Welcome to the first week of the 2022 I Heart Lesfic Reading Challenge.

Before we get to announcing our first week’s category, we want to remind you of two ways you can interact with other readers to enhance your experience during the challenge this year.

First, you can join the I Heart Lesfic Facebook reader group. Every Monday we will announce the category for the week, and every Wednesday you will have the opportunity to post what book you are reading and be entered into the monthly drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. (For those who are not on Facebook and still want to enter, remember you can email your reading selection to tbm@iheartlesfic.com).

Second, we have created a Goodreads group where readers can discuss books, swap recommendations, and generally have a good time.

Now, to get to the task at hand. We wanted to launch the challenge with an all-time favorite sapphic trope: age-gap romances.

Its popularity isn’t the only reason we scheduled it for the week of January 10^th. Did you know January 16^th kicks off the Hunt for Happiness week? If you didn’t, now you do! We can’t think of a better reason to dip into an age-gap romance than finding happiness.

Below you’ll find reading suggestions for age-gap stories. Better yet, some of them are on sale, so scoop up an age-gap romance at a bargain and hunt for your reading happiness today.

The following books are on sale to celebrate I Heart Lesfic’s age-gap week. Before you click any buy buttons, please ensure the sale price matches. (Some international prices may vary some.):

NEW LEASE OF LOVE

by Arizona Tape

FREE $4.99 

It only takes the right person to turn everything around.

An evil stepmother drives Quinn away from home and desperate for money, she ends up working in Rainbow Central, a bar on the verge of going bankrupt. The only saving grace? The beautiful owner and divorcée, Olivia White.

Despite their age difference, the two women work well together trying to breathe a new lease of life into the bar. But what about a new lease of love?

MANY ROADS TO HOME

by Kaya LaSalle

$0.99 $3.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

That stereotype about the mid-life crisis involving smoking-hot flings with younger women? Yeah, turns out that might be true after all…

Brooke has resigned herself to being single forever. She’s almost 40 and practically married to her career. When she decides to take some time off to renovate a run-down farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, everyone tells her she’s having a midlife crisis. Maybe she is, but she still thinks that buying the farmhouse is the best thing she’s done in years. Now if only she could get the roof to stop leaking…

Riley has always been a free spirit with nothing to her name besides the shirt on her back and a bag of tools. She’s resourceful and knows what she’s doing, but it turns out that it’s still hard to make it as a woman in the trades. So when she hears about a major farmhouse renovation taking place, she jumps at the opportunity. She never would have imagined her new employer would be someone like Brooke, though…

Sparks fly between Brooke and Riley as they’re thrown together. The intensity of their attraction is matched only by the barriers to their relationship.

Can two women who are polar opposites find a way to build a home together?

There are plenty more age-gap romances to browse:

CRASH DANCE

by Elle Armstrong

Available in Kindle Unlimited

What happens when the worst day of your life turns into the best?

Retired dancer Gabriella De Luca’s day falls apart when her service car badly injures a young woman. Guilt, paired with a curious pull toward the attractive stranger, leads Gabriella to visit her in hospital, where an unexpected friendship begins.

Bailey Williams finds out that when your whole world crashes, a new dance can begin. Seriously injured and needing rehabilitation, Bailey is surprised when Gabriella offers her home for recuperation.

As Bailey’s injuries gradually heal, she starts to fall for the compelling Gabriella. As Gabriella’s feelings for Bailey deepen, she has to decide if she can ever trust a younger woman again.

A problem at Gabriella’s dance studio threatens their burgeoning relationship and a new enemy could bring it all crashing down.

Will Gabriella and Bailey waltz off into the sunset or quickstep apart

THE DELICATE THINGS WE MAKE

by Milena McKay

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Hitting rock bottom in the concrete jungle of Manhattan, investigative journalist Jamie Walker lands the assignment of a lifetime: Find the most elusive artist of a generation, who has enthralled the art and fashion world for over a decade.

This assignment is supposed to finally be Jamie’s ticket to journalistic fame and fortune. The quest, however, proves to be difficult, as—so far—nobody has managed to discover who the legendary DeVor really is.

As Jamie delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding the enigmatic artist, trying to salvage her stagnant career, she risks getting in over her head and losing her heart in the process.

WRONG NUMBER, RIGHT WOMAN

by Jae

Wrong Number, Right Woman is a light-hearted, slow-burn lesbian romance that embraces likable characters without all the drama.

A single text message can change everything!

Flirting has never been Denny’s strong suit, but so what if she’s too shy to ask women out? She’s content with her simple life, working as a cashier and helping her sister raise her niece.

But then she gets a wrong-number text message from a stranger named Eliza, asking her of all people for dating advice!

Eliza is Denny’s total opposite: witty, outgoing—and straight. Despite their differences, the accidental text sparks an unlikely friendship. Soon, Eliza—self-proclaimed queen of disastrous first dates—would rather banter back and forth with Denny than to keep trying her luck at online dating.

When they meet in person, there’s an instant connection. But what Eliza is feeling can’t be attraction, right? It doesn’t mean a thing that she’s starting to wish the guys she dates would be more like Denny. Or does it?

Can the wrong number lead to the right woman after all?

THE BOSS’S DAUGHTER

by Samantha Hicks

Vivian Westfall, CFO of Bridger Holdings, meets her boss’s estranged daughter, Lauren, when a disturbance at the company spring party piques her interest. Lauren is clearly drunk and making a fool of herself. To prevent embarrassment, Vivian forces Lauren away from the party. They have angry words, and things take an unexpected turn when Lauren kisses her. Months later Lauren pitches a proposal to her father to loan her the funds to start her own health club. Her father reluctantly agrees with a caveat; Vivian must go with her to Scotland to keep an eye on the money.It doesn’t take long for the sparks to fly in all emotional directions. When Gregory Bridger finds out about their relationship, he does everything in his power to break them apart.Trust is at the heart of this love story, a fragile emotion that without it, things can and do fall apart.

SIX FEET

by Michele M Reynolds

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Six Feet is a contemporary, pandemic romance with the emphasis on romance.

Henley Stones Smith, 42, is a psychologist with three foster daughters: Paloma, Jackie and Manhattan.

Nicki Zabelle, 28, is a professional video gamer who sleeps in late and always orders take-out.

The Covid pandemic hits and Nicki abruptly moves from Boston to Western Massachusetts where Henley is juggling working from home, remote school, and single parenthood.

Little Jackie’s early morning mishap brings Henley and Nicki together.
Henley sees Nicki as an incredibly young neighbor who is kind enough to share her pool.

Nicki sees Henley as an incredibly hot neighbor who she hopes is kind enough to share her bed.

HIGHLAND FLING

by Anna Larner

Eve Eddison describes her ideal woman to her best friend, Roxanne, over pints in their local pub a few days before she travels to the Scottish Highlands. There she falls head over heels for an enigmatic local, Moira Burns, and the usually reticent Eve wants more than a holiday romance. Forestry officer Moira Burns has no intention of letting go—either of past pain or for present pleasure. If that means she misses out on her chance at happiness, so be it. Convinced Eve is headed for heartbreak, Roxanne advises her to let Moira go…but has Eve found her ideal woman at last?

From the breathtaking Highlands of Scotland to the buzz of a Leicester gay bar, family and friendship are tested to breaking point, as letting go proves painfully hard.

LOST IN LOVE

Emily Banting

Available in Kindle Unlimited

A heart-warming, quintessentially English village novel, centred on the ruins of Nunswick Abbey…

Historical tour guide Anna Walker is determined to make a good impression on her new bosses, but juggling a full-time job with caring for her ailing father is putting her own health – and potentially his – at risk.

When she meets Dr Katherine Atkinson, a charming yet intimidating new arrival to the village, Anna is infuriated by the doctor’s attempts to convince her that her father needs professional, full-time care. She’s even more frustrated by her growing attraction to the classy, wealthy doctor.

Anna’s determination to prove she can cope forces Katherine to divulge a painful event from her past that still haunts her, hopeful it will make Anna see sense before it’s too late.

With Katherine’s heart lost to the past and Anna’s overwhelmed in the present, can the two women help each other overcome their anxieties and move forward? Will a curtain-twitching busy body curtail any blossoming attraction before it even has a chance to bloom?

LOST IN LOVE is a titillating enemies to lovers, age-gap romance to add to your collection.

SPRING’S WAKE

by Aurora Rey

Nora Calhoun keeps her life just like her Provincetown B and B, neat and tidy. She’s thrilled when her niece Graham comes to stay with her while completing her graduate fieldwork aboard the Dolphin Fleet. She’s less than thrilled when Graham starts hanging out with Willa Lange, a sexy wanderer who works for the Fleet and seems to have her sights set on Graham.

At the encouragement of her sister Emerson, Will’s short stay in Ptown becomes a fresh start. She’s doing great—a decent job, a place of her own, and new friends. But when she meets Nora, she finds herself pining for more. The only problem? Nora is fifteen years her senior and doesn’t like her. Can the women overcome past hurts and find love or will their affair leave battered hearts in its wake?

INKED WITH A KISS

by Jennie Davids

Sometimes everything you shouldn’t want is exactly what you need.

Tattoo artist Jamie Winston is used to caring for others. Between her assistant manager position at a tattoo parlor, single-parenting her twelve-year-old daughter, and supporting her alcoholic parents, Jamie rarely prioritizes her own needs—unless Sierra Clark is in her chair. The bubbly, younger woman somehow manages to make Jamie feel like the carefree teenager she never got to be, making anything seem possible.

For Sierra, time with Jamie is a much-needed escape. She takes her work as a social worker seriously, but with budget cuts threatening her job, there’s a lot riding on the fundraiser she’s planning with Jamie. The fact that it means working closely with the sexy, older tattooist is a bonus—a deliciously tempting bonus. Sierra isn’t one for relationships, but she’s never felt such a strong desire to mix business with pleasure.

Sizzling chemistry quickly erodes Jamie’s fears of being too old for Sierra, but navigating a romance with someone who’s at such a different stage in life is no easy task. They’ve each come to rely on themselves more than anyone else, but having a future together will mean letting their guards down, and accepting each other as a safe place to fall.

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.

ACTS OF CONTRITION

by Elena Graf

Available in Kindle Unlimited

This Golden Crown Literary Society and Rainbow Book Award winner in historical fiction continues the story of the von Stahle family as it deals with the aftermath of World War II.The Russians have invaded and Berlin is in ruins. Nearly everything Margarethe von Stahle has sworn to protect has been lost. After being brutally abused by occupying Russian soldiers, Margarethe must rely on the kindness of her friends to survive. Fortunately, the American Army has brought her former protégé, Dr. Sarah Weber, back to Berlin. Slowly, Margarethe heals and begins to rebuild her life, but as she confronts painful events that occurred during the war, she must learn to forgive and be forgiven. Acts of Contrition is the fourth novel in the Passing Rites Series, which follows the aristocratic Stahle family through the 20th century. Set in Berlin during the aftermath of World War II, this book shows how survivors struggled with their guilt over the war and the evil perpetrated by the Nazi regime. It tells the inspiring story of how, despite sexual violence, crushing losses and grief, someone can be brought back from the brink by personal determination, friendship and love.

NOTE: TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE.

SILVER THREADS

by Lyn Deninson

The life of Mel Jamieson, illustrator of best-selling children’s picture books, is not going well. Her relationship with Terry, her partner of six years, is over, and moving in the same circles as Terry and her new girlfriend is becoming too difficult for Mel. What she needs, Mel tells herself, is a change of scene, and returning to her family in Queensland would be just the ticket. All very simple, surely?

However, her mother is just about to leave on a trip with her stepfather, her sister is tied up with her own family and her father and his new family are overseas. Mel assures her worried mother she will be fine on her own and she drives north to her childhood home. When she arrives she learns her mother has arranged for her to go down to northern New South Wales to help out her mother’s long-time friend, Crys Hewitt, on her farm.

Mel is horrified, and not just because farming is way out of her sphere of reference. Mel’s mother is unaware that Crys, attractive, sensuous Crys, older than Mel by fourteen years, was the object of Mel’s first teenage crush. How was Mel going to face Crys again after that so embarrassing moment all those years ago?

COMING HOME 

by KJ

Available in Kindle Unlimited

What would happen if your regular, ordinary, safe, everyday existence suddenly became…not any of those things? When Samantha Markson, Ordinary Person, is thrust into the life of Abigail Taylor, Not At All Ordinary Person, it proves to be an experience like she’s never had before. World famous actress, Abigail Taylor, is in Melbourne filming her new movie, and is accompanied by her nine year old daughter, Grace, because Abigail wants her to experience an Australian education for three months. Sam Markson is a teacher at one of the best schools in Melbourne, and is perfectly happy doing that, thank you very much, when she’s suddenly redirected from the classroom into the job as Grace’s teacher; a move so fast that even blinking would feel like slow motion. Sam has never met anyone like Abigail Taylor, and she starts to realise that her ordinary life might actually be missing something extraordinary.

HUNGRY FOR IT

by Fiona Zedde

SOME HUNGERS DEMAND TO BE SATISFIED…

Rémi’s had a crush on her best friend’s mother since she knew what lust was. Claudia is everything she wants in a lover but doesn’t think she deserves – sophisticated, brilliant, and a woman of substance. But Rémi has resigned herself to only lusting from afar.

Instead of reaching out for what she really wants, Rémi takes the easy pleasure offered by the many women she meets around Miami and at her exclusive jazz club, burying her desire for Claudia in their willing bodies and shutting down the part of herself that craves more. It works for a while.

But when a dangerous business rival starts making trouble for Rémi, she finds herself unexpectedly turning to Claudia for comfort. The heat that flares between the two women quickly becomes too explosive for either of them to ignore. Soon, their nights are devoted to pleasure – sex, food, and the sweetness of discovering each other in new ways. But Rémi knows very well they are loving on borrowed time. Because once her best friend finds out what she’s been doing, and who, it will put more than just their friendship at stake.

THE MUSIC AND THE MIRROR

by Lola Keeley

When new dancer Anna isn’t nervous as hell around her ice queen ballet mentor Victoria, she’s falling in love with the beautiful and powerful woman. This age-gap, workplace lesbian romance is a sizzling, award-winning page-turner, whether you’re into ballet or not.

Anna is the newest member of an elite ballet company. Her first class with her mysterious idol, Victoria, almost ruins her career before it starts. When she shows she might be a potential star, Victoria chooses Anna to launch a new season around.

Now Anna must face down jealousy, sabotage, and injury, not to mention navigate the circus of friends and lovers within the company. The pressure builds as she knows she must pour everything she has into opening night and prove to her rivals and herself that Victoria’s faith in her is not misplaced.

In the process, Anna discovers that she and the daring, beautiful Victoria have a lot more than a talent for ballet in common, and that not every thrilling dance can be found on stage.

A LOVE TO STAY FOR

by Amy DeMeritt

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Joyce Peterson is an international bestselling historical fiction author, who’s often accused by her friends as being a workaholic. Joyce knows finding a balance between work and leisure helps feed her creativity and ensures steady productivity. However, she is stubborn and often fights against the reality that she needs to take a break.

Avery West is a travel journalist looking for a place to lay roots. While she’s out exploring Harbor City, the small lakeside town that she’ll call home for at least a year, she clumsily plants herself in Joyce’s life.

Since happenstance often fuels her creative muse, Joyce happily accepts the role of welcome wagon and helps Avery get settled in. The more time they spend together, the more attached they become to each other. But with fifteen years separating them, and the fact that Avery is a wanderer, Joyce is hesitant to allow herself to acknowledge her feelings for the younger woman.

And when the dark and dangerous secrets surrounding a lost local treasure come to light, their relationship becomes further imperiled.

Can Joyce and Avery survive their curiosity of the past so they can have a future together?

THE POLITICS OF LOVE

by Jen Jensen

Is it possible to love across the political divide?

Shelley Whitmore is a successful attorney, working on behalf of her Evangelical parents’ faith-based organization, championing conservative values of individual liberty and limited government. Everything’s totally fine, except that it really isn’t. Shelley manages depression and crippling anxiety because of the secret she can never reveal: she’s gay.

Rand Thomas is a psychotherapist, transgender rights activist, and political liberal. Widowed and struggling with her wife’s toxic parents, Rand isn’t going to allow herself to love again.

When Shelley and Rand meet in Manhattan, neither one expects to find that the other is exactly who they need.

SEALED WITH A KISS

by Sam Skyborne

Available in Kindle Unlimited

To what lengths would you go for love? If you had a second chance with your first love, would you take it?

Jacquie Lyon fled the island she grew up on as a teenager, crushed with a broken heart, vowing never to look back. Now, two decades later, she has the opportunity make amends with the love of her life. Will she return, and risk opening those old wounds?

Dorothy Rowland has been a conscientious mother and teacher for most of her life, always doing ‘the right thing’. Now, in her later years, when faced with a final chance at love, will she take it?

Will Jac and Dot find true love in this, the first book in the new “Lesvos Island” lesbian love stories collection?

BEGINNER’S BET

by Fiona Riley

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?

LOVE WALKED INTO THE LANTERN

by Nicole Pyland

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Summer Taft is a twenty-seven-year-old billionaire, who founded a tech start-up with her brother while she was still in college. As that company’s CEO, she feels stuck and underappreciated. She also has to take care of the company while her brother goes off exploring the world, leaving her holding the bag. The company recently opened an office in Chicago, where Summer has met some new friends. As Summer decides to uproot her life and make the move to Chicago, she meets Lena.

Lena Tanner has had no luck in her love life after divorcing her husband of several years before, after finally admitting to herself that she was gay. Lena had been exploring and having fun in the new life she’d made for herself. But now, she’s ready to find the one and settle down. After a blind date gone wrong, she ends up at The Lantern where she spots her group of expanding friends and a newcomer.

Lena had never been brave in her personal life. And Summer has always had difficulty making decisions, small and large. The two women settle into a quick friendship that turns more flirtatious. But is either of them ready to dive right into something new that could be lasting?

FORGING A DESIRE LINE

by Mary P. Burns

Charley Owens is content with her life. She has her super-organized job, her super-clean apartment, her long-time friends, and her cats. That’s all she needs after the crumbling of her twenty-five-year relationship, even if her friends keep trying to set her up with someone new. But when she meets the handsome and aloof Joanna, she’s forced to reevaluate what it is she wants, and maybe what’s been missing…

Everything seems to be going well until Charley’s ex-wife, Tricia, calls with devastating news and Charley’s hope for a quiet life is overturned. While trying to take care of Tricia, Charley is determined to get Joanna to take a chance on her. But is she ready to take one herself?

THE ROAD HOME

by Erin Zak

When she’s passed over for the role of a lifetime, Hollywood actress Gwendolyn Carter is absolutely crushed. That’s when things go from bad to worse. Home to celebrate her dad’s birthday, Gwen discovers her mom is sick and might not have much time left. She stays to help and to repair the emotional rift that has kept them apart for so long. That’s easier said than done, though, because oh-so-perfect Lila Machowicz has all but replaced Gwen as Carol Carter’s surrogate daughter.

Gwen and Lila are forced to work together to support the woman they both care about, even though they’re rivals for a place in Carol’s life. The last thing either expects is an attraction as undeniable as it is inconvenient. When Lila helps Gwen rebuild trust with her mom, Gwen’s heart begins to thaw. But every family has a closet full of skeletons, and when she discovers the family secret, will she ever be able to trust Lila again?

JUST MY LUCK

by Andrea Bramhall

Genna Collins works a dead end job, loves her family, her girlfriend, and her friends. When she wins the biggest Euromillions jackpot on record everything changes…and not always for the best.

When Abi Kitson fell in love she always knew it would go unrequited. The woman of her dreams was so close yet seemingly untouchable for so many reasons. Reasons like – they are best friends, or the big age gap, or the ‘other’ woman, nevermind Abi’s own baggage.

And even when those reasons crumble it seems luck just isn’t on her side.

It’s a learning curve for both of them. But what if money really can’t buy you everything you want? What if the answers aren’t hidden in a big, fat bank balance? What if happiness is right in front of them? They just have to reach out…

Next week is POC character week.

Happy reading, peeps!

Miranda and TB