Welcome to week 13 of the 2022 IHL Sapphic Reading Challenge.

The March $25 Amazon gift card winner will be announced next week.

Before we get to the books, 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 paired Cute Animal / Pet / Wild Animal with the start of National Pet Month.

Below you’ll find reading suggestions. Better yet, 9 of them are on sale, so scoop up a bargain read with an adorable supporting cast. Before you click any buy buttons, please ensure the sale price matches. (Some international prices may vary.)

The following books are on sale to celebrate Cute Animal / Pet / Wild Animal week: April 4 through April 8

The Date

by T.B. Markinson

FREE $3.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

What happens when a prickly cat lady runs into the new dog owner next door?

Brittny Parker, an American graduate student, is moving to London with her lovable Boston Terrier, Cooper, in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics. Could life get any better? How about adding a super sexy woman next door? The problem is her snooty neighbor is not a dog person. In fact, she despises Cooper from the moment he knocks her over and sends her groceries spilling all over the ground.

Prin Jones is a native-born Londoner whose most successful relationship is with Francesca, her Persian cat. With a bakery to run and an unpleasant ex-girlfriend to dodge, the last thing Prin needs in her life is an obnoxious American and her poorly trained dog. But it becomes almost impossible not to run into Brit at every turn.

When Francesca and Cooper decide to become balcony friends, and Prin’s twin sister takes on the role of enthusiastic matchmaker, Brit and Prin decide to give each other a second chance. All they need is one date to see if there might be something more between them.

It should be easy, right? But somehow everything keeps going hilariously and disastrously wrong.

Can two women from different worlds meet in the middle to become more than neighbors?

Best-selling lesbian romance author TB Markinson, has written a hilarious and quirky story about finding love in a foreign land.

Do It for the Glory

by Kaya LaSalle

$0.99 $4.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

After a terrible attack at one of her concerts, will a traumatized rock star find love with a gruff K-9 handler?

Mia Soltani isn’t looking for love. In the aftermath of a horrific attack, she’s just trying to make it through each day and get back up on the stage. But she might have found more than she bargained for in the gruff K-9 handler working security at her shows…

Emery Olson and her German Shepherd Mojito work security at the Madrigal Resort in Las Vegas. When they get a new rock star client for a long-term residency, Emery figures they’ll be just another diva. She wasn’t banking on someone like Mia…

As Mia and Emery grow closer, they realize they’re falling hard and fast. But when new threats to Mia’s safety arise, their fragile new relationship is thrown into turmoil.

Will they be able to find their happily-ever-after? Or will their love story be cut short before it ever really begins?

Lucky in Love

by Cara Malone

$0.99 $3.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

Sometimes luck means landing exactly where you need to be.

Jules Wakefield’s family has rescued rabbits for decades, but with her parents gone and her veterinary practice demanding all her time, Jules desperately needs a successor. She decides to run an essay contest – the winner must love bunnies.

Parker Rose is exactly who Jules is looking for – warm, smart, not afraid to get her hands dirty, and a gorgeous country girl to boot. She’s the answer to Jules’ prayers… and a few unspoken fantasies, too.

Summer days at the rescue turn into autumn nights of passion, but when Jules finds out that Parker’s been keeping a secret, her problems start multiplying again like rabbits.

One little lie has the power to tear everything apart, but what if it leads her home, to a fur-ever kind of love?

Puppy Love

by Sage Donnell

$0.99 $4.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

Who knew that adopting a rescue puppy would be so challenging? When Greta can’t leave the house without Chloe freaking out, she realizes she needs support. She’s new in town, but she does have a friend who might be willing to help out. Livy is fun to talk to, helpful, and cute, but also straight. Greta decides she needs to push her social circle even wider to avoid crushing on her friend. Chloe, again, is just the ticket to broaden her horizons. When she meets the intriguing Ril at the dog park, it’s on.

Puppy Love is a fun, sweet romance with plenty of friendship and cute dogs along the way.

Lesbian With Dog Seeks Same

by Elizabeth Andre

$0.99 $2.99 

Life is better with a woman AND a dog.

Beautiful African American Jordan is quite happy spending most of her free time hanging with her dog Minnie. She doesn’t need a girlfriend. Her life is just fine as it is.

Jordan’s life begins to change one early Sunday morning when Minnie meets Arrow, a golden retriever, at the dog park, and Jordan meets Arrow’s owner, a sexy woman with pale translucent skin and hazel eyes. Minnie likes Arrow. Jordan slowly realizes that she likes Arrow’s owner even more. She has to find her again, even though she doesn’t know her name, and begins to realize that her life will be even better with this woman in her life.

Surfacing Again

by A. L. Lester

$0.99 $1.99 

Melinda is staying on Lindisfarne for a Christmas break with her old friend when an unexpected argument leaves her alone for the holiday.

It’s the first Christmas since her mother died and the island’s peace and wild tranquillity bring balm to her wounded heart. Two chance meetings, first with a pair of wary otters and then with cafe-owner Rowan, bring her genuine joy.

Will her tentative relationship with Rowan survive the end of her holiday and the turning of the year?

A short sapphic Christmas story. With otters.

Eye of the Storm

by Sam Skyborne

$2.99 $6.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

When does a tragic ending become a new, bright beginning?

Pat Richardson-Rose lived the dream life—a highly respected paediatrician in Rhode Island, USA, happily married to the soon-to-be mother of their daughter. Then, in a flash, everything changed…. Unable to live in the graveyard of her past, Pat decides to start over on a Greek island a million miles from her old home.

Robin Pérez came to Skala Eressos for a holiday, expecting sun, sea and cocktails. What she found changed her life forever. Inspired, but rubbing pennies together, she starts up an animal rescue clinic in an old, derelict barn, on a deserted piece of land. But…. What happens if the missing landowner returns?

Can the eye of the storm really be heart-shaped…

Anywhere, Everywhere…

by Renee Mackenzie 

$2.99 $6.99 

Gwen Martin’s life in the Ten Thousand Islands area changes irrevocably when a mysterious woman moves onto the houseboat once owned by the Martin family.

Piper Jackson is hiding from a very evil man, a drug lord. He wants her dead. Now, she has no idea who to trust, if anyone, in the small SW Florida marina community where she has taken refuge. Her photojournalism job has become precariously deadly. Is she in over her head in her relationship with Gwen Martin and her friendship with Gwen’s brother, Wyatt?

Tracy Snyder is freshly out of drug rehab…again. Will Wyatt take her back? Can Gwen forgive Tracy for the things she did while using drugs?
Without trust, can the budding relationship between Gwen and Piper survive? Or will the answers to the questions continue to haunt them?

The Mountain Whispers

by Ali Spooner

$3.99 $8.99 

Arriving home and discovering the betrayal by her best friend and lover, Eli Fortner leaves to run off her anger and hurt. A chance stop at a convenience store and the purchase of lottery tickets, sends Eli’s life into a whirlwind of change.

Able to now pursue her dreams, Eli heads off to see what else fate has in store for her.

Whit Brewer, Eli’s neighbor, is everything Eli never knew she needed and wanted. But can she let go of the betrayal long enough to let Whit in?

Thirteen black cats, a baby goat, and Cruz, her furry best friend, join Eli on her adventure, new life, and the possibility of real love.

Keep scrolling for more suggestions!

Watercat Cafe

by Rachel Manija Brown

Love cats and cake and cottagecore? This book is for you.

Ruthie is this close to achieving her life’s dream: launching the first cat cafe in her post-apocalyptic world. But the mysterious, wounded stranger she rescues could doom her dream–or save it.

In a dangerous yet cozy world where pet watercats fish for their dinner and vines can grab you by the hair, Ruthie was inspired by an ancient book to revive the lost tradition of the café. But all her careful plans are upset when Fern crashes into her life.

Fern is a wary stranger with an arrow in her shoulder and a mysterious but friendly animal tagging at her feet. She’s clearly trouble, but the chemistry between them is irresistible. Can two lonely women risk everything to open their hearts to love?

Watercat Cafe is a short lesbian romance, perfect for reading on your lunch break. Make sure it’s a good lunch, though, because it will make you hungry.

Four Steps

by Wendy Hudson

Alex Ryan lives a simple life. She has her farm in the Scottish countryside, and the self-imposed seclusion suits her until a crime that has haunted her for years tears through the calm and shatters the fragile peace she’d finally managed to find.

Lori Hunter’s greatest love is the mountains. They’re her escape from the constant hustle and bustle of everyday life. Growing up was neither traditional nor easy for Lori, but now she’s beginning to realise she’s settled for both. A dead-end relationship and little to look forward to. Her solution when the suffocation sets in? Run for the hills.

A chance encounter in the mountains of the Scottish Highlands leads Alex and Lori into a whirlwind of heartache and a fight for survival as they build a formidable bond that will be tested to its ultimate limits.

The Courage to Try

by C.A. Popovich

From Great Danes to Pomeranians to polydactyl cats, in the rural town of Novi, Michigan, veterinarian Dr. Jaylin Meyers treats them all. But being brought up in the foster care system, she’s learned not to count on anyone staying around.

New vet tech Kristen Eckert has no time for a relationship. She’d much rather take care of horses, shoot skeet, or ride her Appaloosa. Their mutual attraction takes them both by surprise, and they are drawn into a relationship.

But Jaylin is frightened by the idea of relying on someone else and withdraws. When Kristen is injured in an auto accident, can Jaylin find the courage to risk her heart with Kristen or will she let her chance at love vanish forever?

Dare to Stay

by Georgia Beers

Welcome to Junebug Farms, a successful, well-known animal shelter in upstate New York, where every day brings something new—love, stress, heartbreak, warmth—and not just from the animals.

Since inheriting Junebug Farms from her grandmother, Jessica Barstow’s life revolves around it, and she has no time or energy for much else. Not hobbies. Not fun. Not love–certainly not love. And the new, young, and hip TV reporter who’s been sent to host the upcoming fundraising telethon isn’t going to change that—even though it seems like she wants to change everything else.

Sydney Taylor has zero desire to cover human interest stories in some Podunk, upstate New York hamlet, but that’s where she’s landed—for now. So she’ll make the best of it until she can get something bigger. In the meantime, she is assigned to host the annual live fundraising telethon for some local animal shelter. It’s just a job; she doesn’t have time to get attached. And it doesn’t matter that the rigid, keeps-to-herself CEO of the shelter is resistant to anything Sydney suggests. Or that she’s super attractive and sexy. That doesn’t matter at all…

Sit. Stay. Love.

by Karis Walsh

City girl Alana Brendt accepts a one-year contract as an event coordinator in remote Yakima, Washington, to reboot her career. So what if she padded her résumé a little…doesn’t everyone? Then she discovers she has to lead trail rides and white-water adventures, not just coordinate them. Add a litter of puppies underneath her rickety farmhouse’s porch, and Alana is desperate enough to accept help from the local vet—the gorgeous, sexy, outdoorsy vet who is absolutely not Alana’s type. At all.

Veterinarian Tegan Evans avoids the tourist side of Yakima, venturing there only when an animal needs her. Tourists only break your heart. Still, she can’t resist helping Alana, who, despite being in over her head with rambunctious puppies and a job she is barely qualified to perform, seems determined to make a success of things.

Alana and Tegan both know they don’t belong together. Only problem is, they’re falling in love.

Happy reading!

Miranda & TB