Hello and happy Tuesday!
Before we get to today’s newsletter, we have a couple of announcements.
IHL Reading Challenge
It’s week 3 of the IHL Reading Challenge. You can click here for reading suggestions for slow burn romances. 9 of the books featured on the page are on sale.
Remember, 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.
FREE BOOK ALERT!
THE BRIGHT SIDE
by Lucy Bexley
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Darby and Astrid are polar opposites, but when their worlds collide on New Year’s Eve, even Astrid’s icy heart begins to melt in the sunshine radiating off Darby. Now, all Darby needs is enough time to convince Astrid that people are what make a place a home.
Deal ends on January 25th.
New Releases
Now, here are this week’s new ebook and audio releases.
Please click on this link for how to submit books (ebook and audio) for the newsletter. IHL will not include books unless they receive an email from either the author or publisher.
Happy reading and listening,
TB & Miranda
ROMANCE
THE GREAT CHARADE
by Gerri Hill
Abby Carpenter is in a tailspin knowing she is about to spend ten days in the company of her ex-girlfriend—who is now engaged to her brother—for a family holiday gathering in Red River, New Mexico. The same ex-girlfriend who last year at Christmas had lured her into bed. Abby’s solution? A pretend girlfriend for the holidays would surely keep her ex away and in her own room at night, right?
Nic Bennett’s life has been far from ideal and Christmas is her most dreaded holiday of all as she relives horrors from the past. When an attractive stranger approaches her with the offer of a chance to get away for ten days, she agrees. But with a counteroffer that brings both anxiety and excitement to the desperate Abby.
Among the holiday lights and snow-covered grandeur, the lines between pretend and reality blur as the two women have the time of their lives. Soon Abby learns it isn’t her ex she can’t resist. And Nic learns what it means to be part of a family for Christmas.
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Holiday Romance; Fake Relationship
NO STRINGS
by Lucy Bexley
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Fun is the one thing Elsie Webb takes seriously. Though she’d be having a lot more of it if Haelstrom Media paid her enough to actually get out of debt. She’s determined to hold out on contract negotiations for her kids’ television show Fangley Heights until she gets what she deserves. There’s only one problem, the head of the network just died and left her future more uncertain than ever.
Forty-eight hours and one funeral–that’s all Jones Haelstrom has to get through before she can return to her life in LA that’s as ordered and sparse as an IKEA showroom. When she steps in as CEO of her father’s media company, Elsie Webb is her first problem to deal with. Elsie ends up challenging Jones in ways she never could have predicted, starting with an attraction neither can avoid.
As their attraction teeters on the edge of something more both agree to keep it casual. A no-strings agreement and disclosure to HR should be enough to keep things between Jones and Elsie from getting tangled, right?
CW: this story includes the death of an estranged parent off-page and prior to the story beginning
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Category: Age Gap
LOVE OFF LIMITS
by Alexa Woods
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Older, married, and straight, Scarlet has been Neera’s forbidden crush for years. Now single and out, she is still breathtaking and still Neera’s mom best friend. Will she always be off limits?
Heartbroken. Jobless. Forced to move back home. This Christmas came with all sorts of gifts Neera didn’t want. At least her impossible, teenage crush on her mom’s best friend is a thing of the past. Right?
Wrong.
The moment Neera lays eyes on Scarlet again, her old feelings burst to the surface. Scarlett is still the same golden-haired goddess who robbed Neera of her breath years ago. And she’s just as married – and straight.
Or is she?
Finally free from her unhappy marriage, Scarlet is done hiding. She’s gay. And eager to embrace it.
What she isn’t prepared for is the hurricane that tears through her life – and heart – Neera. She’s nothing like Scarlet remembers. Gone is the rebellious teen. In her place is a gorgeous woman with killer-curves and a smile that lights up the world.
She’s everything Scarlet wants. And she’s off limits. Until Neera makes the first move, and the chemistry between the two is impossible to resist.
Can Neera convince Scarlet to love again? Can Scarlet overcome her fears? Or will the taboo of their forbidden romance tear them apart forever?
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap; Hot & Steamy
DISCONNECTED
by Annette Mori
Vanna has always felt like something was off with her parents, leaving her feeling oddly disconnected. She decides to move across the country and establish a new and independent life after college. On the way to her new position in Flagstaff, Arizona, Vanna meets out and proud Trey, who loves to flirt.
Trey has never forgotten the beautiful young woman she met briefly and is determined to ensure their paths cross again.
Thousands of miles from home, Vanna finds out more about herself, but not her feeling of being disconnected from her parents. Will Vanna ever form the connection she desperately seeks? Does Trey’s determination work out?
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Toaster Oven; New Adult
LIFE
Cam Thomas Series: Book 4
by Claire Highton-Stevenson
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Camryn Thomas is a woman with it all. She has millions in the bank, she owns the best gay club in LA, and she’s married to actress Shelly Hamlin. Everything in life is going to plan, and now they’re expanding the family. With the arrival of Noah and Darcy, Cam thinks life couldn’t get any better…until Michelle disappears. Desperate to find her, Cam will do anything. When she finally tracks her down, the answers she gets are far from what she expected, and life for the Thomases might never be the same again.
This is the 4th book in the Cam Thomas series. Life follows OUT, Next, and Yes, but more than that, it also brings back characters from Escape & Freedom, with cameos from many other stories in the Claire Highton-Stevenson universe.
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Category: Celebrity
BETTING ON THE HOUSE
Fixer Upper Romance: Book 1
by Cassandra Medcalf
Available in Kindle Unlimited
“I’m going to be gone in a week. You’ll never hear from me again.”
Bonnie tilted up Natalie’s chin with one, manicured finger.
“Then let’s have some fun.”
Natalie Roche has made it. She has her life, her independence, and her rock-and-roll dream job: a talent manager in L.A., at the world’s largest music management firm.
But when Natalie’s grandmother dies and leaves her the family house in Appalachian Maryland, she has no choice but to trek her way back east and confront the past she’s worked so hard to escape. But luckily for her, family drama isn’t the only thing she finds in the mountains.
A luscious lawyer, a heartthrob handyman, a mediocre mom, and an absolute asshole of a half-brother… This road trip might be more than what she’d bargained for.
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Loss/Grieving; One Night to Forever; Musician
HASHTAG LOVE
by RL Burgess
Ginerva Blake has her life all figured out. She works hard in her role as the managing editor of nonfiction at Red Stone Publishing. At night she comes home to relax with her cat and occasional catch ups with her best friend. She prides herself on delivering high quality nonfiction to the Australian public.
But nothing has prepared her for working with social media influencer and exercise entrepreneur Hally Arlow, who is looking to release her autobiography. When her boss insists that she take on the book, Gin finds herself navigating a world of hashtags, selfies and Snapchats, not to mention the alluringly beautiful Hally Arlow.
Gin simply doesn’t think very much of the other woman’s world. But can she come down to earth long enough to appreciate that the world is full of surprises? And that some of them just might be pretty darn great.
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Category: Ice Queen
EROTICA
TRIBADISM 2
Jade’s Erotic Adventures: Book 45
by Victoria Rush
After her first day at the women-only sex workshop, Jade is still buzzing from the new lesbian tribbing techniques she’s learned. At the second session, her coach introduces some even more exotic positions for her to try out with the other sexy participants.
But when Laila introduces her gorgeous assistant and begins to demonstrate all the different ways three or more women can enjoy sex together, things really start to heat up.
As the workshop participants begin to pair up and swap partners, soon the studio is filled with an erotic symphony of gasps and moans while everybody tries out the new techniques for themselves.
Join Jade on an erotic journey of sexual discovery in this voyeur’s dream adventure in the second instalment of the tribadism mini-series (to be continued)…
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Category: Hot & Steamy
FANTASY
THE RAVEN AND THE FIREBIRD
From the Ashes of Victory: Book 5
by Cameron Darrow
Available in Kindle Unlimited
As daily life settles in at the EVE Witchcraft Conservatory, new opportunities, lives and love abound. Victoria and Katya’s relationship is ever-evolving, while Millie and Elise are coming to understand what it truly means to be a Bonded witch. At the same time, the school is flourishing, a place of discovery, encouragement and equality. To women and witches everywhere, Longstown has become a beacon brighter than any other.
But is it bright enough to shine through the storm rolling in from Germany?
For when Helga arrives with an announcement, she brings with her a request: help. Help that only the most famous, most powerful witches in history can provide. Agreeing means thrusting EVE directly into German politics and gaining the attention of Adolf Hitler and his growing Nazi party, while declining would go against the very principles EVE was founded on, yet keep the school safe.
EVE’s public choices may be nothing to the private ones, however. After all, its greatest secret was never going to stay that way forever…
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Fantasy; Friends to Lovers
YOUNG ADULT
INTERNET FAMOUS
by M.B. Guel
Billie Alvarez is your average punk rock loving high school senior who just wants to hang out with her best friend, Rex, and get her ex-girlfriend back. In a half-baked attempt to impress her by auditioning for the lead part in the school musical, Billie gets turned down because she’s a girl trying out for a traditionally male part. When her online rant about the school being homophobic goes viral, she must navigate her newfound fame along with the typical drama that comes with getting through high school.
Between rehearsals, trying to get her band back together and an endless onslaught of online admirers, Billie must decide what’s important to her. Is it the fleeting happiness of getting attention online? Figuring out what she wants to do after high school? Or getting her ex back?
Then there’s her co-star in the school play, who’s getting much more interesting now that they’re spending more time rehearsing together.
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Celebrity; Young Adult
NEW AUDIOBOOKS
ALWAYS
by Kris Bryant
narrated by Melissa Sternenberg
Peri Logan’s first client is dead, but not in a morbid way. When her great-grandmother passes, her estate bequeathed Peri a piece of jewelry, a stack of cash, and a note that simply reads “find her”. As a newly licensed private investigator, Peri travels to Italy to find the mysterious woman whose photo was perfectly preserved in the heart-shaped locket. What she doesn’t expect is to be given the runaround from a beautiful stranger who offers to help and does anything but.
Camila Barnes is bored. Nothing exciting ever happens in the small town of Sequina, Italy. When a pushy American shows up demanding to meet the woman in Camila’s artwork, instead of introducing her to her great-grandmother, Camila decides to lead her on a wild goose chase all over town. Nobody messes with her family, especially people who won’t tell her why.
When the truth is finally revealed, Peri and Camilla realize they are a part of something greater than they ever expected. Attraction is fleeting, and true love touches only a few. Do they take the easy road home, or do they fight the odds and give love the chance to last for always?
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Category: Friends to Lovers
PERILOUS OBSESSION
by Carsen Taite
narrated by Lula Larkin
Detective Beck Ramsey is paying a stiff price for blowing the whistle on a fellow cop. Relegated to the always underfunded and often ignored cold-case desk, she’s biding her time until she can escape long-forgotten, lost causes and get back on the field.
Journalist Macy Moran digs deep on every story, but when her usually objective reporting turns into an unrelenting hunt for a serial killer, she risks losing her relationships, her career, and her reputation. Haunted by the memory of her best friend’s death, Macy is willing to put everything on the line until she meets the infuriating and captivating Beck Ramsey – and somehow convinces her to reopen the coldest case on her desk.
As their plans and their hearts careen out of control, Macy’s obsession with a murderer will either bring her closer to Beck, or rob her of a chance at true love.
2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Romantic Suspense; Thriller
FRIDAY FEELS
Click here for the latest edition.
Wanna get involved? Readers and authors can participate. Find out how here.
VOTE FOR BOOK OF THE MONTH
2022 IHL READING CHALLENGE
JAE’S SAPPHIC BOOK BINGO
LESFIC BOOK CLUB
BUY US A COFFEE
Running IHL takes the three of us many hours every single week. Also, the costs add up. Last year we setup a Buy Us a Coffee page, which allows people to help cover the expenses. When we first announced the page, we were blown away by the response. Not only were people willing to pitch in, but all of the kind notes and encouragement brought more than a few tears to TB’s eyes. If you’d like to support us, click here. Every cup helps immensely! If you’d like to learn more about TB’s initial response to the outpouring of support, click here.
Have a wonderful day!
Miranda & TB
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