Every month, readers get a chance to vote for their favorite new releases featured in the I Heart SapphFic newsletter. Below, you’ll find the winners for each month.
December 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
READ BETWEEN THE LINES
Ms. Right: Book 1
by Rachel Lacey
Available in Kindle Unlimited
From award-winning author Rachel Lacey comes a playful romance about a Manhattan bookstore owner and a reclusive author who love to hate—and hate to love—each other.
Books are Rosie Taft’s life. And ever since she took over her mother’s beloved Manhattan bookstore, they’ve become her home too. The only thing missing is her own real-life romance like the ones she loves to read about, and Rosie has an idea of who she might like to sweep her off her feet. She’s struck up a flirty online friendship with lesbian romance author Brie, and what could be more romantic than falling in love with her favorite author?
Jane Breslin works hard to keep her professional and personal lives neatly separated. By day, she works for the family property development business. By night, she puts her steamier side on paper under her pen name: Brie. Jane hasn’t had much luck with her own love life, but her online connection with a loyal reader makes Jane wonder if she could be the one.
When Rosie learns that her bookstore’s lease has been terminated by Jane’s family’s business, romance moves to the back burner. Even though they’re at odds, there’s no denying the sparks that fly every time they’re together. When their online identities are revealed, will Jane be able to write her way to a happy ending, or is Rosie’s heart a closed book?
EROTIC ROMANCE
DARING TRUTH
by Adrian J. Smith
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Friends-giving dinner with her ex—what could go wrong?
For the first time in two years, Brook attends the annual dinner. She’s avoided group gatherings with her friends since Whisper hinted at love and Brook broke it off. But two years is a long time, and Brook hopes she and Whisper can find a new balance of friendship. Except all those feelings Brook bottled come racing back at the first sight of her hilariously flirtatious ex-girlfriend.
Whisper has kept tabs on Brook for the two years since they last saw each other. When Brook finally shows up, Whisper takes the plunge and dares her to twenty-four hours alone—one day for each of them to take what they need. The only problem is at the end of their day, Brook gives Whisper a dare of her own.
Do it again.
An emotional second chance romance perfect for the Christmas season. With an age gap and soft butch/femme relationship, these two women take their relationship to new heights.
FANTASY ROMANCE
WINTER SPELL
Chronicles of Mahon: Book One
by Brenda Murphy
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Trapped inside a crystalline sphere by a malevolent sorcerer, Mara spends her days planning her escape and nights using an enchanted mirror to observe her favorite warrior, Reika.
Reika, fierce leader of a band of mercenaries, has spent her life fighting for anyone who could afford her price. Betrayed by her clan, Reika is seized from death by the mysterious goddess, Mara.
Restless and unwilling to accept captivity, Reika vows to free Mara from the sorcerer’s curse or die trying.
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
JUST ONE MISTAKE
by Jade Winters
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Can just one mistake change your life forever?
When Louise meets her friends for pre-Christmas drinks, little does she realise how her life will change when walking home that night.
In the aftermath of a car accident which leaves Louise in hospital, she forms an unlikely bond with Kirsty – the sister of the other accident victim. After the initial shock of what happened wears off, Kirsty and Louise begin to question if it was really just an accident.
As they work together to uncover the circumstances surrounding the crash, romance blossoms between them but their fledgling relationship is tested when nefarious forces try to spin the narrative to conceal a darker truth.
Can Louise and Kirsty overcome the odds and stay together? Or will the shocking reality tear them apart?
FICTION
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LINDY JAMES
by Catherine Maiorisi
Lindy is hearing voices. And her new religious friends claim Quincy, her wife of six years, is Satan in disguise. They also say her marriage is a sin and warn she and their two daughters will burn in hell for eternity if she doesn’t leave Quincy.
Working a second job to earn enough to buy their dream house, Quincy is rarely around to notice Lindy’s behavior. By the time she does notice, Lindy’s new friends spirit her and the girls away to an isolated religious community in Arizona.
While Quincy searches frantically for her family, a female doctor at the community treats Lindy. As she slowly returns to herself Lindy begins to really see the community. She is horrified. Rather than saving herself and her daughters, she’s brought them to a kind of hell.
Then Lindy is given an ultimatum. Stay and marry a man in the community. Or leave. Without her daughters.
She panics. There must be another way.
AUDIOBOOK
THE AM SHOW
by TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod
narrated by Lori Prince
Would you give up your lifelong dream for a shot at everlasting love?
Amanda Morgan is a morning show host with a fierce reputation, but a bitter divorce has left her feeling all washed up. Being mistaken for a grandmother at her own son’s wedding has her teetering on the edge – until a stranger at the reception rocks her world.
Dakota Washington is a young reporter who is flabbergasted to meet her career idol – and biggest celebrity crush – at a friend’s out-of-town wedding. Their night together goes beyond her wildest fantasies. And she’s had a lot of them.
They were never meant to see each other again – until fate steps in, landing Dakota a job at Amanda’s network in New York City. Thanks to a draconian employment contract, the network could fire them on the spot for getting romantically involved. They agree to keep their distance and never breathe a word about their past.
Easy, right?
Except every time they’re alone for more than five minutes, they end up having sex. Soon, it’s obvious this is more than a fling, leaving them with an unthinkable choice: Give up the careers they’ve poured their souls into or lose the love of a lifetime. Which one will be easier to walk away from?
If you enjoy scorching celebrity age-gap romance with a touch of heart, don’t miss the latest collaboration of Miranda MacLeod and TB Markinson.
November 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
HAT TRICK
by Ali Spooner & K.L. Gallagher
Alexandra “Alex” Hawthorne is on the fast track to the top of one of the most formidable, white-collar, criminal defense law firms in New York. She can ill afford any distractions, especially those with dark-brown eyes, who can rock a power suit while coaching professional hockey players. Not now. Not when Alex is so close to making senior partner. Not after all she has sacrificed.
After a devastating end to her playing career, Janelle Leblanc channeled her passion into coaching and reached the pinnacle of success as the first female head coach in NHL history. Despite her accomplishments, she hears whispers that she was hired as nothing more than a publicity stunt. Janelle’s focus needs to remain on the ice if she is to prove them wrong, not on a certain curly haired attorney with the most arresting emerald-green eyes she has ever seen.
Once the spark is lit, their chemistry is impossible to ignore. Can Janelle break down Alex’s walls to give them a real chance? Or will Alex’s past heartache be too much for them to overcome?
ALWAYS ALLIE
by Melissa Tereze
Available in Kindle Unlimited
When leaving feels like it’s forever, but home is always right there waiting for you to come back…
Cassidy Lewis had always dreamed of following in her mother’s footsteps, opening an award-winning florist. But Cassidy wanted bigger and better. She wanted to be thriving amongst the hustle and bustle of London; something her sleepy town of Plumstoke lacked. Finding the perfect store for her dream to flourish was easy, what was hard was moving to a whole new city and leaving behind the one person she thought she’d never be without. Allie. When her mother passes away suddenly; she’s forced to head back home alone to deal with the hardest goodbye a person ever has to say.
Allie Campbell, resident sweetheart, has been pushing through loss after loss. When she watched Cassidy—the woman who should have been her wife—drive away three years ago, Allie never thought she’d see her again. Sadly, the most dreadful of circumstances has brought her back. Can Allie be the friend that’s needed, the shoulder to cry on, the hand to hold? Will Cassidy realise that she doesn’t want to let go this time?
EROTICA
THE CLUB REVISITED
by A. L. BROOKS
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Lesbian erotica sizzles in this return to The Club, where the clients watch and make love to each other in the UK’s sexiest women-only nightclub.
Welcome back to The Club. The rules are the same but the players have changed. Mandy still runs her unique nightclub. These days she’s ready to bring love and passion back into her own life, but finding it? Well, maybe the universe has a sense of humour. Lindsey has come out late in life and is looking for a confidence boost, and a club regular is only too happy to help her out. Caitlin would love to test her limits after being shamed by an ex for her desires. Jody thinks no one will want to be intimate with her again after a tragic accident left her body forever changed. Her best friend Kris has other ideas. Joanna and Suzanne have been together for years. They’re still in love but something’s missing. Maybe The Club can help add some zest to the bedroom? Laura has overcome most of her grief from losing her wife, but wonders if she still has it in her to be intimate with someone.
Whatever they need, they can find. Anonymity, sweetness, sexiness, and unexpected opportunities abound at The Club, as Mandy watches over them all.
This tantalising follow-up to the award-winning The Club can be read as a standalone book.
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
A PLACE TO CALL HOME
Oregon: Book 5
by Jae
Together, Luke and Nora survived the hardships and dangers along the Oregon Trail in 1851. What started out as a marriage of convenience between a woman living as a man and a former prostitute slowly grew into love.
But now that they have arrived in Oregon City, the real adventure is just beginning. Winter is approaching, and they need to claim a piece of land and build a cabin, all while trying to establish their new roles as life partners and parents.
Will they find a place to call home and, more importantly, a way to grow as a couple?
“A Place to Call Home” is a lesbian historical romance short story that continues Jae’s award-winning Oregon series. It picks up directly after the end of Backwards to Oregon.
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
LADY KILLER
Fox County Forensics: Book 5
by Cara Malone
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Opposites attract when a forensic investigator dying to fit in teams up with a detective with a major case of wanderlust.
Maya Ross has worked hard to cultivate a tough, no-nonsense reputation as ‘one of the guys’ in a male-dominated field. As lead investigator, she’s at the peak of her career – and she can’t admit to anyone that it’s making her deeply unhappy.
When femme, gorgeous Detective Arlen Rose blows into town on a killer’s trail, she’s everything Maya never knew she needed – and the answer to the gnawing emptiness inside her. They team up to catch the prolific serial killer before he strikes again, but the closer they get to him, the sooner Arlen will move on.
Can they bring the Rideshare Creep to justice, or will their own hearts become casualties of the chase?
FANTASY
THE WOLF YOU FEED
The Hercynian Forest Series: Book 3
by Reba Birmingham
Panda and Mitzi Fowler’s much-needed family vacation is rudely interrupted when a Merryville police officer pulls them over before they’ve even left town. Shocking allegations against Ekk and Panda follow, and the Fowlers and their friends are under attack yet again, only this time by legal means.
At the same time, an epic war is heating up in the Hercynian Forest. Seizing the opportunity to bring the war to his opponents’ doorstep, “Pastor” Wolfrum and his miscreants appear in Merryville to sow chaos and take power once and for all.
As the Free Creatures from Germany’s Hercynian Forest arrive to help, Panda is in serious trouble, in jail, and lacking Mitzi’s usual support. She comes to realize she must master her newly-found sensing magic. But how deep does it go?
And will she be able to use the magic in time to save herself, their friends and Merryville?
YOUNG ADULT
KISSING PRACTICE
Pike High School Book Club: Book 1
by Jordan Meadows
Available in Kindle Unlimited
The year is 1987, it’s Nicki’s sixteenth birthday party and she’s having a great time with her best friends, hanging out in a hot tub and listening to the radio while snow falls all around. When a playful practice kiss with one friend, Connie, suddenly turns into more and Nicki likes it — really likes it — she starts down a path of self discovery.
Will she have to keep this a secret from everyone? Does Connie feel the same way or is this really just practice for her? How should Nicki navigate the winter formal and Christmas with a new…girlfriend?
In this coming of age lesbian romance, Nicki finds support, hurt, and ultimately a new sense of self in more ways than one.
Content warning: While Kissing Practice is overall a positive and uplifting book, there is some homophobia (as is only realistic in middle America in the 80s), and a coming out results in the loss of a friendship.
AUDIOBOOK
NO MORE SECRETS
Lovers Landing Series: Book 2
by Jamey Moody
narrated by Amanda Wrege
When Krista Kyle’s world is turned upside down, there’s only one person who can save her.
First love is a mighty strong emotion. Krista knows this and has been given several chances over the years to have the life she dreamed of, but something always got in the way.
Melanie Zimmer has loved Krista Kyle for over half her life. She now has the courage to do something about it. All she has to do is help Krista find hers, and she knows just the place.
Does Lovers Landing still have the magic that brought them together over 30 years ago? Will Krista finally be brave enough to hold on to her true love?
This is the second book in the Lovers Landing series. Come along on this first love, second chance romance and see if Krista and Melanie can find their courage in one another.
October 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
THE AM SHOW
by TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Would you give up your lifelong dream for a shot at everlasting love?
Amanda Morgan is a morning show host with a fierce reputation, but a bitter divorce has left her feeling all washed up. Being mistaken for a grandmother at her own son’s wedding has her teetering on the edge—until a stranger at the reception rocks her world.
Dakota Washington is a young reporter who is flabbergasted to meet her career idol—and biggest celebrity crush—at a friend’s out-of-town wedding. Their night together goes beyond her wildest fantasies. And she’s had a lot of them.
They were never meant to see each other again, until fate steps in, landing Dakota a job at Amanda’s network in New York City. Thanks to a draconian employment contract, the network could fire them on the spot for getting romantically involved. They agree to keep their distance and never breathe a word about their past.
Easy, right?
Except every time they’re alone for more than five minutes, they end up having sex. Soon, it’s obvious this is more than a fling, leaving them with an unthinkable choice: give up the careers they’ve poured their souls into or lose the love of a lifetime. Which one will be easier to walk away from?
If you enjoy scorching celebrity age-gap romance with a touch of heart, don’t miss the latest collaboration of Miranda MacLeod and TB Markinson.
EROTICA
WRATH, WAR, AND THE WOE TRUMPETS
Wrath Trilogy: Book 2
by TJ Dallas
Available in Kindle Unlimited
A lesbian erotic novel featuring the Seven Deadly Sins. This sequel follows on from Prewrath and Rapture.
The fate of Caledonia hangs by a thread.
When a chance encounter reveals that the archangels are close to finding the key Persephone stole from them, Astar must convince Emilia to return to Caledonia. If Michael gets hold of the key and manages to break the final seal, he would command the sounding of seven trumpets, instigating the next stage of the apocalypse. With the help of Pride and Envy, three Deadly Sins now join the four Horsewomen in the second battle between good and evil.
Come and see.
Content Warning: 18+, mature content, sexually explicit wlw sex. One scene involves breast milk.
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
WARM PEARLS AND PAPER CRANES
by E V Bancroft
Available in Kindle Unlimited
A family torn apart by secrets. Love is the only way forward.
Maud Heaston has been in love with Beatrice Williams since they first met in 1939. They’ve been through hell and back; family, careers, and secrets have threatened to tear them apart, but their love has endured it all. Until now. Old age and illness have forced them into separate nursing homes and the family Maud trusted to take care of them are only out for themselves.
Hannah Jones is trying to put her past behind her and find her place in the world. Midway through a doctorate and living with Suki, the woman she’d like to be more than just friends with, the last thing she needs is Gammy, her interfering great aunt, back in her life. Though Gammy took Hannah in when her mother died, her overbearing nature and constant criticisms forced them apart. Now they barely speak.
Maud needs Hannah’s help to be reunited with the love of her life. Hannah needs Suki to take a chance on love. Can a reconciliation between Maud and Hannah free them both to be with the women they love or will the past destroy their future?
Content Warning: Death of a family member.
FANTASY ROMANCE
TURBULENT WAVES
by Ali Vali
Kai Merlin is heir to her mother’s throne in Atlantis, and she takes her duties seriously, but lately her mind has been on her fiancée Vivien Palmer. After a chance encounter when they were children, meeting again and falling in love proved to be fate, but melding their worlds as they plan their wedding isn’t going to be easy.
Vivien has spent her life searching for the secrets she’d always known were hidden beneath the waves, but nothing prepared her for what Kai and her people had successfully kept hidden for eons. She finally has a sense of belonging, but unseen enemies will stop at nothing to conquer and destroy their world—including everything and everyone she holds dear.
Below turbulent waves, Kai and Vivien must fight for what is right as life and love hang in the balance.
MYSTERY
THE TELL TALE
by Clare Ashton
Available in Kindle Unlimited
A small town, enduring love, a web of secrets.
The Tell Tale has been watching and waiting, because there’s something queer about the village of Foel.
Beth Griffiths has returned home to raise her daughter in the Welsh hills. They arrive to the open arms of the community, but not all is what it seems and Beth isn’t home for the reason she pretends either.
Vicious notes start appearing that reveal harsh truths about the village inhabitants, stirring up ancient past and old loves. Not even local dignitary, the elegant and aloof Lady Melling, is safe from the accusations.
But when Beth receives her notes, they aren’t what she expected. Is she being toyed with like the other villagers, or is she being guided to a long-sought truth?
YOUNG ADULT
THE CONVINCING HOUR
by Ann Roberts
Juvenile delinquents are vanishing from Lakeview, Michigan.
Brilliant fifteen-year-old Story Black has heard that the smartest kids go from jail to a special school—and then on to college. The mastermind behind it all is Lakeview’s newest citizen, Charlotte Barnaby, a former high school principal and winner of the largest lottery jackpot in history. Char brings her powerful billions back to her dying hometown, determined to save it and the worthiest children—regardless of what it costs.
Story plans to be next. Getting arrested is easy but getting out of Lakeview may be impossible. Standing between her and her new life is her mother Patty, a meth user with a genius I.Q. and a mysterious past of her own. Char launches an elaborate scheme to convince Patty to let Story go, but Patty is an immovable force, unwilling to put Story’s happiness before her own.
If Story wants the future she sees, she must confront her mother and be willing to lose everything—even their relationship.
ANTHOLOGY
THE LONE STAR COLLECTION
Volume II
by Various Authors
Saddle up for a wild ride! The Lone Star Collection II has something for everyone!
If you enjoy romance, Kris Bryant and Dena Blake have penned hot contemporary stories in Heat and Horseplay, while Pins and Needles, by Julie Cannon, is a historical adventure. Annette Mori also contributes to the romance fare with a beautiful, enduring love story in Rainstorm. If you want sizzling erotica check out 50 by 50, from Renee MacKenzie.
What would a collection be without fantasy, paranormal and swashbuckling adventures? Lured to the Rocks, a unique work of fantasy by Barbara Ann Wright. In The Devil’s Backbone, Lacey L. Schmidt spins a thriller about overcoming evil and personal loss. MJ Williamz explores dark passion in Take Me All the Way. Del Robertson offers Return to Me a classic pirate story, and Yvette Murray tosses in the Ghostly Galleons.
AUDIOBOOK
NEVER MINE
by Bryce Oakley
narrated by AJ Ferraro
What if their fake relationship wasn’t ever just pretend?
Sage Carson has a messy reputation. Sure, she’s a soccer star with World Cup trophies and Olympic medals, but she’s almost as well known for her rebellious behavior off the pitch. She’s left enough gorgeous women with broken hearts in her dust to fill a roster. That was, until she got injured. Now, her frustratingly slow recovery means she’d better secure this new squeaky-clean endorsement deal in order to get back on top.
Sweet, sunshiny Willa Bellamy has a crisis on her hands. She’s used to it – as an events coordinator for the Denver Zoo, it’s her job to handle crises. But when she receives an invite to her ex’s wedding, she’s not so sure it’ll be as easy to handle as an escaped emu during a Girl Scout sleepover. Even worse, when the bachelorette party invite mentions that couples are welcome, she realizes she’s the sole single person invited.
Fifteen years ago, Willa and Sage roamed the same halls of Edgelake High School. When their paths cross again, they decide to team up to solve both their problems – a stable, albeit fake, relationship to snag the endorsement deal and a hot soccer star to make the couples getaway sting a little less…. But when the lines between real and fake start to blur, will they be able to keep the growing heat between them just a game, or will they start playing to win?
September 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
THAT WOMAN NEXT DOOR
by Harper Bliss
Sometimes what you’re running from is exactly what you need
Olivia Chevalier is perfectly happy living a quiet life of solitude with her two cats in the tempestuous countryside of Brittany.
Olivia’s peace is disrupted when heartbreaker extraordinaire Marie Dievart moves in to the holiday home next door after an event at work makes her flee her everyday life.
Olivia hates having a neighbour and Marie is put off by Olivia’s cranky ways.
But maybe these two women have more in common than they first believe.
Best-selling lesbian romance author Harper Bliss brings you a slow-burn opposites-attract story about the power of connection and opening yourself up to the possibility of love.
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
IN THE SHADOW OF THE PAST
Shadow Series: Book 1
by J.E. Leak
She fell for the wrong woman … now it’s going to cost her.
Escape to 1940s New York City, where a sultry spy falls for her assignment in this spellbinding lesbian love story.
Guilt-ridden over her part in her father’s death, budding reporter Jenny Ryan gets an anonymous call that sets her on a path of intrigue and danger. The caller pins her father’s death on a man selling secrets to the enemy: wealthy industrialist Marcus Forrester. In her plan to bring him down, she didn’t count on falling for Forrester’s mistress, Kathryn Hammond.
Kathryn Hammond is a popular nightclub singer with elegant grace and stunning good looks, but she harbors a secret. Stuck stateside carrying out dead-end missions for the OSS while the war rages in Europe, her life is turned upside down when Jenny Ryan becomes her latest dead-end mission and awakens the enemy that could cost her everything—desire.
Lush with the sights and sounds of the 1940s, this mesmerizing slow burn love story will carry you deep into the shadow of the past and have you turning pages well into the night.
EROTIC ROMANCE
BEHIND THE SCENES
Love In The Limelight Series: Book 3
by Raven J. Spencer
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Anything can happen during Christmas In July…
Molly is an actress hoping to get her big break someday. She’s intrigued and troubled alike by her attraction to Caitlyn, who happens to be her boyfriend’s assistant. She knows she has to break up with him, but timing never seems to be on her side.
Caitlyn knows what she wants from life: A stellar career, and someday, love, and a family. Her best laid plans are thrown into chaos when she falls for the boss’s girlfriend.
When Sean asks Molly to meet the family—including his famous sister Emmy who is filming a Christmas special in the siblings’ hometown—she can’t escape the truth any longer. Especially when Caitlyn is along for the ride…
Is there a chance for everyone to find their Happily Ever After?
SCI-FI ROMANCE
MY EVERYTHING
The Alpha God: Book 6
by Lexa Luthor
Kal loses the Spirit of Kalatas and returns to her former self as Sumner. Not only does Sumner confront old memories, but also vulnerability, risk, as well as a rare opportunity to truly be herself with Charlie. The dangers of their next mission weigh on Charlie, who will protect her mate on their journey to secure an alliance with Serrato Corps. Will Sumner and Charlie’s mission off-world succeed, or is this the break the Sworne needed to capture Kander with Kal gone?
Trigger Warnings: The book has a female lead character with a penis.
ROMANTIC THRILLER
IGNIS
by KJ
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Felicity Davis, principal of Rawson Girls Grammar School, is a passionate educator, an inspirational leader, some say even an ice queen, although she’s not sure about that last one. But one thing Felicity knows is that she is perfectly happy with her life. That is until the trauma, the darkness of her past, comes crashing into her present, revealing a deeply buried secret, and placing Felicity and those she loves in incredible danger. Inspector Tal Diamandis takes on the case, attempting to extinguish the flames of Felicity’s past before they consume her. Matters become complicated as Felicity and Tal realise their mutual spark of attraction but when they finally connect the shocking links, the explosive conclusion will leave everyone reeling.
Can Felicity play with fire or will the fire become an inferno?
A dark, romantic thriller from the author of Coming Home.
FICTION
AN UNLIT CANDLE
by Caren J. Werlinger
The long-awaited follow-up to In This Small Spot
Patricia Horrigan is the eldest daughter of a family determined to gain entry into the upper echelons of Rochester society as the 1950s give way to the turbulence of the 60s. Born of an Irish father and a French-Canadian mother, Pip inherited the stubborn pride and fierce determination of both. With her life in the family business all planned out, she is most definitely not interested in throwing it all away to become a nun. But some calls will not be ignored, no matter how hard she tries. Fifty years later, she can’t help but wonder if her choices and sacrifices were worth it.
In present time, Lauren Thackeray has managed to put her life back together—in a manner of speaking. She has her weaving, her home, her chosen family, and she has the monastery and the lasting friendship of the nuns there. The one thing she doesn’t have, she doesn’t want. She won’t open her heart again after she barely survived the last time.
Gail Bauer is questioning her own vocation as an Episcopal priest. How can she minister to others when she’s not sure she believes anymore? In desperation, she flees, hoping to find answers.
In the shadow of St. Bridget’s Abbey, three very different women will need one another—to come to terms with their demons, to heal, and to rekindle the light that life has all but snuffed out.
ANTHOLOGY
LADY GRIM 2021
A Halloween Anthology
Available in Kindle Unlimited
When the clock strikes twelve on All Hallows’ Eve and the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is at its thinnest, Lady Grim comes out to play…
This Halloween, join thirteen of the hottest authors of WLW fiction as they lead you to the places where darkness dwells.
From stories that burn and bubble to deals with the devil, from tales of creatures of the night to those that explore the shadowy reaches of the human heart, this macabre collection of short stories is guaranteed to make you sleep with the lights on.
AUDIOBOOK
BEGINNER’S BET
by Fiona Riley
narrated by Melissa Sternenberg
Ellison Gamble owns the most successful luxury real estate firm in Boston, but the accomplishment feels hollow when she comes home to an empty house.
Institutionalizing her mother for her own safety was the hardest thing Katie Crawford has ever done. The costs are becoming more than she can manage, and her only solution is to sell her childhood home that has fallen into disrepair.
After a tense first interaction with Katie, Ellison eventually finds herself in an unlikely friendship, and makes a risky offer to help Katie sell her mother’s home. Katie will do anything to help her mom, but being attracted to a woman for the first time was not in the plan.
Will the risks they take be worth the reward? Or have they wagered on a losing bet?
August 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
THE HEADMISTRESS
by Milena McKay
Available in Kindle Unlimited
A chance encounter. An unforgettable night.
And back home, trouble is brewing on the remote island of Three Dragons, where nothing feels like it used to. Alone and lonely, Sam Threadneedle wishes upon a star, hoping for change. But when said change comes, it’s with a roar and not a whimper.
Torn between loyalty and lust, Sam is forced to re-evaluate everything.
Can she and the Home of Dragons withstand the storm that is Magdalene Nox, or will any and all crumble?
Not everything is as it seems, and as she slowly unravels the mysteries behind the centuries-old walls, Sam realizes that home is much more than oak and stone.
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
BIG LONDON DREAMS
London Romance Series: Book 8
by Clare Lydon
They were each other’s first love. But that was a lifetime ago…
Eunice Starling didn’t mean to fall for Joan Hart, but she did. How could she resist those stunning eyes, that dynamite smile? Months later, she didn’t want to leave Joan and marry a suitable man, but she did. Over the years, Eunice tried to forget, but she never forgave herself.
Now, 60 years later, Eunice comes face to face with Joan. They might be older, but Joan’s eyes are still the same. But after so long apart, is that enough? Are the pair destined to finally live out their big London dreams?
For the latest instalment in the London Romance series, best-selling author Clare Lydon travels back in time to uncover the story of Eunice and Joan, and the love that was ripped from their grasp. Told from 1958 London to the present day, get ready to have your heart broken, then pieced back together again. This is a story of burning passion, shattered dreams, and ultimately, enduring, endless love.
EROTIC ROMANCE
WORTH THE WAIT
The Hollywood Series: Book 5
by Jae
Actress Jill and her girlfriend, stuntwoman Crash, explore new territory in this erotic lesbian short story that is part of Jae’s award-winning Hollywood series but can be read as a standalone.
When struggling actress Jill lands her dream TV role, she rushes home to celebrate with her girlfriend, stuntwoman Crash.
A steamy shower leads to sheet-rumpling passion as they try out a new sex toy.
Will their intimate celebration turn out to be worth the wait?
“Worth the Wait” won the Good Sex Awards 2021 in the Best Use of Sex Toys category.
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
PLEASURE OF THE FIRST MARK
Faerie Marked: Book 1
by Scarlett Knight
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Piper is a Pixie who lives her days passing as a human, but she is desperate to get away from her stressful dead-end office job and her conservative boss from hell. As she takes an extended lunch period to hang out at the local Faerie-friendly bookstore, she distracts herself from work by daydreaming about the bookstore’s manager, a reserved but sexy Dryad named Tory. But when she and Tory actually have a conversation for the first time, Piper realizes her dreams of getting to know her might be possible. Tory, however, still doesn’t know Piper’s true identity as a Fae. Could a Dryad actually fall for a Pixie? As her lunch period runs out, Piper realizes she has two choices: run back to the job she hates and play it safe, or take a chance on love.
HORROR
DEAD LEZ WALKING
by G Benson
One hospital. One zombie virus. One desperate group. One way out.
A new virus has appeared, and all Taren can do is groan. Being a nurse in Accident and Emergency has its downsides, and dealing with the flood of people freaking out over symptoms they don’t really have is definitely one of them.
Joy, an exhausted surgeon, is just trying to find somewhere to relax after a horrendous night on call—and somewhere she can avoid Taren, since Joy blew her off after an incredible date weeks ago. When she wakes up after an accidental nap, her pager has gone dead, and the doors outside are barricaded. This can’t be about the virus, can it?
Yes, it can. The dead are rising, and they are hungry. Joy and Taren are trapped with a group of others as they try to fight for their lives and get out. The rest of the group think it would be great if Joy and Taren would stop making moon eyes at each other when they are oh, you know, just trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.
ANTHOLOGY
MILESTONES
by Serena J. Bishop
Available in Kindle Unlimited
This romantic short story bundle contains three humorous and heart-felt relationship tales that occur after the events of the novel Dreams, and before the events of the novel Miracles.
Rocky Start: Aurora and Leela go through a series of awkward, inconvenient, and sometimes painful incidents during their first date.
Fancy Pasta: Leela wants Aurora. Aurora wants Leela. An intimate dinner at Leela’s home leads both to get what they want…even if they never get to eat the pasta.
Meet the Makers: After almost a year together, Leela and Aurora have an argument because Leela seemingly does not want to meet Aurora’s parents. After their friends intervene, the couple shares their fears, expectations, and thoughts about what kind of future they might have together.
AUDIOBOOK
MUST LOVE SILENCE
by Lucy Bexley
narrated by Abby Craden
What happens when a misanthrope meets the one person she doesn’t want to be without?
Reese Walker doesn’t like people. What she likes is silence and being left alone. The thing she loves most about recording audiobooks is that she doesn’t have to leave her Chicago apartment to do it. And she hasn’t for nearly a year. But with an unavoidable bill going to collections that puts her sister’s treatment at risk, she has no choice but to take a job that pushes her out of her comfort zone.
After a disastrous blow to her career, Arden Abbott needs a comeback. Step one: a successful book launch, including an audiobook. She doesn’t trust anyone else to oversee every aspect of the project. Arden knows she’s ready to resume the life she had before her dreams fell apart, all she has to do is prove it to everyone around her.
When Reese and Arden meet, sparks fly and then, they combust. Will Reese crack under the constant pressure from Arden? Can she possibly read a sex scene with the woman who wrote it interrupting to correct her pronunciation of words she is saying 100% correctly? Or can they step outside their comfort zones long enough to meet in the middle?
July 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
PAS DE DEUX
by E.J. 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.
EROTIC ROMANCE
UNBRIDLED
by D. Jackson Leigh
After a hard-fought battle to take control of her personal and professional life, mystery writer Lauren Everhart’s star is finally rising. She vows never to give up control of anything in her life until she meets her niece’s sexy horseback-riding instructor and signs up for her own private lessons, and more.
Riding top horses on the show jumping circuit and igniting a woman’s desire are simply games of power, and Marsh Langston is a master player. Only this time, the flame she fans with Lauren Everhart burns too hot and so quickly it threatens to sear through Marsh’s impenetrable control.
DYSTOPIAN
THE OTHERS
by Annette Mori
As a seer and brilliant scientist, Em convinces her wife, Lise, to prepare for the inevitable conclusion, after the chaos caused by foreign countries attacking the United States. Leaving behind a wake of destruction and a new world order. Forcing them to navigate a frightening reality. After ten months in their cozy bomb shelter, they emerge to a world where the vegetation is surprisingly unaffected. Should they band together with other survivors or try to make it on their own? There are others in this unknown world. On the first day outside of their shelter, they meet members of an alternate society. Are they friend or foe? Change is inevitable. But will they change in ways Em and Lise can live with, or will this altered world change them into something unrecognizable?
Trigger warning: Rape is alluded to, but not written in any graphic form.
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
DARK SKIES
Fox County Forensics: Book 3
by Cara Malone
Available in Kindle Unlimited
When disaster strikes, a seasoned firefighter and the chief medical examiner join forces to rebuild their city – and ignite a fire for each other they can’t extinguish.
On a dark and stormy morning, a tornado touches down in Fox County, destroying homes and families and uncovering decades-old secrets.
Dr. Amelia Trace has been training to handle a mass fatality for years, but when she arrives on the scene with her forensics team, things are worse than she could imagine. Entire neighborhoods have been leveled, a teenager’s sleepover has ended in tragedy… and the fire department’s newest recruits are running around like a litter of unruly puppies.
Fire Lieutenant Simone Olivier is getting serious side-eye from the beautiful, stern medical examiner and she’s ready to put her rookies on a leash when one of them discovers a victim with a bullet wound. The scene becomes a homicide investigation – Dr. Trace’s turf – and with a killer on the loose, it’s all hands on deck before the evidence gets washed away in the rain.
Simone and Amelia team up to catch the killer, but can these career women find room for love too?
Content warning: This book contains references to sexual assault. There are no on-page depictions or graphic details, but characters discuss an event in which sexual assault occurred. Discretion is advised.
GENERAL FICTION
THE DARK WINTER
Hobbs: Book 5
by Elena Graf
Available in Kindle Unlimited
In this fifth volume of the series, the residents of Hobbs, Maine, are relieved to have gotten through the summer relatively unscathed by the pandemic. Town doctor, Liz Stolz, is warning about a fall surge, but everyone is ready to get back to normal. Liz has agreed to help her friend, architect, Sam McKinnon, build a sound-proof practice room over Erika Bultmann’s garage. As the days grow shorter, Erika is worried about her wife, former opera singer and Episcopal rector, Lucy Bartlett, who walks alone on the beach before dawn. Fortunately, the early Christmas gift is ready before tragedy strikes. In the process of keeping a promise to a friend, Liz antagonizes her wife. Their marriage has been rocky since an impulsive kiss last summer. As the women of Hobbs pull together to help a beloved friend heal from her loss, the dark winter brings tension and realignment to their small community.
ANTHOLOGY
SLICED ICE
by Lee Winter
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Ten short stories based on Lee Winter’s fierce and unforgettable ice queens and villains have been gathered into one anthology containing lesbian love, lust, friendship, and romance.
Find out what happened after Lee’s stories ended, and in one case, before it began. Iconic characters revisited include Elena Bartell (The Brutal Truth), Elizabeth Thornton (Breaking Character), Monique Carson (Hotel Queens), Natalya Tsvetnenko (Requiem for Immortals), Catherine Ayers (The Red Files), and Cynthia Redwell (Under Your Skin).
AUDIOBOOK
IRRESISTIBLY BOUND
by Anna Stone
narrated by Lexy Rebe
Grab all four books in the sizzling Irresistibly Bound romance series in one collection.
Being Hers
While working at an exclusive club, law student Melanie attracts the attention of Vanessa, a glamorous executive. Soon, she is swept into Vanessa’s sensual games of submission. As their connection grows more intense, they realize their no-strings-attached relationship is turning into something more, but old wounds keep them from surrendering their hearts.
Her Surrender
When librarian April has a one-night stand with womanizer Vicki, she isn’t expecting their uninhibited night to leave her wanting more. What she’s expecting even less is that Vicki is the wealthy property developer who’s planning to bulldoze April’s library. As tensions heat up between them, neither can resist the pull of their attraction. Will their love-hate relationship cause everything they’ve worked for to go up in flames?
Hers to Keep
When art school graduate Lindsey joins a sugar baby website to pay off her debt, she meets an alluring older woman named Camilla. Lindsey isn’t interested in women, but Camilla has an irresistible proposal for her: move into her mansion for three months as her girlfriend and submissive, and all Lindsey’s financial woes will disappear. Their arrangement is just one big lie.
But what happens when the lie becomes the truth?
Freeing Her
Faith is thrilled to land a job as a nanny for a wealthy, recently divorced mother of two. The only problem is her boss, Eve. She’s uptight, controlling, and impossible to please. But when Faith discovers a side to Eve that she never expected, it becomes clear that behind her strict façade is a passionate woman bursting to break free and make Faith hers. However, if they give in to their desires, they risk losing everything.
June 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
GRAVE MISTAKE
Don’t Call Me Hero: Book 5
by Eliza Lentzski
Available in Kindle Unlimited
William Desjardin was dead: the victim of an interrupted home burglary, according to the police. Cassidy returns to Embarrass with Julia to support her with the funeral details, rehoming Julia’s mother, and settling the Desjardin estate. For Cassidy, being back in the small, northern Minnesotan town has brought back a number of good memories—most starring Julia herself. But it’s also triggered some memories she’d rather leave buried. And when an unexpected life insurance policy implicates Julia in her father’s death, the short visit turns into much more than a trip down memory lane.
EROTIC ROMANCE
NOT GUILTY
by Brit Ryder
Glass ceilings, red tape, rules…Some things are meant to be broken. No one expects their heart will.
Claire Weaver’s only goal is to climb the ladder of success. After winning an unwinnable toxic tort case and securing a ninety-million-dollar verdict, she’s a shoo-in for a judgeship at Kansas City’s circuit court.
The last person fire investigator Emery Pearson expects to see in court is the stranger she had the pleasure of dominating last night—only this time, Judge Claire Weaver is definitely in charge. To say she’s excited is an understatement. Claire is everything she needs—sexy, available, and not looking for a relationship.
Their day jobs clash, even as their desire burns, and a discreet sex-only arrangement is the only option. But when pushing their sexual limits threatens the boundary of their hearts, will they be guilty of breaking their own rules, or allow love to tip the scales?
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
LOVE, BLOOD, AND SANCTUARY
by Brenda Murphy, Megan Hart, Fiona Zedde
Haunted? Hunted? When you need a safe place from disaster, heartbreak, or gods trying to break you and drain your blood… come to Sanctuary. It’s New York’s most exclusive club for magical beings and the backdrop of three sexy stories from three award winning authors.
We Choose to Be by Megan Hart
Love is in the air…and the blood. When hemomancer Hadassah meets the woman of her dreams, she has no idea that Yael is actually a blood demon. Is it only the draw of Hadassah’s talents that brings Yael into her bed? Or is there something more. Something that could last. What is love, after all, unless it’s bound by blood?
Sanguine Faith by Brenda Murphy
After a messy break-up leaves Laurel homeless and unemployed, she accepts her great-uncle’s offer of a townhouse and a job. When a seductive spirit trapped in the town house offers Laurel a means of escaping the life her uncle has planned for her, she learns that free does not mean without cost.
Promises Made by Starlight by Fiona Zedde
Abandoned by her wife years before and left devastated, Izzy has recently lost nearly everything else. Her credit is abysmal, she’s underemployed, and her successful best friend treats her like a charity case. But when her wife reappears, breaking her heart all over again, Izzy finds that not everything is as it seems. Blood gods walk the earth, and the one she once welcomed into her bed is back—ready to reclaim what’s hers.
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
RETROSPECT: THE SALVATION OF MAC SCOTT
by A.J Forton
Available in Kindle Unlimited
A lesbian fiction thriller. Mac is Back! In part two of the Retrospect story and it is darker, bolder and sexier than ever!
Mckenna Scott is alive! But far from out of her misery. After two years vanished, Mac Scott fought to unwrap the mystery of her disappearance and bring down the monsters that stole her life away. And she won. Yet, it soon became clear that behind those monsters was an evil force so formidable that they not only threaten her life but all of humanity.
Mac Scott’s path to rediscovering herself continues. As the conflict in her heart finally finds harmony, some bonds break – while others strengthen. Who does her heart truly beat for?
Her time held captive from the world and every battle fought to bring down Jakub, have taken their toll on Mac. The ghosts of her past haunt her, and she is learning that sometimes to move forwards, you must look back.
Mac fights to destroy her demons, but as she grows stronger and faster, so does The Culling. With the weight of the world on her shoulders – It is no longer a question of why she was captured, but if she can convince herself that she is no longer the girl in chains.
Escape was just the beginning; war is coming. Agent Scott must adapt. She must infiltrate. She must become a member of The Culling. Too many lives depend upon it.
Mac is back! And she is going to raise hell.
Trigger Warnings: Rape, graphic violence, explicit sex scenes, PTSD flash backs.
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
THE BLACK KNIGHT AND THE LADY
by JM Dragon
A lady faces the bleak loss of someone who had caught her heart but never known her love at the final battle where King Arthur Pendragon is returned to the Ladies of the Lake.
A knight armored in black, in search of redemption, has a personal secret that at any time could ruin the reputation of the family name.
When the lady’s father, a nobleman affiliated with King Arthur, asks the Black Knight to bring his daughter home from Camelot, the knight reluctantly agrees.
Neither the lady nor the Black Knight could have expected what was to follow in this timeless romance of love battling secrets and treachery.
ANTHOLOGY
IN OUR WORDS
Collection of Stories
In Our Words: Queer Stories from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Writers is a thoughtfully curated collection of short stories at the intersection of racial and queer identity. Comprising both the renowned and emerging voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color authors, across multiple countries, and diverse in style, perspective, and theme, In Our Words reflects the complexity and diversity of human experience.
AUDIOBOOK
MRS MIDDLETON
by Melissa Tereze
narrated by Emma Griffiths
Their love could heal their hearts…but destroy the relationships they both hold dear.
Emma Bradley is trembling. And not because of the climate difference between England and Africa, where she’s just ended an 18-month stint teaching sports to kids. She’s about to see Vanessa again.
Golden hair, luminous blue eyes, a smile to light up a room. The woman Emma loves. The woman she spilled her heart out to, then ran away to another continent to avoid a humiliating scene – because Vanessa is her best friend’s mum. If Emma is lucky, maybe Vanessa chalked it up to too much wine. Or better yet, forgot all about it.
Vanessa Middleton is fighting a serious case of uncertainty. Emma’s confession is crystal clear in her memory, and now that Vanessa is divorced from her cheating husband, the strongest barrier between them is gone. But there are others no less challenging.
Because, if Vanessa couldn’t keep her husband’s attention, what could bright, beautiful, much younger Emma possibly see in her? Worse, if the two of them act on their attraction, their affair could jeopardize the relationship they both hold dear: Vanessa’s daughter – Emma’s closest friend.
May 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
SOLANUM
Four Point Universe: Book 12
by Max Ellendale
Available in Kindle Unlimited
When Caroline Donovan and Nora Brody are assigned to the same unit of the FBI, they become fast friends. As they navigate through their careers, the connection they share changes and grows along with them. Their unique challenges, and favorite kinks, entangle them in ways neither expected.
This book has light BDSM themes similar to “Nocere” in this universe. No violence, gore, or any pain-based practices. Consent, respect, and pleasure focus only.
EROTIC ROMANCE
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Love In The Limelight: Book 2
by Raven J. Spencer
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Shelby Grace Nash, known as the drummer in Emmy Whittaker’s band, is stepping out of her friend’s shadow to produce an album of her own. While making her dream come true, Shelby Grace has to examine the reasons why her engagement to race car driver Ethan fell apart. Is it because he didn’t respect her wishes, or was she never really in love with him? Her feelings for Emmy’s sister Julia, and the attention of a homophobic fan only complicate her life more. Shelby Grace has to figure out who’s truly on her side, and if she’s willing to choose love.
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
SCARLET LUPE
Blood and Darkness: Book 2
by Aria Storm
Available in Kindle Unlimited
After awakening in this modern world. I have struggled to find my bearings. My name is Mavis, and I was once the Queen of Irish vampyrs. Now I live in the shadows of both worlds.
My daughter Alexia has begun to heal the devastation wrought by a malicious immortal monstrosity. I am working towards modernizing and attempting to begin University studies soon.
Aurelia brings a message to us. She invites Olaf, Anne, and me to a secret Lycanthrope retreat. A bloody storm is brewing, and many sinister plots will come to fruition at the very worst possible moment. The Lycans might truly turn against vampyrs. War is on the horizon, and even my considerable prowess might not be enough to stave off the threats hunting the Lycans in the darkness.
How can I protect my friends, and can I manage to cut through a few layers of AUrelia’s inner armor? More importantly, can I possibly keep Olaf from getting himself killed while we are off with thousands of shifters for a holiday trip?
Slow building poly lesbian romance.
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
RADIO SILENCE
Fox County Forensics: Book 2
by Cara Malone
Available in Kindle Unlimited
A patrol officer is pulled out of her comfort zone and into danger when she follows her heart—and a spunky, cute dispatcher—into a fast-paced, twisty homicide investigation.
Mel Pine is a newly solo cop patrolling the sinister streets on third shift and looking for a distraction from troubles at home. The job keeps her busy, and a friendly dispatcher keeps her company on the radio each night.
Court Wilson can’t wait to get out of the dispatcher’s office and into a patrol car, but with an overprotective dad who happens to also be the chief of police, that’s not likely to happen any time soon.
When a 911 call comes in about a vehicle on fire—and a body within—Court dispatches Mel to the scene.
Eager to observe some real policework… and meet the woman behind the radio… Court follows along and soon finds herself tangled in a killer’s web. Can the lone wolf come to the overeager rookie’s rescue, or will one of them go radio silent—forever?
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
HER LADY’S MELODY
Great War: Book 2
Renee Dahlia
Two women, both widowed on the same day, find new love after loss.
DR LUCIANA STANMORE wondered if this stoic fragility would haunt her forever. The Great War officially ended on 11 November last year, but the wounded weren’t magically healed by the signing of the armistice. Eventually, the hospital at Remy Siding near Ypres emptied enough for Luciana to head home to England, but a letter from her Oma in Amsterdam took her there instead. She should be taking the time to heal and grieve for her lover Maggie who died in the war. When the neighbour’s son breaks his arm falling out of a tree, Luciana must confront her war trauma to help him. It would be a lot easier if the boy’s mother wasn’t so beautiful and empathetic towards her shocked state. A plot to kidnap the boy gives Luciana a reason to emerge from the shell she’s built around her heart, and a reason to spend more time with Therese.
THERESE DE SELETSKY is a widow with a secret, or two. In hiding from the Bolsheviks, she lives quietly in Amsterdam with her seven year-old son, Count Pavel de Seletsky. Her husband, Alexandre, the previous Count, was killed during the Russian Revolution, with Therese watching on as she hid in the cupboard with Pavel wrapped in her arms. With Russia in turmoil, she needs to keep her son safe, so when Pavel is almost kidnapped, Therese panics. Her neighbour, the elusive gorgeous Dr Stanmore, helps her figure out the threat to Pavel, and together they must travel to England to find the final piece of the puzzle. It’d be easy, except Luciana reminds Therese of all the feelings she’s buried deep since she was pulled out of music college in scandalous circumstances and quickly married to the Count.
Trigger Warning: PTSD/Shell Shock, War injuries, Gun Death, threats of child kidnapping, Spanish Flu/pandemic.
AUDIOBOOK
THE LOVE PROJECT
by TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod
narrated by Lori Prince
Can a long shot bring love to a couple of lonely hearts?
Joni Fisher is facing economic ruin. The once successful advice column she runs with her mother is on the brink of cancellation, and it’ll take a miracle to turn things around. Joni’s last-ditch effort to save her job and preserve her mother’s legacy is The Love Project, a web series she’s developing to bring the Help Me Henrietta franchise alive for a new generation. All she needs is a willing victim…er, star.
Hope Alvarez dreams of falling in love, but she’s always suspected she’s different. Physical attraction is a foreign language to her. After her only prospect for a meaningful relationship falls through, Hope has to face the fact that she’s completely hopeless when it comes to love. Can her favorite advice columnist, Henrietta, save her from a lonely future?
As the series gets underway, fans swoon for the lovable yet unlucky Hope, and they’re not the only ones. Joni is smitten, too. But she’s been down that road before, vowing never again to fall for a straight woman who will keep her forever in the friend zone. Except, what if she’s been reading the situation all wrong? Helping Hope make sense of her identity might save Joni’s job, but will it also bring her love?
Best-selling lesbian fiction authors TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod have written a touching slow-burn romance about love striking when least expected.
April 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
EVOLUTION
Symphony Series: Book 3
by MJ Duncan
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Life in The Royal Ballet comes with a set of unwritten rules, and no one knows them better than Nina Devereaux. Even in her current role as the Company’s Artistic Director, those expectations still loom menacingly over her life. But when she’s granted the opportunity to bring her revolutionary ballet to stage, the little voice that has always kept her playing by the rules begins to waver as she watches her love letter to the woman who has held her heart for years come to life. She knows better than most that it’s a long road from wanting something to having it, but perhaps this time she’ll finally manage to get it right.
This can be read as a stand-alone. It’s set in the same ‘verse and runs concurrently to Pas de Deux, but features different characters.
EROTICA & EROTIC ROMANCE
PREWRATH AND RAPTURE
The Wrath Trilogy: Book 1
TJ Dallas
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Four years ago, Harry’s first act of Humility sent her hurtling to the deepest recesses of the dream world. When Death gives her the chance to save her family, her second act will prove infinitely worse. When Persephone arrives at the Cardinal, it’s time for Harry to keep her end of the deal. But it isn’t Pride, or even Humility, that Persephone wants; it’s Wrath. Emilia must join ranks with four forces of evil that long predate the Seven Deadly Sins; Death, Pestilence, War, and Famine. Emilia’s ruthless volcano has lain dormant for centuries, but a hidden agenda and a betrayal could tip her over the edge, causing an eruption felt throughout the very fabric of time and space.
FANTASY / PARANORMAL / SUPERHERO
THE MERCY CHRONICLES
The Superheroines Collection
by Fiona Zedde
Available in Kindle Unlimited
The two thrilling halves of Fiona Zedde’s lesbian superhero book series come together in The Mercy Chronicles.
In The Power of Mercy, shape-shifter Mercy is a blade that can cut both ways. To her family, she is weak. Her power is nowhere near as impressive as their abilities to alter the world around them.
But when Mai Redstone puts on the costume to become Mercy, a rooftop-climbing chameleon with a thousand disguises and at least nine lives, she feels almost invincible. Until the day she must make the cruellest of choices, between family loyalty and self-preservation. How can she decide?
In A Lover’s Mercy, Mai returns to prowling Atlanta as its hero, Mercy. For all her new strength and heightened powers, her heart remains good and kind. Her passionate lover, Xóchitl, is the opposite. The softest thing about her is her love for Mai. Xóchitl hunts and punishes anyone who dares to break her people’s rules.
When Mai ends up in an enemy’s crosshairs, Xóchitl is terrified. She’s used to being the most dangerous one in the room, but when she suddenly isn’t, will she allow herself to surrender to her lover’s mercy?
A & A / MYSTERY / THRILLER
/ SUSPENSE
LOVE’S WITNESS
by Claire Highton-Stevenson
Available in Kindle Unlimited
When Frankie Shaw moves 250 miles south, hoping to start a new life without the ghost that haunts her, the last thing she expects to see is her ex-girlfriend Lisa Bittern.
Because Lisa was murdered fourteen years ago.
Alice Trent is the mother of two little boys and the wife of a local police officer, could she have any answers that would give Frankie peace of mind, or is it really just a case of mistaken identity?
HISTORICAL
THE IMPERATIVE OF DESIRE
Passing Rites: Book 1
by Elena Graf
Available in Kindle Unlimited
In the waning years of Queen Victoria’s reign, a brilliant daughter is born to an aristocratic, military family in Prussia. A quirk of inheritance law allows Margarethe von Stahle to inherit her family’s titles. Her elders collaborate to educate her to take on her future duties, which include administering her family estates and supporting an order of nuns.
Margarethe’s curiosity and precocity delight and perplex her teachers as they try to mold her. Her father trains her with his military cadets. A retired opera singer teaches her how to sing. Her grandaunt, headmistress of the convent school, educates her in philosophy and classics. At an early age, Margarethe heads to Oxford to follow in her father’s footsteps. Gifted with both musical and intellectual talents, she must choose between singing and service. Raised to take her duty and noblesse oblige seriously, she decides to study medicine and becomes one of the few female surgeons in 1920s Germany.
Because she needs heirs to her titles, Margarethe reluctantly marries, but that doesn’t prevent her from finding solace in the arms of women. She trains under the best surgeons in Germany and England and rises to prominence as London’s infamous “Lady Doctor.” Finally, duty requires her to return to her homeland and take the reins of the family fortunes.
The Imperative of Desire, the first volume in The Passing Rites Series, is a coming-of-age story that takes a young woman from La Belle Époque, through a world war, a revolution that outlawed the German nobility, the roaring twenties, to the decadent demimonde of Weimar Berlin.
GENERAL FICTION
ACCIDENTAL DESPERADOS
by Lee Lynch
In this second book of the Rainbow Gap Lesbian Family Saga, MJ Beaudry, an angry, brilliant, abused runaway, is dumped in Rainbow Gap, Florida, and almost immediately discovers an aptitude for crime. The lesbian cop who catches her expects good-hearted lovers Jaudon Vicker and Berry Garland to save the kid. Although Jaudon’s business has suffered a killing blow and she’s frantic to make it right, she was once a besieged gay kid herself and reaches out, only to find herself in cahoots with MJ.
Berry is left in the dark, her own big dream on hold, and fears losing her love as Jaudon is swallowed by work and guilt. Berry, salt-of-the-earth Gran, besotted-with-MJ Vonnie Lowe, Allison the social justice warrior, and scofflaws Shady and Tad all stand behind Jaudon, but are they enough?
Or will it take this next generation of lesbians—MJ and Vonnie—to lead the way?
AUDIOBOOK
FINDING FAMILY
Your Way Series: Book 2
by Jamey Moody
narrated by Morgan Southard
How many life changing events can a brand new relationship stand?
Erin Evans is hoping the fourth time’s the charm in her quest to have a baby. At 41 she’s out of time and doing this on her own. She knows the odds of finding her happily-ever-after are slim, but she wants to be a mother more than anything.
A semi-flirtatious conversation with a tall, fit, dark-haired woman in the waiting room of her fertility clinic gives Erin pause, which she attributes to hormones until she comes out of her procedure to find the alluring Desi Shaw still waiting.
What Desi does next surprises them both….
This is Book Two in the Your Way Series. Get yours now! Each is a stand-alone.
March 2021 Winners
ROMANCE / ROMANTIC COMEDY
MRS MIDDLETON
by Melissa Tereze
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Their love could heal their hearts…but destroy the relationships they both hold dear.
Emma Bradley is trembling. And not because of the climate difference between England and Africa, where she’s just ended an 18-month stint teaching sports to kids. She’s about to see Vanessa again.
Golden hair, luminous blue eyes, a smile to light up a room. The woman Emma loves. The woman she spilled her heart out to, then ran away to another continent to avoid a humiliating scene—because Vanessa is her best friend’s mum. If Emma is lucky, maybe Vanessa chalked it up to too much wine. Or better yet, forgot all about it.
Vanessa Middleton is fighting a serious case of uncertainty. Emma’s confession is crystal clear in her memory, and now that Vanessa is divorced from her cheating husband, the strongest barrier between them is gone. But there are others no less challenging.
Because if Vanessa couldn’t keep her husband’s attention, what could bright, beautiful, much younger Emma possibly see in her? Worse, if the two of them act on their attraction, their affair could jeopardise the relationship they both hold dear: Vanessa’s daughter—Emma’s closest friend.
EROTICA & EROTIC ROMANCE
SNOWED IN WITH MY BEST FRIEND’S MILF
Submissive MILF: Book 3
by Riley Rose
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Alex Masters is in an illicit love affair with her daughter’s best friend Melody. She knows she should break it off but she just can’t resist Mel’s amazing 20 year-old body.
When Alex goes on a ski trip with Mel, will the slopes heat up with their lovemaking? And will Alex be able to keep their relationship a secret from her daughter Josie who’s also along on the snowy sojourn?
Find out how naughty Alex gets on the slopes and in the hot tub in Book 3 of the Submissive MILF Series!
FANTASY / PARANORMAL / SCI-FI
LIKE A CALLING
The Alpha God: Book 5
by Lexa Luthor
The Sworne have returned to the Milky Way!
The Sworne have arrived in Kander’s airspace and demand only one thing; the surrender of all Earthlings for termination. Upon Kal’s refusal, fighting ensues and hostages are taken on both sides until Kal and Charlie win the skirmish, forcing a ceasefire. The Sworne offer an exchange of hostages, a trade of resources, and a promise to depart the solar system, if the Sworne keep their word.
Trigger Warnings: The book has a female lead character with a penis.
A & A / MYSTERY / THRILLER
/ SUSPENSE
RETROSPECT: THE HIDDEN LIFE OF MAC SCOTT
by A.J. Hutchinson-Forton
Available in Kindle Unlimited
McKenna Scott is missing. She’s presumed dead. Perished. Out of her misery… Suddenly, she’s not. She’s alive! Existing. Viable, just about…
Two years after she vanished, Mac Scott stumbles into a London hospital. Scars encrust her body. She cannot tolerate the slightest physical touch despite her body aching for human connection. She has no memory of what happened to her. As Mac tries to ease herself into a life that now feels alien, she is consumed with grief and anger at losing the self-assured, fun-loving woman she once was. So she looks for help.
Enticing therapist, Alisha Cole, helps her retrieve shards of horrific memories and it soon becomes clear… Mac may be home, but she is far from free.
Using her scars and memory fragments like a road map, she investigates her disappearance and journeys through the perilous twists and turns of her own mystery. Unexpected love and an insatiable need to be freed from the evil which torments her, drives Mac to rediscover herself and find newfound fortitude.
Where has she been? Why was she captured? She’s about to find out. And then she will make them pay. Escape is just the beginning; Mac is going to raise hell.
Trigger Warnings: Explicit scenes of violence and sex. Rape. Homophobia. PTSD flash backs.
AUDIOBOOK
THE ONE TO HOLD YOUR HAND
by Erica Lee
narrated by Ana Sofia
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?
February 2021 Winners
ROMANCE / ROM COM
MERCY
Four Point Universe: Book 11
by Max Ellendale
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Ex-rock star, Dusty Song, abandons her music career to become a U.S. Marshal tasked with safeguarding vulnerable people from the criminals set on silencing them. When Dusty first encounters the illustrious Honorable Judge Bidwell, she sees a woman marked by the cases she’s tried.
Years later, Dusty remembers the strong-willed, audacious woman as the unlikeable star of the courtroom. When she’s called in to revisit the case following a series of disturbing reports, she comes upon a Mercedes Bidwell much different than her memory recalls. The two women walk together on a path seeded by those who came before them, carrying a silent wish in hope that someday someone will see them for who they truly are.
EROTICA / EROTIC ROMANCE
ON THE RECORD
Love in the Limelight: Book 1
by Raven J. Spencer
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Out and proud lesbian singer/songwriter Emmy Whittaker is not amused when her manager books her on Andrea Stone’s show. Stone, who has a reputation for hearing differing opinions on controversial issues, doesn’t fit the bill.
For the concessions Andrea has made, she’s been rewarded with a stellar career and wealth. In her opinion, the sacrifices have been worth it. Meeting Emmy shakes her beliefs.
A fateful decision they make leads her to understand that sometimes, the cost of compromise can be too high…
On The Record is the first book in the Love In The Limelight trilogy. Each title features a different couple and can be read as standalone.
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
A CALL TO JUSTICE
The Journey of Sarah Sawyer: Book 3
by S.W. Andersen
Gunslinger Sarah Sawyer has overcome her demons, vengeance-seeking relatives, and a loner streak as wide as the horizon to settle down out west with her partner, Jo.
But peace seems too much to ask for with the influx of new settlers, illness, and brazen thefts stirring tensions.
When a spate of white killings puts Native Americans in the crosshairs as the culprits, Sarah has a whole lot of questions and few answers she’s willing to swallow.
Driven by her desire to protect her town and root out injustice, Sarah reluctantly picks up the badge and seeks to reveal the truth.
Book three in the Sarah Sawyer series is an exciting Western that’s as down to earth as the dust on a tough rancher’s boots.
FANTASY & PARANORMAL
UNCHARTED
by Alli Temple
Available in Kindle Unlimited
In a world of arrogant nobles and their punishing laws, Georgina will be hanged if anyone discovers she is a spy. But when the wicked prince proposes marriage, Georgina must accept. Refusing would expose the secrets she has delivered to a hidden resistance and forfeit her life. With her wedding day looming ever closer, salvation comes from an unlikely source.
Pirate Captain Cinder is a terror on the open sea, striking fear into hearts wherever she sails. Now she has a new target. The vulnerable Princess Georgina should be an easy mark in Cinder’s kidnapping plot. But the legend of Captain Cinder is more intertwined with Georgina’s own history than either of them expect.
Treacherous storms. A mysterious pirate king. The prince’s unrelenting pursuit. Georgina and Cinder can only escape by following the uncharted course of their hearts. But just as a future together is within their grasp, Cinder’s past threatens to drag them both to the deep.
Uncharted contains piratical violence.
THRILLER / MYSTERY / ACTION & ADVENTURE
OUTSIDE IN
by Breanna Hughes
Cali Evans is a survivor. Her life hasn’t been easy, but her late father raised her to be smart, tough, and dependent only on herself and her wits. On the eve of her 21st birthday she meets Owen Bray – a beautiful and intriguing young doctor who equally frustrates and captivates Cali. That fateful meeting inspires Cali to make a better life for herself.
The next day, hoping to make positive change, Cali hops a bus for the West Coast but never reaches her destination. Instead, she wakes up in an underground bunker with no recollection of how she got there. Upon her arrival, she learns that she’s one of just forty survivors of a fast-spreading environmental toxin and that human life outside of the bunker has ceased to exist.
Tired of the vague explanations and half-answers coming from the people in charge, Cali takes it upon herself to investigate the real reason why she’s there and begins to uncover the sinister truth.
Trigger Warning: Some violence.
MEMOIR
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A SOFT PLACE
by Renee Bess
The short stories in this collection invite you to walk alongside characters in the midst of their journeys. Meet the Black high school student who dares to take a glimpse of her future-self while she sits at the mercy of the straightening comb in the beauty parlor. Observe the newly-degreed journalism major who travels alone to 1920’s Paris in search of truths and secrets. Tread gently beside the woman who struggles to cope with her lover’s departure.
AUDIOBOOK
ACCIDENTAL HONEYMOON
by Miranda MacLeod
narrated by Lori Prince
Would you marry a woman you hate for a life-changing inheritance?
Monica’s business has been hit hard by a global recession, her ex-girlfriend is selling the house out from under her, and the hot handy ma’am Ray, who was hired to fix up the place, turns out to be the most annoying woman on the planet. Could things get any worse?
All Ray wants is to finish her job and say adios to the world’s most high-maintenance client. But after being mistaken for Monica’s girlfriend, how can Ray walk away when going along with the charade would grant an old lady her dying wish? It’s not like Ray intended to be so charming that Monica’s grandmother would rewrite her will.
Now, the unlikely couple stands to inherit a vineyard in rural New England and a heap of cash large enough to change both their lives. The only hitch? They have to get hitched. And since Monica is a professional wedding blogger, they’ll have to make it the wedding of the century while convincing two million followers they’re madly in love.
No problem, aside from the simple fact that they can’t stand each other. There’s a good chance the whole thing could end in disaster, but is it possible these enemies might find true love along the way?
Best-selling lesbian fiction author Miranda MacLeod has written a slow-burn fake-relationship romance that will warm you through and through. Listen to it today!
January 2021 Winners
ROMANCE
CAPTIVE IN THE UNDERWORLD
by Lianyu Tan
A dark lesbian romance retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth.
In the land of the dead, Queen Hades’ word is law. Hades gets what she wants—always—and what she wants is a certain goddess of the springtime.
Innocent Persephone never expected to fall prey to the Queen of the Underworld. With her tears and pleas for freedom ignored by pitiless Hades, Persephone must learn to satisfy her keeper in all ways, lest she suffer the consequences.
And though she cannot deny that something blooms within her, something forbidden, Persephone despairs of ever feeling the sun upon her skin once more.
No matter the cost, Hades intends to keep her. Forever.
Trigger Warnings: Non-con/dub-con scenes between the main characters, emotionally/physically abusive relationship between the adult heroine and her mother, references to parental neglect and abuse when the heroine was a child.
EROTICA
CURIOUS
by Les Mood
Available in Kindle Unlimited
This is a collection of twelve stories about women discovering and exploring new aspects of their sexuality. Some of the women depicted, as in the title story Curious, are scratching an itch they did not realize they had. Some of them, as in Les Biennes Society of London, are indulging the desires they had been suppressing. Several of the stories are about women unexpectedly, and happily, finding themselves being seduced by another woman.
Each story can be read independently, although a few have overlapping characters. And each story contains descriptions of intimate activities, sometimes involving more than two people, and thus are intended for adult readers only.
FANTASY / SCI-FI / SPECULATIVE / PARANORMAL / DYSTOPIAN
INSPIRATION TAKES A VACATION
by Annette Mori
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Abby Prentice is suffering through the worst writer’s block in her entire career. After deciding to escape her home’s confines, she takes a walk on the beach and meets a mysterious woman who, Abby believes, must be the reincarnation of Helen of Troy. After the strange woman claims that she is on vacation, Abby quickly offers her personal services as a tour guide. Evasive about where she lives and why she has chosen Forks, Washington, as the destination for her three-day vacation, the stranger is only mildly annoying to Abby.
Feeling burnt out, Musetta desperately needs a vacation. Her boss reluctantly agrees to three days. On the first day of her adventure, she is delighted to almost literally run into her favorite writer and begin her three-day adventure. As she spends more time with Abby, she finds it increasingly difficult to return to her job despite the catastrophic consequences of leaving her position. For the first time, Musetta is falling in love.
Soon into their journey, both women notice something odd is happening all around them. Abby is not the only writer experiencing a block. Art in every form has come to a screeching halt in the Northwest. The media is forecasting an end to cultured civilization, beauty, and emotion as we know it. Will the women find a way to return inspiration to the Northwest, and does Musetta have the key to solving the crisis?
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE / MYSTERY / THRILLER
LOVE KILLS TWICE
Fatal Fidelity: Book 1
by Rien Gray
She needs an assassin.
They’re the best in the business.
Falling in love was never part of the deal.
Desperate to escape her abusive husband, Justine hires a contract killer. Campbell’s services come at a high price, and their dark, seductive charisma leads Justine right into their bed. Hiding an affair while Campbell designs the perfect murder has Justine walking a tightrope of stress, but each time the two of them sleep together, it’s harder not to get attached. Campbell struggles with their own traumatic past, convinced that the truth will drive Justine away.
There’s a faint hope that things could work, save for one problem: Justine’s husband wants her dead too.
Revenge is easy—heartbreak could cost both of them everything.
Trigger Warning: There is one on-page murder of a side character and mentions of past domestic abuse.
POETRY / FICTION
POETRY FOR THE PEOPLE!
Poetry for the New Millennium
by Sandra de Helen
“Can I change hearts and minds? I’m trying.”
From “Day 82: Can I Change?”
Sandra de Helen’s newest poetry collection is all about changing hearts and minds. This collection of poems, gleaned from many decades of keen observation, show the poet to be insightful and clear-headed yet displaying
a sly wit. Her musings on justice, politics, women in society, war and peace, racism, the 2020 pandemic, and more will be enjoyed by anyone with a heart. The poems here go all out with attitude and with skillful creation by a poet at the top of her game. As the Rainbow Awards judges said: “The author wrote with lyrical, beautiful sentences that painted pictures in my mind. Her choices in style and presentation were fabulous.”
AUDIOBOOK
TWO TO TANGLE
Tangle Valley: Book 2
by Melissa Brayden
narrated by Melissa Sternenberg
Finding forever is simply too hard.
As a renowned chef, Gabriella Russo knows how to season a good dish. It’s her personal life that’s been too spicy for her liking. Ready to take a break from the rollercoaster of romance, Gabriella’s moved to Oregon to open Tangled, a restaurant on the grounds of Tangle Valley Vineyard. A good glass of wine and space to create is all she requires.
Ryan Jacks brings all the girls to the yard, or so it should say on her business card. She’s a skilled carpenter who’s been told more than once that she’s good with her hands. When Ryan takes a job building a new restaurant, her world comes to a halt. The sassy chef is sexy, insightful, and comes with the kind of smart mouth that has Ryan rethinking just about everything. But with Gabriella off the menu, what’s Ryan supposed to do?
