Book picks similar to
Invictus by Aska J. Naiman
lgbt
04-x-and-three-4ths-stars
lesbian-fiction
character-person-of-color
Everything Leads to You
Nina LaCour - 2014
A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world. Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.
Nothing Happened
Molly Horton Booth - 2018
Their parents own the place, and every summer they look forward to leading little campers in crafts, swimming in the lake, playing games of capture the flag and sproutball, and of course, the legendary counselor parties.This year, the camp drama isn’t just on the improv stage. Bee and longtime counselor Ben have a will-they-or-won’t-they romance that’s complicated by events that happened—or didn’t happen—last summer. Meanwhile, Hana is falling hard for the kind but insecure Claudia, putting them both in the crosshairs of resident troublemaker John, who spreads a vicious rumor that could tear them apart.As the counselors juggle their camp responsibilities with simmering drama that comes to a head at the Fourth of July sparkler party, they’ll have to swallow their pride and find the courage to untangle the truth, whether it leads to heartbreak or happily ever after.
The Song in My Heart
Tracey Richardson - 2015
She couldn’t imagine needing more—until her golden voice was silenced. Now her quiet days are filled with her guitar and she savors every sunrise. Curious, and as a favor to a friend, she emerges to hear a rumored superstar in the making.Talent pours out of Erika Alvarez through her voice and her fingertips. She’s awed that the reclusive Dess Hampton wants to hear her sing, and then blown away when Dess agrees to sit in for a few gigs.Dess can tell that Erika is destined for the life that she once had and wants no part of, ever again. But can the magic of the music they make together, and the growing love between them, trump Erika’s ambition and Dess’s fears? How much are they willing to sacrifice for music—and for each other?
Breaking Legacies
Zoe Reed - 2016
But when a lifelong friend with connections recommends her to the king to track down a runaway princess, her life gets turned upside down. Finding the princess is easy. Deciding what to do in a conflicting mess of politics and emotions… not so much.175,000 words
Wild Magic
May Dawney - 2018
The magical barrier known as the Veil is all that stands between our reality and the Otherworld. Those with the gift of magic can pull energy through it to perform miraculous feats of power. The Inquisitio opposes these mages, who have organized themselves within the Society for Psychical Defense. The world of magic is shaken by the awakening of a wild mage, a woman capable of manipulating the Veil itself. She has the power to either eradicate the Inquisitio or rob the mages of their abilities. Only one side can win and it will be the side that gets to the wild mage first. Ania Zaleska lives a perfectly ordinary—albeit floundering—life in Poland's second-biggest city until the day she explodes. She's dug from the rubble of her apartment building by shadow mage Noah Otieno, whose job it becomes to get Ania's wild magic under control. Noah is affiliated with the Society for Psychical Defense but she has kept herself away from magical politics as much as possible. Now she is in charge of potentially the most powerful magical weapon on either side of the war, she must decide how she can best keep her safe—especially when their magic brings them together in ways only wild magic can.
Return to Me: A Remi/Claudia Story
Fiona Zedde - 2012
During that time, their families have grown to accept what the twenty-nine year old reformed player and her fifty year old lover mean to each other. Theirs is not just another kinky May-December affair. But a ghost from Rémi’s past rises up to threaten what the two women have found together. Can they put these demons to rest or will their love, as erotic as it is powerful, scatter like ashes to the four winds? Warning: This story contains explicit, kinky sexual acts between two consenting adults with a motorcycle acting as occasional voyeur. Number 3 in the How Sweet It Is series by the Lambda Literary Award finalist author of Bliss and Every Dark Desire. Start from the beginning with A Taste of Sin, Hungry for It, then Return to Me (a short sequel to Hungry for It), then Insatiable Appetites. All (except for Return to Me) are standalone, full-length novels featuring different couples in the group of Miami-based friends.
Love Is Eternal
Emily Sharp - 2017
After a childhood blighted by addiction and foster homes and an engagement that ended with no reason given, she's built walls so big it would take dynamite to destroy them. Then she meets Julie and those walls begin to crumble. At the age of twenty-two, Julie Summers is ready to embark on her last year of college. Positive, happy-go-lucky and drop-dead gorgeous, Julie has the world at her feet. And then she meets Veronica. She's instantly bewitched by her beauty and wants to be the one who chases all her shadows away. As both women learn more about each other, will it bring them closer together or drive them apart?
First Position
Melissa Brayden - 2016
She’s sacrificed creature comforts, a social life, as well as her own physical well-being for perfection in dance. Even her reputation as The Ice Queen doesn’t faze her. Though Ana’s at the peak of her career, competition from a new and noteworthy dancer puts all she’s worked for in jeopardy.While Natalie Frederico has shown herself to be a prodigy when it comes to ballet, she much prefers modern dance and living on her own terms. Life is too short for anything else. However, when the opportunity to dance with the New York City Ballet is thrust upon her, it’s not like she could say no. Dealing with the company’s uptight lead is another story, however. When the two are forced to work side-by-side, sparks begin to fly onstage and off.
Learning Curves
Ceillie Simkiss - 2018
She can't afford distractions. She doesn't have time for love. And she has no idea how much her life will change, the day she lends her notes to Cora McLaughlin. A freelance writer and MBA student, Cora is just as career-driven as Elena. But over weeks in the library together, they discover that as strong as they are apart, they're stronger together. Through snowstorms and stolen moments, through loneliness and companionship, the two learn they can weather anything as long as they have each other--even a surprise visit from Elena's family. From solitude to sweetness, there's nothing like falling in love. College may be strict...but when it comes to love, Cora and Elena are ahead of the learning curve.
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley
Shaun David Hutchinson - 2015
His parents did, and so did his sister, but he survived.Now he lives in the hospital. He serves food in the cafeteria, he hangs out with the nurses, and he sleeps in a forgotten supply closet. Drew blends in to near invisibility, hiding from his past, his guilt, and those who are trying to find him.Then one night Rusty is wheeled into the ER, burned on half his body by hateful classmates. His agony calls out to Drew like a beacon, pulling them both together through all their pain and grief. In Rusty, Drew sees hope, happiness, and a future for both of them. A future outside the hospital, and away from their pasts.But Drew knows that life is never that simple. Death roams the hospital, searching for Drew, and now Rusty. Drew lost his family, but he refuses to lose Rusty, too, so he’s determined to make things right. He’s determined to bargain, and to settle his debts once and for all.But Death is not easily placated, and Drew’s life will have to get worse before there is any chance for things to get better.A partly graphic novel.
Up the Ante
P.J. Trebelhorn - 2015
She left the FBI and decided to try her hand at professional poker. She’s played poker for years, but no amount of practice could have prepared her for what she’d face in Las Vegas away from the tables.Ashley Noble works security at a casino in Vegas. After a failed marriage and a disgraced exit from her position with the LAPD, she’s just grateful to have a job. When Stryker shows up in her casino, Ash is forced to face the woman she had an affair with fifteen years ago and thought she’d never see again.The attraction between the two is undeniable, but Jordan keeps her distance because of her MS. When Ash decides she’s ready to up the ante, she knows getting Jordan to call the bet will be damn near impossible.
Sex and Skateboards
Ashley Bartlett - 2011
What more could anyone want?Alden McKenna has spent her entire life not growing up. Being an adult is tedious, not to mention totally boring. And requires less skateboarding. So why bother? Moving to a small beach town seems like an awesome idea. The skateboarding is good, the sun is always shining, and no one moves very fast. She even meets a hot chick like five minutes after moving there. Life is good. Except young Weston Duvall has already grown up and her reasons for doing so surprise Alden even more because she didn’t see them coming. Weston can’t trust Alden, and Alden isn’t sure she wants to be trusted. So why can’t they seem to stay away from each other?
Queens of Geek
Jen Wilde - 2017
She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, is an empowering novel for anyone who has ever felt that fandom is family.
Pieces
G. Benson - 2017
Ollie, also sixteen, has a life that’s all about parents, school pressure, friends and dreams of summer. The two fall into each other’s orbit, and one kiss changes everything. Ollie is captivated… but then Carmen vanishes. When they cross paths months later, everything is different.This young adult lesbian romance novel looks at what we’re prepared to sacrifice for those we care about.
Just for Show
Jae - 2018
But her perfect world falls apart when her fiancée calls off their engagement. Because of that, even her book deal might be off the table. After all, readers don’t want relationship advice from someone who can’t even make her own relationship work.So Claire sets out to hire herself a fake fiancée.Lana Henderson, the actress who shows up to audition for the role, is not exactly Claire’s ideal woman. Her frankness and the messes she leaves everywhere drive Claire up the wall. At least she won’t fall in love with someone like Lana.But soon, Lana starts to win her over with her big heart, tickle fights, and—gasp!—carbs after six. The longer they pretend to be a love-struck couple, the less fake their kisses feel and the more the lines between reality and role begin to blur.Once the book contract is signed, will they walk away or is their relationship no longer just for show?A lesbian romance where role-playing has never been so irresistible.Themes: actress · fake dating · fake relationship · fauxmance · pretend romance · psychologistWords: 103,000