Book picks similar to
Leash by Jane DeLynn
fiction
queer
erotica
lesbian
Dare Truth or Promise
Paula Boock - 1997
Louie wants to be a lawyer and is an outstanding student. Willa lives in a pub and just wants to get through the year so she can graduate and become a chef. But they are completely attracted to one another when they first meet at a fast-food restaurant. Soon they fall in love fast and furiously, and everything the girls are sure of - their plans, their faith, their families, their identities - is called into question...
Love On the Run
Ellie Spark - 2018
She can't commit herself to a man when in her heart she knows it is relationships with women that she really wants to explore. Café owner Steph McKenzie inherited Anna's Place from her grandmother, but her ex-girlfriend’s betrayal has left her struggling both financially and emotionally. First Larissa stole her heart. Then she stole her money. Is Steph’s luck beginning to turn when a visiting stranger says she’s a business coach specializing in re-energizing flailing businesses and offers her help? The timing couldn’t be worse for either of them, but the attraction is undeniable. When ghosts from their pasts return to intrude on their fragile, budding relationship, hidden secrets may destroy any chance of a future together. Will Kara and Steph have the courage to stop running from love, and run toward it together?
Complementary and Acute
Ella Lyons - 2015
She’s captain of the Number Ninjas, her schedule is perfect, and her best friend Jacqueline Flores is going to be right by her side for all of it. But on the first day back at Dearington, Jac throws a wrench in Anabelle’s tidy plans. Not only has she rearranged her classes and dropped Number Ninjas, she’s joined the Girls who Like Girls Program, leaving Anabelle’s entire schedule in upheaval. Jac is never around anymore, and when she is, she’s got new friends (who Anabelle hates) or she’s running off to a lecture on alternative footwear. Anabelle is left to deal with the changes on her own, and suddenly, Jac’s inability to keep their dorm room tidy is the very least of Anabelle’s problems.
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
Andrea Lawlor - 2017
He studies queer theory, has a dyke best friend, makes zines, and is a flâneur with a rich dating life. But Paul’s also got a secret: he’s a shapeshifter. Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Women’s Studies major to trade, Paul transforms his body at will in a series of adventures that take him from Iowa City to Boystown to Provincetown and finally to San Francisco—a journey through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure.
Jolt
Kris Bryant - 2014
Of course she was flat on her back and looking up and backward at the gorgeous singer, but that didn’t stop her body and heart from bursting into a kaleidoscope of want, need, and lust. Scared at the intensity of her feelings, Bethany does everything she can to avoid Ali at Camp Jacomo, the camp designed specifically for children of lesbian and gay families where Bethany volunteers every summer. The camp director convinces the hottest singer at the moment, Ali Hart, to spend a week teaching the children music to everybody’s delight except Bethany’s. On her last day at camp, Ali approaches Bethany with an offer of friendship, but they both know it’s the prelude to something bolder. Should Bethany take the risk? Does she really believe she can balance her quiet private life with Ali’s outspoken one?
Desert of the Heart
Jane Rule - 1964
This classic of lesbian eroticism is Jane Rule's first novel.Set in the late 1950s, this is the story of Evelyn Hall, an English professor, who goes to Reno to obtain a divorce and put an end to her disastrous 16-year marriage. While staying at a boarding house to establish her six-week residency requirement she meets Ann Childs, a casino worker and fifteen years her junior. Physically, they are remarkably alike and eventually have an affair and begin the struggle to figure out just how a relationship between two women can last. Desert of the Heart examines the conflict between convention and freedom and the ways in which the characters try to resolve the conflict.
Girl Walking Backwards
Bett Williams - 1998
She lives in Southern California, though, which is making that difficult. Her mother has fallen victim to the pseudo-New Age culture and insists on dragging her to consciousness-raising workshops and hypnotists. As if this weren't difficult enough, Skye falls in love with Jessica, a troubled gothic punk girl who cuts herself regularly with sharp objects. When she finds her boyfriend having sex with Jessica in a bathroom stall at a rave, her romantic illusions collapse and she has to face the fact that she's been running away from her mother's insanity. Right when things look their worst though, Skye is helped by Mol, a pagan who becomes her true friend, and Lorri, a graceful volelyball player with whom she finds real love. From them she learns how to feel authentic emotions in a culture of poseurs and New Age charlatans. In this anti-coming-of-age novel, where growing up is irrelevant, this is the best gift of all.
Ice Cream Wars
A.E. Radley - 2019
After scraping together enough money, and applying for the correct permit, she has set up her new ice cream trike in the affluent market town of Wilmsford. Unfortunately, her permit-approved spot puts her right outside the Gelato Parlour. Owned by Juliana Martin-Sinclair, the meticulous woman who puts the ice into ice queen. What will happen when these two very different ice cream aficionados collide?31,400 words
Bidding War
Julia P. Lynde - 2013
Sam is in trouble after a last minute cancellation of one of the bachelorettes, so Pamela demands to be allowed to help. The only thing is, she doesn't ask the right questions.What ensues is at times funny, poignant, playful, and adventurous as Pamela learns a few things about herself, and about what it might be like to love the right person. Or people.This novel of 84,000 words features warm, sometimes troubled characters, sweet and lovely dates, and perhaps a little bit of hot, graphic sex.
Night Life
S.J. Hartsfield - 2020
She knows the lines, the moves, and she definitely knows better than to fall for a client. But when she’s hired for a night with the gorgeous, mysterious Diana Silver, her professionalism can’t hold a candle to the heat between them.Diana Silver is already overworked and undervalued by her wealthy parents, and now they’re pressuring her to date a “suitable” colleague. Hiring an escort would never have occurred to her, but when her best friend treats her to a relaxing night with Ronnie, sparks fly.Diana hires Ronnie again. And again. Soon, the women don’t have an arrangement so much as a full-blown affair. But money can’t buy everything, and Ronnie can’t risk blurring the lines between personal and professional, no matter the reward. It’ll take more than a healthy paycheck to turn their steamy nights into a life together—and if they try, it could cost them everything.
Dead Ringer
Heidi Belleau - 2015
His grandfather, silver-screen heartthrob James Ringer, died tragically at twenty-one, and Brandon looks exactly like him. But that’s where the resemblance ends. Brandon is unknown, unemployed, and up to his ears in bills after inheriting his grandparents’ Hollywood mansion. He refuses to sell it—it’s his last connection to his grandmother—so to raise the cash he needs, he joins a celebrity look-alike escort agency.Percy Charles is chronically ill, isolated, and lonely. His only company is his meddlesome caregiver and his collection of James Ringer memorabilia. When he finds “Jim Ringer” on Hollywood Doubles’ website, he books an appointment, hoping to meet someone who shares his passion for his idol.Brandon? Not that person.But despite their differences, they connect, and Percy’s fanboy love for James shows Brandon a side of his grandfather he never knew. Soon they want time together off the clock, but Percy is losing his battle for independence, and Brandon feels trapped in James’s long shadow. Their struggle to love each other is the stuff of classic Hollywood. Too bad Brandon knows how those stories end.
The Price of Salt
Patricia Highsmith - 1952
They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol into a choice between her daughter and her lover. With this reissue, The Price of Salt may finally be recognized as a major twentieth-century American novel.
Beneath the Surface
Kate Sherwood - 2012
Technically he's a lawyer, but really he's a problemsolver. He just never expected the problem to be Caleb Sinclair, the passionate but introverted artisan carpenter who lives next to the proposed quarry site."Know your enemy." That's Caleb's philosophy. And trying to turn fertile farmland into a gravel pit earns Peter the title of "enemy." Caleb loves that land, and if he has to make peace with his homophobic neighbors to make war on Peter, so be it. Except knowing his enemy doesn't turn out anything like he expected. Peter's not the fairy-tale monster-he just might be the first step to happy ever after.