Book picks similar to
Balefire by Barrett
lesbian
romance
disability
abuse
Escape & Freedom
Claire Highton-Stevenson - 2018
One stuck in the past, the other a very real present. Lucy Owens’ life was irrevocably changed in a matter of seconds. Life as she knew it was over in the blink of an eye. Moving away from all that she knew, Lucy now lives a solitary life in her cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Filled with guilt and pain, she keeps herself to herself, and for years she manages to avoid immersing back into society. Nicole Granger has three small children to worry about. Always looking over her shoulder, they arrive at the lake with very little to call their own. Haunted by years of physical abuse, she longs to belong again, to bring normality to her girls’ lives for the first time. Both women are pulled towards one another in an attraction that could bring both of them their freedom.
Ladyfish
Andrea Bramhall - 2012
Coerced into picking up a new trainee from the airport, Oz has no idea that her life is about to change in every imaginable way.Daniela Finnsbury-Sterling, Finn to her friends, is trying to break away from an overbearing father, a man intent on making her life fit his plans. Desperate to make her own way, she escapes to Florida to train as a diving instructor. She knows it won’t be easy. She knows her father will do anything he can to force her back into line. Unfortunately, she has no idea exactly what anything will be!
Doctored
K'Anne Meinel - 2016
Unfortunately, her youth and round, child-like face work against her. No matter how skilled she becomes, how knowledgeable, the old school, male-dominated medical hierarchy wants to keep her in ‘her place.’Deanna has worked hard to become an expert in her chosen field, but few believe this ‘child’ capable. Specializing in infectious diseases, she travels the world—from the States to Europe to South America—honing her skills before winding up in Africa where her skills are desperately needed.Meeting a nurse by the name of Madison MacGregor, she finds they share an insatiable curiosity and a love of helping others, but falling in love was not what she intended. Later, when she loses Maddie to a misunderstanding, she is haunted by the one that got away…Ten years have passed and both the doctor and nurse have moved on with their lives, but fate intervenes when they find themselves working at the same hospital. Their friendship is revived…can their love be rekindled? Will the past haunt them or bring them closer? Will the secrets that both harbor keep them from realizing a future together?
The Gravity Between Us
Kristen Zimmer - 2013
Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood, and the one person who reminds her of who she really is – her refuge from the craziness of celebrity life. With her career taking off, Kendall moves Payton to LA to help keep her sane. But Payton is hiding a secret that could make everything ten times worse. Because to her, Kendall is more than a best friend – she is the only girl that she has ever loved. Just as they need each other more than ever, they’ll have to answer the question of where friendship stops and love begins? And find out whether the feelings they have can survive the mounting pressure of fame…
The Gravity Between Us
is a daring, romantic, emotional story about friendship, love, and finding the courage to be yourself in a crazy world. New Adult novel: recommended for 17+ due to mature themes and sexual content
Backcast
Ann McMan - 2015
But in between regularly scheduled happy hours and writing sessions, the women enter a tournament bass fishing competition, receive life coaching from a wise-cracking fish named Phoebe, and uncover a subterranean world of secrets and desires that is as varied and elusive as the fish that swim in the waters of Lake Champlain. Set on the beautiful shores of Vermont's Lake Champlain, Backcast is richly populated with an expansive cast of endearing and outrageous characters who battle writer's block, quirky locals, personal demons, unexpected attractions, and even each other during their two-week residency. For Barb and each of her twelve writers, the stakes in this fast-moving story are high, but its emotional and romantic payoffs are slow and sweet.Filled with equal parts laugh-out-loud humor and breathtaking pathos, Backcast serves up a sometimes irreverent, sometimes sobering look at the hidden lives of women, and how they laugh, love, lose, and blunder through their own search for meaning.Ann McMan is the author of five novels, including Jericho and Aftermath, and two short story collections. She has won two Golden Crown Literary Awards and her novel, Hoosier Daddy, was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.
Hotel Liaison
J. Lee Meyer - 2008
Laurel Hoffman, an associate professor of women's studies in Berkeley, struggles to stay on track for tenure while caught up in the last throes of a crumbling relationship with a senior colleague. When she hears of a hotel being renovated and a secret room full of papers about women who once stayed there, she knows she has a potential career-saving article. Stefanie Beresford, the hotel owner, is not exactly receptive when Laurel approaches her about researching the hotel’s history, but that doesn't stop her from flirting with the alluring academic. She doesn't need the distraction, but for the first time in her life she wants to take a chance on more than a fleeting encounter. While Laurel can't deny her powerful feelings for Stefanie, she fears she's risking her heart as well as her future if she acts on her desires. But can a simple encounter between two rational adults really be all that dangerous?
Blindsided
Karis Walsh - 2014
She teaches her students and their dogs to trust each other, but a past betrayal and the determination to be self-sufficient and independent keep her from trusting her heart to see love.Cara Bradley compensates for her family’s shallow celebrity lifestyle by devoting her life to helping others, while keeping to the background. She reluctantly commits to a year of puppy walking a four-legged whirlwind named Pickwick so she can film regular segments for a local news program while helping promote the McIntyre Training Center, but she is unprepared for the changes that the driven and aloof Lenae will bring to her life.Blindsided by love, can Lenae and Cara learn to trust and guide each other toward a new vision for their future?
Mother of the Bride
Kim Hartfield - 2019
Things get more complicated when she realizes the groom's mother was her best friend back in high school - the first woman who ever made her heart beat faster, as well as her first kiss. Gloria and Bethany reconnect during the engagement, and Gloria begins to wonder if she could have her own fairytale romance. Is it too late for Gloria to find love? Or could the mother of the bride be the star of her own story?
Alix & Valerie
Ingrid Díaz - 2008
The pain from this silent longing has settled within her like a faithful companion and she's loathe to let it go. Two nights before the wedding, she agrees to an impromptu outing to a hip night club with a friend. There she meets wise-cracking Valerie Skye who unloosens some of those painful ties. But Valerie has some secrets of her own to overcome. Can Alix and Valerie untangle their pasts and hope the fate that brought them together isn't fickle?
Wildest Dreams
Carol Wyatt - 2018
The day is a success, but when Kacey bumps into her social psychology lecturer, Madison Malone, on the dance floor, sparks fly.What was Madison doing at her mother's wedding?Kacey's been crushing on Madison for years. When would she ever get an opportunity like this to talk to Madison off campus?What happens when your crush turns out to be so much more than that? What risks would you take to have a chance together?
Believe In You
Chloe Peterson - 2020
With her bank account depleting, Jessica takes the role expecting the worst.Then she meets her new agent. Brianna is a gorgeous, feisty, compassionate woman who not only believes in Jessica but stirs up desires and emotions she hasn’t felt in years. The next eight months of filming will take these two women on a thrilling ride...
Miss-Match
Erica Lawson - 2013
According to her aunt, she is as good as dead. Minerva Goldberg has used all her matchmaking wiles to make a conventional match for Clancy. Now it is time to use an unconventional one. Fashion editor, Carmen Pratka does Minerva a favor by going on a blind date with Clancy. Clancy refuses to acknowledge what the rest of the world knows. Carmen makes it her personal mission to not only convince Clancy that she is a lesbian and she, is the right woman for her.A not to be missed romantic comedy by award winners Erica Lawson and A.C. Henley.
Hard Times
Blayne Cooper - 2007
Terrified and desperate to belong, she sold her soul one piece at a time. She survived to sit atop the ever-shifting trash heap of prison society. Lorna has learned the hard way not to trust anyone, particularly penal system virgins like Kellie Holloway, her unrepentant new cellmate. But Kellie's pride and cluelessness guarantee that without help, she won't last long. Together, Kellie and Lorna navigate through an oppressive, hidden world where the lines between right and wrong blur, sexual passion is forbidden but explosive, and love is the biggest risk of all.
Love for Auction
Karen Klyne - 2019
But when the glitter fades, she relocates to the little village of Cauthwell to start over. Relationships are off the table, but she manages to find plenty of temporary company in her area. Until, that is, she takes on an auction for a very special client. Kim Besson is lost. After her father dies she gives up her life in Manchester and heads to Cauthwell to sell the family home. With no family or friends, she has no idea what to do with the next stage of her life. When enigmatic, charming, older woman, Philippa, comes into her life, she starts to realise just what it is she might have been missing. But surely someone like Philippa wouldn’t be interested in a country girl like her… When big city meets small town, home is what you find.
Snow Falls
Gerri Hill - 2012
Catherine Ryan-Barrett, running from the fame and fortune of her family name, wants nothing more to spend the winter alone and sequestered in her high mountain cabin. She is not prepared for a party crasher. After spending two months together, they form an unlikely friendship that deepens even further. But after the spring thaw, Jen leaves and returns to her life in Santa Fe—and to the man who wants to marry her. All she knows of the woman who rescued her is her name . . . Ryan.