Please note we’re on vacation and there won’t be a New Release Newsletter on August 9.
Before we get to today’s new releases, including gems by Miranda MacLeod, Adrian J. Smith, Georgia Beers, Kat Jackson, and many others, we have some announcements.
IHS SAPPHIC READING CHALLENGE
It’s week 30 of IHS’s Sapphic Reading Challenge. You can click here for reading suggestions for friends to lovers romances. 9 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.
BOOKS OF THE MONTH POLLS
We’ll announce the June Books of the Month winners on August 12. In the meantime, start voting for your favorite July releases that were featured in the IHS New Release Newsletter. You can also enter a $15 Amazon gift card. Polls close August 31.
FREE BOOK
Spring Trip
by Sage Donnell
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Spring break is coming up and high school teacher Kade could not be more excited to spend the week with her girlfriend, Aiesha. The two haven’t seen much of each other since their Valentine’s trip thanks to their long distance relationship and generally busy lives, but this will give them the opportunity to spend the whole week together.
Will friends, surfing, and a few communication issues get in the way? (Spoiler, no way! This is a typical low angst book by Sage Donnell.)
Deal ends August 2.
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
Another Stupid Love Song
by Miranda MacLeod & Em Stevens
Available in Kindle Unlimited
The stage is set for success… and heartbreak.
Maxine Gardner is a rock and roll legend who hasn’t had a hit in years. She’s on a mission to get her old band back together for a once in a lifetime reunion tour that could save her floundering career. The problem? One band member is dead and the other hates her guts. To get this tour off the ground, Max must put her fate in the hands of a younger woman who could easily steal the spotlight from her for good.
Jade Weathers is a gifted musician whose mother and aunt were founding members of one of the hottest girl bands of all time. Following her mother’s untimely death, Jade’s overprotective aunt is determined she choose a stable career with the local symphony. But Jade was born to be a rock star. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to live her dream… even partner with the one person she shouldn’t trust. The woman who ruined her mom’s career.
Their agreement is supposed to be nothing but a means to an end. Yet the more time Max and Jade spend making music together, the harder it becomes to ignore the attraction crackling beneath every note. Is it possible everything they’ve believed about the other is completely wrong? This tour could lead to true love, or it could tear the band apart… along with their hearts.
How much will they be willing to sacrifice for success?
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Celebrity; Age Gap; Forced Proximity; Enemies to Lovers; Loss / Grieving; Hot & Steamy; Musician; Coming Out
Golden Hour
by Kat Jackson
Lina Ragelis prides herself on her bravery and strength, two traits that have served her well in her career in the US Army. Having been disconnected from her family since she turned eighteen, Lina has learned to rely solely on herself—and her slightly overbearing best friend—and she swears she prefers it that way.
It’s an easy lie for someone who has spent her entire life dodging love. Lina’s pretty certain that she’s damaged goods. But the truth is, she’s the kind of person everyone wants in their corner, and the kind of woman many women want to love.
Having had more than her fair share of challenges and hardships, there isn’t much that scares Lina. Life would be so much easier if she were afraid of something basic—like spiders—instead of something significant. Something like real, true, healthy love.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Category: Ladies in Uniform
Indigo: Three
Indigo B&B: Book 3
by Adrian J. Smith
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Three women scarred by trauma. Will they find a way to thrive?
Heidi and Ann have been together nearly sixteen years, and yet, something hasn’t been right in their relationship from the start. Struggling with deep trauma, Heidi pulls away and doesn’t know how to function in a normal loving relationship. Ann is overwhelmed by shame when it comes to her needs. Eighteen months ago, they took a leap and opened their relationship in hopes of finding a better balance.
Insert Lila.
Lila is young, vicarious, and a strength for both Ann and Heidi. With trauma of her own, she was graced with the tools to cope and thrive. Now she has to choose if she can work through her own past and race toward the future either by herself or with Ann and Heidi in tow.
Indigo: Three is an age gap, small town novel about overcoming our past to live into our present and maybe even hope for a future. Be prepared for abuse triggers, but also to see the beauty of fighting for what we deserve. A life full of love and safety.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap; Girl Next Door; Medical Character; Character with Mental Illness; Loss / Grieving; Hot & Steamy; Friends to Lovers
Only for the Summer
by Shannon O’Connor
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Someone should’ve told me pretending to date your best friend only works if you aren’t in love with them.
Kennedy Davis is not in love with her best friend. That’s what she tells every girl she dates anyway, but it always ends up the same.
Sienna Stevens is in love with her best friend, but she’s too afraid to admit it. A hopeless romantic who hopes her best friend might one day see her as more.
When Kennedy must return home for her brother’s wedding it only makes sense to bring her best friend along. But Kennedys fears of returning home give Sienna a chance for Kennedy to see her as more—by being her fake girlfriend.
So when the line between friends and more gets blurred with Sienna, will Kennedy finally see what everyone’s been telling her all along and confess her true feelings? Or will she hide how she feels to keep their friendship?
After all, a fake relationship only for the summer, can’t hurt right?
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Fake Relationship; Friends to Lovers; Return to Hometown
Score to Love
International Sports Romance
by Johana Gavez
Available in Kindle Unlimited
In the field, hate can easily turn into love.
Antonia Carvalho left her native Brazil in search of a dream: a professional soccer career and better opportunities for her and her brother. The plan is simple; score as many goals as possible with the Houston Starlight and become one of their top players. She won’t let anything get in the way. Not even Camila Sánchez, her attractive but annoying teammate.
Camila Sánchez spent all her life in the shadow of her father, a former soccer star and coach. There’s no time for distractions as she fights to show everyone she deserves her spot on the team. Playing for the Houston Starlight is her opportunity to shine. She won’t let Antonia steal her spot on the team, no matter how much chemistry they have in bed.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: POC Character; Enemies to Lovers; Grumpy / Sunshine; One Night to Forever; New Adult; Sports
Haute Editor’s Choice
by Bet Milner
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Maria Martinez has it all as editor-in-chief at Haute Magazine: A dream job, a beautiful home, and a loving husband and son.
At least, that’s what it says on her biography. She leaves a few things out of the ‘words from the editor’ section under her glossy covers. The day her son runs away from home and is returned by ex-nanny, Amy Raye, forces her to face some faux pas she hoped would stay hidden at the back of her over-stuffed closet.
Amy left Maria’s employment to start her life and finally get her foot on the career ladder in her area of study, Law. With a P.h.D. under her belt but no experience other than being a nanny, she follows her boyfriend of two years to the sleepy shipping town, Greenshore, taking the only job available in a personal injuries department. To say life is dull would be an understatement, and when eleven-year-old Andy arrives on her doorstep out of the blue, she has no choice but to drive him back to Carnaby and make sure he gets home safe. Seeing her ex-boss wouldn’t be too bad either, especially after Andy confesses the real reason he ran away. Like a moth to a Halston original, she just can’t stay away.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Slow Burn; Toaster Oven; Celebrity; Ice Queen; Return to Hometown; Hot & Steamy; Single Parent
EROTICA
After the Open House 2
by Sam Kestrel
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Serena continues to work as a realtor, inviting her lover Pam to join her after open houses for sex in her client’s homes, many of whom are rich and have extravagant bedrooms. Her most recent client has a hot tub, and they don’t hesitate to use it. But what happens when they get caught? Will they continue their escapades or is it time to call it quits?
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Hot & Steamy; Erotic Romance
MYSTERY / THRILLER
Timber Falls
by Gerri Hill
The isolated, sleepy little village of Timber Falls—built on the bend of a swift mountain river—swells during the summer months as tourists flock to town to run the river, lured there by the Class V rapids.
Haley Martin used to be what the locals called a “river rat”, back during the days of her college years. Now she owns the Timber Falls Bar and Grill, drawn back to the picturesque village seven years ago after the tragic death of her wife.
Carter, a disgraced LAPD detective, was offered an out—a position on a team of unorthodox FBI agents. After a month of training, she is sent out on her own without a team or a partner.
When the gruesome murder of a college student—a river rat—sends the FBI agent to Timber Falls, Carter has no idea what she’s about to find there. She knows she’s looking for a serial killer that’s preying on tourists. But she has no idea that she might find some peace—and love—along the way.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Category: Mystery
The Child Riddler
by Angela Greenman
Despite the angry scars she carries from her childhood training, Zoe Lorel has reached a good place in her life. She has her dream job as an elite operative in an international spy agency and she’s found her one true love. Her world is mostly perfect—until she is sent to abduct a nine-year-old girl.
The girl is the only one who knows the riddle that holds the code to unleash the most lethal weapon on earth—the first ever “invisibility” nanoweapon, a cloaking spider bot. But Zoe’s agency isn’t the only one after the child. And when enemies reveal the invisibility weapon’s existence to underground arms dealers, every government and terrorist organization in the world want to find that little girl.
Zoe races to save not only the child she has grown to care about, but also herself. The agency prescribed pills—the ones that transform her into the icy killer she must become to survive—are beginning to threaten her engagement to the one person who brings her happiness. Can she protect the young girl and still protect the one thing she cares more about than anything else?
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Category: Thriller
FANTASY ROMANCE
Diamond Fever
Holding Out For A Hero: Book 1
by Samantha Matsen
Available in Kindle Unlimited
Natalie Warren just landed the job of a lifetime— a personal assistant to a superhero! Superheroes have never caught her attention before, but her sexy new boss, Diamond, might just be the exception.
Liz Dare— better known by her superhero name Diamond— is married to her work. But when sparks fly between Liz and her new personal assistant, she starts to reconsider her priorities.
Will Natalie and Liz be able to act on their feelings for one another, or will their own fears hurt them more than any supervillain could?
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: POC Character; Hot & Steamy; Fantasy Romance
Of Wulf and Wynd
The Kingdoms Of Gyldren: Book 3
by Lexa Luthor
Prince Tharon’s attempt to spy on her enemy kingdom might cost her the only person who once held her heart. But she is unwilling to accept Roswynd’s greatest sacrifice, even if it means ending her life too. Tharon will battle death to save her wife so they can live out their days together.
Princess Roswynd’s final attempt to reach her childhood best friend may forever change the course of their future. Their forced marriage is unbearable and heartbreaking, but Roswynd will make any payment to save Tharon from the rage consuming her.
Together, Roswynd and Tharon face their damaged relationship and try to find ways to mend their hearts. They decide that the best way to heal themselves and their kingdoms is to face the past and right old wrongs. Now they must untangle the dark past created by their parents. But can they handle what they uncover, or will it send their kingdoms into an uglier war?
Trigger Warnings: The book has a female lead character with a penis.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Fantasy Romance; Second Chance; Slow Burn; Enemies to Lovers; Erotic Romance
Errant: The Compendium
by LK Fleet
Aspen Silverglade used to be a force for good, but now she’s just a sword for hire. On the run from the people she once trusted most, she needs to keep her head down and keep moving.
But old habits are hard to quit. One night in a tavern, Aspen tries to save a woman from some unwanted attention. The woman, Charm Linville, is in the middle of a subtle and delicate act of thievery, and she does not appreciate Aspen blundering in.
The disastrous and public rescue-gone-wrong makes the townspeople think Aspen and Charm are a couple. This mistake sets Aspen’s bloodthirsty betrayers on Charm’s trail, tying the two of them together.
Even if Aspen can’t run from her past any longer, Charm shouldn’t have to suffer. Despite Aspen’s determination to work alone, Charm insists on helping—and she has a past of her own. The two of them don’t care for each other’s methods, but as they journey through the villages and wildernesses of Falland and beyond, solving problems and meeting magical friends and foes, Aspen and Charm grudgingly come to care for each other. Can these two guarded, stubborn women admit their feelings, or will Aspen’s enemies kill them first?
Trigger Warning: Some mentions of past intimate partner violence.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Fantasy Romance; Fantasy; Age Gap; POC Character; Slow Burn; Fake Relationship; Grumpy / Sunshine
PARANORMAL
Nature of the Beast
by S.L Kassidy
Tala Grayson, an introverted pharmaceutical student often let’s her anxiety get the better of her. But, she has to do the unthinkable and go into a sex club to support a friend. She catches the eye of the club manager, Citlali Zhen. Citlali is outgoing, social, and confident. The two women couldn’t be more different, but those differences spark something more. The sparks are interrupted when a pushy patron saunters into the club. Citlali has to keep the patron happy, but the patron asks for more than Citlali is willing to give. Tala’s protectiveness is unleashed and she’s forced to reveal a closely-guarded family secret to keep Citlali safe.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Paranormal; Fantasy
GENERAL FICTION
Annie on a Bun
by A.L. Duncan
Annie Freckle is doing her best to be a productive and efficient worker among workers while living her life as a recovering alcoholic. Working as a barista in a busy downtown café, and as an accounting clerk for a quirky bookstore owner, Annie has her fair share of diverse characters that circle her wagon of life.
It isn’t until she signs up with Guardian Services—a monthly membership of fairy godmothers—that Annie’s white bread life begins to take off in an adventure of self-examination and the pursuit of happiness.
Follow Annie as she musters her innermost self to develop spiritually and emotionally, all while discovering a love interest she never dreamed would melt her butter.
SHORT STORY COLLECTION
Twisted Images
by Blair Sterne
Available in Kindle Unlimited
A collection of dark and twisted short stories of queer women dealing with various traumas and demons.
Potential Trigger Warnings:
The further you read, the worse these stories get content wise. Some of them deal with addiction, false imprisonment, or they contain torture, and/or murder. One story entails an explicit sex scene, however, none of these stories contain any form of rape/sexual violence. While one story mentions the loss/murder of a child (there are no explicit details), no children or animals are harmed in these writings.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Loss/Grieving; New Adult
NEW AUDIOBOOK
Thy Neighbor’s Wife
by Georgia Beers
narrated by Lula Larkin
Alex Foster’s life is exactly as she wants it. She’s quit her job as an English teacher and has decided to hole up in her newly acquired lake house for the summer to try her hand at writing a novel. She has close friends; she has her dog; she plays volleyball. She is content.
Jennifer Wainwright is a wealthy young suburbanite whose life is exactly as she expected it would be. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, who is about to inherit his father’s law firm. She has friends. And she has the whole summer to work on decorating the new house on the lake she and her husband have just purchased as their summer home. She is content.
A chance meeting over a runaway pooch is the start of a journey for each woman. Over the course of one unbelievable summer set on the beautiful shores of Canandaigua Lake in Upstate New York, these two women will teach one another, learn from one another, question their own beliefs and expectations, and unwittingly fall in love.
2022 IHS Reading Challenge Category: Forced Proximity
SAPPHIC ROMANCE GIVEAWAY
ANOTHER STUPID LOVE SONG GIVEAWAY
SAPPHFIC BOOK CLUB
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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