Book picks similar to
Plain English by Rachel Spangler
romance
wlw
favorites
sapphic
The One to Hold Your Hand
Erica Lee - 2021
Trying to stay upbeat and positive while her twin sister battled cancer took its toll on her. The one thing getting her through was her relationship with her lifelong best friend Bette Mitchell. Unfortunately, constantly blurring the lines between friendship and something more was destined to blow up at some point, and that’s exactly what happened when Reese hit her rock bottom.After losing her father, Bette Mitchell didn’t know how she would ever feel okay again. The thing she did know was there was one person who understood exactly how it felt to lose someone close to her. The problem was she and Reese had barely spoken after Bette broke her heart three years earlier.But now Reese is back in town for the funeral and willing to do anything to help Bette smile again. Well, almost anything. She can’t let go of what happened the night everything fell apart between them.A look back on Reese and Bette’s relationship through the years shows what brought them to the point they are at today. Is their history enough to lead them into a future together or is there too much heartbreak between them to move forward?
The Wrong McElroy
K.L. Hughes - 2019
Besides, how hard could one festive family weekend be, anyway?That’s before she meets the boisterous McElroy clan, with accents as thick as a homemade pie crust, and an endless supply of competitive siblings, including Lizzie, Michael’s beautiful younger sister.Lizzie seems to be everywhere, with her intoxicating scent, wandering hands, lingering gaze, and that bright, echoing laugh. The more time Fiona spends in her orbit, she wonders how she can even concentrate let alone pull off a convincing fake relationship.An amusing, charming lesbian romance about finding unexpected love inside family expectations.Themes: Christmas · family · holiday romance · POC64,000 words
Patience & Sarah
Isabel Miller - 1969
Ultimately, they are forced to make life-changing decisions that depend on their courage and their commitment to one another.First self-published in 1969 (titled A Place for Us) in an edition of 1,000 copies, the author hand-sold the book on New York street corners; it garnered increasing attention to the point of receiving the American Library Association's first Gay Book Award in 1971. McGraw-Hill's version of the book a year later brought it to mainstream bookstores across the country.Patience & Sarah is a historical romance whose drama was a touchstone for the burgeoning gay and women's activism of the 1960s and early 1970s. It celebrates the joys of an uninhibited love between two strong women with a confident defiance that remains relevant today.Features an appendix of supplementary materials about Patience & Sarah and the author, as well as an introduction by acclaimed novelist Emma Donoghue.
The Princess Affair
Nell Stark - 2013
As she arrives at Oxford to begin her course of study, she is determined to make the most out of this latest opportunity. But when she meets Her Royal Highness Princess Sasha, second in line to the British throne, Kerry’s priorities are eclipsed by an attraction neither of them can ignore. "Sassy Sasha" is a tabloid favorite who appears to delight in scandalizing her people, but beneath her vexed public image, Sasha longs to be truly seen.Will the tenuous connection she forms with Kerry be broken by the weight of the crown? Or will they find true love despite the forces endeavoring to keep them apart?
Hoosier Daddy
Ann McMan - 2013
Life on the assembly line is almost as predictable as her love life. When it comes to matters of the heart, Friday always seems to be making the wrong choices. Things go from bad to worse when El, a sultry labor organizer from the UAW, sweeps into town to unionize the plant right after it’s been bought out by a Japanese firm. Sparks fly on and off the line as Jill and El fight their growing attraction for each other against a backdrop of monster trucks, catfish dinners, Pork Day USA, and a bar called Hoosier Daddy.
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.
Desert of the Heart
Jane Rule - 1964
This classic of lesbian eroticism is Jane Rule's first novel.Set in the late 1950s, this is the story of Evelyn Hall, an English professor, who goes to Reno to obtain a divorce and put an end to her disastrous 16-year marriage. While staying at a boarding house to establish her six-week residency requirement she meets Ann Childs, a casino worker and fifteen years her junior. Physically, they are remarkably alike and eventually have an affair and begin the struggle to figure out just how a relationship between two women can last. Desert of the Heart examines the conflict between convention and freedom and the ways in which the characters try to resolve the conflict.
The Flaw in Our Design
Monica McCallan - 2020
That’s how she likes it, even if she can’t stop the town she loves from being overrun by wealthy tourists each summer. When she’s not working at her family’s paddleboard shop or spending time with her lovable but infuriating brothers, she puts her energy into writing professionally, a dream that has yet to materialize.Valerie Maycomb used to summer in Lake Cabot with her family when she was younger, until school and planning for her future became the driving forces in her existence. For the first time in years, following her college graduation, she’s spending a few months in the small, lakeside town she loved as a child. All she wants is a little time to decompress before law school in the fall and maybe even strike up the courage to talk to a woman.A chance meeting at the lake opens up the possibility of a summer romance, with the explicit understanding that it can’t become something more. Olivia’s not built for falling in love, and Val needs to keep her eye on the prize of a successful career. But neither of them can deny the attraction, and summer quickly takes on a life of its own.
Mind Games
Cara Malone - 2019
There’s just one problem – her boss doesn’t think she’s ready. When Kelsey arrives at her first death scene to find the responding officer contaminating the evidence, she starts to wonder if her boss was right.Zara Hayes hates death scenes. She’s been on patrol five long years but her chief won’t promote her until she can overcome her fear. So here she is, just feet away from a dead body while a pretty young investigator reads her the riot act because she thinks Zara screwed up her scene.With a killer on the loose, there’s no time to argue so Zara and Kelsey team up to solve the case. As they get closer to the truth – and to each other – they must confront the mind games we play… in life, in love, and even in death.ASIN moved from less recent edition
It's Not a Date
Heather Blackmore - 2018
Entrepreneur and innovator Kadrienne Davenport gets results. A demanding executive and stickler for punctuality, Kade throws herself into work to avoid hurting anyone, convinced she only causes pain to those she loves. When Jennifer Spencer meets an incognito Kade at a conference, sparks fly. But when Kade unexpectedly becomes her boss, Jen’s problems multiply. The company she founded is going broke, her grandmother’s dementia is worsening, and her attraction to Kade―her difficult, brilliant, charismatic mentor―is growing. Kade’s desire to keep things professional between them is in Jen’s best interest. Yet what’s in Kade’s best interest…is Jen.
And Playing the Role of Herself
K.E. Lane - 2007
Her sometimes-costar Robyn Ward is magnetic, glamorous, and devastatingly beautiful, the quintessential A-List celebrity on the fast-track to super-stardom. When the two meet on the set of 9th Precinct, Caid is instantly infatuated but settles for friendship, positive that Robyn is both unavailable and uninterested. Soon Caid sees that all is not as it appears, but can she take a chance and risk her heart when the outcome is so uncertain?
Flight SQA016
A.E. Radley - 2016
A gruelling transatlantic schedule means she is in the air nearly as much as she is on the ground and desperately misses her five-year-old son.On board she meets Olivia Lewis, who is a literal high-flying business executive with a weekly commute, a meticulous schedule, and terrible social skills.When a personal emergency brings them together, will Emily be able to swallow her pride and accept help from Olivia? And will Olivia be able to prevent herself from saying the wrong thing?79,000 words
Something to Talk About
Meryl Wilsner - 2020
The so-called scandal couldn't come at a worse time--threatening Emma's promotion and Jo's new movie.As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a "source" is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is "no comment".With the launch of Jo's film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all...but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames?
Bet Against Me (1)
Fiona Riley - 2020
Her reputation as a ruthless deal closer and her record sales year in Boston’s luxury property market should’ve landed her Realtor of the Year, so when the award goes to new girl rival Kendall Yates, Trina is left speechless. And, okay, turned on.Kendall made more enemies than friends the night of her big win, but she couldn’t care less. She’s the best, and she has the obnoxious glass paperweight to prove it. This is the edge she needs to escape the shadow of her family’s reputation. When her boss accepts a friendly bet that she can close the holy grail of property deals, she’s not about to fold for anyone. Especially not to overly cocky and annoyingly beautiful Trina. Even if it breaks her heart.A High Stakes Romance | Book 1Genres: Contemporary / Romance