Book picks similar to
The Retreat by Jane Retzig
drama
lesbian-fiction
in-library
audio
Out of Bounds
Michelle Woods - 2016
She’s happy—or is at least she’s willing to tell herself she is.But when a relationship from the past resurfaces, it throws Evelyn’s world into turmoil. Suddenly she finds herself tempted in a way she hasn’t thought about in years.Evelyn wants to do the right thing—but she wants to follow her heart more.As her passion and desires intensify, she’s forced to weigh the cost of stepping out of her old life and into the arms of a new lover—and decide whether she’s willing to lose the things she thought she held dear to reunite with the person she thought she’d lost forever.A riveting page-turner about burning desires and secret passions, Out of Bounds is a smoldering romance that will delight hot-blooded women of all ages.
Eastside / Westside / Love
Eliza Andrews - 2019
From the outside, Kasey James had the perfect life. She had a rich husband, two perfect kids, and a big house in Eastside with a pool in the backyard. None of her friends understand why she left her husband and went back to a stressful job teaching high school. She knows they’ll understand even less when she tells them she’s started dating a woman from Westside. *If* she tells them, that is. After all, Kasey has her kids to think of, not to mention the upcoming school board election. What if her neighbors withdraw their support when they find out she’s seeing a woman? Drea Robbins has a good life, too. She owns her own home and operates her own business, making enough money doing what she loves that she can support her mom, sister, and niece. She wishes she had a “special someone” in her life, but in the grand scheme of things, being single isn’t that big of a deal. Kasey James, a white woman living in Eastside, is the absolute last person Drea expects to fall for. Kasey’s recently divorced from a man, she’s got two kids, she lives in the middle of rich suburbia — to say her lifestyle is different from Drea's would be the understatement of the year. But it’s like Drea’s mom says — we can’t control whom we fall for, and whether Drea likes it or not, she’s falling for Kasey. Hard. Opposites attract… right? But when a real estate development controversy puts Drea and Kasey on opposite sides of a battle line, will their new love prove strong enough to survive? Or is it just unrealistic for two women with so many differences to find a common ground they can hold against all the world’s pressures? Eastside / Westside / Love is a story about race, class, gentrification, and inequality. But more than that, it’s a story about hope, and about finding out that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart.
Finding the Grain
Wynn Malone - 2014
She moves from her farm in Alabama to North Carolina to be near her aunt and attend college. Interesting classes and the love of sorority girl Grace Lancaster help Blue let go of her grief. But her world is shattered again when Grace abruptly leaves her.Blue quits college and hits the road. For nearly twenty years she moves from town to town, job to job, woman to woman—always the first to move on—until Blue comes back to the farming life that shaped her childhood. Mississippi Delta farmer Preacher Rowe and his invalid wife Mary put Blue to work plowing the fields and helping in the house. Eventually, Preacher teaches Blue the art and craft of fine woodworking and for the first time since her parents death Blue takes control of her life.The pull of the mountains brings Blue back to North Carolina where she opens a woodworking gallery. When her lost love walks in the door the strength and serenity Blue thought she found is put to the ultimate test.Wynn Malone was born and raised in rural Alabama, where she spent most of her childhood roaming around outside, fishing, and occasionally smoking rabbit tobacco. As a federal employee in natural resource management subject to the whims of Washington politics, she is constantly reminded of the value of patience and perspective.
The Price of Salt
Patricia Highsmith - 1952
They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol into a choice between her daughter and her lover. With this reissue, The Price of Salt may finally be recognized as a major twentieth-century American novel.
Olive Oil and White Bread
Georgia Beers - 2014
She's out and they're proud.Jillian Clark's family is the white bread to Angie's olive oil. Stoic and emotionally buttoned up, they don't want to think about Jillian's sexuality.It's 1988 when they move in together, on the brink of starting their careers. Like every couple at the start of their life together, they expect to live happily ever after.And for twenty-three years life happens: they change jobs, buy a house, get a dog, and deal with money issues and the death of a parent. They fight, love, cry, play, make mistakes, have regrets, and try to be good to each other and to everybody else. Like most of us they tumble into a routine that turns into a rut that leads to distraction and danger.In 96 Hours Georgia Beers gave herself the challenge of writing a romance set in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. And she succeeded, coming up with a book that garnered awards and great reviews. She returns with a new challenge—writing a romance that starts, rather than ends, with the happy-ever-after.
World on Fire
Geonn Cannon - 2009
After a particularly bad fire leaves Alex and another member of her team in the hospital, she finds herself entranced by Dr. Rachel Tom. She doesn’t plan to fall in love and doesn’t need the hassles of a new relationship, but Rachel felt the pull as well. And she’s not the kind to let something so good slip through her fingers.Both women quickly succumb to their desires, but the relationship may be over before it begins. Alex soon realizes that the horrible blazes they’ve been fighting recently are too uniform to be anything but arson. And if she’s right, someone is setting them for the express purpose of killing firefighters.
Chasing Love
Ronica Black - 2010
You name it and Adrian Edwards is there, prowling like the fiercest of hunters, focused on a perpetual search for that ever elusive four letter word called ‘love.’ From woman to woman she goes, relentless in her pursuit. Tamara, her best friend since high school, is always there to lend an ear or to roll her eyes as Adrian once again casts aside another woman, ticking off all the things that were ‘wrong’ about her. So used to the game, Tamara gives her gifts for the ‘hunt’ like safari hats, compasses and old fashioned looking glasses. Only problem is, they don’t seem to help.Searching as if truly blindfolded, Adrian continues on her quest, going from a young, troubled go-go dancer, to an obsessive mail carrier, to a tweaked out tomboy, to a lusciously aggressive accountant with way more than numbers on her mind.Until one day Adrian realizes she has to learn to be with the person she’s been resisting all along. Herself. It is while on this inner journey that a special someone truly steps into view and shakes up her world for good, proving once and for all that love is never elusive… as long as you love yourself.Chasing Love is a heartfelt journey, one full of humor, sex, startling frankness, gripping reality and hard learned life lessons.
Beautiful Inez
Bart Schneider - 2005
On the surface, she is a woman with an enviable life. But since the birth of her second child, Inez has been plagued by a depression that’s been deepened by her husband’s philandering. Now, at forty, the violinist is obsessed with thoughts of suicide. Sylvia Bran, a waitress and music store pianist, also has an obsession. Enraptured by the beautiful violinist, Sylvia contrives a way to get to know Inez. At once seductive and solicitous, Sylvia awakens Inez from the suffocating grip of her career, the demands of motherhood, and the tensions of her unhappy marriage. The two women become lovers, embarking on a dance of passion and betrayal that soon spins out of control.A novel of risk, passion, and surrender, Beautiful Inez is alive with the music that draws Inez and Sylvia together. Set against the vivid backdrop of San Francisco in the early 1960s, it is an unexpected journey into the lives of two masterfully drawn, unforgettable women. Includes a new essay and a Q + A with the author.
Mackenzie's Beat
Maggie Brown - 2015
Rachel Anderson wants no help from a war-shocked journalist—what police detective ever needs an amateur tagging along, especially a damnably attractive one? But Brisbane is under siege and a serial killer’s body count is rising. With the clock ticking, no lead is too slim. Rachel needs Mac’s help, and there’s no chance Mac won’t take. Neither of them means for it to go as far as it does…
Homespun
Magnolia Robbins - 2020
That she would never be a part of her family’s legacy. But when her posh, cozy world went up in flames, she was forced to return to her small hometown of Bardstown, Kentucky, and face a bitter truth. That she was stuck there, working in the family business, whether she liked it or not.And it wasn’t that bad. Until Charlotte realized that her boss was Marlow Miller.Marlow and Charlotte are exact opposites in every imaginable way, yet Charlotte can’t seem to get enough of the sexy-southern-as-you-could-get-woman. But the problem is, Marlow doesn’t want anything to do with her. Everyone in Bardstown knew that the Millers and the Livingstons had been at war for decades, and for good reason.
And if her parents found out she was falling hard and fast for a Miller woman, her life might actually be over. And Marlow’s would be, too.
This enemies to lovers, rich girl/poor girl novel is a modern twist of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The Pleasure Planner
Larkin Rose - 2009
Logan Delaney is too busy trying to reconcile the legacy of her grandparents’ failed magazine company to invest in anything more than the occasional affair.Can two women who aren't looking for love find it in each other's arms?
Perfect Perry (Rainbow Heights Book 1)
Carla Ryan - 2018
But when she meets Zinnia Paradiso, beautiful artist and free spirit, her definition of perfection isn’t so perfect anymore.
Sierra City
Gerri Hill - 2004
A loner by nature, she didn't mind the seclusion of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Jessie Stone, a successful but reclusive writer, is haunted by memories of her childhood and finally returns to Sierra City after sixteen years of estrangement from her mother. The odd assortment of residents of this small mountain town brings them together but it is Annie Stone, a woman Chris has grown to admire and a woman Jessie still feels hatred for, that binds the two. Through lies and deception, they still cannot deny the growing attraction that will brighten both their lives...if only they will allow it. As Chris fights for her life in a winter blizzard, Jessie comes to terms with her past and her mother, finally accepting the love that Chris willingly offers her.
Hell Fire
Ali Vali - 2018
Abigail Eaton stumbles into a massacre, but once someone tries to kill her it seems like no accident. While hunting for the perpetrators of a sex trafficking empire, Agent Riley Abbott saves Abigail from a professional hit and discovers the young mother might be the key to more than just her case. Riley takes Abigail and her family to what she thinks is safer ground, and runs right into the arms of reputed mob boss Cain Casey. Hell Fire was previously published in Girls With Guns: Three Novellas (Bold Strokes Books, 2016).
The Bridge ~ Inner City: Gargoyles
Victoria Cobretti - 2015
O’Flanagan’s has become the hub of fae activity in the area under the watchful eye of Troll Evangeline Kane. But other sentinels of the city also frequent the bar, including Gargoyle Kalila Storm. When a string of robberies threatens mortals and fae alike, Kalila and her partner, Declan, must track down those responsible. But just when they think they’ve uncovered the truth, they find that the web of deceit stretches even further than they could ever have imagined. And as if that wasn’t enough, Kalila is at war with herself over her inexplicable new attraction to a mortal woman. This book is set in the same universe as The Bridge series by Erik Schubach.