Book picks similar to
Just One Moment by Dena Blake
lesbian
amnesia
angst
second-chances
Starstruck
Harper Logan - 2016
All her sacrifice is about to pay off when she’s offered her first leading role, but there’s one catch: it’s the lead in the lesbian romance movie Real Love. Amelia’s never so much as looked at another woman, and she can’t help but feel intimidated at the prospect of faking intimacy with a girl. Especially when she finds out who the other star is… Heartthrob Jessica Black is known for her luscious curves, cheesy movies, and flings with actors—not for her acting talent. But the dates are all fake and sometimes she feels her entire life is just a publicity stunt. The only real relationship in her life is the one she has with Cleo—her rescued puppy. Jessica wants to create a film that will make the world a better place. But when she signs up to star in a lesbian romance movie to raise awareness for equality, she faces resistance from her publicist, her agent, and even her own family. And to top it off she seems destined to clash with her feisty, short haired, vintage suit wearing co-star Amelia. When the two decide to work out their scenes with some private rehearsals, their relationship only grows more complicated. “The kiss was supposed to be practice, but it felt real.” As friendship grows between them, it starts to seem like it could be something more. But with pressure from the public, and their own insecurities to work past, their relationship encounters one challenge after the next. Can Amelia and Jessica work through it all to create their own happily ever after?
Pretend Girlfriend
Lily Craig - 2018
When Celeste Lamontagne receives a wedding invitation from her ex, she’s furious. The only thing worse than being cheated on? Seeing your ex and the girl she cheated with get married. Less than a year later. And as part of a two-week long Mediterranean cruise. But they say the best revenge is a life well lived, right? Not for Celeste, it isn’t. It’s arranging an elaborate fake relationship with someone to make your ex jealous. Lane Bishop is the perfect someone to do just that. Impulsive to the extreme, she loses her job right in front of Celeste. There goes Lane’s best shot at becoming a stylist in New York City. She can have another chance if she agrees to travel with Celeste, pretending to be her girlfriend so that Celeste’s ex sees her happy and thriving. The only catch? Celeste’s an heiress accustomed to getting everything she wants. She’s rigorous about details—some might say spoiled—which clashes with a free spirit like Lane. Two weeks travelling in close quarters challenges the faux lovebirds. They’ve got to appear harmoniously in love, even when they’d rather rib each other than whisper sweet nothings. But the sparks between Celeste and Lane become harder and harder to ignore. Can they convince the wedding guests of their passion without the flames setting them both alight?
Secret Lies
Amy Dunne - 2013
In a twist of fate, she accidentally bumps into Jenny O’Connor, the most popular girl at school. They strike up an unlikely friendship. As their trust in each other develops, they share their darkest secrets, and their relationship blossoms into a secret romance.Jenny loves Nicola, but she is fearful that if their secret relationship is discovered, she might lose her family, friends, and her seemingly perfect life.Nicola confronts her abuser and blackmails him to leave for good, but things go terrifyingly wrong. Jenny is left with a life-changing dilemma: should she face her fear and accept who she is, or let Nicola take the blame and pretend their relationship never happened?
Alice & Jean
Lily Hammond - 2016
It’s 1946 in New Zealand, and Alice Holden has fallen for the woman delivering her milk every morning. Jean has a way about her, a swagger, honey-sweet and low voice, and a wink with an easy smile that lights up Alice’s world, stirring her in ways she’s never known before, and Alice with blinders on, wants to choose this feeling over all else. Jean has been head over heels in love with the sparky and adorable single mother since the first time she saw her. She’s even drawn to Alice’s two fatherless children, and family life has never looked so good. Jean’s deep desire to have more than a life spent looking in from the outside seems more than she should hope for, and now Alice has her tossing the dice for it against all odds. But there are two people in town who believe they have the prior claim to Alice, in duty and affection, and they’ll do almost anything to get what they want. Alice and Jean have discovered that each is what the other has always longed for, each other’s missing link. Now they need to find a way to be together, despite the obstacles.
How to Make a Wish
Ashley Herring Blake - 2017
A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace's mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.
White Houses
Amy Bloom - 2018
Having grown up worse than poor in South Dakota and reinvented herself as the most prominent woman reporter in America, "Hick," as she's known to her friends and admirers, is not quite instantly charmed by the idealistic, patrician Eleanor. But then, as her connection with the future first lady deepens into intimacy, what begins as a powerful passion matures into a lasting love, and a life that Hick never expected to have.She moves into the White House, where her status as "first friend" is an open secret, as are FDR's own lovers. After she takes a job in the Roosevelt administration, promoting and protecting both Roosevelts, she comes to know Franklin not only as a great president but as a complicated rival and an irresistible friend, capable of changing lives even after his death. Through it all, even as Hick's bond with Eleanor is tested by forces both extraordinary and common, and as she grows as a woman and a writer, she never loses sight of the love of her life.From Washington, D.C. to Hyde Park, from a little white house on Long Island to an apartment on Manhattan's Washington Square, Amy Bloom's new novel moves elegantly through fascinating places and times, written in compelling prose and with emotional depth, wit, and acuity.
Behind the Green Curtain
Riley Lashea - 2013
As vicious as she is beautiful, Amelia threatens Caton’s position and her sense of decorum.As the attraction between the two women spirals into a torrid affair, Caton is drawn deeper into Jack and Amelia’s world of privilege and prestige, where everything is at stake and nothing is what it seems.
Sit. Stay. Love.
Karis Walsh - 2019
So what if she padded her résumé a little…doesn’t everyone? Then she discovers she has to lead trail rides and whitewater 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.
Hal
Kate Cudahy - 2015
Yet Hal is happiest with a sword in her hand, and forsakes her status as ward to become a professional duellist, spending her days in training, her nights revelling, famed for her prowess in the capital's duelling arena. All of that changes when Hal falls in love with Meracad Léac, the freedom-craving daughter of a wealthy merchant. Meracad's father will stop at nothing to ensure his own wealth and position, and plans to marry Meracad to Bruno Nérac, a powerful northern lord. Hal's world is about to be thrown into chaos when she sets out to save the woman she loves …
Crystal's House of Queers
Brooke Skipstone - 2021
Later at school in the tiny town of Clear, Alaska, Crystal saves Haley from an assault by her abusive boyfriend.The two girls renew a love started years ago that had to stay hidden until now. But with Crystal’s grandparents in the hospital with Covid and the possibility of her drug addict parents returning from a 14-year absence, Crystal needs Haley as much as she needs Crystal.They connect with Payton Reed, a gun-toting artist who helps them feel proud to be gay and willing to stand up to anyone. Together they struggle to make Crystal’s house safe for those who are hated for their love.
Plain Bad Heroines
Emily M. Danforth - 2020
Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it The Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, The Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way. Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded-Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins. A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period illustrations.
The Gravity Between Us
Kristen Zimmer - 2013
Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood, and the one person who reminds her of who she really is – her refuge from the craziness of celebrity life. With her career taking off, Kendall moves Payton to LA to help keep her sane. But Payton is hiding a secret that could make everything ten times worse. Because to her, Kendall is more than a best friend – she is the only girl that she has ever loved. Just as they need each other more than ever, they’ll have to answer the question of where friendship stops and love begins? And find out whether the feelings they have can survive the mounting pressure of fame…
The Gravity Between Us
is a daring, romantic, emotional story about friendship, love, and finding the courage to be yourself in a crazy world. New Adult novel: recommended for 17+ due to mature themes and sexual content
She Slipped and Fell
Shonda - 2008
Kendall Long is sexy, yet delicate. Whether separate or together, these stunning best friends tend to cause quite a stir among the male population. An innocent fall, however, propels their friendship to a new plateau -- one where each is compelled to explore and confront her sexuality. She Slipped and Fell alternates between each characters' point of view, for only Tina and Kendall can decide whether or not their friendship, and love, is strong enough to endure the humility that is oftentimes associated with being different. Will Tina and Kendall risk stepping outside of their comfort zone into unfamiliar territory, defying society, God, and their families, in their quest to discover who they truly are?
The Lucky Ones
K.G. MacGregor - 2019
She wouldn’t go back to Kentucky for a million dollars. But several million? That’s a different kettle of fish. All Britt has to do is help resurrect her father’s failing business so they can sell it to the highest bidder. Thanks to a college softball scholarship, Ninah Faust escaped her upbringing as well, leaving eastern Kentucky’s impoverished coal country for the quaint small town of Leland. Now a high school history teacher, she enjoys a laid back lifestyle, a close-knit circle of lesbian friends, and the Longdogs, Leland’s minor league baseball team. Ninah knows better than to fall for newcomer Britt, whose plan is to get in, get rich, and get out. Britt knows better too, since the last thing she needs is a girlfriend in Kentucky. But fall they do―so which one will give up her perfect life for the other? The Lucky Ones marks a return to the idyllic hamlet of Leland, Kentucky, where you’re sure to run into the town’s most prominent lesbian couple―Justine Hall and Carly Griffin, from The House on Sandstone.Genre: RomanceEditor: Katherine V. ForrestCover Designer: Judith Fellows
Something to Talk About
Meryl Wilsner - 2020
The so-called scandal couldn't come at a worse time--threatening Emma's promotion and Jo's new movie.As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a "source" is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is "no comment".With the launch of Jo's film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all...but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames?