Book picks similar to
Invictus by Aska J. Naiman


lgbt
adversity
sports-romance
lesbian-romance

Falling into You


Ruby Grandin - 2015
    Did she really win over the beautiful Molly Perkins with a handful of blueberries and some Wonder Woman jokes? Or is this just another dating disaster waiting to happen?FALLING INTO YOU is a sweet, funny, romantic short story about two women falling in love who, over a series of hilarious misadventures, realize that there are no accidents in love.

Points of Departure


Emily O’Beirne - 2016
    It’s exactly what they all need after the final slog of high school. But when Kit’s suddenly forced to drop out, Liza’s left with three girls she barely knows. There’s Mai, committed only to partying. There’s Tam, who already has her doubts about leaving her sick father behind. And there’s Olivia, so miserable about screwing up exams she’s not even sure she wants to get out of bed, let alone on a plane. Meanwhile Kit’s stuck working double shifts to pay off a debt, wondering if she’ll ever get it together.All Liza wants from this trip is to discover a new version of herself. She just hadn’t planned on doing it without Kit by her side. And they’re all learning that travel isn’t just about the places you go, but who you’re with at the time.

Just Juliet


Charlotte Reagan - 2016
     Juliet represents the road less traveled. Will Lena take it? Lena Newman is 17, her best friend’s a cheerleader, her boyfriend’s a football player, and as far as everyone is concerned, her life is sorted. But that’s before she befriends the new girl. Juliet is confident, slightly damaged, drop-dead gorgeous and a lesbian. Lena realizes that her interest goes beyond just friendship. She sets off on a path of self-discovery where the loyalty of those closest to her will be tested. "It feels real without being tedious, and heart-warming without being sappy. It's not all roses, and it's not all doom and gloom. It's great.” - Jon "Just Juliet is the story I wish I could have given to my parents to read when I was 16 so that they knew what I was going through." - Caro M.

Keeping Her Secret


Sarah Nicolas - 2016
    She definitely didn’t expect to be sharing a bunk bed with her for four long weeks.Courtney has what every girl wants—she’s beautiful, rich, and the object of every boy’s desire at Camp Pine Ridge. Too bad none of them make her feel an iota of what Riya’s kiss did all those years ago. But Courtney needs to uphold appearances at all costs—even if it means instigating an all-out prank war with Riya as her main target. Neither girl can stop thinking about the other…but that doesn’t mean they can give up past hurts and take a chance on a future together.

Beautiful Game


Kate Christie - 2011
    In Southern California it’s almost—but not quite—safe to say lesbian outloud. For Camille Wallace, a sophomore attending San Diego University on a soccer scholarship, life is sweet. She has gay friends, the sport she loves and a future full of possibilities.Her possible futures don’t include a woman like Jess Maxwell. Potential all-American, star-caliber tennis player and in every way the perfect co-ed, Jess isn’t likely to notice Cam’s admiring glances. And if she did, chances are she’ll never think of Cam as more than a fan.The brilliant sunshine might be why Cam sees a Jess that no one else has realized is there. But it will take more than training and tenacity to find out if Jess wants to be the woman Cam believes lurks within. It may take more than Cam can possibly risk.Kate Christie looks at love and the pursuit of happiness for two vibrant, gifted college athletes in the early Gay 90s.

Style


Chelsea M. Cameron - 2016
    So far, they’re pretty simple: Finish her senior year of high school, head off to a good college, find a cute boyfriend, graduate, get a good job, get married, the whole heterosexual shebang. Nothing is going to stand in the way of that plan. Not even Stella Lewis. Stella Lewis also has a plan: Finish her senior year as cheer captain, go to college, finally let herself flirt with (and maybe even date) a girl for the first time and go from there. Fate has other plans for Kyle and Stella when they’re paired up in their AP English class and something between them ignites. It’s confusing and overwhelming and neither of them know what to do about it. One thing they do know is that their connection can’t be ignored. The timing just isn’t right. But is there ever a good time for falling in love?

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me


Julie Anne Peters - 2014
    As she searches Swanee's room for mementos of their relationship, she finds Swanee's cell phone, pinging with dozens of texts sent from a mysterious contact, L.T. The most recent text reads: "Please tell me what I did. Please, Swan. Te amo. I love you."Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life--secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she's been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee's phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information before finally meeting face-to-face to break the news.Brought together by Swanee's lies, Alix and Liana become closer than they'd thought possible. But Alix is still hiding the truth from Liana. Alix knows what it feels like to be lied to--but will coming clean to Liana mean losing her, too?

Girl Love Happens: Season Three


T.B. Markinson - 2021
    Her friends are spiraling, one in particular with dire consequences. If that’s not enough, Tegan’s job is threatened by a conman and a cop trying to recruit Tegan into a leadership role at the university.Whoever said college was the best years of your life never had to come out in a state determined to strip basic human rights from the LGBTQ community.Girl Love Happens: Season Three contains all six episodes of the continuing lesbian romance series infused with 1990s’ nostalgia. If you like tumultuous love stories, simmering chemistry, and a quirky and troubled cast of characters, then you’ll love T.B. Markinson’s smart, sexy series.

The Cottage


Caroline Jimenez - 2017
    With plans for renovations dancing in her head, she looks forward to breathing life into her old cottage by the beach and most importantly, herself. Not used to being on her own, she sets out on a new chapter of her life hoping to find friends and happiness. Inspired by some of her favorite books, Nadia discovers adventures are just a wine bottle away, but it's the friendship forming in her neighbor, Laine Montgomery, that has Nadia grateful for the move. With a bit of good-natured Southern meddling from Laine's best friend, Susannah, could more than friendship be on the horizon between Nadia and Laine?

The Words Shimmer


Jenn Matthews - 2019
    She teaches at the local university, has two well-behaved teenage daughters, and what she doesn’t know about human anatomy isn’t worth knowing. Unfortunately, that knowledge doesn’t stretch to plants, and she’s been asked to help out on a school garden project.Being a paramedic doesn’t do Melissa Jackson’s back or knees any favours, so she’s looking into university courses to try a less strenuous line of her work. But the brash, proudly out, down-to-earth woman’s biggest challenge is keeping her dyslexia a secret. That, and living down the stigma that follows her when people find out.A university open day throws the two women into each other’s orbits. When Mel, an expert green thumb, makes a few helpful suggestions on Ruby’s garden project, Ruby convinces her to team up to make it a success.Personality-wise, they couldn’t be less compatible. Mel’s brazen attitude, cocky jokes, and affinity with earthworms immediately rub the hyper-professional, straight-laced Ruby the wrong way. Can they ever find common ground?A sweet, lesbian romance about growing something unexpected and wonderful from the roots up.Themes: anatomy lecturer · dyslexia · paramedic · school garden project80,000 words

Healing Springs


Rhavensfyre - 2018
     Selene McAlister is a successful author who had it all. Best selling novels, a beautiful beach house, a fast car and perfect health…until one rainy night that changed her life forever. Selene had to be cut from the wreckage of her sports car, and despite horrific injuries, she survived. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, she couldn’t decide…not when she had to deal with the aftermath of her injuries every day after that. Broken and battered, scarred and in pain, she was a ghost of her former self, but that wasn’t the worst of it. The accident had taken something more important from her than physical health…it had robbed her of the ability to write…and taken huge chunks of memory along with it. Now, at forty years old, she’s being forced to move back to Healing Springs and return to the small family Inn her mother owns. Returning to her childhood home was never a part of her plans. On top of everything else that happened, it only served to convince her that her life was a total failure, and that she had nothing left to look forward to other than a lifetime of pain and isolation. Amy Fontaine is a successful businesswoman and photographer. She is also Selene’s best friend and has been since before High School. She’s not the type to let Selene retreat from life and succumb to self-pity, not if she has anything to say in that matter. Maybe that’s why Amy was the last person Selene wanted to see when she returned to Healing Springs. Fortunately for Selene, her friends and family were having none of it. They would find a way to reach Selene and show her that she still had worth…and in Amy’s case…that she was still worthy of love. This novel is dedicated to all the strong women out there that wake up every day and struggle with disabilities, both visible and invisible. Your fight is what inspired this novel. You ladies rock. *Loosely based on the short story, The Potter’s Wheel.

The Summer I Wasn't Me


Jessica Verdi - 2014
    And now she's afraid that what's left of her family is going to fall apart for good.Lexi knows she can fix everything. She can change. She can learn to like boys. New Horizons summer camp has promised to transform her life, and there's nothing she wants more than to start over.But sometimes love has its own path...

Her Name in the Sky


Kelly Quindlen - 2014
    The last thing she wants is to fall in love with a girl--especially when that girl is her best friend, Baker. Hannah knows she should like Wally, the kind, earnest boy who asks her to prom. She should cheer on her friend Clay when he asks Baker to be his girlfriend. She should follow the rules of her conservative Louisiana community--the rules that have been ingrained in her since she was a child.But Hannah longs to be with Baker, who cooks macaroni and cheese with Hannah late at night, who believes in the magic of books as much as Hannah does, and who challenges Hannah to be the best version of herself. And Baker might want to be with Hannah, too--if both girls can embrace that world-shaking, yet wondrous, possibility.

The Thousand Mile Love Story


Natalie Vivien - 2013
    A decade ago, her heart was broken by a devastatingly beautiful woman–the woman she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with. Now, ten years later, two of her oldest friends, Elizabeth and Heather, are getting married in Vermont. And they have a request: They want the old gang to take that infamous road trip they always talked about in college but never set into motion.The brides’ not-so-secret goal: to enable Andee and her ex, Robin Barnes, to finally patch things up.So, four college friends hop in a green convertible and begin a thousand-mile road trip that Andee isn’t quite sure she’ll survive. They visit the strangest places and encounter some wild adventures, and throughout it all, Andee struggles to come to terms with her conflicting feelings for Robin.Because, despite her misgivings, Andee is falling in love with Robin all over again.This is the complete collection of the three “Thousand Mile Love Story” novellas about two women who reconnect, forgive and forget, and love again; and the funny mishaps a thousand-mile road trip can bring. It contains “Road Trip Reunion,” “Roadside Attractions” and “Destination: Love,” and is approximately 70,000 words long (the length of a novel, providing many hours or a few days of romantic reading).

Empress of the World


Sara Ryan - 2001
    Nic's had theatre friends and orchestra friends, but never just friend friends. And she's certainly never had a relationship.But on the very first day, she falls in with Katrina the Manic Computer Chick, Isaac the Nice-Guy-Despite-Himself, Kevin the Inarticulate Composer... and Battle.Battle Hall Davies is a beautiful blond dancer from North Carolina. She's everything Nic isn't. Soon the two are friends - and then, startlingly, more than friends. What do you do when you think you're attracted to guys, and then you meet a girl who steals your heart?