Book picks similar to
44 Hours by Donna Jay


romance
lesbian-romance
lgbt
f-f

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.)

Heart's Surrender


Emma Weimann - 2014
    But soon simple attraction turns into something more. What happens when the worlds of a handywoman and a pampered housewife collide? Can nights of hot, erotic fun lead to love, or will these two very different women go their separate ways?

Fearless


Shira Glassman - 2016
    Lana Novak hasn’t played violin in over twenty years, her musical life these days confined to being a devoted band mom to her clarinet whiz daughter Robin. She didn’t think she could get back into it after this long, but Melanie Feinberg, the outgoing, enthusiastic, and very cute butch orchestra director from Robin’s school, has other ideas.

The Love Song of Sawyer Bell


Avon Gale - 2017
    When classically trained violinist Sawyer Bell shows up for an audition, Vix is thrilled. Sawyer is talented, gorgeous, funny, and excited about playing indie rock instead of Beethoven. Their friendship soon blossoms into romance, even though Vix tries to remember that Sawyer’s presence is only temporary.Sawyer’s parents think she’s spending the summer months touring Europe with a chamber ensemble. But Sawyer is in dire need of a break from the competitiveness of Juilliard, and desperately wants to rediscover her love of music. Going on tour with her secret high school crush is just an added bonus. Especially when Vix kisses her one night after a show, and they discover that the stage isn’t the only place they have chemistry.But the tour won’t last forever, and as the summer winds down, Sawyer has to make a tough decision about her future—and what it means to follow her heart.

Landing


Emma Donoghue - 2007
    Síle is a stylish citizen of the new Dublin, a veteran flight attendant who's traveled the world. Jude is a twenty-five-year-old archivist, stubbornly attached to the tiny town of Ireland, Ontario, in which she was born and raised. On her first plane trip, Jude's and Síle's worlds touch and snag at Heathrow Airport. In the course of the next year, their lives, and those of their friends and families, will be drawn into a new, shaky orbit. This sparkling, lively story explores age-old questions: Does where you live matter more than who you live with? What would you give up for love, and would you be a fool to do so?

Lucky in Love


Cara Malone - 2020
    She decides to run an essay contest – the winner must love bunnies.Parker Rose is exactly who Jules is looking for – warm, smart, not afraid to get her hands dirty, and a gorgeous country girl to boot. She’s the answer to Jules’ prayers… and a few unspoken fantasies, too.Summer days at the rescue turn into autumn nights of passion, but when Jules finds out that Parker’s been keeping a secret, her problems start multiplying again like rabbits.One little lie has the power to tear everything apart, but what if it leads her home, to a fur-ever kind of love?

Ice Queen


Gun Brooke - 2021
    Instead, she throws herself into helping her students. CEO of a fashion conglomerate, Susanna Garry has been through three painfully public divorces, and to say she’s given up on love would be an understatement.When Aislin agrees to help Susanna connect with her daughter, Cynt, surprising feelings awaken for both of them. But Aislin isn’t ready to trust again and Susanna’s track record is intimidating. If the past were to repeat itself, it could break Aislin for good.Cover Artist: Gun BrookeGenres: Contemporary / Romance

Food for Love


C. Fonseca - 2018
    When Jessica Harris flies home to Australia to sort out her late brother’s estate, the last thing she wants to face is his altruistic investment—an eatery on the rural Bellarine Peninsula.The injured British/Indian elite cyclist just wants to settle up, move on, get rehab, and certainly not have to deal with the restaurant’s beautiful owner and artisan foodie, Lillian McAllister, or her sweet, four-year-old daughter.In order to win, Jessica’s disciplined life is dedicated to controlling her emotions, and she isn’t sure she’d survive letting her walls down now.A lesbian romance about how nourishment is so much more than the food we eat.Themes: artisan foodie · Australia · Bellarine Peninsula · elite cyclist · four-year-old daughter · rural eatery · south-west of Melbourne96,000 words

On the Square


Brenda Murphy - 2020
    So what if twenty years of neglect has left the building in need of a major renovation?Seduced by Mai’s charm and determination, hard-edged contractor Dale Miller agrees to take on her renovation project.After a spring storm causes significant damage to the building and renovation costs exceed Mai’s budget, Dale offers her a deal, but is it a price Mai is willing to pay?

Dating Sarah Cooper


Siera Maley - 2014
    Katie's welcoming, tight-knit family is a convenient substitute for Sarah when her distant parents aren't around, and Sarah's abrasive, goal-oriented personality gels well with Katie's more laid-back approach to life.But when a misunderstanding leads to the two of them being mistaken for a couple and Sarah uses the situation to her advantage, Katie finds herself on a roller coaster ride of ambiguous sexuality and confusing feelings. How far will Sarah go to keep up the charade, and why does kissing her make Katie feel more alive than kissing her ex-boyfriend Austin ever did? And how will their new circle of gay friends react when the truth comes out?

The Secret Ingredient


K.D. Fisher - 2020
    Two very different restaurants. One recipe for love.For single mom Adah Campbell, the executive chef job at a posh restaurant in quaint South Bay, Maine is a dream come true—and the perfect opportunity to start over, far away from a home that’s never felt entirely hers. But fitting in has never been easy, and between a new town, a new boss, and the unexpectedly attractive owner of a rival café, things get off to a rocky start.Never did free-spirited Beth Summers think she’d still be in Maine. Travel the world gathering delicious recipes and finding friends and lovers? Absolutely. Step in to run her family’s small-town café? Not so much. However, once Beth commits to something, that’s it. Soon, The Yellow House is the hottest spot in town, but Beth’s out of energy—and out of ideas for moving forward.Until Adah Campbell walks into her life. As sparks fly, both chefs have to decide if they are willing to make sacrifices...or if it’s really too many cooks in the kitchen.Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

Gallows Humor


Carolyn Elizabeth - 2019
    At thirty-three, she’s in the best shape of her life and has a satisfying position at Jackson City Memorial Hospital. With a good paycheck, great friends, and occasional relationships with smart, beautiful women, she couldn’t be happier. She thinks.Dr. Thayer Reynolds, whiling away some time before the start of her Emergency Department fellowship at JCMH and intrigued by the stories she’s heard, crashes the morgue to get a look at Corey—the woman her young colleagues are whispering about.Totally spinning from her first interactions with Thayer, Corey throws herself into the post mortem exam of a construction worker who fell to his death, which isn’t at all suspicious—until it is. With no support from her boss or the police, Corey investigates the death on her own. Making bad decisions with good intentions, she recklessly endangers her own life and Thayer’s. Even worse—she potentially dooms any chance of a real relationship with Thayer before it even gets started.Genre: Romance, ThrillerEditor: Ann RobertsCover Designer: Judith Fellows

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.

New Ink on Life


Jennie Davids - 2019
    Nearly. She’s not ready to go out on her own until she clears that all-important hurdle. Also off-limits are relationships and sex—something Cassie is sure she’ll never want again.Struggling tattoo shop owner MJ Flores doesn’t give a damn what people think, but losing Thorn & Thistle would mean losing everything. When her former mentor’s protégé arrives at her door, MJ hires her out of obligation…at first. Cross-stitching goody-goodies are not her type, but Cassie’s business background might just get the shop back on solid footing. They strike a bargain: Cassie will enact new marketing plans and MJ will teach her to find her inner bitch.Only when clients request to see Cassie—having learned of the beautiful, compassionate tattoos she creates for survivors and their families—does MJ realize all Cassie has endured. And as Cassie’s fears fade, she finds it harder to keep her admiration for her bad-girl boss from reawakening all she’d feared was lost.This book is approximately 82,000 wordsOne-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise : all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

Romancing the Girl


Camryn Eyde - 2016
    Life is easy and full of hard, dusty work, but when her brother Joseph decides to become a contestant in a reality TV dating show, Romancing the Farmer, everything goes to hell.The station gets overrun by city women and stuck-up producers right in the middle of shearing season. Justine Cason, the ringleader of the circus Aimee instantly detests is an irritating, arrogant presence that she is forced to chaperone around the massive property.The two women find more in common than trading insults the more time they spend together, sparking an unexpected connection neither was looking for. As Joseph navigates the dating scene, and Aimee's sister Sally navigates a crumbling marriage, Aimee's life turns on its head in more ways than one when her blooming connection with Justine is the catalyst to leaving the land she loves.When the worst fire season in decades strikes their patch of the world, the Turner family must find a way to save themselves and the ones they dearly cherish. Can they put aside their differences to protect each other?*minor edits updated 1st May 2016*