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


romance
christmas
lesbian-romance
lesbian

The Wrong McElroy


K.L. Hughes - 2019
    Besides, how hard could one festive family weekend be, anyway?That’s before she meets the boisterous McElroy clan, with accents as thick as a homemade pie crust, and an endless supply of competitive siblings, including Lizzie, Michael’s beautiful younger sister.Lizzie seems to be everywhere, with her intoxicating scent, wandering hands, lingering gaze, and that bright, echoing laugh. The more time Fiona spends in her orbit, she wonders how she can even concentrate let alone pull off a convincing fake relationship.An amusing, charming lesbian romance about finding unexpected love inside family expectations.Themes: Christmas · family · holiday romance · POC64,000 words

When You Least Expect It


Haley Cass - 2020
    First, she is going to be Boston's most sought after divorce attorney by thirty-five. Second, given how terrible her romantic track record is, falling in love isn't in the cards for her. And third, Christmas only brings her bad luck - being broken up with not once, not twice, but three times during the holidays is proof enough of that.When she runs into Hannah Dalton on Christmas Eve, she has no reason to believe her luck will change. After all, though Hannah is probably the most gorgeous woman she’s ever seen, she’s also straight. And married to Caroline’s work rival.While being hired by Hannah throws her for a loop, winning a divorce case and sticking it to her ex-colleague should be enough of a thrill. But as the months slip by, bringing her closer to both Hannah and her adorable daughter Abbie, the lines between attorney and client begin to blur. And she could have never predicted just how much she wants them to.74,500 words

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?

Chasing a Brighter Blue


Gerri Hill - 2015
    She’s searching for some peace, something to end her guilt and chase away her trauma. Two weeks at a resort hotel, owned by her future sister-in-law’s father, seems like the perfect antidote for her blue mood.Shelby Sutton doesn’t trust women. Her father’s money seems more on their minds than she ever is. But at her sister’s request she vows to make friends with the withdrawn Reagan, a woman whose sad and haunted eyes intrigue her. Can she help Reagan heal and ease her pain…perhaps chase away the blue?

Undone


Bryce Oakley - 2019
    The kind of songs that her rock band, The Shrikes, would never play. After their successful first album, the pressure for a perfect follow-up is crushing her creativity. Billie’s new songs and sound need an outlet, but she’s not just going to give them away to anyone.Vero De Luca is always in the limelight for making mistakes. The daughter of a famous musician, she’s trying to make smart decisions for the first time in her life as she sets off on a solo career after years in a popular all-female group. Though she knows she’s fully capable of writing her own songs, the label insists that her first single needs a major name behind it, not just her own.Both women think that working together sounds like a match made in hell. Though they can hardly stand each other, sparks start to fly when they’re writing the new single, “Undone.”Will they go up in flames or find a way to work together through the blaze?

Must Love Silence


Lucy Bexley - 2020
    What she likes is silence and being left alone. The thing she loves most about recording audiobooks is that she doesn’t have to leave her Chicago apartment to do it. And she hasn’t for nearly a year. But with an unavoidable bill going to collections that puts her sister’s treatment at risk, she has no choice but to take a job that pushes her out of her comfort zone.After a disastrous blow to her career, Arden Abbott needs a comeback. Step one: a successful book launch, including an audiobook. She doesn’t trust anyone else to oversee every aspect of the project. It has to be flawless. Arden knows she’s ready to resume the life she had before her dreams fell apart, all she has to do is prove it to everyone around her.When Reese and Arden meet, sparks fly and then they combust. Will Reese crack under the constant pressure from Arden? Can she possibly read a sex scene with the woman who wrote it interrupting to correct her pronunciation of words she is saying 100% correctly? Or can they step outside their comfort zones long enough to meet in the middle...Must Love Silence is an enemies-to-lovers slow burn workplace lesbian romance featuring a lovable misanthrope and a heroine in recovery. It’s funny and a little dark, and it firmly believes that everyone deserves a chance to change.

Changing the Script


Lee Winter - 2019
    Things might go easier for her if she didn’t almost run over the standoffish, beautiful local cop on her first day in town. And it’d really help if her film set was being mysteriously sabotaged.When Ika Whenu’s Senior Constable Sam Keegan isn’t trying to stamp out a motorcycle gang drug problem afflicting her town, she’s publicly slamming everything about the exploitative film, Shezan, and the Hollywood blow-ins making it. That includes its nerdy, cute director, Alex, who has woeful driving skills to go with her smart mouth.Against the stunning scenery and chaotic film-set backdrop, attraction flares between the two warring women as they’re forced to work together to find the set saboteur.A funny, small-town lesbian romance about clashing cultures and daring to dream big.This is a Breaking Character spin-off novel that can easily be read as a standalone story.Themes: female police officer · lesbian cop · New Zealand104,000 words

Hopeless Romantic


Georgia Beers - 2020
    It’s why she became a wedding planner and worked so hard to make her business, Hopelessly Romantic, successful. But after the catastrophe of her own marriage, Teddi loses her heart, her hope, and half of her assets. She is officially jaded, but she needs every job she can get to make ends meet. When bride-to-be Kelly Scott walks in, Teddi is ready. Until she comes face-to-face with Kelly’s sister: Leah Scott, her ex-wife’s divorce attorney. The one who helped ruin her life.Leah Scott wears her heart on her sleeve, an odd characteristic for a divorce attorney. When her father left her stay-at-home mom with barely enough money to survive, she recognized her calling. But Leah still believes in happiness and no one deserves it more than her sister. If only Kelly didn’t insist on using a wedding planner who hates Leah’s guts...despite the unexpected and wholly unwanted chemistry between them.Cover Artist: Ann McManGenres: Contemporary / Romance Words: 79,000

Before You Say I Do


Clare Lydon - 2020
    When Abby meets Jordan, she can hardly breathe. Marcus is oblivious. The wedding is weeks away. Now, the only question is: will Abby make it to the altar? Best-selling author Clare Lydon brings you a love story to top them all. Download this story of forbidden love and submerge yourself in lesbian romance today!

Under a Falling Star


Jae - 2014
    Her new job, as a secretary in an international games company in Portland, OR, isn’t off to a good start. Her first assignment—decorating the Christmas tree in the lobby—results in a trip to the ER after Dee, the company’s second-in-command, gets hit by the star-shaped tree topper.Dee blames her instant attraction to Austen on her head wound, not the magic of the falling star. She’s determined not to act on it, especially since Austen has no idea that Dee is practically her boss.

Lost Without a Claus


Kaya LaSalle - 2021
    But I have no intention of letting that happen. That's why I'm hiding out in a tiny mountain town where nobody can find me—not even my father's elves. I'll just ride things out here and wait until Christmas is over, and then my problems will be solved. Simple, right?Wrong again.Because I wasn't planning on meeting someone like Lizzie Collins in my small-town hideaway. She runs the local candle shop, and I can't get enough of her—smart, snarky, and a die-hard Christmas fan. Oh, and did I mention that she just so happens to be the only person in town with a spare room for rent?I know I'm falling for her, but there's just one little problem: she has no idea who I really am. It's not exactly easy to break the news to the woman you love that Santa Claus is real—and that she's dating the reluctant heiress to the Santa empire.My father's elves are getting closer in their search for me, and the countdown to Christmas Eve is on. Will I be able to come clean to Lizzie and have everything I've ever dreamed of? Or will I be dragged back to the North Pole with a broken heart?

Colorblind


Siera Maley - 2016
    and it’s not that she likes girls. She has a rare and special gift: she can see how old other people will be when they pass away. Nothing she does changes this number, and that becomes especially clear when her mother dies in a car crash. With only one other person in the world who knows about and shares her gift, Harper is determined to keep her distance from everyone. Then she falls for Chloe… whose number is 16.That means that Chloe doesn’t have twelve months to live. She doesn’t even have six.She is going to be dead by the end of the summer, unless Harper can find a way to stop it.

Spindrift


Anna Burke - 2020
    But it all comes crashing down when her fiancée dumps her after realizing that Morgan’s job will always come first. And, while Morgan still has the job and friends, her heart is broken into a million tiny pieces.Emilia Russo is a burned-out shelter vet. When the unexpected death of her father triggers a mental breakdown that hastens the end of her relationship, she retreats to his house in Seal Cove, Maine. She plans on spending the summer renovating it while she figures out how to pull the pieces of her life back together. But when she runs into Morgan at the dock where her father’s sailboat is moored, her plans for a quiet summer of healing and reflection sink like a stone—the attraction is immediate and obvious, and Emilia finds herself slipping seamlessly into Morgan’s world.Each woman knows this fling will end when Emilia returns to Boston at the end of the summer, but they’re unprepared for the intensity and depth of their attraction. And, as the gales of fall begin to drive leaves like spindrift upon Seal Cove, Morgan and Emilia must each come to terms with how much they’re willing to give up to stay together.

Mutual Benefits


H.P. Munro - 2020
    Which it would be, if Hannah was gay.Ashley West isn’t looking for a relationship. When she’s set up by her mother on a blind date, she’s ready to nip any expectations in the bud. She’s less prepared for her love interest to be straight.What do you get when you combine a fake relationship with two meddling mothers? A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy that will have you glued to the page!

The Christmas Ball


Lily Seabrooke - 2019
    Pretending to be straight around all her family and the Fowler family for an entire month to prepare for a ball, for her to dance with the man they want her to marry is not in the top 100 ways to spend December. But since her family is paying her tuition, she can't risk saying no. Besides, it's only once every ten years. She just has to survive.She thinks she can handle it, until she finds out her rehearsal partner she'll be spending the month with is the same one from ten years before--and the first girl Alice ever liked. And unfortunately for her, her feelings haven't changed.The Christmas Ball is a 50k-word f/f romance with family drama, a secret romance, a childhood crush, plenty of mutual pining, and of course, they only have one bed.Content warning for open-door sex scenes, queerphobia, and a really sleazy man.