Book picks similar to
Diving In by Sage Donnell
ff
lesbian-queer-romance
romance
3-5-stars
The Art of Growing
Jacqueline Ramsden - 2021
She owns a landscaping business, she tends her plants, lives alone, and secretly crushes on her favorite nonbinary garden center employee, Polly. Between anxiety and modesty, Sloane's never planning on telling Polly she likes them. She'll just be admiring from afar while she deals with her demanding family and fulfills her sister’s order.Polly Stanwick loves people. She has the best time working at Blooms, talking to customers, hanging out with the kids, and generally being a ray of sunshine. When they hear their regular, Sloane Abbott, is having a rough day, they naturally sweep in to help.What neither of them is expecting is for Polly's colleague to suggest her as a fake date for Sloane's weekend with her family. For Sloane, it’s the only way to avoid the heteronormative life her parents will push on her, so despite her misgivings, she agrees. It’s only one weekend, right?Fooling the Abbotts into thinking she and Polly are a couple is easy, but for Sloane, handling her own feelings is harder. Holding hands and sharing a bed doesn’t make things any easier—nor does Polly being there for her in all the ways she ever wished somebody would.Sometimes the hardest thing to face is our own potential to grow.The Art of Growing is a 75k-word slow-burn, friends-to-lovers, fake-dating romance over a weekend full of mutual pining and blurred lines. Content warnings for on-page sex scenes, abusive family dynamics, off-screen references to past abusive relationships, anxiety attacks, and useless sapphics.
Nights in Norcoast
Sybil Smith - 2018
When they get trapped inside a cabin together for a week, what could possibly go wrong?
April Bauer packed her bags and fled from her abusive ex-husband overnight, only to land in a secluded farming town, Norcoast, without a clue. With the approaching winter weather, no farming skills to speak of, and hardly any money to her name, how the hell was she supposed to survive out here on her own?Not only that, but her new life felt lonelier than ever. She awoke alone, ate alone, slept alone, and didn’t see that changing anytime soon. How could it? Her heart needed as much mending as her drafty cabin, and that was saying something. Danny Irving, professional cowgirl and heartbreaker extraordinaire, wanted more out of life. She was tired of manning her parents’ farm day in and day out with nothing to show for it. When was she going to find her happy ending? The woman of her dreams? All she had was a handful of men drooling over her, a broken plow, and a bedroom she shared with two of her siblings. At twenty-four, she expected more than this monotonous existence she’d been living. But when her father sends her over to a neighbor’s house before the oncoming storm, she never anticipated what would happen next.
Slow burn, HEA novel. Book 1 of 2.
Love Burns
Adrian J. Smith - 2021
As a single mom who has a penchant for being a bit of a bitch, she goes through nannies like the flavor of the month until Becca Kline is sent to her by Kiddie Academy.Becca—known as ‘the fixer’—is often sent to homes considered to be troublemakers. In charge of caring for four-year-old Michael, she is determined to make this job her last before student teaching in the fall and finishing up her degree, which she has been working on for the better part of a decade.Neither Kimberly nor Becca are prepared for the changes headed toward them, and they both have to learn the hard way that love doesn’t wait or discriminate.Reader advisory: This book contains references to drug use.
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?
You Can Go Home
Mia Archer - 2020
She swore she'd never return when she left the place in her rear-view mirror a decade back. Then a public offering left her wealthy and without a purpose in life. So she returned to the only other home she'd ever known in search of a new purpose in life. What she found was Christine. Christine had built a good life in that town Laura never wanted to come back to. She did good business selling overpriced renovations to rich people with more money than time, and she was content with the quiet life she’d built for herself in the small town. Until she drove past Laura’s house one morning and saw that the big city had come to pay a visit, bringing back painful memories she’d thought dead and buried a decade back. To say Laura and Christine have a complicated past would be an understatement, but it’s a past they’ll have to untangle as sparks fly between them all over again!
My Own Human
Arizona Tape - 2017
Oh, and is as human as they come. Torn between her duty and her feelings, Adrianna struggles to find a place for the human girl in vampire society. In a cage or in her heart? — My Own Human is the first book in the completed Lesbian My Own Human Duology.
Forever Valentine
Jea Hawkins - 2018
In the case of Maggie Hartman, her first love isn’t forgiven, either. Seven years have passed since Taylor left their small town and Maggie for the glamour of Hollywood… and to marry up-and-coming rodeo star, Josh Beckett. It took seven years for Taylor Sweet to cement her stardom. She’s built her brand on being an expert horse behaviorist and the wife of a famous rodeo rider. But months after their divorce is finalized, she finds herself hungering for time out of the spotlight. Returning to her hometown of Valentine, Nebraska, population 2,803, offers the perfect escape from the messiness of Hollywood. What she discovers she can’t escape is the tangled past she shares with the love she left behind. As far as Maggie is concerned, Taylor is there to stir up trouble. The problem is, she’s stirring up a lot more than that for Maggie, who is beginning to realize she never got over her feelings for her old friend… Can she learn to forgive, and give free rein to her heart?
Mate
Jessa Stone - 2019
What she was never sure about, was if she would be blessed with a true mate. Choosing her long time companion as her mate seemed the right course of action, only things get complicated when an undeniable attraction to a stranger has her wolf eager to rightfully claim its true mate. Sabine is all innocence and sweetness, having never experienced the heated desire that erupts within her from a strangers glance. Unsure of what is happening to her, she tries to deny her wolf’s urgings, since the object of her lust is already taken. MATE is the first book in Jessa Stone’s Urban Paranormal Romance, Lesbian Romance, Gay Romance, LGBT Bisexual Romance series.
Under the Witness Tree
Marianne K. Martin - 2004
Erin Hughes, a local history professor with a passion for old houses. Dhari’s life is complicated enough without meeting such an attractive and intelligent woman: Her mother needs her, her father relies on her and her girlfriend worries her. But when Erin finds old letters and a diary, Dhari knows she can’t leave until she finds out the truth . . .Marianne K. Martin is the best-selling author of five novels including Mirrors and Love in the Balance.
Christmas Lights
Amelia Andrews - 2019
New home. New job. New town. She's moved in with her politically-active best friend from university who has promised to find Millie a date before Christmas. When news that the local head of the council, Nightmare Nightingale, has decided that there will be no Christmas tree in the town centre that year, Millie is quick to pick up a placard and join the protests. After all, what is Christmas without a tree? But Millie soon discovers that Professor Kay Nightingale isn't quite the nightmare she is painted to be. What will happen when Millie gets closer to Kay? How will she explain the confusing relationship to her friends? And will there be a Christmas tree in the end?
Melt My Heart
Anna Cove - 2020
Hoping people will forget, Laura takes leave from her soap opera role and escapes to the small Catskill Mountain town of Love Falls. The public needs a break from her, and she needs a safe place to have her baby.She just didn't expect that "safe place" to be on the side of a deserted mountain road.Dylan Wilson exists only to help others.Three years ago, a car accident stole Dylan's wife and her joy. Her job as a 9-1-1 operator is the only thing that drags her out of bed in the morning. When she meets Laura, she feels a spark of something she hasn't in years. And later, when she responds to Laura's emergency call, that spark fans into a flame she can't resist reaching for.Dylan knows all too well the pain of loss. Falling for Laura, someone who doesn't belong in her small-town world or her small-town life, could be a sure path to heartache. But despite her misgivings, she flutters to Laura's luminescence, unable to turn away.Has Dylan found the one who will burn her to cinders or the one who can finally melt the ice around her heart?Don't miss the sexy, sensual, joyous first novel in the Catskill Crew lesbian romance series, complete with a progressive and artistic small town, fun side characters, and a deep romance that will tick all your boxes.
Remember Me
Syd Parker - 2013
The only thing she knows about her is that she turned her back on her family years before. So it’s a bit of a surprise when a package arrives bearing Samantha's name, containing letters to her and mementos that belonged to her grandmother. She discovers that her grandmother has included her in the will with one caveat. Growing up in the seedier parts of Boston, Ellis Hudson knows her way around the lowlifes she defends. She fills her life with one night stands, since the woman she loves is straight and completely unavailable. Instead, she settles for best friends. She’s also struggling with her own doubts about her career and what she wants to do with her life. With nothing more than some letters, a map and a few names, they set out on the road trip of a lifetime. Along the way, they meet different people who knew Samantha’s grandmother. Samantha realizes that each memento is a piece of her grandmother’s memory of those people and she starts to return them. Along the way, she realizes her attraction to Ellis was more than just a drunken thing. The journey also challenges Ellis’ will to remain just friends. Will they take the life lessons that Samantha’s grandmother teaches them and finally follow their hearts?
Hummingbird Cove
Giselle Fox - 2019
Now Keira’s battling heartache, seclusion, and a bad case of writer’s block, and even her best friend and agent thinks it’s time to move on. When a gorgeous newcomer comes to buy the only other house on the cove, Keira wonders whether fate is trying to jumpstart her life again. To Daisy, the cove seems like the perfect oasis for a development, and she’s ready to employ all her powers of persuasion. Owning the cove could make her family millions, and Keira Maitland is the only thing standing in her way. But when Keira gives her a taste of heaven on Earth, Daisy must decide what’s more important, love or money.
Ricochet in Time
Lori L. Lake - 2001
Dani is befriended--against her own better judgment--by a young therapist named Grace Beaumont, who helps Dani make it through the ordeal of bringing the attacker to justice.
Close Ups and F**k Ups
Natasha West - 2017
Allie just wants to make movies. But that’s not so easy when distractions abound. Distractions like sexy set designer Ashley. Or for that matter, sensitive screenwriter Cameron. In the high pressure atmosphere of a top film school, can Allie hang on to who she is? And with two different love paths in front of her, will she choose the right one? Or will she fuck everything up? From the author of 'The Plus One' and 'Waiting for the Punchline', 'Close Ups and F**k Ups' is about risking everything for what (and who) you love.