Book picks similar to
Holding her Heart (The Ashforth Series #2) by Melissa Tereze
age-gap
romance
lesbian-romance
dnf
Rough Around The Edges
Crystal Chard - 2020
The characters leap off the page and swear at you until you love them while the sweet romance quietly captures your heart." CLARE ASHTON.Roxanne Mackenzie is not exactly living her best life. After moving to London to follow her dream of becoming a writer, she thought things would be different – better. Instead, they’re a whole lot worse.Meeting Josie Calhoun – the woman who has everything together, including the top button of her shirt – makes Roxy question how she’s been living her life.Josie can’t bear lies and values trust above all else, so what will she make of Roxy’s scandalous truth?Crystal Chard’s debut romance takes us on a crazy ride of laughs and tears with many mojitos along the way.
The Love Factor
Quinn Ivins - 2020
It might be the nineties, and everything’s shoulder pads, Doc Martens, and The X-Files, but people won’t budge on gay rights. Molly decides to give a PhD a whirl but finds herself more interested in campus politics…and her strict and sexy statistics professor.Professor Carmen Vaughn is stuck in small-town Maryland with smarmy blowhards for colleagues and ungrateful students who can’t handle her high standards. She has no intention of coming out, least of all to Molly, a troublemaking grad student who can’t stop picking fights with the conservative faculty.But when Molly discovers evidence implicating a homophobic colleague in a scandal, Carmen can’t ignore it—even if the subject hits too close to home. As the two women work together to make their case, they grow closer than Carmen ever imagined. But she absolutely refuses to get involved with a student.The thing is, as the chemistry builds between them, Molly isn’t sure she wants to be a grad student anymore…if she ever did.75,000 words
Payback
Charlotte Mills - 2019
But before she even has a chance to settle in, Kate finds herself in a situation there’s no coming back from. She’s reported as a troublemaker to her new boss, Detective Chief Inspector Helen Taylor, a no-nonsense veteran who once had an esteemed, high-profile career.The pair investigate a spate of arson attacks, a dead body found in a burnt out building, and a missing architect while fighting their growing attraction for each other. The discovery of a dumped vehicle in a quarry lake sparks a series of events that will change their lives forever.A thrilling lesbian mystery about trying to right a past wrong…despite the consequences.76,000 words
Heart Block
Melissa Brayden - 2012
After immigrating from Mexico when she was nine years old, she’s content with the life she’s made for herself in sunny San Diego. She works hard at her mother’s housecleaning service by day and spends the evenings with her quirky eight-year-old daughter, Grace.From a very young age, Emory Owen had several concepts drilled into her head. Success is everything. Be the best. Fight your way to the top. Expectations were high in the Owen household and the world was watching. Born into a high society family, Emory never wanted for anything…at least anything money could buy. When she meets Sarah, hired to sort her mother’s home, her sterile life suddenly sparks into color.But when the emotional logistics of combining two very different worlds proves to be too much, a terrifying turn of events spurs the question: If love exists, can it really find a way?
The Alpha Affair
Bridget Essex - 2021
This country girl grew up in Sylvania, a little mountain town outside of Pittsburgh populated entirely by wolves. Out of all of the members of her boisterous family, she’s the most stubborn.But she’s met her match in Darcy Williams.When Lizzie and Darcy first meet at a charity auction, it’s not so much a spark as an instant inferno. Darcy is sexy as all hell, a smoldering force of nature and a deeply mysterious lady: so Lizzie’s immediately smitten.Until Darcy opens her mouth. Because this alpha wolf on vacation from L.A. is as snobby as they come. And Lizzie just happens to be an alpha, too.Two alphas can’t possibly see eye to eye, and two headstrong women who hate each other can’t possibly fall in love...right?
Ask, Tell
E.J. Noyes - 2017
Army surgeon deployed to a combat hospital in Afghanistan. She is also one of the thousands of troops who are forced to serve in silence because of the military’s anti-gay policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT).”Usually driven and focused, Sabine finds that battles raging both inside and outside the perimeter walls are making it more and more difficult for her to deal with her emotions. Dealing with loss and mortality, lack of privacy, sleep deprivation, loneliness and the isolation forced on her by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” are all taking their toll. Plus, her long-term relationship with a civilian back home is quickly becoming another casualty of war.Colonel Rebecca Keane is an enigmatic career officer who runs the surgical unit like clockwork. Well liked and respected by those who work with and under her, she walks a fine line to preserve the military’s chain of command while connecting with those under her care and supervision. Sabine knows the Colonel is way off-limits, but can’t help fantasizing about her. Especially when she starts picking up unspoken cues—a stolen glance, a secret smile, an “accidental” brush of hands. Or is it just wishful thinking? After all, Rebecca’s wedding ring shines almost as brightly as her deep blue eyes…Genre: RomanceEditor: Cath WalkerCover Designer: Judith Fellows
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.
Olivia's Awakening
Ronica Black - 2020
One morning, after struggling to run up a mountain trail, she meets Eve Monroe who stirs her in ways she doesn’t understand.Eve helps women achieve the physical fitness they yearn for, but when it comes to her love life, she buries her own yearnings and only dates casually. All that changes the day she meets the beautiful and sheltered Olivia. Eve is surprisingly smitten, and she soon finds that her desire to help is quickly overshadowed by her desire to make love.When Olivia hires Eve as her trainer, their attempts at controlling their attraction are no match for their unbridled passion. But it’s the deeper, more poignant feelings neither of them can ignore that have Olivia and Eve questioning everything they’ve ever known about love.Cover Artist: Tammy SeidickGenres: Contemporary / Romance Tags: Coming Out, Friends to Lovers Romance, Virgins/First Love
Perfect Partners
Maggie Cummings - 2019
But she gave her heart to a coworker once before and the battle scars from that failed relationship are still fresh. She dodges every chance at romance with the officers she trains, focusing her energy on turning out the finest handler-canine teams in the country. But when annoyingly perky, unfairly sexy Isabel Marquez arrives at Homeland Security’s Northeast Regional Training facility brimming with excitement, and a surprising desire to succeed, Sara's good intentions start to falter. She can’t help being drawn to Isabel's enthusiasm, and, okay, her long dark hair and brilliant smile don’t hurt either. Keeping their contact limited to friendship is harder than she thought. When it comes to enforcing her own rules of the heart, Sara might need to break a few for a chance at forever.
All I See Is You
Lily Hammond - 2020
Birds with unknown songs. People with strange accents.In 1932, Eliza Sparrow walks straight off the boat from England to New Zealand into a nightmare. Unable to speak or write, and with the death of her mother during the voyage, Eliza is alone, without any means, without any hope. Unless she meets someone willing to help her.Maxine and Ruth have opened their home to destitute women, sheltering those they can from the worst of the Depression. When they find Eliza, they are determined to aid and protect her.Never though, did they think they’d have to protect Eliza from their dear friend Clemency. Like them, Clemency loves other women, but unlike the happily ‘married’ Maxine and Ruth, Clemency is lonely, unable to find a lover she really connects with. When she meets Eliza, no one thinks it could be serious and Clemency would simply be taking advantage of the speechless Eliza, her attraction never possibly other than a passing desire.No one took into account however, that the heart has its own language, and it’s one that Eliza can speak perfectly well.
Bitter Fruit
Lois Cloarec Hart - 2014
Victoria, for reasons of her own, impulsively challenges Jac to seduce Lauren, her co-worker and a young woman Jac’s never met. Under the terms of their bet, Jac has exactly one month to get Lauren into bed or she has to pay up. Though Lauren is straight and engaged, Jac begins her campaign confident that she’ll win the bet. But Jac’s forgotten that if you sow an onion seed, you won’t harvest a peach. When her plan goes awry, will she reap the bitter fruit of her deception? Or will Lauren turn the tables on the thoughtless gamblers?Lesbian RomanceLength: approx. 54,000 words
Love On the Run
Ellie Spark - 2018
She can't commit herself to a man when in her heart she knows it is relationships with women that she really wants to explore. Café owner Steph McKenzie inherited Anna's Place from her grandmother, but her ex-girlfriend’s betrayal has left her struggling both financially and emotionally. First Larissa stole her heart. Then she stole her money. Is Steph’s luck beginning to turn when a visiting stranger says she’s a business coach specializing in re-energizing flailing businesses and offers her help? The timing couldn’t be worse for either of them, but the attraction is undeniable. When ghosts from their pasts return to intrude on their fragile, budding relationship, hidden secrets may destroy any chance of a future together. Will Kara and Steph have the courage to stop running from love, and run toward it together?
Blurred Lines
K.D. Williamson - 2016
Only a select few know her as a loyal, loving friend. To a fault, she is committed to her family, friends and her job.As a surgeon, Nora Whitmore is used to being in control. The hospital is her life. There is little else. Respected by her colleagues but ridiculed by the residents, Nora takes what she needs and keeps everyone else at arm’s length, creating unexpected enemies.Tragedy brings them together in a clash of personalities. As the chaos around them continues, they find the lines between them blurring. A friendship forms, understanding grows, and attraction soon follows. Together, they may conquer their own misgivings, but will the outside forces keep them apart?Themes: lesbian · medical · police
Fine or Punishment
Mira Margrave - 2017
But when a depraved fantasy keeps plaguing her thoughts, she decides to take a risk and finally allow herself a night of debauchery. Even if she has to hire the company for the evening. An unexpected storm and a surprise visitor throw her plans in disarray but what should be a mortifying error could prove to be a blessing in disguise. Candace Kane’s go-with-the-flow attitude and sharp tongue often got her in trouble, but she didn’t expect any on a quick trip to the library. When a stern, attractive librarian comes on to her hard, Candace can’t help but say yes. The decision hurls both women into uncharted waters. A stand-alone novella (31,500 words).
At Her Service
Heidi Lowe - 2018
Her living expenses, however, are another thing entirely. With only two months to go before the course starts, she needs to earn money, and lots of it, fast. So when she sees an ad seeking an escort for a group of bored, rich housewives, it's an offer she simply can't refuse. The job is the easy part. Keeping her emotions out of it might be a little trickier. At Her Service is the first book in the Service Girl Chronicles.