Before we get to today’s new releases, including gems by Sienna Waters, Ali Vali, J.J. Arias, Jacqueline Ramsden, and many others, we have some announcements.

IHS SAPPHIC READING CHALLENGE

It’s week 25 of IHS’s Sapphic Reading Challenge. You can click here for reading suggestions for Ice Queen romances. 8 of the books featured on the page are on sale.

Remember, you can join the I Heart SapphFic 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.

VOTE FOR FAVORITE CUTE OR WILD ANIMAL STORY

We asked readers to nominate their all-time favorite sapphic story with a cute or wild animal. Find out who made the cut and cast your vote. Voting ends on July 16 and the top three winners will be announced on July 20.

I HEART SAPPHIC PRIDE COLLECTION

Celebrate love with this collection of delightfully lighthearted romances from some of the most popular authors of sapphic fiction today!

These eight standalone Pride-themed novels have been carefully selected by I Heart SapphFic to give readers a taste of the very best modern sapphic fiction has to offer. Each women loving women story promises to bring all the feels. June is the perfect time to remember that love is love, and everyone deserves a happily ever after!

FREE BOOK

Halfway Home

by Barbara Winkes

Also available in Kindle Unlimited

Jayce and Emma meet in a halfway house.

Can they be safe with each other, or will their secrets tear them apart?

Deal ends June 28.

NEW RELEASES

Here are this week’s new ebook and audio releases and announcements.

Please click on this link for how to submit books (ebook and audio) for the newsletter. IHS will not include books unless they receive an email from either the author or publisher.

Happy reading and listening,

TB, Em, Faith, & Miranda

ROMANCE

The Life Coach

by Sienna Waters

Available in Kindle Unlimited

It’s time to let a little sunshine into your life…

Meet Vivien Curtis, a divorced, depressed, reclusive true crime addict. All she wants is to be left alone, and for the kids to stay off her lawn.

Until Alice Knowles appears. A young life coach hired by Viv’s best friend Evie to get Viv back on her feet again, Alice wants nothing more than to meet Ms. Right, get married, and start adopting cats.

It’s hate at first sight when grumpy meets sunshine, but both women are keeping secrets. Viv sure isn’t telling anyone about the weird fizzy feelings she gets when Alice is near. And Alice? Well, Alice isn’t a life coach at all. Yeah, it’s a long story…

Sometimes we don’t know what we want until we get it. And sometimes the hardest part of letting someone in is letting them walk away again… Or is it having the courage to face your mistakes and give things one last try?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap; Girl Next Door; Toaster Oven; Animal; Grumpy / Sunshine

Working Summer

Holiday Romances: Book 5

by Sage Donnell

Available in Kindle Unlimited

It’s summer – school’s out, surfing is good, and Aiesha is still amazing, but very busy with teaching at academic summer camps. In order to get to see her for a couple of weeks, Kade signs on to also teach at one of the residential summer camps. It means no Max, no Shori, no surfing, but it’s only two weeks and Aiesha is worth it. Besides, Kade likes to teach. It’ll be fun.

And it is fun, right up until baseless accusations are leveled at her just a few days in. Who is behind it? Will Kade and Aiesha get past it and stay a strong couple? Will their Fourth of July be festive or mired in controversy?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Asexual / Demisexual; Holiday Romance

Guava Flavored Lies

by J.J. Arias

Available in Kindle Unlimited

All’s Fair in Love and (Pastry) War

Sylvie Campos and Lauren Machado have hated each other since before they were born. For generations, the Campos and Machado families have blamed each other for stealing pastry recipes they claim their great-grandfathers originated before fleeing Castro’s Cuba.

Having spent their lives as rivals, Lauren and Sylvie are now in their early thirties and primed to take over their respective family bakeries. That means working long, hot, seasons of outdoor food festivals where they are forced to endure each other – albeit with a lot of bantering and barb-trading. After all, no one knows how to get under Sylvie’s skin like Lauren.

Sick of dealing with Lauren and her thieving family, Sylvie sets out to unmask the Machados for the traitors they are.

But when the truth is not what Sylvie expects, will the fiery exchanges between her and Lauren turn into something hot enough to melt away generational baggage? Could they get the chance to rekindle what they almost had in high school?

2022 Reading Challenge Category: Enemies to Lovers

Her Captive Bride

Arranged to Love: Book 4

by Alexa Woods

Available in Kindle Unlimited

When Veda’s boss stiffs her, she has only one way to get what she’s owed: snatch his daughter, Briar. Trouble is, Briar is secretly in love with Veda and she’s also too hot to resist.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap; Enemies to Lovers; Ice Queen; Forced Proximity / Stranded Together

The Touch of Her Voice

by Sara Scott

Available in Kindle Unlimited

My world turned to shades of grey as I squared my shoulders and turned around. The woman with the short, dark hair and the blue scarf was the only source of color in the coffee shop. I seemed to glide across the floor until I found myself standing by her table. She had been stunning from across the room; up close she dazzled.

Suddenly, there was Sophie…..

On the surface, Jensy Willett appears to have it all: good friends, a storied basketball career, a great job, and most important, the love of her life, Sophie Barnes.

But there is a secret in Jensy Willett’s past that she will not share. Not even with her beloved Sophie. That vow of silence will have far-reaching ramifications when a chance encounter results in a disastrous decision. A decision that will tear at the fabric of Jensy and Sophie’s relationship and send them spiraling out of control.

Can their relationship be saved?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: One Night to Forever; Friends to Lovers; Hot and Steamy; Sports; Young Adult/New Adult

The Chase

Constellation: Book 1

by Sabrina Blaum

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Gabriella Worrington, who has just moved with her family to a new San Francisco neighborhood, clashes with Seren Doyle, president of the local homeowner association. Their meeting is interrupted, leading to a fast-paced, eventful race across the country, with both the mob and the FBI nipping at their heels.

The Chase, the first book in the Constellation series, is a stand-alone romance novel featuring two women confronted with a past they’d rather forget and secrets they’d prefer to bury, as they navigate the closeness that grows between them and the uncertain future that lies ahead.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Single Parent; Hot & Steamy; Forced Proximity; Love after 50

The Other Side of Leaving

by Jacqueline Ramsden

Available in Kindle Unlimited

What happens when you meet the one person you can’t live without–right as she’s leaving?

Tilly Fenchurch never saw any reason to leave Vermont. Living in the town where she grew up, working at her moms’ family business, and never traveling far, she tells herself she’s happy–at least until she’s pulled, quite literally, into Frankie’s world.

Frankie Holt is excited. She’s just applied for her dream job in LA and she can’t wait to leave small-town Vermont behind. That is, until she grabs a random stranger in a celebratory hug and meets someone unforgettable.

A plan to reunite their estranged friends brings them closer together, and before long, it’s hard to imagine life without each other. With Tilly convinced she’s straight, Frankie attempts to fight her growing crush, while Tilly is left questioning everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her sexuality, and her life.

Will Frankie and Tilly figure out their feelings in time, or will three thousand miles tear them apart?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Slow Burn Romance; Character with a Disability or Mental Illness; Friends to Lovers; Coming Out

Stay

by Bess Marriott

Available in Kindle Unlimited

When Kick, a woman who freely travels the world without a care, responsibility, or mission, returns 35 years later to the hometown she couldn’t get away from fast enough, she finds the one thing she’s never experienced before…love. And with it a younger Irish bartender who is tied to her past.

But is love and Bridget enough for someone to finally grow roots when they’ve never planted themselves in any one place before?

Kick and Bridget collide in the one place Bridget never thought she’d find herself again. Everything changes for both of them after just 24 hours together. Can the international playgirl finally settle down?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap: Love after 50; Hot & Steamy; One Night to Forever; Return to Hometown

EROTICA 

Impact

by Nikki Markham

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Lesbian Shorts

Volume 3

by Sam Kestrel

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Ten steamy, erotic lesbian short stories. Each stands alone. Included in this edition: A bookstore has a secret sex room, two lovers spice up their sex life by pursuing each other for a day and having sex in the most public place possible, two old flames run into each other on the trail and head off into the trees, two women get stuck in an elevator and make the most of their time, the finale to A Campsite Hook-up Series as well as Caught on Zoom and many more.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: POC Character; Single Parent; Hot & Steamy; Stranded Together; Erotic Romance

PARANORMAL ROMANCE

Evermore

A Mystic Meteor Tale: Book 2

by Elle Hyden

Available in Kindle Unlimited

In Book Two of this Mystic Meteor Tale, the meddling spirit Lily is back in matchmaking mode, working with a few new cohorts to help two women find their Evermore.

Raven, a reclusive but wealthy video game developer, needs more than just a paid caretaker; she needs true healing to melt the cold core of her deeply wounded heart. She’s lived her entire life without love and trusts no one. Only once did Raven allow anyone close, but it wasn’t to be, and she vowed Nevermore!

Lynn, a gifted empath, seeks a safe haven not only for herself but for a little girl that she’s sworn to protect. Like Raven, she experienced an early childhood rejection. Although she didn’t close herself off to others, Lynn has never shared herself entirely with another. It has kept her moving on from one relationship to another.

The advent of a spectral raven starts these women down a path that can potentially redress these old hurts if only they can open their hearts to each other. Join these two women in their quest to discover if the spirits and fate will bring them together or tear them apart.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories:  Age Gap; Slow Burn; Magical Realism; Love after 50; Cute Pet; Rich Girl/Poor Girl; Character with a Disability; Ice Queen; Grumpy/Sunshine; Paranormal Romance; Ghosts; Asexual/Demisexual

SCI-FI ROMANCE

Endurance

by Elaine Burnes

For five years, Captain Lyn Randall of the Endurance has ferried tourists around the solar system for Omara Tours. Now, as she takes in the rings of Saturn for the last time, she’s looking forward to indulging in simpler pleasures like flying antique airplanes over her childhood home in Montana.

The routine tour becomes anything but when a mysterious phenomenon flings Endurance and two other ships into the Rigil Kentaurus system, four light years from Earth. Stranded, with no way to get back.

Lyn’s first duty is to rescue survivors from the other ships before she faces the most daunting task of her life, much less her career. She has to control her fears and grief to lead an untested crew and panicked guests on a quest for a new home planet or risk a return to their solar system that could kill them all. Unfortunately, Lyn’s past with a clandestine military mission gone wrong doesn’t sit well with some guests and crew members, and they don’t quite trust her.

Diana Squires, rescued from another stranded vessel, grudgingly reveals her identity as the daughter of scientists who researched traversable wormholes. To complicate everything, Lyn develops an affection for Diana, something at odds with her responsibilities as captain and her unhealed grief over her own lost loved ones.

Feelings aside, suspicions aside, her own doubts about her ability to lead aside, Lyn has to fight to protect her passengers, her ship, and her heart.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Slow Burn; Forced Proximity / Stranded Together; One Night to Forever; Sci-Fi Romance; Ladies in Uniform; Sci-Fi

NEW AUDIOBOOKS

Two of a Kind

by TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod

narrated by Abby Craden

Could something you can’t remember be the best decision of your life?

Maisie Sullivan is a hard-working marketing assistant from Milwaukee who wants nothing more than to earn a promotion and finally finish her college degree. But when she’s swept off her feet by a charming cowgirl while on a business trip to Las Vegas, she decides there’s no harm in having a little fun.

Drew Campbell is a no-nonsense Wyoming rancher with a talent for horse training. Her only goal in traveling to Las Vegas for a riding competition is to win enough money to pay off her family’s debts. But when a beautiful stranger catches her eye and then some, she figures she might as well let loose for a night on the town.

What takes place after that, neither can recall. But months after parting ways, when both their fortunes have fallen, they discover what happened in Vegas has followed them home. A quickie divorce will solve the problem, but each woman has something the other needs, and neither will budge until she gets her way.

They just want to get on with their lives, but will they end up falling in love with their wives?

If you enjoy a smoking hot clash between a city girl and a ranch girl with a one night to forever romance, don’t miss the latest collaboration of Miranda MacLeod and TB Markinson.

2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: One Night to Forever; Cute Animal; Forced Proximity; Girl Next Door; Toaster Oven; Grumpy / Sunshine

Carly’s Sound

by Ali Vali

narrated by Paige McKinney

Is passion still possible the second time around?

Poppy Valente has the world in the palm of her hand until fate steals from her the one thing that matters most—her wife, Carly. When breast cancer ends their life together, Poppy finds herself at a loss as to how to begin to live again.

Julia Johnson is running to Carly’s Sound with her newborn daughter, Tallulah, in search of the path to her future. On a chance meeting two years after Carly’s death, these two women form a bond of friendship that lays the foundation for something more.

2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Second Chance; Friends to Lovers

The Marriage Masquerade

by Toni Logan

narrated by Lula Larkin

Taylor Braxton needs to get married, then divorced, with no strings attached.

Taylor, a physical trainer, has just inherited her grandfather’s B&B on Maui, but there’s a catch. She can’t have the deed until the day after her one-year wedding anniversary. She’d rather stick a fork in her eye than get hitched, but the B&B is a dream come true. So all she has to do is find a woman who will agree to fake a marriage. How hard can it be?

Jayden Wheaton could use a year in paradise to help her recovery. After a crippling accident, she hires Taylor in the hope of gaining back some mobility. When Taylor casually mentions her dilemma, Jayden jumps at the chance, hoping the warm island temperatures will help with her chronic pain. A marriage masquerade in exchange for a year in Paradise? Yes, please. After all, it’s not like either of them are looking for romance, so there’s zero chance of their feelings complicating the arrangement. Right?

2022 IHL Reading Challenge Categories: Fake Relationship; Friends to Lovers

Christmas in July 99-cent Sale

I Heart SapphFic is planning a 99-cent sale.

The Sale Details:

This sale will run July 22 through July 26 and there will only be one price point: 99 cents.

The deadline for supplying the details is Tuesday, July 12. The sooner you can get us the details, the better.

Click here for all the details and to submit your books.

Sapphic Audiobook Giveaway

June is not only Pride Month; it’s also Audiobook Appreciation Month, so 23 authors of sapphic fiction put together an audiobook giveaway for you!

You can win one of 65 sapphic audiobooks. Important: To enter, fill out this very short form!

Jae put this giveaway together.

SAPPHFIC BOOK CLUB

JAE’S SAPPHIC BOOK BINGO

BUY US A COFFEE

Running IHS takes the four 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!

TB, Em, Faith, & Miranda

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