Book picks similar to
The Secret Chord by Virginia Hale
romance
lgbt
religion
lesbian
Fear of Falling
Georgia Beers - 2019
With her career (and life) directed by her manager, Ray, she hasn’t had to worry about a thing for more than a decade…not where she goes, not what she sings, not who she is. But when Ray has a heart attack, Sophie is left without the only real father figure she’s ever known and questioning everything she believes about what’s important to her. Enter Dana Landon, the new manager sent by Sophie’s record company. Dana is gorgeous, sophisticated, and ready to do her job keeping Sophie’s career on track and making the record company money. Dana captures Sophie’s attention in ways Sophie never expected--and isn't ready for, but after so many years of being told what to do, Sophie’s ready to shake things up with some ideas of her own. Ones Dana hasn’t been planning on and isn’t at all sure she likes.Cover Artist: Ann McManGenres: Contemporary / Romance
Wrong Number, Right Woman
Jae - 2020
But then she gets a wrong-number text message from a stranger named Eliza, asking her of all people for dating advice! Eliza is Denny’s total opposite: witty, outgoing—and straight. Despite their differences, the accidental text sparks an unlikely friendship. Soon, Eliza—self-proclaimed queen of disastrous first dates—would rather banter back and forth with Denny than to keep trying her luck at online dating. When they meet in person, there’s an instant connection. But what Eliza is feeling can’t be attraction, right? It doesn’t mean a thing that she’s starting to wish the guys she dates would be more like Denny. Or does it? Can the wrong number lead to the right woman after all? Wrong Number, Right Woman is a light-hearted, slow-burn lesbian romance that embraces likable characters without all the drama.Length: 116,000 wordsTropes & themes: slow-burn romance, low angst, relatable characters, butch/femme, age gap, “toaster oven” romance, craft romance, Portland romance, shy character
All That Matters
Susan X. Meagher - 2006
She's a very successful real estate agent, happily married to a man who encourages her to live the independent life she loves; and they're actively working to have a baby.The wrench in the works is that Blair favors adoption, while her husband David desperately wants to have a biological child. The fates are against them, and they finally seek the help of a group of reproductive specialists. One of the doctors, a surgeon named Kylie Mackenzie, eventually becomes a good friend to Blair. And she needs all of the friends she can get when things start to go horribly wrong at home. As her marriage teeters on the brink of collapse, she relies more and more on Kylie's friendship.Kylie's happily gay; Blair's happily straight. But the way they structure their relationship leads friends and family to privately question whether the pair is setting themselves up for heartache. They eventually come to a crossroads, which could either destroy their friendship or turn it into what each of them has been seeking. The question is whether each woman can change her view of herself and her needs. The answer is all that matters.
200 Hours
Natasha West - 2019
Beside both having the misfortune to find themselves on the wrong side of the law. But it’s only 200 hours of community service, right? What could possibly happen between two girls from such different worlds? Accidentally falling for each other, that's what. But can bad girl Lola and good girl Abby overcome the odds to be together? Or will their differences pull them apart? A fresh and hilarious romantic comedy from the internationally bestselling author of 'Just Married?' and 'The Matchmaker.'
All the Way Home
Nancy Ann Healy - 2018
Katelyn (Kat) Summers’ family has just moved to Webster, Massachusetts. It’s the day before her twelfth birthday, and all Katelyn wants to do is go back home to Pennsylvania. That is until a ten-year-old boy named Neil Masters crashes into her bicycle. When Katelyn looks up from her position on the ground, she finds a hand stretched out to greet her. As she’s pulled to her feet, Katelyn meets with the inquisitive gaze of Sarah Masters. Within minutes, Katelyn will never think of any other place as home again. Best friends from the moment they meet, Katelyn and Sarah are inseparable. Looking in, they have an idyllic life in a quaint New England community. But, life is not always as simple and charming as it seems. It’s messy. As the pair of friends grow, so do their feelings—Sarah’s for Katelyn, and Katelyn’s for Sarah’s brother, Neil. Sarah has spent her life loving Kat at a distance. Once her best friend, Kat has now become Sarah’s sister-in-law. While Sarah struggles to let go of Kat, Kat yearns to hold onto Sarah’s presence in her life. Through ups and downs, hopes and dreams, celebrations and disappointments, Katelyn and Sarah struggle to maintain the bond they formed in childhood. There are lessons in everything; in the paths taken, and the paths left behind. An unexpected fork in Kat’s road will challenge their entire family. Time has a way of revealing the truth. If you are willing to listen, and to speak it, life has a way of leading you All the Way Home. Nancy Ann Healy is the best-selling author of five novels in lesbian fiction. She is best known for the political thriller series featuring Alex and Cassidy. In 2015, Nancy began writing under the pen name, J.A. Armstrong. She currently writes five best-selling series as J.A. Armstrong: Off Screen, By Design, Special Delivery, First Course, and Open Tab. In addition to the series she pens, Nancy is also the author of Falling Through Shooting Stars, and the play, Spin. Nancy lives in Connecticut with her wife, Melissa, and three dogs, Maggie, Sydney Bristow, and a husky named Jameson.
Dear Taylor
Eija Jimenez - 2016
Seeing her city in shambles, coated in ash, and American lives lost, she enlisted to fight the War on Terror. Daniella Melo, a Rhode Island American History teacher, challenges her class to write letters to soldiers fighting overseas. With one name left and a student short, Daniella takes it upon herself to write letters to Private Taylor Phillips stationed in Afghanistan. Over the next two years, the women exchange letters, sharing stories of their daily lives: Daniella trailing after her rambunctious daughter, Jackie, and dealing with overeager seniors planning prom while Taylor trudges through sand and dirt, driving her humvee in cold deserts. Their friendship continues to grow until it becomes something so much more than either woman expect.
The Brutal Truth
Lee Winter - 2017
As work takes them to Australia, Maddie is goaded into a brief, seemingly harmless bet with her enigmatic boss—where they have to tell the complete truth to each other. It backfires catastrophically. A lesbian romance about the lies we tell ourselves.108,000 wordsThemes: Australia · media mogul boss · New York · newspaper · reporter
Beautiful Dreamer
Melissa Brayden - 2019
She’s pretty much blocked out her formative years in Dreamer’s Bay, where the most exciting thing to happen was the twice a year bake sale. Unfortunately, a distress call hauls her back home and away from the life she’s constructed. Now the question is just how long until she can leave again? And when did boring Elizabeth Draper get so beautiful? Elizabeth Draper loves people, free time, and a good cup of coffee in the warm sunlight. In the quaint town of Dreamer’s Bay, she’s the only employee of On the Spot, an odd jobs company. She remembers Devyn Winters as shallow in high school, but now everything about Devyn makes her lose focus. Though her brain knows Devyn is only home temporarily, her heart didn’t seem to get the memo.Cover Artist: Jeanine HenningGenres: Contemporary / Romance Tags: Homecoming, Small Town RomancesWords: 95,000
A Woman Lost
T.B. Markinson - 2013
She’s rich, beautiful, intelligent, and successful. None of this matters to her mom. Les-Bi-An. That’s all her mom sees.Even though Lizzie insists her mom’s antagonism does not bother her, Lizzie distances herself from her entire family. When her brother, Peter, calls her out of the blue to announce he’s getting married, Lizzie’s entire life changes drastically. Peter’s fiancée wants to bring the lesbian outcast back into the family. Will this desire cause Lizzie to lose everything dear to her?Sarah, Lizzie’s girlfriend, is ecstatic about this change in Lizzie’s personal life. Sarah, the hopeless romantic, wants it all, including settling down with the fiercely independent Lizzie.Can Lizzie be tamed? And can she survive her family and all of their secrets?
L.A. Metro
R.J. Nolan - 2011
Kimberly Donovan’s life is in shambles. After her medical ethics are questioned, first her family, then her closeted lover, the Chief of the ER, betray her. Determined to make a fresh start, she flees to California and L.A. Metropolitan Hospital.Dr. Jess McKenna, L.A. Metro’s Chief of the ER, gives new meaning to the phrase emotionally guarded, but she has her reasons.When Kim and Jess meet, the attraction is immediate. Emotions Jess has tried to repress for years surface. But her interest in Kim also stirs dark memories. They settle for friendship, determined not to repeat past mistakes, but secretly they both wish things could be different.Will the demons from Jess’s past destroy their future before it can even get started? Or will L.A. Metro be a place to not only heal the sick, but to mend wounded hearts?
It's Not a Date
Heather Blackmore - 2018
Entrepreneur and innovator Kadrienne Davenport gets results. A demanding executive and stickler for punctuality, Kade throws herself into work to avoid hurting anyone, convinced she only causes pain to those she loves. When Jennifer Spencer meets an incognito Kade at a conference, sparks fly. But when Kade unexpectedly becomes her boss, Jen’s problems multiply. The company she founded is going broke, her grandmother’s dementia is worsening, and her attraction to Kade―her difficult, brilliant, charismatic mentor―is growing. Kade’s desire to keep things professional between them is in Jen’s best interest. Yet what’s in Kade’s best interest…is Jen.
What the Heart Remembers Most
M. Ullrich - 2020
Jax Levine and Gretchen Mills fell madly in love in college and never looked back. They built a great life together, but careers, a baby, and years of mounting tension later, they are living separate lives and their once grand love is forgotten. After an accident, Gretchen suffers a brain injury that erases years of her memories. She wakes in the hospital with Jax at her side and everything seems normal…except Jax won’t look her in the eye and their baby boy is now a rambunctious toddler. Every line drawn between Jax and Gretchen starts to blur while Gretchen fights to figure out which of her most haunting recollections are real, and which are fake.Is it possible for this accident to be the second chance neither Jax nor Gretchen knew they wanted?Cover Artist: Tammy SeidickGenres: Contemporary / Romance
And Playing the Role of Herself
K.E. Lane - 2007
Her sometimes-costar Robyn Ward is magnetic, glamorous, and devastatingly beautiful, the quintessential A-List celebrity on the fast-track to super-stardom. When the two meet on the set of 9th Precinct, Caid is instantly infatuated but settles for friendship, positive that Robyn is both unavailable and uninterested. Soon Caid sees that all is not as it appears, but can she take a chance and risk her heart when the outcome is so uncertain?
High October
Elena Graf - 2019
Maggie gave up her dream of becoming an actress and married her high school boyfriend. Liz became a famous breast surgeon. Maggie is performing in a summer stock production near the Maine town where Liz is now a general practitioner. When Maggie breaks her leg in a stage accident, she lands in Dr. Stolz’s office. Is forty years too long to wait for the one you love?
The Simple Answer
Lily Seabrooke - 2020
After forgiving her last girlfriend too many times and only finally getting out, she's not keen on dating again--not for a good, long while.Vanessa Schreier is a different person from when she was a kid--or at least, she hopes she is. A clique ruler in school who used her influence to bring down anyone who got in her way, she's come back to Ember Grove not too long ago to make amends. Most people know her as the woman who'll help anyone, anywhere, anytime, but some people aren't so quick to let go of the her past mistakes. One of those people is Vanessa herself.And one is the girl who just moved back in next door: Emily Garrett, her brother's best friend, her old next-door neighbor, and her favorite target to pick on as a kid.Emily's not stupid. She knows she had a crush on Vanessa as a kid even when she was bullying her, and judging by the way it feels to look at Vanessa now, she knows part of her still feels the same way. After spending college accepting one apology after another from an abusive girlfriend, she is done with accepting apologies from anyone--especially girls who make her heart race.But Vanessa, and the drive she has to make things right, are hard to avoid.The Simple Answer is a 70k-word girl-next-door romance about growth, forgiveness, and is the first book in the Ember Grove small-town romance series. Content warnings for childhood bullying, emotional manipulation, a car accident but no one gets hurt I promise, people talking about feelings, and more references to J-pop artists than I thought I'd be able to sneak into a novel.