Welcome to week 26 of the 2022 IHS Sapphic Reading Challenge.

Eileen won the June $25 Amazon Gift Card. 

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 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.

Now, to get to the task at hand. We paired Hot & Steamy week with the first week of July, because in the Northern Hemisphere the temperatures are on the rise.

Below you’ll find reading suggestions. Better yet, 9 of them are on sale, so scoop up some fantastic reads at bargain prices. Before you click any buy buttons, please ensure the sale price matches. (Some international prices may vary.)

The following books are on sale for Hot & Steamy week: July 4 through July 8

A Shot of Absinthe

by TJ Dallas

$0.99 $4.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

Fancy something short and sweet? This anthology features fifteen of the hottest lesbian erotica based on my debut Pride trilogy. Within these pages are some of the deleted and bonus scenes that were too hot and too steamy to leave unread! They have been compiled into this delicious anthology, along with some sexy sketches to get the juices flowing. If you love wlw erotica, this anthology is for you!

Holly and Ivy

by T.B. Markinson & Miranda MacLeod

$0.99 $5.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

The only thing harder than saving the world is doing it alone.

Holly Lovelace is a multi-millionaire tech genius and the CEO of her own company. But if she can’t come up with a brilliant innovation and convince her investors that she’s back in tip-top shape by the end of the year, Holly could lose everything she’s worked so hard to build.

Ivy Winters is a social worker on an island that’s a vacation paradise during the summer months but suffers from a lack of economic opportunity and the scourge of addiction the rest of the year. When the promise of a huge grant falls through, Ivy loses hope of helping her community.

When Holly and Ivy meet, sparks fly, but it’s hardly smooth sailing. After their one-night stand ends in disaster, both decide they’d rather spend the cold months ahead sleeping alone. However, it soon becomes undeniable that each woman possesses something the other needs. Working together, they just might get what they want and find the love of a lifetime along the way, but only if their own insecurities and secrets don’t destroy them first.

A Marine Discovery

by Jax Meyer

$0.99 $2.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

In more than five years together, Marines Cameron Warren and Sharon Rodriguez have weathered every challenge thrown at their relationship — including “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

But the world changed on September 11, leaving Cam to face civilian life on her own while Sharon deploys to Iraq.

For seven months, Cam reluctantly faces new challenges: making new friends, supporting those left behind, and realizing for the first time that she’s autistic. Life is hard, but everything returns to normal when Sharon comes home. Right?

In Step

by Nicole Higginbotham-Hogue

$0.99 $9.99 

Wilkins a conservative soldier gets the shock of her life upon her first meeting with Johnson, an overly liberal journalist from San Antonio. Johnson is blunt, loud, and kind of cute but nevertheless, the exact opposite of quiet, rule-bound Wilkins. Johnson, who happens to be best friends with Wilkins’ superior, Tech Sergeant Ian Morris, ends up falling head over heels for the modest sergeant, and upon learning the nature of Johnson’s feelings, Wilkins tries her best to avoid the extraverted woman, knowing that if she gives in to the promised affection, her job title and reputation will be compromised. However, when Johnson is assigned to do an undercover story about life as an Air Force trainee and is asked to reside in the dormitories as a trainee, all chaos breaks loose. Wilkins ends up having to choose between love and her responsibility as a soldier, knowing that her choice may have a lasting effect on the rest of her life.

Erotic Exploits

by Victoria Janssen

$0.99 $2.99 

Short, snappy, and scorching hot lesbian erotica that leaves nothing to the imagination! Includes lustful captured warriors; an ingenue visiting a zero gee resort; a fairy tale princess who needs rescuing with a kiss – and more; dominant women in leather; and lust for a legendary sea creature. Maidens and crones, werewolves and space warriors, from Earth’s orbit to the eroticism of the sea. For mature audiences only.

The Lesbian and The Homophobic President

by Judy Ramsook

$0.99 $4.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

So many times life pulls its stunt on us and the unexpected cut across the plan. We are kept in a fix and a decision is paramount. Will power overthrow love? What happens to the undefined affection between Kelly and Jackie? Find out the answers to these questions from this intriguing plight of Jackie, Kelly and the Homophobic president. Will Jackie find a decision to surmount her elevated mountain of two-ended choices? Is Kelly truly a bad influence as thought by many? Will the president put his familiarity with Kelly on the line? The answer to all these isn’t far-fetched. Suspense and romance has found a great blend in this wonderful compilation by Judy Ramsook. This book is filled with wits and practical lessons. Story has got a new definition; this sure would worth your read. The lesbian and the Homophobic president will satisfy your hunger for a book of stories and leave you with an undying hunger for more. Let your curiosity meet an interesting answer.

Veritas

by MJ Duncan

$1.99 $7.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

Working as a chef aboard a private yacht might not seem like a vacation for most people, but to Lauren Murphy, a highly-regarded sous chef at a top New York restaurant, the opportunity to spend seventeen days in the Virgin Islands, sailing from one tropical location to the next, while having complete freedom to create her own menus is a dream come true. Enter Grey Wells, the owner and captain of the Veritas, and the most complicated person Lauren has ever met. Cold and distant one minute and then cautiously friendly the next, Lauren is compelled to get to know her better. What happens when she does, however, is enough to change both of their lives forever.

A Taste of Sin

by Fiona Zedde

$2.99 $5.99 

Desiree Nichols has never been afraid of doing things the hard way. In high school, she was an out lesbian who faced down any bullies who dared challenge her. She jumped in with both feet when she unexpectedly fell for a boy in college. And years later, she didn’t hesitate to race back home to Miami, freshly dumped, to help her family in the wake of her mother’s cancer diagnosis.

While supporting her mother through the cancer crisis, Dez gets a little help of her own from the girls she grew up with—a group of hedonistic honeys whose love for pleasure runs as deeply as hers. With them by her side, she buries her pain in wild Miami parties and even wilder women. The last thing she expects is to fall for her twin brother’s best friend, a woman her brother is already head over heels in love with.

Who says going back home has to be boring?

The Good Girl

by Madeleine Taylor

$2.99 $3.99 (Also in Kindle Unlimited)

I’m a good girl. I work hard, look like your average girl, do everything in moderation, and I certainly don’t make a habit of going into strangers’ hotel rooms dressed in sexy lingerie and killer heels. That is, until I meet her.

When a mysterious woman buys me a drink at a hotel bar in New York, I never expect her to impact my life the way she does. From the moment she lays eyes on me there’s little point fighting my desires because she seems to know them better than I do…

The Good Girl is the naughty debut novella by Madeleine Taylor, author of lesbian erotica.

Keep scrolling for more reading suggestions!

Harem

by Raven J. Spencer

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Robin embarks on the adventure of a lifetime: She joins a modern day harem. Robin is thrilled with the intimacy in luxurious surroundings, lacking the entanglements of romance. Her focus is on her training, to be someday soon the favorite of the harem’s keeper, Addison. Elizabeth, Robin’s mentor, is supposed to make it all happen for her, to teach her the necessary skills and attitude to be successful in the harem. While guiding her towards her goal, Elizabeth becomes a distraction for Robin that she can’t ignore. There are some things that money can’t buy, but can she afford to break her contract with Addison?

Perks of Office

by Liz Rain

Available in Kindle Unlimited

When your new boss is hot as hell, what hope is there for a poor lovestruck office worker? A light-hearted, age-gap lesbian office romance with sexual tension leading the polls.

After high-powered politician Bridget O’Keefe sweeps into the uninspiring life of Australian electorate officer Emma Ives, nothing is the same again.

Hapless, hopeless Emma is smacked with an instant crush on the polished woman who’s her new boss…her hot, untouchable, straight boss. Yes, she knows she’s an idiot because unrequited lust at work is a terrible idea. Even so, she can dream.

One long night changes everything. A political scandal leads to a fall from grace and Emma suddenly finds herself the one Bridget turns to for comfort. There’s a lot for Emma to wrap her mind around, even as her body loves wrapping itself around Bridget’s curves.

Is it just a meaningless night of passion, nothing more? Because there’s absolutely no way ambitious, beautiful Bridget wants anything more from Emma. Is there?

The Club

by A.L. Brooks

Welcome to The Club—leave your inhibitions at the door and indulge in an evening of anonymous, woman-on-woman action in a sizzling, award-winning lesbian erotica that includes characters over fifty, plus-sized women, coming-out stories, and toe-curling fun.

For many of the women who visit The Club, no-strings excitement is exactly what they are looking for and what they get. For others, however, with emotions running high, one night of sex changes their lives in ways they couldn’t have imagined.

For Lou, her weekly visits enable her to set aside her shyness and loneliness and feel intimacy, however briefly. Kath, who cares for her mother at home, finds The Club a welcome escape from her everyday toil; while Max needs distraction from her troubled relationship, even as she tries to tell herself she isn’t really cheating.

Tania and Jacky find an outlet for a tricky block in their sex life. Cassie and Nina, two bar staff at The Club, find themselves staying on after hours. And, Stephanie, struggling with her sexuality, finds her life changing in so many ways once she plucks up courage to enter.

The lives of these women intersect, merge, and mingle, and watching over them all is Mandy—the owner, whose own ghosts play a pivotal role in the existence of The Club.

The Block Party

by Nicole Pyland

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Talon Mitchell had gotten a job right out of college, had her own coffee mug at the office that no one else could use, and planned to keep her job as sales manager for a long time because she had practically grown up working for this company. She was content and not looking for anything when a new sales director showed up and changed everything.

Emerson Bagley just got a new job, and while she felt ready for the next step, when she sees someone she recognizes from a holiday party working on the same team, she can’t believe her luck, both good and bad. Good, because Talon Mitchell was very attractive, very smart, and seemingly, very interested in Emerson, too. Bad, because she couldn’t date someone who worked for her, especially in her brand-new job.

Feeling the simmering heat begin to boil over, the two women decide to at least take one step and deal with the rest later. When neither of them had been prepared to seek out love, they managed to find it where they least expected it.

Threads of the Heart

by Jeannie Levig

No one travels this life alone.

Maggie Rae-McInnis is happy in her twelve-year relationship with Addison and renting out the rooms in their large home in the Hollywood Hills. Her one nagging fear is that her partner is not as happy as she is—and she is right. Addison is a hot mess. Though she loves Maggie, she feels something is missing. When she meets Victoria Fontaine, a confident, sexy, and manipulative younger woman, she is swept into something new, exciting, and a little dangerous.

Tess Rossini and Dusty Gardner, the couple’s closest friends and long-term tenants, face their own fears as they navigate the uncharted waters of love, and Eve Jacobs, newest arrival, finds herself on a path of self-discovery.

The love and friendship these women share make up the threads that weave together to form the unbreakable bonds that last a lifetime.

The Acquisition

by Rachel Ford

When Sutherland Bio buys up the little bio research firm Human Resources specialist Angela McCormack works for, she tries to adapt. Even though her shady new boss’s smarminess and sexism makes her stomach turn. She sticks it out through the verbal abuse, and through the benefit cuts and layoffs.

But when her boss, George Sutherland Jr., tasks her to recruit replacements for the people he laid off—and lets it slip that the layoffs were just part of a regime change strategy—she’s ready to throw in the towel. As much as she hates the idea of shoveling manure again, she’d rather return to her family’s farm and petting zoo than stay with Sutherland Bio.

Then George Jr. takes a particularly bad day out on her. And Angela decides she’s tired of the humiliation. She’s going to fight fire with fire. She makes it her mission to fill George Jr.’s team with the worst possible candidates she can find.

But she didn’t take into account falling for one of the new hires. All of a sudden, she’s not sure she wants to leave. Not yet.

And that’s just the first chicken to come home to roost. Little does she know, George has plenty of secrets of his own. And when one of them turns deadly, Angela will have to rely on her handpicked sabotage crew for survival. She might just wish she was back home shoveling manure after all.

Painting Class

by Suzanne Clay

Ainsley’s first gallery showing is way out of her comfort zone. After teaching high school art for over a decade, she can’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be than the classroom, and especially not in front of a crowd of strangers ogling her paintings.

Salvation comes in the form of an insightful young woman who coaxes Ainsley to open up about her inspiration, her drive, and her sexuality. Sparks fly before Ainsley realizes that the young woman is her former student, Noma, freshly graduated from college. As Ainsley fights to reconcile her memories of Noma with the woman she’s become, they fall into a playful game of dominance and submission that will change their relationship forever.

Happy reading!

Faith, Em, Miranda, & TB

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