Book picks similar to
Jackpot by Cade Haddock Strong


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Learning to Flirt


Kallie Mont - 2022
    Cue the nervous flop sweat.In a tiny town on the coast of Rhode Island, Maggie has built a quiet life running her family’s bookshop. But as much as she loves her work—and the eclectic town she calls home—something is missing. Then one day, an absolute smoke show walks through the front door and throws Maggie off her (arguably, very small and unreliable) game.Parker’s entire life blew up a few months back when she walked away from her home, job, and longtime girlfriend, all in a single day.When a new job presents itself in the next state over, she jumps at the chance for a fresh start, determined to avoid romance this time around. But, because life always has a way of knocking Parker on her ass, she finds the most alluring, adorably nervous woman standing behind the register of a local bookshop.Add in that Maggie’s over a decade younger than Parker and has a really hard time finishing a sentence around her, and everyone ends up flustered.WarningThis book contains snark, lesbian age gap butterflies, husbands you’ll fall in love with, and just so much gay panic. Please read at your own risk.

Clichéd Love: A Satirical Romance


Lynn Galli - 2016
    Recount the tales of lesbian and gay couples to assure the heterosexual population that the institution of marriage isn’t at risk now that gay marriage is legal. Her editor loved the idea. Vega loved the notion of a long-term assignment that paid regularly. What she didn’t realize until too late was that she’d have to sit through every one of these often banal, regularly nauseating love stories without wanting to hurl herself off the nearest cliff. So much for her brilliant idea.By the time she arrives in Seattle, she’s already had enough of interviewing couples, but she’s determined to see it through. After all, if the readers of a national newspaper can recognize a love story as a love story, regardless of sexuality, she might change a few minds out there. Helping to temper the discontent is new friend Iris, who seems to know everyone’s story and, more importantly, shares Vega’s take on them. As the interviews continue and her friendship with Iris grows, Vega wonders if her lifelong cynical attitude toward love might be softening a bit. NOTE: This is a romance wrapped in a satire. You’ll get your romance, but along the way, common romance themes, character traits, and plot points are mocked a bit (or a lot.) If you cherish every word ever written in all your favorite lesbian romances and never once thought, Oh, come on! That would never happen, then this book isn’t for you.

The Woman in 3B


Eliza Lentzski - 2020
    Spill a drink on an airline passenger and be one square closer to winning the company’s secret bingo card game. Twenty-five different challenges, at various levels of difficulty, had to be accomplished within a month’s time. After nearly eight years of being a flight attendant, Alice Kaminski had spilled drinks on plenty of passengers, mostly on accident and during rough air. She didn’t particularly like the idea of the bingo card, but she had massive student debt; the financial incentives were enough to make her momentarily forget the questionable ethics of it all. The challenge was supposed to be simple—that is, until Alice saw her intended target—the beautiful woman seated in 3B. And after that, nothing was simple ever again.

Taking a Shot at Love


K.C. Richardson - 2020
    She’ll never get there if she stays where she is, coaching for a small-town college. She wants to move on and move up, so a relationship is the last thing on her mind.English professor Celeste Bouchard is exactly where she wants to be teaching at Glassell University. Popular and on a first-name basis with her students, Celeste loves her job. She doesn’t love the gossip and rumors that followed her disastrous romance with a fellow professor, but she’s never getting involved with a coworker again.When Lisa’s star player has trouble in Celeste’s class, they have to work together to find a solution. The attraction is off the charts, but Lisa and Celeste are determined to block another shot at love.Cover Artist: Tammy SeidickGenres: Contemporary / Romance Tags: Sports, Workplace Romance, College Life

Just One Taste


C.J. Birch - 2020
    Desperate, she takes a job as a short order cook in a quaint diner. Now she just has to find a place to live and learn how to cook.Lauren manages Greta’s Diner the same way she manages everything in her life, with calm and order. All that changes the moment Hayley walks through the door. She’s loud, opinionated, wild, and completely alluring. When Lauren finds out that Hayley’s been sleeping in the diner, she makes a decision that will change both their lives forever.Cover Artist: CJ BirchGenres: Contemporary / Romance

Love and Chaos


Poppy Woods - 2020
    Safe from the pollution that still clings to more populated areas, they grow crops to sell in the Cities, they hunt for their meat, and they take care of their own. Their rural way of life ensures the politics of the Cities doesn't reach them.Until one day, it does.Like all orphans, Love Ward was conscripted into the Venus Guard as a child. She has done her best to take the opportunity and make it into a career, something she can be proud of. The Venus Guard is her family.But the New Republic has secrets, the kind of secrets that can get a low-ranking officer like Love reassigned and even killed if she's not careful.When chaos erupts around them, the two women find themselves at odds but with only each other to rely on. Their shared past and the growing attraction between them can only serve as a distraction as they fight for their lives.Can a guard from the Cities and a girl from the Tribes expose the New Republic's dirty secrets?Can they change their world without losing their lives—or their hearts?

Jericho


Ann McMan - 2010
    Her plans to hide out and heal her wounds go by the wayside as she gets drawn into the daily lives of the quirky locals and becomes fast friends with Maddie Stevenson, the enigmatic physician who has returned to the backcountry community to take over her late father’s medical practice.Ann McMan weaves a story of life and love in the beautiful mountains of Virginia.

Heart Block


Melissa Brayden - 2012
    After immigrating from Mexico when she was nine years old, she’s content with the life she’s made for herself in sunny San Diego. She works hard at her mother’s housecleaning service by day and spends the evenings with her quirky eight-year-old daughter, Grace.From a very young age, Emory Owen had several concepts drilled into her head. Success is everything. Be the best. Fight your way to the top. Expectations were high in the Owen household and the world was watching. Born into a high society family, Emory never wanted for anything…at least anything money could buy. When she meets Sarah, hired to sort her mother’s home, her sterile life suddenly sparks into color.But when the emotional logistics of combining two very different worlds proves to be too much, a terrifying turn of events spurs the question: If love exists, can it really find a way?

The Shape of You


Georgia Beers - 2018
    As if being a size two for your wedding photos is all exercise is good for. Could the whole thing get more vain and sexist? The class is full of preening, giggling Bridezillas, but one woman stands out. The one who confesses she’s only there because her fiancée signed her up. Who does that to someone they care about? And why can’t Rebecca take her eyes off her? Spencer Thompson is a second-guesser. After making the worst mistake of her life, she’s happy to abdicate responsibility and let other people make her decisions for her. She’s always felt a little bit too soft, a little bit too curvy in all the wrong places. Her fiancée apparently agrees because she signed Spencer up for a class at the gym. Terrified by the online profile of the instructor, the epitome of Zero Body Fat, Spencer is relieved to find someone new, and realistic looking, leading the class. Except the instructor seems to hate her and Spencer has no idea why. When a perfectly innocent post workout smoothie leads to an earth shattering kiss, Rebecca wonders if she’s been wrong all along, and Spencer is challenged to make another decision that could change her life forever.

A Marine Awakening


Jax Meyer - 2019
    Navigating the policy and finding allies is harder than she expected, but she's determined to complete her enlistment period and return to college. Meanwhile, gregarious military kid Sharon Rodriguez knows connections are critical to navigate the unspoken rules of the Marine Corps. She’s confident in her ability to enjoy the casual flings she's accustomed to, while pursuing the 20 year career she desires. When Sharon convinces Cam to attend a party with her, neither realizes their lives are about to become more complicated than they planned for. How hard will they need to fight for a love that must remain in the shadows? A Marine Awakening, a Dal Segno prequel, is a contemporary new adult lesbian romance with a happy ending that shows that no person or policy can stop two Marines fighting for each other.

Picking the Right Heart


Jade Winters - 2017
     But her search proves fruitless until she tracks down Jessica – the granddaughter of the elusive woman. An immediate attraction is sparked between the two women but Adriana’s life is already planned out for her and the last thing she needs is any more complications. As both women embark on a journey around the world, they uncover forbidden love, deep regret and are taught that true love should never be denied.

Wrong Number, Right Woman


Jae - 2020
    But then she gets a wrong-number text message from a stranger named Eliza, asking her of all people for dating advice! Eliza is Denny’s total opposite: witty, outgoing—and straight. Despite their differences, the accidental text sparks an unlikely friendship. Soon, Eliza—self-proclaimed queen of disastrous first dates—would rather banter back and forth with Denny than to keep trying her luck at online dating. When they meet in person, there’s an instant connection. But what Eliza is feeling can’t be attraction, right? It doesn’t mean a thing that she’s starting to wish the guys she dates would be more like Denny. Or does it? Can the wrong number lead to the right woman after all? Wrong Number, Right Woman is a light-hearted, slow-burn lesbian romance that embraces likable characters without all the drama.Length: 116,000 wordsTropes & themes: slow-burn romance, low angst, relatable characters, butch/femme, age gap, “toaster oven” romance, craft romance, Portland romance, shy character

Back in Your Arms


Monica McCallan - 2021
    Now a successful real estate agent in New York City, she’s brought back on behalf of a client, begrudgingly accepting her return home in order to close the deal of a lifetime. Coming back opens doors she’s done her best to keep closed all these years, namely, how she felt about her childhood best friend, Sawyer Kent. Sawyer’s spent her whole life in Kingsford, working at her family’s antique store and trying to make everyone happy. Quinn’s return is unexpected, knocking her routine existence more than a little off balance. She’s still frustrated at how Quinn left things between them, and even if she has all kinds of unresolved feelings, she’s got bigger problems to worry about right now.

Beautiful Accidents


Erin Zak - 2019
    Now twenty-eight and a star in the Chicago improv scene, Stevie puts career first. No one’s going to get in the way of her New York City dreams. When her friends beg her to tag along to go see Constance Russo, a deaf psychic, Stevie begrudgingly agrees, as long as no one makes her get a reading. American Sign Language interpreter Bernadette Thompson has two priorities: caring for her mother and working with her best friend, Constance Russo. But when the headstrong Stevie Adams accidentally stumbles into her life, Bernadette feels an instant connection that’s so intense it frightens her. They can’t seem to stop bumping into each other, or deny their attraction. When Stevie’s goal of starring in New York becomes more than a pipe dream, will competing desires prove their love to be everlasting or a fleeting act?Cover Artist: Jeanine HenningGenres: Contemporary / Romance Tags: Children / Families, Big City, Age Gap, CelebrityWords: 86,000

Stranded


Blayne Cooper - 2009
    Eager to stretch her wings, she takes a second job as the color commentator for Denver's new professional women's soccer team. Along with her new job comes an exciting assignment, travel to Venezuela to profile the team's sizzling star recruit, Miranda Gutierrez. But Rachel begins to long for a little of her old routine when her boss forces her to extend her stay to accompany team big-wig, Nora Butler, and the headstrong player on a "bonding" adventure. Their journey gets off to a bad start, and things go downhill from there. All three women are tested mentally and physically as they fight for their lives. They must learn to depend on each other, shape their own destinies, and, ultimately, risk everything for what matters most. What would you do to survive? How much would you risk for love?