine Case is beautiful beyond measure, but comes across as aloof and untouchable. When Kerri and Janine are crewmembers on a flight to Hawaii, an unexpected kiss leads to smoldering attraction.
After Kerri is forced to make an emergency water landing mid-flight and the two women survive a harrowing rescue mission, all Kerri wants to do is follow her heart into Janine’s arms. But Jeanine is hiding a dark secret from her past, one that makes falling in love impossible. She’s on the run from her abusive ex-husband, and she’ll stop at nothing to protect her daughter, even if the cost is her own happiness.
Available at:
Cowgirl 101 by Laina Villeneuve
What Jo Harding loves most about the summer is being able to retreat from annoying humans. Though her friends say she’d be happier with someone sleeping by her side, she insists that all she needs to be happy are her mules, her dog, and a trail into the backcountry. She has absolutely no time to teach the incompetent, if attractive, newcomer.
Daisy Lucero is an eager student from the start. Hired for work in the café, her real dream is to explore the High Sierra wilderness on horseback. While she would love to earn the respect of the handsome woman who inspired her adventure, she may have to settle for pestering her with songs and questions.
In the vast classroom of the California wilderness, each woman finds herself tested. Tests of perseverance for Daisy as she learns to ride, and tests of patience as Jo considers whether life is about more than riding alone.
It doesn’t take either of them long, however, to realize that neither one of them needs a lesson in chemistry.
Available at:
In the Company of Crocodiles by Maggie Brown
Two strong-willed women are fighting for survival in a primitive wilderness of venomous snakes, stinging insects, and crocodile-infested swamps. Too bad those are the least of their worries.
After being severely wounded in a covert operation, ex-Australian Secret Service officer Vivian Andrews has built a quiet life for herself in a small fishing village in Northern Queensland. Or so she believes, until she discovers a rotting corpse in the mangroves. An angry crocodile drags the body away, but not before Vivian snags the man’s money belt which contains nearly $75,000—and a phone number that Vivian knows all too well.
At the police station to report her discovery, Vivian finds two government agents who are looking for her. A young man has gone missing and they need an experienced guide to help them negotiate the terrain to find him. Vivian knows they aren’t telling her the whole story but is attracted to the idea of returning to action—and to behavioral scientist Claire Walker.
When Claire’s partner is injured, tough, resilient Vivian and smart, intuitive Claire must use every skill they possess to complete their mission despite nearly impenetrable walls of vegetation, trails that lead to deadly traps, the damp simmering heat—and another kind of heat neither of them wishes to acknowledge. Could the woman sleeping next to you be a master thief…or worse?
Available at:
All at Sea by Cheyenne Blue
Stevie Sterling is having a day from hell. Snubbed—yet again—by her unsupportive parents, she runs out on their posh party and takes refuge on a deserted yacht. Waking the next day with the world’s worst hangover, Stevie finds herself far from shore.
As if being trapped on the yacht in only her party dress isn’t bad enough, Stevie’s frantic that she’ll miss the first day of her new job as a nurse. She has so much to prove in her career—to herself and her parents.
The yacht’s cute but unimpressed captain, Kaz Malone—an eco-warrior who hits the seas with Sinbad the cat—is on a mission: There’s a nuclear-waste-dumping tanker to harass.
Kaz is as single-minded as she is stubborn and she’s not about to turn around for some stowaway with a new job. Hell, no. Saving the planet comes first.
But perhaps there’s more than one way to a destination?
Available at:
Turn Again To Life by A. Zukowski
I stared at the photographs, mesmerised by the mystery of the two women. Their bodies and skin have been frozen in time, turned porcelain white and uncovered on the north face of Mont Blanc. They were once lost to the eternal silence of the snowy peaks, waiting to tell their stories.
Who were these two unknown mountaineers to each other, and why were they summiting unaided, alone at the pinnacle of wilderness? My search unfolds as a love affair in early twentieth-century England comes to life.
Available at:
Desolation Point by Cari Hunter
“He’s going to find me,” Sarah whispered. “He’s going to find me before you do.”
One wrong step in Los Angeles leaves Alex Pascal scarred and traumatized, unable to continue the career she loves.
In England, a drunk driver shatters Sarah Kent’s family.
For Sarah, leaving England to explore the North Cascades is an opportunity to regain her health and her confidence, while Alex has already abandoned LA to make the mountains her home. Drawn to the beauty and history of Desolation Peak, Sarah is hiking alone when a storm leaves her stranded. Determined to track her down, Alex heads into the wilderness, never anticipating the terrible danger she will face. Because Sarah is already running for her life, fleeing from a ruthless criminal with a mission to complete and nothing left to lose. With everything stacked against them, neither woman expects to survive, let alone fall in love. All they have to do now is find a way out.
Available at:
Rock and a Hard Place by Andrea Bramhall
Expert mountain climber Jayden Harris has the world at feet until an avalanche at Everest base camp sweeps it all out from under her. She wants nothing more to do with the mountains, and turns her back on it all.
Rhian Phillips is a successful London marketing executive who has the chance of a lifetime fall in her lap. She’s sent to produce a reality TV series on competitive climbers, while showcasing the stunning beauty of a Patagonian glacier and the Cerro Fitz Roy range.
An accident brings Jayden and Rhian together, and outside pressures keep them at each other’s sides. When you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place eventually something has to give. The one thing they never counted on was them both wanting to stay together.
Available at:
Some Kind of River by Andi Marquette
River rafting guide and kayaking nut Dez Parker figures her best friend Mel Hammond just isn’t into her romantically, which bums Dez out because they’ll be spending the summer guiding together and Mel seems like the right kind of woman for her. Then again, Dez doesn’t want to ruin a friendship by admitting her feelings to Mel.
That changes when she finds out that Mel might be interested in someone, and Dez is torn between wanting to take a chance and respecting Mel’s choice. Is it really too late for Dez? Or is there something she doesn’t know? Whichever it is, a summer on the river isn’t always a smooth ride.
Available at:
Broken Trails by D. Jordan Redhawk
Scotch Fuller has already run the Iditarod three times and is preparing for a fourth attempt. Her single-minded focus on the rigors of training allows her to forget the shocking loss of her lover in a tragedy for which she blames herself.
The only race Lainey Hughes runs is away from her past and into the bottom of a bottle. After a devastating injury in a war zone, she’s continued her photojournalist career in the natural beauty and warmth of Uganda. A trip to Alaska to cover dog sledding is not what she wants, but the lure of a paying gig proves too tempting.
Lainey trusts her camera and Scotch trusts her dogs—and neither cares much what the other thinks…not at first.
Available at:
Murphy’s Law by Yolanda Wallace
Mountain climbing guide Samantha “Sam” Murphy likes to tout her safety record. In the ten years she has led climbers on excursions up the world’s most treacherous peaks, she has never lost a client. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t lost someone even more important.
Surgeon and philanthropist Olivia Bradshaw hires Sam’s company to lead her handpicked team on a fundraising climb of Annapurna, the world’s most dangerous mountain. For Olivia, for the donors who have pledged money to her charitable foundation, and for the underprivileged masses she is seeking to help, failure is not an option.
Secrets abound and danger lurks at every elevation. Will Olivia’s attraction to taciturn Sam get in the way of the expedition’s success or will Mother Nature have the final say?
Available at:
Right Out of Nowhere by Laurie Salzler
Roni Oatman belongs to a crew that conducts Search and Rescue Operations for the Forestry Service deep in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. They save lost people, but Roni is a bit lost herself. She’s a loner who loves a woman she can’t have.
When the SAR crew is short a member, Selena Ayala is assigned to fill the empty spot. Still on the rebound from a sudden breakup with her girlfriend, Selena has issues of her own. But she has to find a way to gain the crew’s trust, and gain it quickly.
Often the missions in this rugged and unyielding wilderness are matters of life and death, and the SAR members have to be able to depend on each other. Just when Roni and Selena are forming a tentative friendship, Selena’s ex shows up, leaving both Selena and Roni with uneasy questions. Can the two women search deep within to rescue themselves and to find love right out of nowhere?
Available at:
Capsized by Julie Cannon
In the middle of a three-week fishing trip, commercial fisherman Roberta (Bert) Coughlin rescues Alissa Cooper from her burning yacht and has no choice but to take the pampered rich girl along.
Alissa and Bert are from very different worlds. Bert struggles to succeed with the whims of Mother Nature. Alissa owns a successful advertising agency and is the epitome of high class and high fashion. When Alissa volunteers to help on the boat, Bert is more than a little surprised at how well she does.
The attraction between them grows, and one stormy night their pent-up desires crash together like the waves against the ship. When the ship returns to port, both women realize their lives are too different for anything other than their brief affair. They are simply too different. Their families are too different. Their lives too different. Then why do they keep coming back to each other?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “adventure in nature” category!
The post Adventure in nature (Sapphic Reading Challenge #40) appeared first on Jae.
October 7, 2021
Girl-next-door character (Sapphic Reading Challenge #39)
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features sapphic books with a girl-next-door character.
“Girl next door” doesn’t mean that the main characters need to actually be neighbors and live door-to-door. It means that one of the main characters is the “girl next door” type—sweet, kind, and unpretentious. She’s generally well-liked by everyone, and she’s often described as pretty or cute, but usually, she’s not movie-star stunning.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
15 sapphic books with a girl-next-door character
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books with a girl-next-door character. I hope you find at least one you’ll enjoy.
Not the Marrying Kind by Jae
Small-town florist Ashley Gaines loves her little flower shop and putting together the perfect bouquets for weddings and other happy occasions. Her own love life, however, is far from blossoming. Ash has decided that staying in the closet is safer than risking her heart again.
Local bakery owner Sasha Peterson hasn’t had much luck mixing it up with romance either. Besides, she’s too busy whipping up delicious treats to have time for a relationship.
But when their town’s first lesbian wedding forces them to work together, Ashley and Sasha discover they have more in common than they imagined.
During food fights, cake tastings, and slow waltzes, they begin to see each other in a new light. Soon Ashley has to admit to herself that Sasha is tempting more than just her sweet tooth.
Available at:
16 Steps to Forever by Georgia Beers
If there’s one thing Brooke Sullivan knows for sure it’s that people let you down, but that hasn’t stopped her from going after the life she wants. In a new city, with a new job and a new start as a high-end real estate agent, she’s finally back on her feet. The last thing she needs is a distraction. Not her volatile neighbors, not a damn stray cat, and certainly not the flaky, infuriatingly adorkable girl-next-door property stager she has to work with.
Macy Carr believes in soul mates and true love. She knows because she had it all until a freak accident took the love of her life. She’s doing okay though, surrounded by her family, her animals, and her BFFs. Home staging gives her a sense of control, and she’s made her job her happy place. If only the super sexy, super cold new agent working for Macy’s biggest client wasn’t determined to ruin that.
Available at:
Poppy Jenkins by Clare Ashton
Poppy Jenkins makes everyone smile. She’s the heart of Wells, a beautiful village in mid-Wales, leaving light and laughter in her wake. She has a doting family, an errant dog and a little sister with a nose for mischief. But she’s the only gay in the village and it’s a long time since she kissed a girl: the chance of romance in sleepy Wells is rarer than a barking sheep.
If she doesn’t think too hard, life is cosy, until a smart sports car barrels into town with the last woman Poppy wants to see behind the wheel. Beautiful Rosalyn Thorn was once Poppy’s high school BFF even though she was trouble. Then one day she abandoned Wells and Poppy without explanation. Now the highflier is back and bound to cause fresh havoc in the village and with Poppy’s heart; folk are not happy.
Wells needs to wake up to the 21st century and Rosalyn can help, but old prejudices die hard. If they can be friends it could be the chance to make everyone’s happy ever after. Couldn’t it?
Available at:
Breaking Character by Lee Winter
Life has become a farcical mess for icy British A-lister Elizabeth Thornton. America’s most-hated villain stars in a top-rated TV medical drama that she hates. Now, she’s been romantically linked to her perky, new co-star, Summer, due to the young woman’s clumsiness.
As a closeted actress, that’s the last thing Elizabeth needs. If she could just get her dream movie role, life would be so much better. The only problem is that the eccentric French film-maker offering it insists on meeting her “girlfriend”, Summer, first.
Summer Hayes is devastated when her co-star shuns her for accidentally sparking rumors they’re lovers. Now the so-called British Bitch has the audacity to ask Summer to pretend to be her girlfriend to get her a role? Elizabeth doesn’t even like Summer! Oh, how she’d love to tell her no. And Summer definitely would if it wasn’t for the fact she’s maybe a tiny bit in love with the impossible woman.
Available at:
Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden
Margaret Beringer didn’t have an easy adolescence. She hated her name, was less than popular in school, and was always cast aside as a “farm kid.” However, with the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret’s youth sparked into color. Courtney was smart, beautiful, and put together—everything Margaret wasn’t. Who would have imagined that they’d fit together so perfectly?
But first loves can scar.
Margaret hasn’t seen Courtney in years and that’s for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she’s tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn’t help matters.
Available at:
The Flaw In Our Design by Monica McCallan
Olivia Carver’s life in Lake Cabot, New York is simple. That’s how she likes it, even if she can’t stop the town she loves from being overrun by wealthy tourists each summer. When she’s not working at her family’s paddleboard shop or spending time with her lovable but infuriating brothers, she puts her energy into writing professionally, a dream that has yet to materialize.
Valerie Maycomb used to summer in Lake Cabot with her family when she was younger, until school and planning for her future became the driving forces in her existence. For the first time in years, following her college graduation, she’s spending a few months in the small, lakeside town she loved as a child. All she wants is a little time to decompress before law school in the fall and maybe even strike up the courage to talk to a woman.
A chance meeting at the lake opens up the possibility of a summer romance, with the explicit understanding that it can’t become something more. Olivia’s not built for falling in love, and Val needs to keep her eye on the prize of a successful career. But neither of them can deny the attraction, and summer quickly takes on a life of its own.
Available at:
Rough Around The Edges by Crystal Chard
Roxanne Mackenzie is not exactly living her best life. After moving to London to follow her dream of becoming a writer, she thought things would be different – better. Instead, they’re a whole lot worse.
Meeting Josie Calhoun – the woman who has everything together, including the top button of her shirt – makes Roxy question how she’s been living her life.
Josie can’t bear lies and values trust above all else, so what will she make of Roxy’s scandalous truth?
Available at:
Home by Kris Bryant
To say Sheriff Natalie Strand is shocked that Sarah Eastman, the girl who kissed her at a high school party, is back in town would be a huge understatement. Between Sarah’s return and a stray dog that gets the best of her, Natalie’s world is suddenly turned upside down.
They say you can’t go home again, but that’s exactly what Sarah does when she returns to Spruce Mountain, Oregon, to live with her aunt and uncle after her divorce. All she wants is peace and to ensure her daughter, Harley, has stability. Seeing Natalie again after seventeen years ignites a passion that she hasn’t felt in a long time. Never mind that her heart tumbles in her chest or that she forgets words when Natalie’s around, she needs to focus on her family and getting her life back together.
Natalie and Sarah are about to discover that anything is possible when love takes the long way home.
Available at:
What Happened in Vegas by Claire Highton-Stevenson
Molly Day’s life is usually pretty uncomplicated, but after a series of hapless romances, she finds herself being packed off by her employees for some well-deserved vacation time in Vegas.
She had planned to soak up the sun, take in some shows, and enjoy being free and single again, but only Molly could end up married to a stranger!
Anna Garcia has a career and a life plan all set out, which doesn’t include meeting Molly.
What starts off as dinner results in a night of tequila, great sex, and wedding rings.
This is a marriage of inconvenience for both of them, but getting it annulled isn’t quite as simple as Anna thinks. Panicked, she returns to LA, leaving Molly with no way of contacting her, and her only option is to return home and try to forget all about the best mistake of her life.
So, when Anna turns up at Molly’s coffee shop four months later, Molly is convinced she’s there for a divorce. How wrong could she be? Anna wants to give it a go!
Can two people fall in love when they’re already married, or will it just be something that happened in Vegas?
Available at:
Rocks and Stars by Sam Ledel
For Kyle Lindsay, life is simple. She comes from the ideal suburban family—two hardworking parents, a geeky younger brother, and a supportive best friend. But everything changes when Kyle starts having those kind of thoughts about her soccer teammate.
Things don’t get any easier when college starts and she heads off to play for a Division I squad. Figuring out how to pass her classes is one thing. Figuring out herself and the other girls on her team, a whole other ball game.
Kyle’s struggle to own who she is and what she really wants may end up landing her on the bench and without the woman of her dreams.
Available at:
Love Burns by Adrian J. Smith
Kimberly Thompson—or Kim Burns, her stage name—is a celebrity chef whose career is taking off. As a single mom who has a penchant for being a bit of a bitch, she goes through nannies like the flavor of the month until Becca Kline is sent to her by Kiddie Academy.
Becca—known as ‘the fixer’—is often sent to homes considered to be troublemakers. In charge of caring for four-year-old Michael, she is determined to make this job her last before student teaching in the fall and finishing up her degree, which she has been working on for the better part of a decade.
Neither Kimberly nor Becca are prepared for the changes headed toward them, and they both have to learn the hard way that love doesn’t wait or discriminate.
Available at:
Without Warning by KG MacGregor
On a day that begins like any other, a violent earthquake strikes Los Angeles, plunging the region into chaos. Two strangers, trapped in a collapsed shopping mall, find each other amid the rubble and join forces to escape. Hampered by injury and darkness, they dig and claw their way through one crumbled store after another, emerging long after most have given up hope for survivors.
The ordeal leaves both women shaken, but their shared triumph sets them on a life-changing course together, igniting a connection like neither has ever known.
Anna Kaklis—whose perfectly planned life never included falling in love with another woman—is thrown for a loop, but she doesn’t doubt her heart.
Lily Stewart—abandoned too many times by people she trusted—won’t let herself believe that Anna’s love will endure.
Available at:
Wasted Heart by Lynn Galli
Austy Nunziata has spent two years pining for her married best friend and about the same amount of time berating herself for it. In fact, she’s so adept at trying to stamp out her feelings that she could probably write a How-To guide on the subject. One, move 3,000 miles away from your best friend. Two, get a time-consuming job so you don’t have time to think about your best friend. Three, hang out with new friends who aren’t anywhere as enchanting as your best friend. Four, get involved with a striking woman who is smart, sexy, caring and, most importantly, available, unlike your best friend. Five, hope the new love interest doesn’t find out about your pathetic best friend obsession before you have time to replace it with actual life-altering love.
Even following her own step-by-step process, Austy may not be able to redirect all of her misguided feelings. Becoming involved with Elise Bridie helps her realize how pointless her pining has been. But when Elise suspects that she harbors feelings for someone else, will their new found love survive the unrequited infatuation of Austy’s fantasies?
Available at:
The Devil Inside by Ali Vali
Brains, guts, and ruthless ambition should be enough to come out on top in any fight. Except when the battle is over love, all bets are off.
Derby Cain Casey was groomed from birth to take the reins of the Casey family enterprises, which just happens to be one of the major crime organizations in New Orleans. Surviving by never turning away from a fight and knowing how to win at all costs, Cain is as careful with her heart as she is with her business – until she meets Emma Verde.
The farm girl from Wisconsin puts a hit out on Cain’s heart and leads her down a dangerous road filled with great joy and devastating sorrow.
Available at:
The Long Way Home by Rachel Spangler
They say you can’t go home again, but Raine St. James doesn’t know why anyone would want to.
Rory St. James was disowned after she came out at seventeen. She rebounded by moving to Chicago, changing her name to Raine and putting down her hometown to audiences around the country. Now, ten years later, too old to be considered a gay youth, broke, evicted, and fresh off a much needed break-up, Raine St. James is forced to accept a job teaching at Bramble University in Darlington, the town she’s been publicly bashing for the last decade.
Beth Devoroux was born and raised in Darlington. Despite losing her parents at a young age, she is well loved by everyone who knows her. She leads a comfortable life with good job at Bramble University, a long-term but closeted relationship, friends that she can count on, and everything she thinks she wants, so why is she so drawn to a rabble-rouser like Raine St. James?
Can Raine and Beth face their pasts and come to terms with their differences in order to have any hope for a future together?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “girl-next-door character” category!
The post Girl-next-door character (Sapphic Reading Challenge #39) appeared first on Jae.
September 30, 2021
Sapphic book with an animal on the cover (Sapphic Reading Challenge #38)
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features sapphic books with an animal depicted on the cover.
It can be any kind of animal, though I suspect you’ll encounter cats, dogs, and horses most often. The animal can either be very prominent on the cover or be in the background.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
15 sapphic books with an animal on the cover
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books that have an animal depicted on the cover. I hope you find at least one you’ll enjoy.
True Nature by Jae
When wolf-shifter Kelsey Yates discovers that Danny, a fourteen-year-old shape-shifter, is living with an adoptive human mother, she is sent to protect the pup and get him away from the woman.
Successful CEO Rue Harding has no idea of her son’s true nature or that Kelsey, the beautiful, mysterious private tutor she hires for him, isn’t really there to teach him algebra.
But when the deaf teen runs away, Kelsey and Rue frantically work together to find him before his first transformation sets in and reveals the shape-shifters’ secret existence to the world.
It’s a race through New York City, with emotions running high. But amidst the backdrop of their desperate search, could the two women discover something else, something unexpected, in each other?
Available at:
Pas de Deux by EJ Noyes
Caitlyn Lloyd has the world at her feet. Or more accurately—under her horse’s hooves. With the 2016 Rio Olympics just around the corner, nothing is going to derail her long-held dream of winning a medal or two in Olympic dressage. Not even the reappearance of a childhood so-not-a-friend throwing her perfectly balanced life into disarray.
Addie Gardner’s career is at its peak, and accepting a last-minute fill-in position as the veterinarian for the US Olympic Dressage Team was a no-brainer. The fact that her old crush from Pony Club is on the team is just a bonus. Not a distraction at all. And it might just offer the chance to be friends with the girl who wouldn’t even give her the time of day twenty years ago.
But Caitlyn and Addie have very different memories of their time together at Pony Club and their first meeting as adults is less like a reconnection and more like a butting of heads. With the Olympics looming, they’ll need to set aside their history and learn to work together. And maybe Caitlyn and Addie will realize childhood memories aren’t always accurate, and that they have more in common than they would ever have thought. Maybe. Just maybe.
Available at:
Night Mare by Franci McMahon
Journalist Jane Scott finds herself drawn into a world of violence. Horses are being murdered for their insurance value and stolen to sell with new identities. Jane uses her journalist skills in an attempt to expose the growing horror taking place in the seemingly benign horse show circles of the wealthy. When she gets too close to the truth, her own horses disappear from her farm. Is it a warning that she’s getting too close to the truth?
Jane unexpectedly meets Miles, a woman who finds her at the feet of a beautiful black Trakehner mare, which Jane calls Night. Jane falls for Miles in more ways than one. But the men Jane is trying to stop are determined she will not expose their lucrative horse theft ring. Can she expose them before they come after her?
Available at:
The Mountain Whispers by Ali Spooner
Arriving home and discovering the betrayal by her best friend and lover, Eli Fortner leaves to run off her anger and hurt. A chance stop at a convenience store and the purchase of lottery tickets, sends Eli’s life into a whirlwind of change.
Able to now pursue her dreams, Eli heads off to see what else fate has in store for her.
Whit Brewer, Eli’s neighbor, is everything Eli never knew she needed and wanted. But can she let go of the betrayal long enough to let Whit in?
Thirteen black cats, a baby goat, and Cruz, her furry best friend, join Eli on her adventure, new life, and the possibility of real love.
Available at:
Dare to Stay by Georgia Beers
Welcome to Junebug Farms, a successful, well-known animal shelter in upstate New York, where every day brings something new—love, stress, heartbreak, warmth—and not just from the animals.
Since inheriting Junebug Farms from her grandmother, Jessica Barstow’s life revolves around it, and she has no time or energy for much else. Not hobbies. Not fun. Not love–certainly not love. And the new, young, and hip TV reporter who’s been sent to host the upcoming fundraising telethon isn’t going to change that—even though it seems like she wants to change everything else.
Sydney Taylor has zero desire to cover human interest stories in some Podunk, upstate New York hamlet, but that’s where she’s landed—for now. So she’ll make the best of it until she can get something bigger. In the meantime, she is assigned to host the annual live fundraising telethon for some local animal shelter. It’s just a job; she doesn’t have time to get attached. And it doesn’t matter that the rigid, keeps-to-herself CEO of the shelter is resistant to anything Sydney suggests. Or that she’s super attractive and sexy. That doesn’t matter at all…
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Such Happiness as This by Laina Villeneuve
Robyn Landy thought her happily-ever-after would start after she retired from the U.S. Coast Guard. Instead, she discovers that her job demands were not the only reason her eight-year relationship was tanking. Struggling to find equilibrium in her life, she leases a horse at a local barn. There she befriends Kristine Owens and her son Caemon. The new setting relieves the sadness she feels at home.
A relative newcomer to rural Arcata, Grace Warren heads grant coordination for the local college’s art department. As new friends encourage her to explore the local arts scene and wilderness, Grace finds herself repeatedly crossing paths with the intensely attractive Robyn. When she discovers Robyn’s woodworking artistry, they seem perfect for each other and Grace easily envisions a future together.
But the decidedly reserved Robyn chafes under Grace’s advice and scrutiny. Why are women always trying to change her? There’s no reason to upend her life yet again—except for a kiss neither of them can forget.
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Home by Kris Bryant
To say Sheriff Natalie Strand is shocked that Sarah Eastman, the girl who kissed her at a high school party, is back in town would be a huge understatement. Between Sarah’s return and a stray dog that gets the best of her, Natalie’s world is suddenly turned upside down.
They say you can’t go home again, but that’s exactly what Sarah does when she returns to Spruce Mountain, Oregon, to live with her aunt and uncle after her divorce. All she wants is peace and to ensure her daughter, Harley, has stability. Seeing Natalie again after seventeen years ignites a passion that she hasn’t felt in a long time. Never mind that her heart tumbles in her chest or that she forgets words when Natalie’s around, she needs to focus on her family and getting her life back together.
Natalie and Sarah are about to discover that anything is possible when love takes the long way home.
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Stay by Magnolia Robbins
When a tumultuous past causes Alice Gray, the only woman Lou Pearson has ever loved, to leave her for good, she shrinks away from the world, trying to make amends. Dedicating years of her life to training service dogs and saving rescues.
Little did she know, a rescued dog would save her, too.
Caspian shows up in Lou’s life and the dog guides her to a young girl who desperately needs him, and to the girl’s mother, Alice. Propelling Lou into a past she believed she’d never have to face again. To a woman who she assumed she’d lost forever.
As an old romance and deep emotions resurface themselves, Lou’s worst fears come crashing back and she can’t help but wonder… This time, if it all falls apart, will Alice stay?
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The Adventurers by Bryce Oakley
Joey Moore got her heart stomped on. At her engagement party. So, she did what any normal, completely rational 28-year-old would do — she moved to a new city with her dog to start a new life. Without much of a plan, it turns out.
Kendall O’Hara doesn’t enjoy chaos — at 42-years-old, she has a stable job and two cats she likes more than most people. Okay, all people, except her close-knit group of friends. She’s not boring. She’s just protecting her still-healing heart decades after a devastating loss.
When Joey and Kendall’s paths cross, a rocky start with an accidental laundry switch turns into an unlikely friendship. From there, the two friends make a pact to get out of their comfort zones, one piece of paper drawn from an “Adventure Jar” at a time. A growing mutual attraction leads them on an adventure that neither one might have expected…
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Love Bites by Lila Bruce
The last person Ashley Baldwin expected to see when she walked into Ridgeview Animal Clinic was the gorgeous ex-love-of-her-life, Peyton Maxwell. Their break-up in college had been an explosive one, and now, some twelve years later, Ashley was still picking up the pieces of her broken heart.
Peyton Maxwell knew better than anyone that life rarely turned out the way you planned. After spending more than a decade away from her hometown, she’d finally decided to move back in order to raise her young daughter closer to family. She was just beginning to settle into her new job when Ashley walked into an exam room at the vet clinic and back into her life. Peyton thought she’d put that part of her life firmly in the past, but one look at her former lover and it all comes rushing back.
Ashley has waited a long time for answers, but walks away from their encounter with only questions. Could it really hurt to pursue a friendly, platonic relationship as Peyton suggests? Or will Ashley find herself rekindling a flame that never really died?
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Veterinary Technician by Nancy Wheelton
Veterinary technician Valerie Connor longs for love, but as hard as she tries, her relationships never last. As a single mom, Val’s determined not to give her heart to someone who doesn’t also love her daughter and their small town life. When an intriguing schoolteacher moves to town, Val hopes it just might work out this time.
After her career and love life crash and burn, Ronnie Yakimoto escapes the big city and surprises herself by enjoying life in tiny Thresherton, Saskatchewan. She’s there to teach and learn to live a stable, peaceful life. But she’s just gotten clean after hitting rock bottom, and nothing is more important than staying clean, not even love.
When a stable of horses is threatened, Val and Ronnie must work together against the odds to save them, and maybe even themselves, along the way.
Available at:
Wingspan by Karis Walsh
When architect Kendall Pearson finds an injured osprey on her property, she expects to simply drop it off at a local wild bird rehabilitation center and be done with it. Quick and painless, like every other relationship she has. But wildlife biologist Bailey Chase has other plans for Ken. First, as surgical assistant, and second, as the designer for her new raptor sanctuary.
Bailey protects her privacy with the vigilance of a hawk, hiding in her rescue center where she has complete control over her life and her work. Isolated on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, she’s surrounded by natural beauty and plenty of solitude. Until sexy Ken Pearson walks in with a wounded bird and Bailey finds her life has been invaded by more than just an extra beak to feed.
Sometimes pain is invisible, and only love can soar over protective barriers and heal a wounded heart.
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Prize Money by Celeste Castro
Eva Angeles is a professional barrel racer headed for her third world title when a competition mishap throws her in the path of an on-the-loose bull. She is saved from impending disaster by a tall, dark, and handsome bullfighter—a woman.
Toma Rozene is an equestrian stuntwoman fresh off the set of a blockbuster film when a family emergency calls her home to help run the family business: rescuing fallen rodeo riders before blustering bulls and bucking broncos trample their dreams.Eva and Toma’s shared passions and competitive spirits make friendship easy, but, as their feelings deepen, they must decide if the divergent futures they seek will stand in the way of love.
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A Kiss Before Dawn by Laurie Salzler
Country girl Chris Martel has struggled all her life to form strong, lasting relationships. For Chris, love, compassion, and trust are critical. In their absence, she has turned to her dog and her horse for the emotional fulfillment she craves. Then along comes Mary Jo Cavanaugh.
Fresh out of veterinary school, Mary Jo inadvertently antagonizes Chris with her overconfident assumptions about how to care for animals. She comes to learn that Chris’s practical experience provides both a wealth of knowledge and a friendship unlike any she’s ever known.
The carefully built walls around Chris’s heart crumble as she acknowledges the unfamiliar feelings evoked by being with Mary Jo. Just as she believes she’s found the happiness that had always eluded her, someone from Chris’s past comes back into her life. Can the love between Chris and Mary Jo survive so they can share a kiss before dawn?
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From the Boots Up by Andi Marquette
Meg Tallmadge has more than enough on her plate. She’s finishing up a college degree, getting ready to apply to vet school, and working another summer with her dad, Stan, on the family ranch in southern Wyoming. He’s managed to get the Los Angeles Times to send a reporter out to do a story on the Diamond Rock, which doubles as a dude ranch. Meg knows the ranch needs all the publicity it can get to bring in more customers, but she’s not looking forward to babysitting a reporter for a week. When the originally scheduled reporter can’t make it, Meg worries that they won’t get a story at all, which is worse than dealing with a city slicker for a few days. Fortunately for Stan and the ranch, the Times finds a replacement, and Meg prepares to be under scrutiny, under the gun, and the perfect hostess. She knows what this opportunity means to her father, and she’s hoping that if it goes well, it’ll ease some of the distance between them that resulted when she came out a few months earlier.
What Meg’s not prepared for — and never expected — is the reporter herself and the effect she has on her. In spite of what she feels, Meg can’t risk the fallout that could result from overstepping a professional boundary. But as the week draws to a close, it becomes clear that not taking a chance could be the biggest risk of all.
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Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “animal on the cover” category!
The post Sapphic book with an animal on the cover (Sapphic Reading Challenge #38) appeared first on Jae.
September 23, 2021
Pansexual or bisexual character (Sapphic Reading Challenge #37)
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features books with a bisexual main character or a pansexual main character.
A bisexual person is someone who’s attracted to two or more genders, while a pansexual person is someone who’s attracted to people regardless of gender.
Important note: A female character who is solely attracted to women is a lesbian, even if she slept with men in the past, before figuring out she’s a lesbian. Sexual orientation is defined by who you are attracted to, not by who you sleep with.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
Free anthology coming this weekend!
Before I share this week’s reading list, I have other news I wanted to share with you: I put together an anthology of “first kiss” scenes, with excerpts from 55 authors. I will send the free anthology to my newsletter tomorrow. If you want to get it sent to your in-box, feel free to subscribe.
15 books with a bisexual character or a pansexual character
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books featuring pansexual or bisexual characters. I hope you find at least one you’ll enjoy.
Chemistry Lessons by Jae
Kylie and Regan have been best friends since kindergarten, supporting each other through thick and thin.
While everyone thinks they would be perfect for each other, they insist there’s no chemistry between them—and Regan should know since she’s a chemistry teacher.
To prove it, they agree to a little chemistry experiment: they’ll go on three dates with each other.
So what if their gazes start to linger and accidental touches no longer feel platonic? They chalk it up to the romantic atmosphere—until a friendly good night kiss turns passionate.
Can their friendship go back to the way it was before? Do they even want it to? Or will they risk losing what they have for a chance at love?
Available at:
Bend for Me by Jessica Yeh
Avery Bennett is a bit of a player. But not without cause. After falling in love and ending up with a broken heart, she vowed never to get attached again. Hardened, Avery is determined to protect herself, not bending and absolutely refusing to break for anyone.
Until now.
When Avery’s best friend drags her to yoga class, she unwillingly finds herself developing feelings for the instructor, who doesn’t fall for her usual pick-up lines. In fact, despite how smooth Avery thought she was, Kadence Cooper is undeniably smoother. But Kadence carries secrets and sorrows of her own. Will they be able to heal and find love again? Or will inflexibility tear them apart?
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Liquid Courage by Stephanie Shea
Alexandria Van Kirk has always been a slave to her romantic nature. When a night of liquid courage lands her in bed with one of her best friends, Alex is confronted by a host of feelings that terrify her. Feelings about her friend and, unexpectedly, a barista from her favorite café.
It’s a tug of war between heart and body. Desire against all her daydreams of someone to share silence, sunsets, and coffee with.
But Alex’s past is also about to catch up with her. Tortured memories and the girl they’re all about. It’s like fighting the pull of a whirlwind. A surefire losing battle. But embracing a newfound romance amid the return of an old flame is a precarious balance, one not even Alex herself is sure she can manage.
How the hell does she choose between the girl she loves and the one she could never confess loving to begin with?
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Out on Good Behavior (Radleigh University, book 3) by Dahlia Adler
Frankie Bellisario knows she can get anyone she sets her sights on, but just because she can doesn’t mean she should—not when the person she’s eyeing is Samara Kazarian, the daughter of a southern Republican mayor. No matter how badly Frankie wants to test her powers of persuasion, even she recognizes some lines aren’t meant to be crossed.
But when Frankie learns she’s been on Samara’s mind too, the idea of hooking up with her grows too strong to resist. Only Sam’s not looking for a hookup; she wants—needs—the real thing, and she’s afraid she’ll never find it as long as Frankie’s in her head.
Forced to choose between her first relationship and losing the girl who’s been clawing her way under her skin, Frankie opts to try monogamy…under her own condition: 30 days of keeping things on the down low and remaining abstinent. If she fails as hard at girlfriending as she’s afraid she might, she doesn’t want to throw Samara’s life into upheaval for nothing. But when neither the month nor Frankie’s heart go according to plan, she may be the one stuck fighting for the happily ever after she never knew she wanted.
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Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore (pansexual MC)
There hasn’t been a winner of the Miss Meteor beauty pageant who looks like Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla in all its history.
But that’s not the only reason Lita wants to enter the contest, or her ex-best friend Chicky wants to help her. The road to becoming Miss Meteor isn’t about being perfect; it’s about sharing who you are with the world—and loving the parts of yourself no one else understands.
So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough—they are everything.
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Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden
Margaret Beringer didn’t have an easy adolescence. She hated her name, was less than popular in school, and was always cast aside as a “farm kid.” However, with the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret’s youth sparked into color. Courtney was smart, beautiful, and put together—everything Margaret wasn’t. Who would have imagined that they’d fit together so perfectly?
But first loves can scar.
Margaret hasn’t seen Courtney in years and that’s for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she’s tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn’t help matters.
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The Resolutions by Mia Garcia
From hiking trips to four-person birthday parties to never-ending group texts, Jess, Lee, Ryan, and Nora have always been inseparable. But now with senior year on the horizon, they’ve been growing apart. And so, as always, Jess makes a plan.
Reinstating their usual tradition of making resolutions together on New Year’s Eve, Jess adds a new twist: instead of making their own resolutions, the four friends assign them to one another—dares like kiss someone you know is wrong for you, find your calling outside your mom’s Puerto Rican restaurant, finally learn Spanish, and say yes to everything.
But as the year unfolds, Jess, Lee, Ryan, and Nora each test the bonds that hold them together. And amid first loves, heartbreaks, and life-changing decisions, beginning again is never as simple as it seems.
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship and a great forbidden love.
Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
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Dreams by Serena J. Bishop
Aurora’s life is perfectly mundane. She has a job she hates, an ex that ran her out of her hometown, and the highlight of her week is Monday breakfast with her best friend. That changes when Aurora starts dreaming of a woman who can’t remember her own name. A woman who Aurora falls head over heels for. She knows the romance that develops between them isn’t real, but the dreams make life so much better that she hurries to bed every night…until she discovers that her dream woman isn’t imaginary. Her name is Leela and she is in a coma.
Aurora must risk everything—her job, apartment, friends, and her sanity—to save Leela, a woman she’s only ever met in her mind. But in order to help, Aurora must convince Leela’s neurologist and parents that she and Leela have a bond that transcends the physical plane.
Can Aurora fight through a progressively nightmarish landscape to wake Leela? And if Leela wakes, will she recognize Aurora as the one who saved her? As the one Leela said she loved? Their dream-relationship might not be real, but if there is any possibility of making her dreams come true, Aurora has to try.
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Give Me Grace by Bethany A. Perry
It’s been six weeks since Halloween. Six weeks since Grace stumbled into the ER, almost dead and begging for help. Six weeks since she lost every single memory, including her own name.
Taken in by the mysterious Sisters of the Order of Saint Raphael the Healer, Grace’s wounds are dressed and she is assured her memories will return—in time. But does Grace want her memories back? Maybe she’s chosen to forget them, maybe there’s a reason. The sisters hide things from her. They whisper things about her.
When a demon forces its way into the convent, it declares that Grace is a demon too. Grace demands answers. Answers that may reveal not only who she is, but that the sisters might not be who they say they are, either.
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The Pet Boutique by Suzie Carr
From the moment Lexie Tanner meets Taylor Henshaw in the dilapidated space that will one day become her aunt’s pet boutique, she knows she’s got her work cut out for her. Taylor self-identifies as a complicated woman, and there’s nothing Lexie enjoys more than a good fixer upper.
But Taylor’s complications run deep, and way into her past. Surrounded by an eccentric and spirited group of family and friends, including a spunky and lovable dog named Cashmere, the two women navigate a series of obstacles that have them questioning their choices.
As their journey unfolds, neither women is prepared for what happens when they start to break down the old and discover the new.
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Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz
Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown.
Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere—until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca might be Etta’s salvation…but can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself?
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Full of Promise by Kate Gavin
Cameron Leoni is about to start her senior year of high school. Between helping her mother take care of her two younger brothers and working at the library to save money for college, there’s just barely enough time for anything but soccer.
Riley Baker is the new girl in town. Though she’s been out to her parents and friends back home, she’s reluctant to share that information with her new classmates.
When Cam meets Riley on the first day of soccer tryouts, Cam is unsure why she feels so drawn to the other girl. They become fast friends and soon Cameron can’t help the butterflies she feels every time the two touch.
Riley wants to be honest and come out to Cam but she doesn’t want to lose her as a friend. She won’t allow herself to dream of the possibility of anything more between them.
Cam and Riley will have to navigate the emotional halls of high school, friends and family as they realize there might be more than just friendship growing between them.
Available at:
Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan
Lena Newman is 17 years old. She is not necessarily popular but she is a skilled artist with a good looking footballer for a boyfriend. She is pretty satisfied with her life. Until her world is turned upside down.
Juliet James is the new girl at school and just so happens to send Lena’s heart wild. Juliet shows Lena a world she never knew existed and Lena is taken on an emotional journey where loyalty, friendships and family relationships are tested. Juliet represents the road less traveled. Will Lena take it?
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Electric Love by Shannon O’Connor
Five years ago, Alexandria and Eden were thriving in the moment, falling fast and loving deeply. But when Eden broke Alexandria’s heart, she had to figure out how to carry on alone. She created a life and family for herself.
Alexandria never expected to see Eden again, but then they run into each other—literally—and sparks fly. Alexandria thought it would be nothing, until she couldn’t forget the way it felt to be near her again.
With Alexandria’s new life and Eden’s fiancée waiting for her they shouldn’t be thinking about each other, but when they keep running into each other they can’t ignore the signs any longer. So many things have changed in the last five years, but have their feelings?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the pansexual or bisexual character category!
The post Pansexual or bisexual character (Sapphic Reading Challenge #37) appeared first on Jae.
September 17, 2021
Sapphic book with a Jewish main character (Book Unicorn #9)
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge category features books with a Jewish main character. Ideally, try to pick a sapphic book that was written by a Jewish author.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and then start reading!
15 sapphic books with Jewish characters
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books with Jewish main characters that I hope you’ll enjoy!
Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman
Small-batch independent yarn dyer Clara Ziegler is eager to brainstorm new color combinations–if only she could come up with ideas she likes as much as last time! When she sees Danielle Solomon’s paintings of Florida wildlife by chance at a neighborhood gallery, she finds her source of inspiration.
Outspoken, passionate, and complicated, Danielle herself soon proves even more captivating than her artwork…
Available at:
My Year Zero by Rachel Gold
Lauren thinks she has a pretty good life—so why is it that she feels crazy most of the time? She figures it’s nothing she can’t fix by getting her first girlfriend and doing better at school. But how is she ever going to find a girlfriend in Duluth, Minnesota?
When she meets a group of kids who are telling a science fiction story online and gets invited down to the Twin Cities, she gets more attention than she ever expected, from two very different girls: charming Sierra and troublesome Blake.
Blake helps Lauren understand that she’s not the crazy one in her life. But Blake’s attention—and insights into life and living with bipolar disorder—threaten to destroy everything Lauren has created for herself, including her relationship with Sierra.
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Nice Jewish Girls by Elizabeth Andre
Susan Hay just wants to find a nice girl. Is that too much to ask? Susan thinks it is until she meets Ali Sams. To no one’s surprise, Susan, a long-haired femme, falls hard and fast for the cute and sexy soft butch who looks strangely familiar.
Ali falls just as fast, but Susan realizes that the familiarity she feels is linked to a painful childhood incident that sends her running away. Ali doesn’t remember the incident, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting to make things right. All Ali needs to do is get Susan to see her as more than who she was in the past, but Susan is not about to make that easy.
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The Escape Artist by Judith Katz
Sofia, a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is lured away from home by Tutsik Goldenberg, a wealthy traveling businessman who claims to be a lonely Argentine diamond merchant in search of a wife. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, Tutsik dumps Sofia at his sister’s brothel.
Hankus, also a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is passing as a man. Having escaped the pogroms of Poland that killed her family, she lives her life as a handsome and mysterious magician and escape artist.
When Tutsik spots the talented juggler and acrobat Hankus he envisions success as his manager, seeing Hankus as the means to get out from under his sister’s thumb.
Sofia and Hankus fall in love and their attempts to walk the tightrope of love, freedom, and independence are quickly put to the test.
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The Papercutter by Cindy Rizzo
A deeply polarized and ungovernable United States of America has separated into two nations—the God Fearing States (GFS) and the United Progressive Regions (UPR).
Judith Braverman, a teenager living in an Orthodox Jewish community in the GFS, is not only a talented artist accomplished in the ancient craft of papercutting, she also has the gift of seeing into peoples’ souls—and can tell instantly if someone is good or evil.
Jeffrey Schwartz has no love for religion or conformity and yearns to escape to the freedom of the UPR. When he’s accepted into an experimental pen pal program and paired with Dani Fine, an openly queer girl in the UPR, he hopes that he can finally find a way out.
As danger mounts and their alarm grows, Judith embeds a secret code in her papercuts so that she and Jeffrey can tell Dani what’s happening to Jews in the GFS without raising suspicions from the government. When the three arrange a quick, clandestine meeting, Jeffrey is finally faced with the choice to flee or to stay and resist. And Judith is reeling from a pull toward Dani that is unlike anything she has ever felt before.
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Fried & Convicted by Fay Jacobs
Fay Jacobs is back! Again! With more wise, witty and laugh-out-loud commentary about the craziness of contemporary life, plus a glimpse of the diverse and welcoming resort town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. This time Fay grapples with the insanity of a high tech bra, cartoon bladders in advertising, and acting her age . . . It’s provocative, political, heartwarming, and hilarious!
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Risk by Elana Dykewomon
To change the world, you need to take risks. That’s something Carol Schwartz knows bone deep. And it’s something she’s prepared to do. She learned about risk as a girl. She never understood why, but her father chose to go to Vietnam and she never saw him again.
Now Carol, a Berkeley-educated idealist, tutors high school students. A Jewish lesbian, she’s a community activist in Oakland. And she’s learned to take risks of her own. She gambles her inheritance, her love, even her own well-being.
Across the years—from the mid-eighties to the post-9/11 world—the stakes get ever higher and her gambles more desperate. Until finally Carol finds out just what’s left when the last gamble is lost.
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Paper Is White by Hilary Zaid
When oral historian Ellen Margolis and her girlfriend decide to get married, Ellen realizes that she can’t go through with a wedding until she tells her grandmother. There’s only one problem: her grandmother is dead.
As the two young women beat their own early path toward marriage equality, Ellen’s longing to plumb that voluminous silence draws her into a clandestine entanglement with a wily Holocaust survivor–a woman with more to hide than tell–and a secret search for buried history that threatens to disrupt all of Ellen’s plans.
If there is to be a wedding Ellen must decide: How much do you need to share to be true to the one you love?
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Murder and Gold by Ann Aptaker
New York City, 1954.
Two women are found murdered. One is Lorraine Quinn, Cantor Gold’s most recent one-night stand. The other is political power broker and aspiring New York socialite Eve Garraway, a regular client of Cantor’s stolen art trade.
Police nemesis, Lieutenant Norm Huber, wants to pin the murders on Cantor, send her to prison, and put her in the electric chair. He’ll get evidence on her any way he can. Into this cauldron of danger and death come two other women, each with ties to Cantor’s past. One hates her until passion intervenes; the other harbors darkly hidden feelings.
Set during the earliest stirrings of the Homosexual Rights Movement, Cantor begins to question her own tenuous identity, and the trade-offs she must make to get what she wants.
Cantor Gold, dapper butch art thief and smuggler for whom survival is everything, must now grapple with two fronts: surviving the shifting sands of the criminal underworld, and navigating the changing tides of society.
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The Reluctant Daughter by Lesléa Newman
A story every daughter will recognize, The Reluctant Daughter depicts the struggles of Lydia Pinkowitz to communicate the realities of her life as a lesbian, as a feminist scholar, and as the woman she has become to her mother Doris.
After years of hoping to attain her mother’s love and acceptance while struggling to live a true and honest life, Lydia eventually acknowledges her mother will never really see her. When Doris develops a life-threatening illness, Lydia is forced to make a life-and-death decision of her own: should she make one final attempt to heal her relationship with her mother or simply let her go?
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Postcards from the Canyon by Lisa Gitlin
Joanna’s mother just died, the FBI wants her to get a psychiatric evaluation, undocumented Chinese immigrants have taken over her apartment building, her lover hooks up with her best friend, and the country is being run by lunatics. Joanna clings to sanity by writing about her childhood, but plunging back into her tumultuous past only adds chaos to her life.
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Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943 by Erica Fischer (author) & Edna McCown (Translator)
Berlin 1942. Lilly Wust, twenty-nine, married, four children, led a life as did millions of German women. But then she met the twenty-one-year-old Felice Schragenheim.
It was love almost at first sight. Aimée (Lilly) and Jaguar (Felice) started forging plans for the future. They composed poems and love letters to each other, and wrote their own marriage contract. When Jaguar admitted to her lover that she was Jewish, this dangerous secret drew the two women even closer to each other. But their luck didn’t last. On August 21, 1944, Jaguar was arrested and deported.
At the age of eighty, Lilly Wust told her story to Erica Fischer, who turned it into a poignant testimony. After the book appeared in 1994 she was contacted by additional contemporaries of Aimée and Jaguar who offered new material that has been integrated into the present edition.
Available at:
Gravity by Leanne Lieberman
Ellie Gold is an orthodox Jewish teenager living in Toronto in the late eighties. Ellie has no doubts about her strict religious upbringing until she falls in love with another girl at her grandmother’s cottage. Aware that homosexuality clashes with Jewish observance, Ellie feels forced to either alter her sexuality or leave her community.
Meanwhile, Ellie’s mother, Chana, becomes convinced she has a messianic role to play, and her sister, Neshama, chafes against the restrictions of her faith. Ellie is afraid there is no way to be both gay and Jewish, but her mother and sister offer alternative concepts of God that help Ellie find a place for herself as a queer Jew.
Available at:
Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound by Judith Katz
Nadine Pagan’s dyke sister Jane wants to find her. Her lover Rose wants to marry her. And her mother Fay wants to forget her. All Nadine wants is to stop the buzzing in her head.
Join Nadine as she escapes from her incendiary Jewish family into the lesbian town of New Chelm—and far, far beyond.
Available at:
Timing Is Everything by Alison R Solomon
A hit-and-run.
A terrified suspect.
A woman caught between her friend and her lover.
Wynn Larimer (who readers met in Along Came the Rain) is putting out the trash late one night when a car smashes into her, injuring her so badly that her entire livelihood is put in jeopardy. The accused perpetrator is Gabriella Luna. The timing couldn’t be worse—Gabriella is about to become a permanent resident but is now terrified of being deported.
Caught in the middle of it all is Kat Ayalon, who is Wynn’s best friend but in love with Gordy. How can Kat support both women, if helping one means selling out the other?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “Jewish character” category!
The post Sapphic book with a Jewish main character (Book Unicorn #9) appeared first on Jae.
September 16, 2021
Book with a road trip (Sapphic Reading Challenge #36)
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge category features books in which the main characters take a trip together. They don’t necessarily have to take a car; any vehicle, including a plane, a boat, or a horse-drawn wagon, will do as long as they travel from one place to another and it’s more than just their daily commute.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
15 sapphic books featuring a road trip
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books featuring a road trip. I hope you find at least one you’ll enjoy.
The Thousand Mile Love Story by Natalie Vivien
Would you take a thousand-mile road trip with your best friends…and the ex-girlfriend who broke your heart?
Meet Andee Shaw. A decade ago, her heart was broken by a devastatingly beautiful woman–the woman she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with. Now, ten years later, two of her oldest friends, Elizabeth and Heather, are getting married in Vermont. And they have a request: They want the old gang to take that infamous road trip they always talked about in college but never set into motion.
The brides’ not-so-secret goal: to enable Andee and her ex, Robin Barnes, to finally patch things up.
So, four college friends hop in a green convertible and begin a thousand-mile road trip that Andee isn’t quite sure she’ll survive. They visit the strangest places and encounter some wild adventures, and throughout it all, Andee struggles to come to terms with her conflicting feelings for Robin.
Because, despite her misgivings, Andee is falling in love with Robin all over again.
Available at:
Cat’s Meow by Cara Malone
Entering her second year of vet tech school, Ling is caught between her best friend and her long-time crush.
Ling wants nothing more than to tell Dakota how she feels, but she can’t risk upsetting the delicate balance of their friendship – until she discovers her best friend, Amber, is the third point in their love triangle.
When Ling and Dakota take a road trip to catch Dakota’s runaway cat back home, Amber invites herself along for the ride and from car snacks to road music, it’s clear the battle for Dakota’s heart is on.
Available at:
Points of Departure by Emily O’Beirne
Kit and Liza have been looking forward to this trip forever.
Five girls, five tickets overseas. It’s exactly what they all need after the final slog of high school. But when Kit is suddenly forced to drop out, Liza’s left with three girls she barely knows.
There’s Mai, committed only to partying. There’s Tam, who already has her doubts about leaving her sick father behind. And there’s Olivia, so miserable about screwing up exams she’s not even sure she wants to get out of bed, let alone on a plane.
All Liza wants from this trip is to discover a new version of herself. She just hadn’t planned on doing it without Kit by her side.
And they’re all learning that travel isn’t just about the places you go, but about who you’re with at the time.
Available at:
Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters
Megan Harris had hopes of seeing the world, but at twenty-five she’s never even left Florida. Now a wedding invitation lures her to Quebec…in February. When her ex-friend Scarlett offers to be her plus-one (yeah, that’s a whole story) and suggests they turn the journey into an epic road trip, Megan reluctantly agrees to the biggest adventure of her life.
A week together in a car is a surefire way to kill a crush, and Scarlett Andrews has had a big one on Megan for years. The important thing is fixing their friendship.
As the miles roll away, what starts as harmless road-trip games and rest-stop dares escalates into something like intimacy. And when a surprise snowstorm forces Megan and Scarlett to hunker down without the open road as distraction, they’ve got a bigger challenge than making it to the church on time: facing the true nature of their feelings for each other.
Available at:
Chasing Sunset by Missouri Vaun
Taylor Finn aspires to be a stunt driver, but driving a limo is what pays the bills. When she finds herself chauffeuring a drunk guy harassing his date, she leaves him stranded and is sure she’s going to get fired. Maybe it’s finally time to pursue her dream.
Iris Fleming’s flight to Atlanta was a scene from a disaster movie, the scariest landing ever. She’d desperately wanted a part on a new sci-fi series, until the director made a pass at her. Now Iris doesn’t want the role and has no intention of getting back on a plane.
Making their escape from Atlanta, Iris and Finn end up at Hideaway Haven, in neighboring cabins. Iris isn’t sure what’s scarier, sexy Taylor Finn or woodland nighttime noises. But maybe they can help each other out. There are schools for stunt drivers in LA, and Iris needs a ride. Wrong turns and roadside hijinks ensue as Iris and Finn set off on a road trip, chasing the sunset and falling for each other along the way.
Available at:
The Trip by Robin Alexander
Who wants to take a road trip with two old, bickering women and a complete stranger? Not Jill Savoy. She finds herself behind the wheel of her father’s sacred Winnebago anyway, responsible for her grandmother and adopted aunt, both of whom are mischievous teenagers in old bodies, and then there’s Shay.
The last thing on Shay Macaluso’s mind was a vacation. Fresh out of a relationship, she was looking forward to beginning her new life, but her aunt Chloe took the proverbial monkey wrench to her plans. Duped into taking the trip, Shay feels like her new life is on hold, but as the adventure unfolds she realizes that she’s on the highway to something extraordinary.
Available at:
The Road Ahead by Amanda Radley
Rebecca is stuck in Portugal. All planes to England are grounded and it’s only two days until Christmas.
Desperate to get home but without money to hire a car; she’s stuck. She sees an opportunity when she meets a snobby businesswoman with a broken leg, a platinum credit card, and a desire to get home. A tentative agreement is struck in order to reach their destination before the festive deadline. Will they make it, or will they kill each other along the way?
Available at:
The Time Before Now by Missouri Vaun
More than fifty years have passed since “peak oil” has left the Earth without access to modern technology while great Cloud Cities for the rich float above the oceans.
On the ground below, Vivian Yates leaves Oklahoma on an epic 700-mile journey east to her ancestral home. Early on, she encounters Elizabeth, who preys on Vivian’s inexperience and naivety, luring her into a brief affair that ends in disaster. Betrayed and withdrawn, Vivian sets out again on her eastward trek. Along the way, she meets the beautiful, lighthearted Ida. Together they face obstacles both natural and manmade. Ida brings Vivian, wounded in both body and spirit, back to life. Destiny has thrown them into each other’s arms where they find not only love, but hope, trust, and forever.
Available at:
Vagabond Heart by Ann Roberts
Contractor Quinn O’Sullivan has traveling in her blood. Her aunt is a famous travel writer while Quinn herself moves from one apartment complex to the next as her team remodels them.
When dear Aunt Maura kicks the bucket on her beloved Route 66, she leaves a dying request for Quinn—to take her on one last adventure.
Suda Singh is the total opposite of risk-taker Quinn. As an emergency room doctor, Suda is calm, methodical, and intuitive. But most of all, Suda is safe.
When the two women are thrown together by Quinn’s latest injury, Suda offers to accompany Quinn on the adventure of a lifetime.
Can Quinn and Suda find love, three cats, and the mysterious woman named Rain, all on America’s fabled highway—Route 66?
Available at:
Burden of Happiness by Luci Dreamer
Sarah Leeds is haunted by horrible events in her past that have left her frozen in time when it comes to connecting with other people. She would rather go through life with minimal interaction than learn to open up and trust others; keeping her emotional scars front of mind so she won’t get hurt. When a visit back to her hometown doesn’t bring the answers or closure she’s yearned for, she wonders if she’ll ever be made whole again.
While in town Sarah meets Kate, a professor at the local community college. The instant connection she feels with Kate confuses and scares her, but it also gives her a glimpse of a life she wished she could have. Will Sarah finally find it within herself to conquer her fears and pursue the life she’s always wanted but thought she could never have?
Available at:
The Road to Kalazad by K L Mitchell
Revka and her centaur girlfriend Iyarra are wandering adventurers almost as good at getting out of trouble as they are at getting into it. But when a mysterious duke shanghais them and forces them to go galloping cross-kingdom to steal an ancient artifact, can they deliver the goods before time – and their luck – runs out?
Join the two adventurers as they go from one misadventure to another, encountering dragons, gangsters, highly suspect wizards, and a nonstop parade of monsters and miscreants in a fantasy kingdom that’s unlike any you’ve ever seen.
Available at:
Holiday Detour by Jane Kolven
Dana Gottfried is a stressed-out Jewish lesbian who’s just quit her job and wants to get home to see her grandmother. When her car breaks down in Indiana on Christmas Eve, Dana is stranded—until she’s rescued by Charlie, a pig farmer who doesn’t identify as male or female. Although they come from different worlds, Dana is intrigued by Charlie’s sense of humor and kindness. Despite her better judgment, Dana says yes when Charlie offers a ride.
But the journey home is paved with detours. From car accidents to scheming ex-girlfriends to a snowy and deserted Chicago Loop, everything that could go wrong on their road trip does, but it leads Dana on a path of self-discovery that just might end in love.
Available at:
Dashing All the Way by S.R. Silcox
For a woman as stubborn and proud as Mackenzie Hooper, the only thing standing in her way of a merry Christmas is, unfortunately, herself. Even if she did want to spend the rest of her life with girlfriend Callie, Mac is finding it hard to bring her true feelings across to those she loves–as familial relationships on both sides begin to complicate the situation.
And when good intentions become muddled and misunderstood, Mac finds herself suddenly alone and scrambling for answers.
What starts out as a desperate road trip across the country to win back her beloved soon turns into a cathartic and enlightening journey within.
What stands between Mac and Callie’s future is more than just the distance that divides them. And if Mac hopes to make it home for Christmas, she’ll need to cast doubt to the wind and make excellent time.
Amidst such darkness, does Mac have the strength to step into the light and give this season a new reason for celebration?
Available at:
The One to Hold Your Hand by Erica Lee
Reese James’ life was never easy. Trying to stay upbeat and positive while her twin sister battled cancer took its toll on her. The one thing getting her through was her relationship with her lifelong best friend Bette Mitchell. Unfortunately, constantly blurring the lines between friendship and something more was destined to blow up at some point, and that’s exactly what happened when Reese hit her rock bottom.
After losing her father, Bette Mitchell didn’t know how she would ever feel okay again. The thing she did know was there was one person who understood exactly how it felt to lose someone close to her. The problem was she and Reese had barely spoken after Bette broke her heart three years earlier.
But now Reese is back in town for the funeral and willing to do anything to help Bette smile again. Well, almost anything. She can’t let go of what happened the night everything fell apart between them.
A look back on Reese and Bette’s relationship through the years shows what brought them to the point they are at today. Is their history enough to lead them into a future together or is there too much heartbreak between them to move forward?
Available at:
Jackpot by Cade Haddock Strong
Ty MacIntyre’s life changes the instant she wins the lottery. People are after her winning ticket and she’s not sure who to trust. She’s been given the gift of wealth. Will she use it to get her life back on track or will that prove easier said than done?
Karla Rehn is forced to walk away from her dream of being on the US Ski Team. She’s angry at the world—especially herself. A trail of reckless behavior threatens to derail her plans to earn a college degree and become a nurse.
Ty is drawn to Karla the moment the two women meet. Can they guide each other through the obstacles that life has thrown their way?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “road trip” category!
The post Book with a road trip (Sapphic Reading Challenge #36) appeared first on Jae.
September 9, 2021
Re-read a favorite book (Sapphic Reading Challenge #35)
It’s time for another special category of the Sapphic Reading Challenge. This one doesn’t come with a list of suggested reads either. Instead, I want you to re-read one of your favorite books featuring a sapphic protagonist.
Reconnecting with your favorite characters can be fun, and I often discover new things and deeper layers whenever I re-read one of my favorites. So if you’ve been meaning to read one of your all-time favorite novels again, now’s the time to do it!
The Lesbian Review’s 55 Most Re-Read Books
If you need some inspiration to pick a book to re-read, take a look at The Lesbian Review’s 55 most re-read books. It’s a list of the books their reviewer team found themselves re-reading most often. Maybe there’s one (or a dozen!) that will make you go: Ooh, yes, this one was amazing!
Or, of course, you could also use the list to find books to read for the other categories of the Sapphic Reading Challenge.
Leave a comment
Have you picked a favorite sapphic book to re-read? If you did, leave a comment and let us know which one you’ll read for the “re-read a favorite book” category!
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The post Re-read a favorite book (Sapphic Reading Challenge #35) appeared first on Jae.
September 2, 2021
Sapphic character works in the food industry (Sapphic Reading Challenge #34)
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge category features characters who work in the food industry. The protagonist could be a chef, a baker, a pastry chef, a waitress, or a caterer, or maybe they own a restaurant, a bakery, an ice cream shop, or some other yummy place.
People working with beverages count too for this category, so the main character could also work as a barista, a bartender, a winemaker, etc.
Most of the books on the list below are foodie romances that might cause some serious food cravings and are best enjoyed with a snack of your choice!
A free “foodie romance” short story coming tomorrow
I’ll send out a free short story titled “Whining and Dining” to my newsletter subscribers tomorrow (September 3, 2021). If you’d like to get it sent to your in-box, make sure you subscribe. “Whining and Dining” is a friends-to-lovers romance with a main character who is a chef.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
15 sapphic books about characters working in the food industry
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books about characters who work in the food industry. I hope you find at least one you’ll enjoy.
Chemistry Lessons by Jae
Kylie and Regan have been best friends since kindergarten, supporting each other through thick and thin.
While everyone thinks they would be perfect for each other, they insist there’s no chemistry between them—and Regan should know since she’s a chemistry teacher.
To prove it, they agree to a little chemistry experiment: they’ll go on three dates with each other.
So what if their gazes start to linger and accidental touches no longer feel platonic? They chalk it up to the romantic atmosphere—until a friendly good night kiss turns passionate.
Can their friendship go back to the way it was before? Do they even want it to? Or will they risk losing what they have for a chance at love?
Available at:
Kat’s Nine Lives by Laina Villeneuve
Wedding bells are ringing for Kat Morehart—just not her own. When the church she works for refuses to let a gay couple marry in the sanctuary, she aims to make it up to them by offering her home as the perfect venue. It will take an act of faith to pull it off at the historic home she shares with her quirky parents.
Caterer Wendy Archer enjoys the business Kat directs her way and their friendship even more. Though she loves how much Kat cares for others, Wendy has to wonder at times how she fits into Kat’s life.
As they work together to create the perfect setting for the wedding, Kat and Wendy struggle to fight what simmers between them.
Available at:
Chef’s Special by Susan X. Meagher
After years of slowly working her way up the ladder, Emily Desjardins is finally poised at the next step—cooking at the kind of restaurant she’d love to one day own.
Her new boss is classically trained, has stunningly high standards, and effortlessly designs delicious, creative cuisine. She’s also demanding, inflexible, ridiculously confident and so hot it’s almost silly.
Emily is determined to spend her time learning all of the tricks and tools she’ll need to keep moving up. But keeping her mind on the job with the enigmatic Blake Chadwick pervading her thoughts and her dreams proves much harder than she could have ever imagined.
Available at:
Venus & Aphrodite by Barbara Winkes
When Zoe inherits money from her grandmother, along with the instruction to do “something wild” with it, she takes a three-week vacation to Italy and Greece. But is that wild enough? Back home, she decides to open a restaurant to share with her community the food and wine she fell in love with.
The major wrinkle in her plan? She needs the perfect person to cook the delicious dishes she has in mind.
Chef Arianna O’Dell was a rising star in the culinary world before a public scandal put an abrupt halt to her dreams. Arianna is reluctant to resume a career in a field that has cast her out, but it’s hard to resist Zoe’s passion.
Can Zoe and Arianna overcome everything that’s holding them back, and make their shared dream a reality?
Available at:
No Parking by Valentine Wheeler
When Marianne Windmere’s bakery customers begin complaining that her parking lot is always full, she assumes it must be customers for the new restaurant next door. She’s never met her neighbor, and with the parking lot situation, she has no interest in doing so. But when a snowstorm knocks out the power and traps both women in the building overnight, sparks fly—until the next morning, when the buried argument comes to a head.
Can they find a way to reclaim the magic of that night? And as decades-old secrets about the history of the town and Marianne’s family come to light, can they work together to save both their businesses?
Available at:
Table for Two by Kate Gavin
Trying to take a few brief moments away from a stressful situation, Reagan Murphy snags the last table at a bustling downtown lunch spot. When another woman walks into the crowded restaurant seeking a table, Reagan offers to share hers.
Jillian Jacobs just wanted a quick bite before she’d have to focus on a new and unreasonable deadline. Irritated by her empty stomach and by the prospect of waiting, Jillian resentfully accepts a seat at a stranger’s table.
Their shared lunch is filled with hostility, snide comments, and shades of derision from Jill and Reagan finds herself relieved at the end of the encounter.
But then the two are thrown back together when Jill becomes a catering client of Reagan’s. Soon navigating a professional relationship becomes complicated as their attraction begins to smolder. Will it get in the way and cause even bigger problems? Or will this be the start of something they’ve both been looking for all along?
Available at:
Mangos and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera
Kiskeya Burgos left the tropical beaches of the Dominican Republic with a lot to prove. As a pastry chef on the come up, when she arrives in Scotland, she has one goal in mind: win the Holiday Baking Challenge. Winning is her opportunity to prove to her family, her former boss, and most importantly herself, she can make it in the culinary world. Kiskeya will stop at nothing to win, that is, if she can keep her eyes on the prize and off her infuriating teammate’s perfect lips.
Sully Morales, home cooking hustler, and self-proclaimed baking brujita lands in Scotland on a quest to find her purpose after spending years as her family’s caregiver. But now, with her home life back on track, it’s time for Sully to get reacquainted with her greatest love, baking. Winning the Holiday Baking Challenge is a no brainer if she can convince her grumpy AF baking partner that they make a great team both in and out of the kitchen before an unexpected betrayal ends their chance to attain culinary competition glory.
Available at:
The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher
For single mom Adah Campbell, the executive chef job at a posh restaurant in quaint South Bay, Maine is a dream come true—and the perfect opportunity to start over, far away from a home that’s never felt entirely hers. But fitting in has never been easy, and between a new town, a new boss, and the unexpectedly attractive owner of a rival café, things get off to a rocky start.
Never did free-spirited Beth Summers think she’d still be in Maine. Travel the world gathering delicious recipes and finding friends and lovers? Absolutely. Step in to run her family’s small-town café? Not so much. However, once Beth commits to something, that’s it. Soon, The Yellow House is the hottest spot in town, but Beth’s out of energy—and out of ideas for moving forward.
Until Adah Campbell walks into her life. As sparks fly, both chefs have to decide if they are willing to make sacrifices…or if it’s really too many cooks in the kitchen.
Available at:
Rising from Ash by Jax Meyer
Phoenix Murray has had enough. Enough of her incompetent boss. Enough of her addict father always asking for money. Enough of the struggle to survive. So when her aunt offers her a job as a cook at the South Pole, she jumps at it. Even when she’s asked to avoid casual sex to keep the peace in the tiny community.
Astrophysicist Ashley Bennett can’t wait for her year at the South Pole. Not only will it allow her to focus on her PhD research, it’s a key step in her plan to become a Mars colonist. Avoiding the complications of dating in a society that doesn’t understand asexuality is a bonus.
When Phoenix and Ash meet, they can’t help but push each other’s buttons. Phoenix doesn’t understand that her confident sexuality puts Ash on edge while Ash’s curt formality triggers Phoenix’s insecurities about her upbringing. But living at the bottom of the world means there’s nowhere to run, and as they find common ground, their differences aren’t nearly the hindrance they thought.
Available at:
Recipe for Love by Aurora Rey
A recipe for love:
One cup of homespun country farmer
Two dollops of hotshot city chef
A sprinkle of funky little restaurant
Increase the heat until romance sizzles.
Hannah Little doesn’t have much use for fancy chefs or fancy restaurants, but that’s exactly what Three Willows Farm needs to survive. When a local restaurant wants to feature her produce, she’s thrilled. But the contract means working with an egotistical, and (let’s face it) drop-dead-gorgeous head chef from New York City.
Chef Drew Davis can’t wait to run her own kitchen. If taking a job at some trendy farm-to-table restaurant in the middle of nowheresville will get her there faster, she’s on board. She has no intention of staying though, and that means the feisty farmer who keeps trying to tell her how to do her job can’t be anything more than a pleasant distraction.
Available at:
A Taste of Love by Clare Lydon
Single since forever, Natalie Hill has all but given up on love. She’s convinced herself and everyone else she wants a quiet life. But if a tall, dark and gorgeous stranger turned up on her doorstep, her plans might change…
Enter Ellie Knap, who’s jump-starting her life in the Cotswolds after bailing on her relationship and her career. Her plan? To open an ice cream shop and melt into the village.
When the two meet it’s far from love at first sight, but then slowly, they become friends. Then one night, on a moonlit bridge, everything changes… But can Ellie pack up her old life in time to embrace the new? And can Natalie hold on tight when her quiet life suddenly gets deafeningly loud?
Available at:
Veritas by MJ Duncan
Working as a chef aboard a private yacht might not seem like a vacation for most people, but to Lauren Murphy, a highly-regarded sous chef at a top New York restaurant, the opportunity to spend seventeen days in the Virgin Islands, sailing from one tropical location to the next, while having complete freedom to create her own menus is a dream come true.
Enter Grey Wells, the owner and captain of the Veritas, and the most complicated person Lauren has ever met. Cold and distant one minute and then cautiously friendly the next, Lauren is compelled to get to know her better. What happens when she does, however, is enough to change both of their lives forever.
Available at:
How Sweet It Is by Melissa Brayden
Molly O’Brien is a sweetheart. Her friends and neighbors all think so. While she enjoys her quiet life running the town bakeshop in Applewood, Illinois, she wonders if there could be more. After losing the love of her life four years prior in a plane crash, Molly thinks she’s ready to navigate the dicey dating waters once again. However, you can’t always pick who your heart latches on to. When Jordan Tuscana, the beautiful younger sister of her lost love, returns to town, Molly finds her interest piqued in a manner she wasn’t prepared for.
As secrets are uncovered, Molly and Jordan must figure out how to navigate the difficult terrain of their multi-faceted relationship. Especially when something much deeper seems to be bubbling between them.
Available at:
Sweetest Thing by Natasha West
Robyn Vincent bakes. It’s the only thing in her life that feels good, feels like control. Until almost by accident, she ends up as a contestant on one of the biggest cookery shows in the world, ‘Bake It!’ Now she’s wildly out of her comfort zone, baking under the watchful eye of mean judges as well as a national audience. If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s also her main competitor, Jodie Jacobs. She’s seriously skilled, cold as ice, and worst of all, sex on a stick.
However, when the competition heats up, so do things between Robyn and Jodie. And not just on the set… But are they a recipe for disaster? Or is the attraction between them the icing on the cake?
Available at:
For the Love of Cake by Erin Dutton
Maya Vaughn, the hottest young pastry chef to emerge from the reality television machine, enjoys spending time with men and women alike. When she takes a turn as a judge on the very show that launched her career, she expects to find a nice change of scenery and a little diversion.
A late-bloomer at forty-two years old, Shannon Hayes is finally on the precipice of achieving her dreams. She has one shot to prove she can compete with chefs half her age with much more experience. Engaging in a fling with a judge fourteen years her junior would almost certainly kill that chance.
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “character works in the food industry” category!
The post Sapphic character works in the food industry (Sapphic Reading Challenge #34) appeared first on Jae.
August 27, 2021
Literary Easter Egg Book Giveaway
Have you ever heard the term “literary Easter egg”?
Literary Easter eggs are references or messages that authors insert into their books. It can be characters from previous books making an appearance or being mentioned or a shout-out to a fellow author. For example, in my novel Falling Hard, the characters are reading Without a Front by Fletcher DeLancey.
The term originated in the video game industry, where it refers to hidden messages or objects in the games.
Some literary Easter eggs are pretty obvious, while others are more subtle and more well-hidden so you might not notice them on your first reading of the book.
Usually, literary Easter eggs aren’t important for the plot, so if you don’t pick up on them, it won’t take away from the enjoyment of the story. You won’t even notice there’s something you missed. But if you do detect them, it’s like an extra treat.
If you have read a few of my books, you know I love connecting my books and putting in a couple of Easter eggs. It’s like sharing an inside joke with my loyal, eagle-eyed readers.
My latest novel, Chemistry Lessons, has more literary Easter eggs than any of my previous books, so I thought I would create an Easter egg hunt contest.
Here’s how to enter the Chemistry Lessons Literary Easter Egg Book Giveaway
Read or re-read Chemistry Lessons, make note of every literary Easter egg you find, and count them. I suggest making a list while you read.
Remember that Easter eggs can be appearances of (main or supporting) characters from previous books, references to characters from previous books, references to my books, or shout-outs to other authors of sapphic fiction.
For an extra entry into the giveaway, find the additional Easter egg in the free short story sequel “The Principal’s Office.”
Once you think you found all the literary Easter eggs, enter all of them into this form.
The deadline for entering the giveaway is September 13, at 10 a.m. Central European Time, when I’ll draw the five winners using a random number generator. I’ll email winners, so don’t forget to enter your email into the form so I can contact you if you win.
Enter the Chemistry Lessons Literary Easter Egg Hunt & win one of five prizes
Among all participants who found all of the literary Easter eggs, I’ll give away five prizes:
A test tube spice rack + a signed copy of Chemistry Lessons .A coffee mug with the chemical formula for caffeine + a signed copy of Chemistry Lessons.A test tube rack of rainbow-colored plastic shot glasses + a signed copy of Wrong Number, Right Woman .A “chemistry is like cooking” notebook + a signed copy of Wrong Number, Right Woman.The Queeriodic Table + a signed copy of Under a Falling Star
Good luck and happy literary Easter egg hunting!
Jae
The post Literary Easter Egg Book Giveaway appeared first on Jae.
August 26, 2021
Disguised or living as a man (Sapphic Reading Challenge #33)
This week’s category of the Sapphic Reading Challenge features books about main characters who are either women who disguise themselves as men out of necessity or genderqueer people who were assigned female at birth but might identify as nonbinary or as trans men (even though the book might not use those terms since most books on this list are historical romances).
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
15 sapphic books featuring main characters who are disguised or living as men
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books featuring a character who lives their life as a man at least for major parts of the book. I hope you’ll find at least one you’ll enjoy.
Backwards to Oregon by Jae
Luke Hamilton has always been sure that she’d never marry. She accepted that she would spend her life alone when she chose to live her life disguised as a man.
After working in a brothel for three years, Nora Macauley has lost all illusions about love. She no longer hopes for a man who will sweep her off her feet and take her away to begin a new, respectable life.
But now they find themselves married and on the way to Oregon in a covered wagon, with two thousand miles ahead of them.
Available at:
Crossing the Wide Forever by Missouri Vaun
Cody Walsh leaves Arkansas for California. Lured by stories of opportunity, even for women, Cody disguises herself as a man and prepares for the arduous journey west.
Lillie Ellis leaves New York to accept a post as a schoolteacher on the frontier near a small homestead she just inherited from her uncle. Lillie’s ultimate desire is to become a painter, and she hopes the Kansas frontier will offer her the freedom to follow that dream. In the nineteenth century, a young woman has few options in the East that don’t revolve around marriage and motherhood. Lillie is interested in neither.
Cody rescues Lillie after a chance encounter in Independence, Missouri. Their destinies and desires become entwined as they face the perils of the untamed West. Despite their differences, they discover that love’s uncharted frontier is not for the weak in spirit or the faint of heart.
Available at:
Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon
A shocking assassination creates an unconventional bond between a princess and her guardian in a kingdom filled with political intrigue, danger and unexpected romance.
Princess Shasta Soltranis enjoys a pampered life of court dances, elaborate finery, and the occasional secret fencing match with her twin brother, Daric. But in the midst of a birthday celebration, her world shatters when a mysterious assassin takes her brother’s life. Shasta, the only remaining heir to the throne, narrowly escapes the assassin’s blade thanks to the intervention of a traveling acrobat named Talon.
With the threat of another attempt on Shasta’s life imminent, her father declares that the young hero will become the Princess’s bodyguard. But what Shasta doesn’t know is that her new guardian has a very well-kept secret: he is actually a she. Talon and Shasta soon grow closer than anyone, especially her father, could have predicted.
Will the truth of her guardian’s secret change their relationship forever?
Available at:
The Devil Between Us by S.C. Wilson
Jessica Pratt is only ten when her world is destroyed. After witnessing unspeakable acts of violence, she flees for her life, becoming lost in the untamed California wilderness. Terrified and alone, she fights for survival as each step takes her further away from everything she has ever known.
For nearly a decade Jessica calls the mountain home until tragedy strikes once again. Forced to reenter a world that is controlled by men, Jessica transforms into Jesse for her own protection. Posing as a man, she ventures off the mountain for the first time in years, and soon finds herself at the mercy of emotions beyond her control when she attracts the attention of a local singer.
Will Jesse be able to maintain the ruse she has created or will she let down her guard and confess her true identity to an unlikely new love? And, what happens when she comes face to face with the demons from her past? Will she get the justice she desires?
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The Covert Captain by Jeannelle M. Ferreira
Eleanor Charlotte Fleming, forgotten daughter of a minor baronet, stakes her life on a deception and makes her name—if not her fortune—on the battlefield.
Her war at an end, she returns to England as Captain Nathaniel Fleming and wants nothing more than peace, quiet, and the company of horses. Instead, Captain Fleming meets Harriet. Harriet has averted the calamity of matrimony for a decade, cares little for the cut of her gowns, and is really rather clever. Falling in love is not a turn of the cards either of them expected.
Available at:
The Travels of Charlie by JB Marsden
In 1884, Charlene Dieter needs a new life, away from unwanted male suitors and from Jo, her best friend who has rebuffed her romantic overtures. Charlene finds her new self in “Charlie,” the man she always thought she should have been. Charlie decides to start a new life in Illinois, motivated by letters from a cousin of Charlie’s deceased dad.
Kitty McIntire, a young woman managing her prairie farm after her father’s death, also fends off a suitor, John Cameron. John, however, presses on, despite a rival for Kitty’s attentions in cousin Charlie, newly arrived in their small town. Charlie does his best to be a farmer, but sustains injuries that lay him up. Kitty attends him while he recuperates, and they begin to fall in love, when circumstances force Charlie to let Kitty in on his secret.
Charlie and Kitty together face the escalating verbal and physical attacks from John, as he tries to get Kitty and her farm for his own purposes.
Will John come between the love that Charlie has found with Kitty? How can they, two women in a time that men rule, bring John to justice?
Available at:
Heart of Gold by Luci Dreamer
Thomasina Miller knew from a young age she wasn’t like other girls. She didn’t want to be a rancher’s wife, so she makes the harrowing decision to leave all she’s known, risking everything for the chance to choose her own fate in life. Now going by ‘Thomas’ she realizes hiding her identity is a rather small price to pay for the freedom to live her own life and the Klondike Gold Rush is the perfect opportunity to help her fund her endeavor.
Rachel Harkes knew that marrying Roy would be her ticket out of her small town in Kansas. Two years into their marriage and still looking for more adventure, Roy decides they should try their luck and join the Klondike Gold Rush.
When tragedy strikes and Thomas and Rachel are brought together at the top of the world in the unforgiving, arduous search for gold, can Thomas navigate her relationship with Rachel without revealing her secret? Will Rachel reconcile what she’s known with the new, seemingly overwhelming reality she now finds herself in?
Available at:
Divided Nation, United Hearts by Yolanda Wallace
February 1862. The War Between the States has been raging for nearly a year with no end in sight. Philadelphia socialite Wilhelmina Fredericks is safe from the war’s clutches, yet she feels compelled to do her part to bring the madness to an end. Accordingly, she disguises herself as a man, takes up arms, and heads South to join the fight. What could possibly go wrong?
Clara Summers’s father and older brother are serving in the Confederate army. Forced to look after her two younger brothers as well as the small Tennessee farm the family depends on for its livelihood, Clara has no time for or interest in love. Then she meets a handsome Union soldier named Wil Fredericks, and her loyalty to both her family and the Southern cause is put to the test.
Available at:
The Princess Deception by Nell Stark
When Sebastian, the Crown Prince of Belgium, overdoses on heroin shortly before he is set to launch Belgium’s campaign to host the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, his family manages to hush up the scandal. While the royals are debating how to proceed, Sebastian’s twin sister, Viola, decides to impersonate him to keep Belgium’s bid hopes alive.
Missy Duke is a freelance reporter covering Belgium’s World Cup bid. A former women’s soccer player whose career was sidelined by injury, she is now trying to break into the male-dominated sportscasting world. While in Belgium, she meets the imposter Sebastian and soon realizes that he is actually Viola. Sensing a big story in the making, Duke feigns ignorance and plays along with the charade.
Real sparks develop between the two women, but will the double deception doom this fairy-tale romance?
Available at:
Donning the Beard by EA Kafkalas
In 1777, when Gabrielle’s mother dies in childbirth she is left to be raised by her father Lord Guillemot, a soldier in the King’s Army.
Orphaned Madeline is sent to live with her aunt Aimée, the lord’s housekeeper, and work for Lord Guillemot. She is assigned to care for the lord’s daughter, Gabrielle, and finds her best friend and the love of her life.
Gabrielle’s father discovers that she has taught Madeline to read and write, and tries to put an end to their friendship. They thwart his plans only to find that he has arranged a marriage for Gabrielle to Damien. Her fiancé proves to be a vile man, and unbeknownst to Gabrielle, Madeline poses as Alexandre, a new suitor. Alexandre challenges Damien to a duel of swords.
When Gabrielle discovers her new love’s true identity, the fall out sends them on a journey that takes them out of the rising French Revolution into a magical theatrical world in England. There, with the help of an actor and their father’s paramour –the grand dame of theatre– Mademoiselle Babcock, they think their dreams of have come true.
When Gabrielle’s father is rescued from imprisonment and makes his way back to England, will their dreams be dashed or will they finally get their happily ever after?
Available at:
The Spanish Pearl by Catherine Friend
When Kate Vincent and her partner travel to Spain, Kate is accidentally transported back in time…way back in time…to 1085. What does a woman like Kate do in a world of no antibiotics, no feminism, no Diet Coke? She denies it as long as possible, then sets her mind to getting home. Tricky with her now useless twenty-first century skills. Things don’t go well.
Kate is captured by a band of mercenary soldiers and becomes an unwitting pawn in the violent conflict between the Catholic kings and the Islamic Moors. In her struggle to stay alive and return to the future, Kate must flee exotic harems, filthy dungeons, and treacherous Moorish courts.
But when a sword-brandishing woman with an astonishing secret sweeps into Kate’s life, Kate is suddenly torn between two women, and between two centuries.
Available at:
Night Fires in the Distance by Sarah Goodwin
Laura and her husband William Deene have come a long way, from England to Ohio to Indian Territory. With their farm failing and Laura expecting her fourth child, their relationship begins to disintegrate and with another cruel winter coming on, Will’s mistrustful and violent nature becomes more apparent.
Laura finds relief in the arms of their new neighbour, a young man of wealthy providence setting up as a lone homesteader; James Clappe. Attracted to Clappe’s youth, kindness and naiveté, Laura struggles to maintain her stoic tolerance of the hard prairie life she has endured for so long.
Clappe is not all he seems however. Beneath worn clothes and layers of dirt, is a young socialite fleeing her husband, brought to the prairie by fear and grief. The last thing on earth she expects, is to fall for a lonely prairie wife almost double her age – but it could be the thing that saves her.
Available at:
Renegade by Cheyne Curry
What would you do if one minute you were in the 21st century and the next you were in the 19th? One day you’re driving a Mustang and the next day you’re riding one?
Dirty cop Trace Sheridan faces this dilemma as she moves from a present day mob war to a range war over a hundred years in the past. The year is 1879, when cattle barons, crooked lawmen, saloons, painted ladies, cowboys and Indians ruled the Wild West, and laws were only as strong as the gunman who upheld them. In Sagebrush, the town and the sheriff belong to the Cranes, who take what they want or bad things happen.
Trace finds this out firsthand when she ends up on the land of Rachel Young, a struggling ranch woman who won’t give in to the merciless cattle baron and his obsessed son. For some unexplainable reason, Rachel trusts the enigmatic Trace who uses 21st century sensibilities to battle 19th century turmoil, while Trace is forced to keep the secret of her origin from the attractive and vulnerable Rachel.
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Keeping Secrets by McGee Mathews
What would you do if, after finally finding the woman of your dreams, she suddenly leaves to fight in the Civil War?
It’s 1863, and Elizabeth Hepscott has resigned herself to a life of monotonous boredom far from the battlefields as the wife of a Missouri rancher. Her fate changes when she travels with her brother to Kentucky to help him join the Union Army. On a whim, she poses as his little brother and is bullied into enlisting, as well. Reluctantly pulled into a new destiny, a lark decision quickly cascades into mortal danger.
While Elizabeth’s life has made a drastic U-turn, Charlie Schweicher, heiress to a glass-making fortune, is still searching for the only thing money can’t buy.
A chance encounter drastically changes everything for both of them.
Will Charlie find the love she’s longed for, or will the war take it all away?
Available at:
The Coffield Chronicles – Hearts Under Siege by TL Dickerson
The year is 1862. The war between the states has been raging intensely for a year now. The country is in complete and utter turmoil, and brother is fighting brother to the death, dying for what each believed. It seems it’s all the townsfolk of New Albany, Indiana can speak of, and Melody Coffield is paying attention. Through a series of heartbreaks and sorrow, she settles on the decision to cut her hair and don men’s attire.
Going under the alias of Melvin A. Coffield, she leaves her childhood home, the only home she had ever known, and enlists in the United States Army. Chewing tobacco and drinking liquor were ways of men, and she learns quickly how to behave like one. She would soon know the horrors of battle, and what was called the glory of war, through roads that led straight to Vicksburg, Mississippi. However, her biggest concern was making sure she was not detected by the others. Keeping her secret would not only be challenging, but trying as well.
Will she remain in this solitude the rest of her life, never allowing anyone into her heart again? Or will she find love, once more, in a world that was intolerant and unaccepting of who she truly was?
Available at:
Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “disguised or living as a man” category!
The post Disguised or living as a man (Sapphic Reading Challenge #33) appeared first on Jae.
