Book picks similar to
Christmas in July by Rachel Maldonado


ff-romance
ff-short-story
lesbian-fiction

After the Summer Rain


Gerri Hill - 2019
    Reeling after her lover walked out on her, she turned to booze and caffeine to make it through each day. After a family intervention, she finds herself on a remote ranch in New Mexico—on womyn’s land—to detox and heal. No cell service, no Internet—she’s convinced she won’t last three days, much less for the three-month sentence her father has mandated.Running from the chaos that had become her life, Melanie West moved to Eagle Bluff Ranch seven years ago. By far the youngest there, she embraced the compassionate, peaceful life that the elders espoused. Living off what her garden produced, her chickens and goats became her friends and confidants. Exposure to the outside world was limited to the handful of guests who stayed a few days at the ranch each year.This summer would be different. Melanie found herself hosting a young woman for three months. A young woman who wanted to be anywhere but there. As the days and weeks passed, their animosity turned to friendship as they helped the other heal from their past failures.Erin soon found herself loving life on Mel’s little farm. Loving life and loving Mel. Saying goodbye would be the hardest thing she had to do—saying goodbye to Mel…or saying goodbye to her previous life.Genre: RomanceEditor: Medora MacDougallCover Designer: Sandy Knowles

Black Knight


Svetlana R. Ivanova - 2016
    After leaving her homeland Russia, she is sent to live with her aunt in America. Nina tries to adjust to a new life with her homophobic cousins and American high school. But then things begins to take a new turn when the enigmatic Allecra Knight, a blonde mystery who seems to bring Nina's day both the sunshine and dark storm. There is a spark of something unusual between them, but it comes with an underlying cost. Allecra Knight has a secret and a big one at that. There is something different about her that fascinates Nina but at the same time terrifies her. Will she prefer a normal peaceful existence or find the courage to explore the unknown?

Love Is Eternal


Emily Sharp - 2017
    After a childhood blighted by addiction and foster homes and an engagement that ended with no reason given, she's built walls so big it would take dynamite to destroy them. Then she meets Julie and those walls begin to crumble. At the age of twenty-two, Julie Summers is ready to embark on her last year of college. Positive, happy-go-lucky and drop-dead gorgeous, Julie has the world at her feet. And then she meets Veronica. She's instantly bewitched by her beauty and wants to be the one who chases all her shadows away. As both women learn more about each other, will it bring them closer together or drive them apart?

Friends Without Benefits


Dena Blake - 2018
    Grace is smart, beautiful, and most unfortunately, straight. Life would’ve been perfect if Grace had only loved her back, but when Grace gets married, Dex knows it’s time to move on. Then Dex meets Emma Lawson, and her life takes a whole new direction. Only trouble is, she never expected to have to choose between her best friend and her new love.Emma Lawson is successful and happy except when it comes to love. She’s been alone for a year and has no intention of giving love another chance, until falling for Dex changes everything. When Grace comes between them, Emma refuses to be second best. Can Emma show Dex what true love really looks like?

First Do No Harm


Emily Smith - 2020
    That is, until she begins working with Dr. Cassidy Sullivan, a new emergency medicine resident. Their chemistry makes Pierce start to believe all her dreams will come true, but a secret from Cassidy's past may end the fairy tale before it gets to happily ever after. For Pierce and Cassidy, the risk of heartbreak may be too high a price for the chance at love.

Assassination Authorized


Erin Wade - 2019
    Jane Doe is brought into the emergency room so badly beaten she is unrecognizable and doesn't even know her own name. Surgeon Kadence Pride vows to restore the petite woman to her former beauty. Follow these two couples as they discover each other while trying to avoid terrorists who have sworn to avenge a brother's death by taking the lives of the women.

Soul Mates


K.A. Moll - 2015
    The horrific nature of that violation has left her unable to engage in intimate relationships. They were bullies and as far as she’s concerned, they destroyed her life. When Jaina’s mother was incarcerated, she and her brother were placed in foster care. The years spent lingering in that system have left her battling lifelong issues of abandonment. Jaina trusts no one enough to risk being hurt again. Sex is fine, but relationships are out of the question. When circumstances result in Jaina embarking on a search for her bio-family, her path will cross with Zane’s. Both recognize the other as a soul mate, but will their love be strong enough to overcome a lifetime of baggage?

Split the Aces


Jove Belle - 2008
    It's lust at first sight for blackjack dealer Rae Sutherland and aspiring Vegas singer Cori Romero.

Vagabond


Natalie Debrabandere - 2021
    Out of nowhere, a stranger steps in and risks her own life to save hers. If this was not enough to catch JoAnn’s attention, limpid blue eyes, unruly black hair, and a big dose of heroic stoicism certainly do. Morgan Lee has kind of lost her way. On the road for a long time, she seeks solace in solitude. Now injured following the rescue, and with her emotional defences down, JoAnn’s offer of a roof over her head to recover is hard to resist. So is their growing attraction for each other… Will trust, healing, and love blossom between the two women? Or will Morgan’s dark past catch up with her, and destroy them both?

Holy Hell


Elizabeth Sims - 2002
    But when one of the missing women turns up dead and Lillian recognizes the bizarrely mutilated corpse, she's in too deep to get out. Of course, it doesn't help that she's still fighting off the boss's son and ducking the intensely aggressive amorous overtures of the roughest dyke in town. Now, after simultaneously blowing the case for the police and revealing herself to the off-kilter killers, she's completely on her own. Can she catch the murderers before they catch up with her?"In the wisecracking tradition of Janet Evanovich, Elizabeth Sims brings us a delightfully down-to-earth character in Lillian Byrd, a woman who refuses to take herself too seriously, even in the face of serious threats of grievous bodily harm. Sims's tight plot, delicious irony, crisp dialogue, and colorful cast make Holy Hell not only an impressive first novel, but an honest-to-God page-turner." -Lauren Maddison, author of Deceptions and Witchfire

Run the Risk (A Shamrock Cove Romance, #1)


Kelli Jae Baeli - 2016
    The father she has shunned for 23 years has died, leaving her his bar, The Risk, along with a slew of bad feelings. Unhappy in her law career and life in general, Sierra returns to her hometown, Shamrock Cove, to settle her father's affairs. But as a prodigal daughter, returning to possibly sell a bar filled with patrons and staff who loved her father, and resent her, she'll need to employ all her expertise and people skills. Kelsi Belmar first arrived in Shamrock Cove to complete her residency. Enamored by the little community and its people, she stayed on to take over the local clinic for the elderly doctor wanting to retire. Kelsi's heart had never been tempted by the women she dated, until Sierra Kipling stepped off the boardwalk and into the bar with a satchel in her hand, and a Siamese cat named Me-Too on her shoulder. The young doctor, grieving the loss of her father figure, will find herself fanning the flames of desire for the woman who broke Thorn Kipling's heart. Against the backdrop of a quaint harbor town in coastal Rhode Island, Sierra Kipling is about to learn the truth about her father in the testimonies of those who loved him and the journals he left behind.

Nurse Lovette


Paisley Smith - 2011
    She can’t get off without fantasizing about submitting to intimate examinations—performed by a hot female nurse. When she joins a medical fetish website, she expects to find a partner who’ll provide a little probing and maybe some sexual release to help Avery get in touch with her kinky side.Then she meets Nurse Lovette…The consummate professional, Darby Lovette is determined to keep her relationship with Avery one of nurse and patient—nearly impossible when the gorgeous woman is on the exam table, willingly submitting to unspeakably intimate “procedures”. The fact that she’s loved and lost helps Darby maintain her resolve; falling in love isn’t part of her treatment plan. But Avery’s determination to explore sex with a woman just might be the cure for what ails them both.Reader Advisory: This book employs myriad toys created especially for erotic exams, no holes barred, and, ahem…perhaps a sensual enema—or two.

Welcome to Ruby's


K.C. Luck - 2018
    The bar is where they all go to commiserate over drinks about crappy jobs, wrecked relationships, and life in general. Everyone is family and everyone comes to Ruby’s. Even though her job sucks, Allie’s life appears to be taking an especially good turn when a gorgeous dark-haired stranger comes walking into Ruby’s and sweeps her off her feet. As much as she wants to deny how she feels, the chemistry between them is an eleven on a scale of one to ten. Struggling through a nasty divorce, Vivian Wade is not looking for any more complications in her already crazy life, but when she goes north to Portland to check on business, she sees a blonde woman who takes her breath away. Although a relationship is the last thing she wants, she cannot deny what her body is telling her. When their worlds collide, all starts perfectly, until Allie learns Ruby’s has been sold to an investor. A woman from Los Angeles, named Vivian, who plans to change everything.

Safe Passage


Rachel Ford - 2019
    For privateer Captain Magdalene Landon, it's all about going big. For Kay Ellis, it's about getting home. Together, they're about to architect the most daring heist in the galaxy. Kay knows too much. She knows it’s a matter of time before a Conglomerate hitman finds her. She’s desperate for safe passage back to Union space. Then Magdalene shows up, promising a way home in exchange for that information. It’s a risky bet, but Kay is out of options. So she strikes a deal: the heist of the century for her freedom.Kay is playing a dangerous game, and she knows it. She’s made herself Enemy Number One of the Conglomerate. She’s relying on privateers for her safety. It’s a fool’s game. But the worst part is, her fool’s heart is starting to warm to the enigmatic captain. And that’s a risk for which she hadn’t planned.

Recipe for Love


Aurora Rey - 2019
    A recipe for love: One cup of homespun country farmer Two dollops of hotshot city chef A sprinkle of funky little restaurant Increase the heat until romance sizzles. Hannah Little doesn’t have much use for fancy chefs or fancy restaurants, but that’s exactly what Three Willows Farm needs to survive. When a local restaurant wants to feature her produce, she’s thrilled. But the contract means working with an egotistical, and (let’s face it) drop-dead-gorgeous head chef from New York City. Chef Drew Davis can’t wait to run her own kitchen. If taking a job at some trendy farm-to-table restaurant in the middle of nowheresville will get her there faster, she’s on board. She has no intention of staying though, and that means the feisty farmer who keeps trying to tell her how to do her job can’t be anything more than a pleasant distraction.