Book picks similar to
Holly & Ivy by T.B. Markinson


romance
christmas
lesbian
lesbian-romance

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.

The Plus One


Natasha West - 2016
    Shoes? £60. The perfect date? Priceless... Charlie Black has found the one. And this time it’s for real. Not like the last time. Or the time before that. Or the time before that… And now she’s going to parade the one in front of everyone at her sister’s upcoming wedding. She wants to prove that her new girlfriend Lucy is special. She’s going to show everyone she can make it work. Especially her judgmental sister Maddie, Bride-Zilla herself. But a few weeks before the wedding, Charlie gets dumped. Again. And she can’t face the humiliation of going to Maddie’s wedding stag. Not after loudly and repeatedly telling her family that this one is different. She needs a date to the wedding and fast. Maybe she could get someone to go with her, but how the hell is she supposed to convince anyone to pretend to be Lucy, her very serious girlfriend of four months? It’s too humiliating. But the wedding creeps closer and closer, with no obvious solution in sight. Then Charlie happens across a website. ‘Rent-a-Date. It's just the thing Charlie needs to save her from the embarrassment of admitting that her sister was right again. That’s one wedding gift Charlie refuses to give her. So after booking herself a date from the company, she’s guaranteed that a hot woman will show up to the wedding with enough knowledge to pretend to be the real Lucy, at least for the length of the big day. But when Charlie turns up at the church, her date has a surprise in store…

Table for Two


Kate Gavin - 2021
    When another woman walks into the crowded restaurant seeking a table, Reagan offers to share hers.Jillian Jacobs just wanted a quick bite before she’d have to focus on a new and unreasonable deadline. Irritated by her empty stomach and by the prospect of waiting, Jillian resentfully accepts a seat at a stranger’s table.Their shared lunch is filled with hostility, snide comments, and shades of derision from Jill and Reagan finds herself relieved at the end of the encounter.But then the two are thrown back together when Jill becomes a catering client of Reagan’s. Soon navigating a professional relationship becomes complicated as their attraction begins to smolder. Will it get in the way and cause even bigger problems? Or will this be the start of something they’ve both been looking for all along?Genre: RomanceEditor: Ann RobertsCover Designer: Kayla Mancuso

Forever Yours


Melissa Tereze - 2019
     Paisley Healy was never supposed to fall in love with her boss. Her superior. The woman she looked up to. Working at the best law firm in the city was supposed to be cut and dry. The night she confessed her love to the woman she was falling for should have been magical, so why was she alone three years on, unanswered questions continuously plaguing her mind? Georgina Weaver’s dream had always centred around her business. Love wasn’t everything to her—she wasn’t sure it could compete with the demands of her job—but her assistant had quickly blown that out of the water. With the words ‘I love you’ spoken with such beauty and honesty, Georgina was prepared to give her entire universe to Paisley. One night would change everything. One moment would crush their dream. When Georgina walks back through the doors of Weaver & Associates—interrupting the annual Christmas party and Paisley’s life—both of them must make choices. While Georgina learns of some powerful news, Paisley believes their past is better left buried.

Never Just Friends


Lily Craig - 2019
     Georgiana—Georgie to everyone outside her family—figured out long ago that being in love with your straight best friend sucks. Turns out it’s even worse when that friend, Madelyn, tells you she’s not so straight after all. After it becomes clear to Georgie that she needs to get over Madelyn, Georgie moves cities and starts a new job. To grad student Madelyn, though, the sudden rift between the friends prompts painful introspection. A year later, she realizes her feelings for Georgie are romantic after all. Madelyn plans to use their annual winter cabin getaway to confess her love. But Canadian winters are unpredictable. When Madelyn and Georgie are snowed into their cabin in the woods, the two are forced into difficult conversations that confront deeply felt emotions about the past, present, and future. Can the friends find common ground after all they’ve been through? An intimate, snowed-in friends-to-lovers romance, Never Just Friends is a standalone story.

Madam President


Blayne Cooper - 2001
    Painfully realistic, "Madam President" is a drama set against a dynamic backdrop and follows the lives of those in the highest positions of power.

One-Off


Lynn Galli - 2015
    As a cynic, she rejects the notion of marital bliss, but for a friend, she'll give it her best effort. That becomes more difficult the moment she learns that her old college nemesis, Ainsley Baird, will be playing an important role in the wedding. Brilliant, beautiful Ainsley has many talents, chief among them is irritating Skye. Knowing how easily Ainsley pushes her buttons, Skye just hopes to get through the wedding without needing someone to post her bail.

Catch and Cradle


Katia Rose - 2021
    After witnessing way too much drama in the past, Captain Becca Moore is intent on keeping her players’ love lives out of the locker room. Becca has no time or tolerance for any distractions from the game. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Hope Hastings has been since the day she showed up for tryouts: one walking, talking, charismatically dorky and way-too-kissable distraction. Hope knew she was headed straight to the danger zone from the moment she saw Becca’s flame-red hair and surly captain smirk. She’s spent the past two years writing off her attraction as a harmless crush, but starting a new semester fresh out of an awful relationship makes Hope realize just how far from harmless the heat between her and Becca really is. The friendships of a tight-knit team and their shot at the title are all lying on the line, but as Hope and Becca get closer to bending rules they’ve sworn never to break, they realize they’ve put their hearts on that line too. Losing has never been an option, but winning might cost more than they’re willing to pay.Catch and Cradle is a New Adult F/F romance from Katia Rose that’s filled with all the hilarity and heartache of finding your way through college while discovering love, friendship, and what it means to be yourself.

Beautiful Accidents


Erin Zak - 2019
    Now twenty-eight and a star in the Chicago improv scene, Stevie puts career first. No one’s going to get in the way of her New York City dreams. When her friends beg her to tag along to go see Constance Russo, a deaf psychic, Stevie begrudgingly agrees, as long as no one makes her get a reading. American Sign Language interpreter Bernadette Thompson has two priorities: caring for her mother and working with her best friend, Constance Russo. But when the headstrong Stevie Adams accidentally stumbles into her life, Bernadette feels an instant connection that’s so intense it frightens her. They can’t seem to stop bumping into each other, or deny their attraction. When Stevie’s goal of starring in New York becomes more than a pipe dream, will competing desires prove their love to be everlasting or a fleeting act?Cover Artist: Jeanine HenningGenres: Contemporary / Romance Tags: Children / Families, Big City, Age Gap, CelebrityWords: 86,000

Atramentum


M.J. Duncan - 2016
    Burned out on public accounting after too many sixteen-hour days, the allure of operating a small, independent bookstore is too tempting to resist, and Joss decides to walk away from the career she spent the last decade building to move back to the resort town high in the Rockies. Cupid strikes as she’s moving into her new place outside Sky and, contrary to popular belief, Cupid has four legs and a tail, hits like a linebacker, and answers to the name George. Before Joss can recover from being tackled by the Great Dane, she finds herself face to face with George's mom, Maeve Dylan. Joss is immediately smitten with her beautiful neighbor, but their conversations walk the line between friendliness and flirtation like it’s a tightrope, and Joss is reluctant to do anything that will risk their budding friendship. Thankfully for her, however, George doesn't give up so easily.

The Blind Side of Love


Ingrid Díaz - 2013
    On a trip to New York she sees the artwork of artist Kris Milano, whose talent is not the only thing she's attracted to. Undercover of email, she begins a correspondence with the artist . When she comes to New York for filming and finally meets her, will she tell Kris the truth ... all of it?Themes: Romance, lesbian. Length: approx. 195,000 words

Nothing But A Fling: A Carlsbad Village Lesbian Romance


Sabrina Kane - 2020
    But after the Covid pandemic hit, business is practically non-existent.Megan Baldwin started the year having her heart shattered by her girlfriend but now she has just gotten an exciting new job promotion which will force her to leave Carlsbad and move to New York City.But one day, Megan walks into La Vida Mocha and lays eyes on the gorgeous barista behind the counter.Their attraction to each other is out of this world.But with Megan leaving California soon for her dream job in New York, and Vanessa needing to focus solely on making sure her coffeeshop survives Covid, both women only want a harmless, no-strings-attached summer fling. Just a bit of fun.But what happens when a meaningless fling develops into so much more for each of these women?Does the other woman feel the same way?Or is this truly nothing but a fling?“Nothing But A Fling” is the first book in the new Carlsbad Village Lesbian Romance series by Sabrina Kane.

Twist of Fate


Raven Cavaleu - 2021
    

The Fletcher


K. Aten - 2017
    However, fate is a fickle mistress, and six years after the death of her mother, she's faced with the fact that her father is dying as well. Forced to leave her sheltered little homestead in the woods, Kyri discovers that there is more to life than just hunting and making master quality arrows. During her journey to find a new home and happiness, she struggles with the path that seems to take her away from the quiet life of a fletcher. She learns that sometimes the hardest part of growing up is reconciling who we were, with who we will become.

Give Me a Reason


Lyn Gardner - 2013
    Four years later, Toni’s judgment is overturned, but the damage is already done. She walks from the prison a free woman, but she’s hardly free. Actually, she’s hardly alive. A prison without rules can do that to a person. She was raised amidst garden parties, stables and tennis courts, but now a dingy flat in a decrepit building is what Toni calls home. It’s cold, dark and barren just like her heart, but it suits her. She doesn’t want to leave much behind when she’s gone, but the simplicity of her sheltered existence begins to unravel when a beautiful stranger comes into her life. How does anyone survive in a world that terrifies them? How do you learn to trust again when everyone is your enemy? How do you take your next breath and not wish it were your last? And if your past returned...what would you do? Author’s Note: Give Me A Reason contains elements of angst, and while it may be found under several genres, its primary listing is lesbian fiction.