Book picks similar to
A Jade's Diamond by Char Dafoe


butch-butch
lgbt
lgbt-romance
tone_dark

The Light in You


Lisa Elliot - 2020
    Passionate and principled, she believes in yoga and wants to make a difference. Unfortunately, her studio is hanging by a thread after a slow start. She doesn’t have time for love, and isn’t attachment the root of all suffering anyway?Life isn’t going the way Emily Mackenzie had planned. She’s lost her high-powered corporate job and isn’t coping well. She’s spent her twenties sacrificing her personal life for her career and now she has nothing to show for it. Stressed and struggling, she might just be at her rock bottom. When Emily joins Heart Yoga she finds a lot more than just a good stretch.An unexpected kiss forces Angela to question everything she holds dear, and as Emily gets back on her feet is it wise for her to risk getting involved with someone who’s not looking for love?

Six Feet


Michele M. Reynolds - 2021
    Six Feet is a contemporary, pandemic romance with the emphasis on romance.Henley Stones Smith, 42, is a psychologist with three foster daughters: Paloma, Jackie and Manhattan.Nicki Zabelle, 28, is a professional video gamer who sleeps in late and always orders take-out.The Covid pandemic hits and Nicki abruptly moves from Boston to Western Massachusetts where Henley is juggling working from home, remote school, and single parenthood.Little Jackie's early morning mishap brings Henley and Nicki together.Henley sees Nicki as an incredibly young neighbor who is kind enough to share her pool.Nicki sees Henley as an incredibly hot neighbor who she hopes is kind enough to share her bed.

Memoir in the Making


Adrian J. Smith - 2015
    But when Ainsley Jacobs sat in her memoir class with a professor she’d never had before, her life took an unexpected turn. She couldn’t get her well-dressed professor, Meredith Frenz, out of her head.Meredith had lived a lonely yet comfortable life for the past fifteen years, and despite flings here and there, she had no desire to jump head first into a relationship, especially one with her student. Despite all her thwarted efforts, Meredith was determined to keep to herself and push Ainsley away.Forbidden love is often the most attractive.

Stepping Stone


Karin Kallmaker - 2009
    Her reputation for playing fair in an industry rife with games has earned her respect from other producers, writers, and actors. She's learned the lesson that plenty of people would like to use her to get what they want--a starring role or some other way into the movies. Most of them feel no obligation to return any favors she might give. Burned badly by actress Jennifer Lamont, who used her and left her with a devastating aftermath, she's wary of everyone related to the industry. Surrounded by gatekeepers to keep the hopeful at bay, aspiring starlets have tried every trick in the book to make Selena's acquaintance. When Gail Welles literally lands in Selena's lap, she suspects another ploy. Jennifer's sudden announcement that Selena is still her one-and-only is equally ill-timed and suspect. Selena wants everyone to leave her alone, even if that means living without love. Lights, camera and action are the backdrop for this novel of taking chances by Golden Crown and Lambda Literary award-winning author Karin Kallmaker.

A Curious Woman


Jess Lea - 2019
    She is loving her fresh start, thanks to her fun job running a hip gallery, her territorial chickens, and a lot of self-help books to find her new, better self.Port Bannir local Margaret Gale runs an austere maritime museum, and rules her staff with an iron fist. She has no time for that crazy modern gallery or upbeat, earnest Bess sweeping around town on her hipster bicycle.After a heated dispute over an antique collectible dildo, there’s little hope Margaret and Bess will ever see eye to eye.But when Port Bannir is rocked by a senseless murder, both women find themselves implicated. Can they work together to expose the truth––or will the truth prove far too dangerous?A funny, fabulous, cozy mystery filled with quirkiness and a sweet serve of lesbian romance.100,000 wordsThemes: antique collectible dildo · Australia · Australian coastal town · cozy mystery · hip gallery · senseless murder · territorial chickens

Desperate Times


Hildred Billings - 2018
    When the two tough butches meet at a small town bar, they think they're getting the femmes of their dreams. So begins the awkward - yet sordid - acquaintance of the only two lesbians in town. Local rancher Tess doesn't have time for women who aren't her type, and new-girl-in-town Sidney isn't interested in someone who only sees her as a piece of fresh meat. Yet they keep bumping into each other... is it fate, or just small town karma? A bad date turns into a one-night stand. A one-night stand turns into a casual relationship. A casual relationship becomes Sidney's greatest amusement, and Tess's biggest nightmare as she's slowly forced out of the closet in conservative River Rock. Desperate times are afoot in the sleepy, gossipy hamlet of rural America. It's going to take more than nerves of steel to survive the isolationism and people with nothing better to do than ruin their neighbors' lives. It's going to take a whole lotta introspection - and love. (And no-holds-barred carnality. Let's be real.)

Bittersweet Homecoming


Eliza Lentzski - 2015
    They say you can never go home again, but sometimes you have no choice. A phone call in the middle of the night and news of a death in the family has Abigail Henry catching the next flight out of Los Angeles and traveling back to the small hometown she hasn’t visited in a decade. Nearly everything and everyone looks untouched by time, but it's Abigail herself who has changed. A love story by genre, Bittersweet Homecoming grapples with the basic question: Can you really ever go home again? You might never be able to go home again, but it’s Charlotte, the beautiful bartender at the local pub, who can tempt Abigail into staying.

The Road Ahead


A.E. Radley - 2018
    Forced to share a long journey home. Will they work together or pull each other apart? Rebecca is stuck in Portugal. All planes to England are grounded and it's only two days until Christmas. Desperate to get home but without money to hire a car; she's stuck. She sees an opportunity when she meets a snobby businesswoman with a broken leg, a platinum credit card, and a desire to get home. A tentative agreement is struck in order reach their destination before the festive deadline. Will they make it, or will they kill each other along the way? A heartwarming enemies to lovers romance with a twist. Discover The Road Ahead and make your own journey home today.

Partners - Book One


Melissa Good - 2013
    Seas cover most of the land areas except high elevations which exist as islands where the remaining humans have learned to make do with much less. People survive on what they can take from the sea and with foodstuffs supplemented from an orbiting set of space stations.Jess Drake is an agent for Interforce, a small and exclusive special forces organization that still possesses access to technology. Her job is to protect and serve the citizens of the American continent who are in conflict with those left on the European continent. The struggle for resources is brutal, and when a rogue agent nearly destroys everything, Interforce decides to trust no one. They send Jess a biologically-created agent who has been artificially devised and given knowledge using specialized brain programming techniques.Instead of the mindless automaton one might expect, Biological Alternative NM-Dev-1 proves to be human and attractive. Against all odds, Jess and the new agent are swept into a relationship neither expected. Can they survive in these strange circumstances? And will they even be able to stay alive in this bleak new world?

Uprooting


Suzie Carr - 2020
    Meet Harper Ray, an undiscovered musician who’s willing to dig weeds, clean houses, and give guitar lessons to stay afloat. A childhood tragedy has kept her blocked and has limited her ability to see and live her potential. Ivy Homestead is a green witch and life coach. Her life purpose has always been to help people live their best lives. But after hurting her best friend over a year ago, Ivy has struggled with feelings of inadequacy. What they both discover will test their strength and have them questioning what they're willing to risk to find their way back home within themselves and each other.

Without Warning


K.G. MacGregor - 2007
    Two strangers, trapped in a collapsed shopping mall, find each other amid the rubble and join forces to escape. Hampered by injury and darkness, they dig and claw their way through one crumbled store after another, emerging long after most have given up hope for survivors.The ordeal leaves both women shaken, but their shared triumph sets them on a life-changing course together, igniting a connection like neither has ever known.Anna Kaklis—whose perfectly planned life never included falling in love with another woman—is thrown for a loop, but she doesn’t doubt her heart.Lily Stewart—abandoned too many times by people she trusted—won’t let herself believe that Anna’s love will endure.Without Warning is the story of their courageous journey through adversity, and their promise of steadfast love.

A Marine Awakening


Jax Meyer - 2019
    Navigating the policy and finding allies is harder than she expected, but she's determined to complete her enlistment period and return to college. Meanwhile, gregarious military kid Sharon Rodriguez knows connections are critical to navigate the unspoken rules of the Marine Corps. She’s confident in her ability to enjoy the casual flings she's accustomed to, while pursuing the 20 year career she desires. When Sharon convinces Cam to attend a party with her, neither realizes their lives are about to become more complicated than they planned for. How hard will they need to fight for a love that must remain in the shadows? A Marine Awakening, a Dal Segno prequel, is a contemporary new adult lesbian romance with a happy ending that shows that no person or policy can stop two Marines fighting for each other.

I Dare You


Morgan Thomas - 2014
    Growing up in suburbia and attending an Ivy league school, Riley had always done exactly what she was supposed to do, including making an appearance on an impromptu blind date that would turn out far differently than she ever could have imagined. Suzie Jacobs had never needed anyone in her life, had never wanted anyone to stay in her life. She had put herself through college and opened a successful business, all on her own. As beautiful as she was carefree, Suzie Jacobs didn't answer to anyone but herself. That is, until she met Riley. When the two woman meet unexpectedly, their lives are thrown upside down, and both are led to question everything they have ever believed in.

Kick Back


K.J . - 2020
    She’s tall, focused, intense, and has some major trust issues, which she’s currently ignoring. Sophia just wants her life to stay exactly the same, which means playing AFL, running the boutique fine foods and wine store with her brother, and volunteering at the homeless shelter. The same.Cameron Weathers is smart, sassy, also has some major trust issues, and knows she is a great reporter if only she was given the chance to shine. Her sexist editor assigns her the job of shadowing some of the players from this season’s women’s Australian Rules Football League so she can write fluffy stories for the lifestyle page. Not exactly hard-hitting journalism. When Cam and Sophia meet, there’s instant chemistry, which is immediately put on hold when their everyday lives are shattered by misogyny, media manipulation, and tragedy. Cam, Sophia, and the other players discover that football games are not the only contests they need to win. Now they’re fighting for the entire league, their professional status, and even their lives. Sophia and Cam attempt to expose the sinister activities, come to terms with their mutual attraction, and eventually discover that kicking back at those who seek to destroy can open the door to love.

The Long Way Home


Rachel Spangler - 2010
    James doesn’t know why anyone would want to.Rory St. James was disowned after she came out at seventeen. She rebounded by moving to Chicago, changing her name to Raine and putting down her hometown to audiences around the country. Now, ten years later, too old to be considered a gay youth, broke, evicted, and fresh off a much needed break-up, Raine St. James is forced to accept a job teaching at Bramble University in Darlington, the town she’s been publicly bashing for the last decade.Beth Devoroux was born and raised in Darlington. Despite losing her parents at a young age, she has been nurtured by the people of the town and is well loved by everyone who knows her. She leads a comfortable life with good job at Bramble University, a long-term but closeted relationship, friends that she can count on, and everything she thinks she wants, so why is she so drawn to a rabble-rouser like Raine St. James?Can Raine and Beth face their pasts and come to terms with their differences in order to have any hope for a future together?