Book picks similar to
The Art of Growing by Jacqueline Ramsden


fauxmance
romance
nonbinary
contemporary-romance

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.

The Sweet Spot


Jessica Pots - 2018
    When she wanders into a small, locally-owned bakery to inquire about an opening advertised in the window, she meets Gwen. Gwen is a thirty-something divorcee who decided to give up her lucrative career and start her own business. But little do people know, her business is failing and she has no clue how to revive it, until Temperance comes along. Temperance tries her best to hide the real reason she's put down roots in a place far different than where she'd ever choose to live and far away from home, where she left everything she loves behind for the little girl who holds her heart. Sooner rather than later, Temperance knows that with decisions come consequences, ones she may not be willing or ready to accept. Two women. One tiny bakery. One precocious little girl. Will cupcakes keep them together? WARNING: This novel contains strong language and strong sexual content. Intended for 18+ years and above.

The Moonstone Girls


Brooke Skipstone - 2022
    Even her older brother Spencer says so, though he wouldn’t finish the thought with, “And I should have been a girl.” Though both feel awkward in their own skin, they have to face who they are—queers in the late 60s. When both are caught with gay partners, their lives and futures are endangered by their homophobic father as their mother struggles to defend them. While the Vietnam War threatens to take Spencer away, Tracy and her father wage a war of their own, each trying to save the sweet, talented pianist. At seventeen, Tracy dresses as a boy and leaves her parents in turmoil, with only the slimmest hope of finding peace within herself. She journeys to a girl with a guitar, calling to her from a photo, "Come to Alaska. We'd be great friends." Maybe even The MoonStone Girls.

Yerba Buena


Nina LaCourNina LaCour
    Years later, in Los Angeles, she is a sought-after bartender, renowned as much for her brilliant cocktails as for the mystery that clings to her. Across the city, Emilie Dubois is in a holding pattern. In her seventh year and fifth major as an undergraduate, she yearns for the beauty and community her Creole grandparents cultivated but is unable to commit. On a whim, she takes a job arranging flowers at the glamorous restaurant Yerba Buena and embarks on an affair with the married owner.When Sara catches sight of Emilie one morning at Yerba Buena, their connection is immediate. But the damage both women carry, and the choices they have made, pulls them apart again and again. When Sara's old life catches up to her, upending everything she thought she wanted just as Emilie has finally gained her own sense of purpose, they must decide if their love is more powerful than their pasts.At once exquisite and expansive, astonishing in its humanity and heart, Yerba Buena is a love story for our time and a propulsive journey through the lives of two women finding their way in the world.

Change Of Plans


K.J . - 2021
    After all, prudence keeps her safe. Lately, though, too many of those comforting plans are disintegrating and Emily is forced to function spontaneously which has spiked her anxiety so much, she’s put her therapist on speed-dial.Skye Reynolds, bike courier entrepreneur, knows all about exploding plans. That’s literally how she lost her job when her company blew up a 40,000-year-old world heritage site. But Skye is not someone who asks for help to reassemble her life blueprints, which is lucky as she nearly always lands on her feet whenever she happily ignores prudence to embark on any new adventure.When Skye’s ad hoc dirt track intersects with Emily’s carefully paved freeway, their lives are thrown into disarray, with the added complication of their unexpected attraction. Prudence plays tricks on both of them when they choose to navigate their true paths and explore the direction of their relationship.Sometimes a change of plans is all you need to see what lies ahead.

Season’s Meetings


Amy Dunne - 2014
    This year, she is being forced to celebrate with her best friend’s family in the Highlands of Scotland. Having missed her flight, Catherine reluctantly ventures on a road trip with beautiful stranger Holly Daniels.Although polar opposites, the intense attraction between them is unmistakable. Just as Catherine begins to think spending Christmas with Holly might not be so bad, a raging snowstorm leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere. Huddled together, with little chance of rescue, they forge a pact: if they escape, they’ll make this a Christmas to remember. But will it be remembered for the right reasons?

Summer Loving


Amanda RadleyErin Zak - 2020
    From Honduras to Lanzarote and from beach houses to camping, there’s something for everyone.Including:Stranded Lise GoldBlisters and Beer Claire Highton-StevensonBeach House KC LuckOrder Up! Cara MaloneTropical Heat TB MarkinsonAlways Check The Reviews Amanda RadleyPark Service Aurora Rey#MissedOpportunities Erin ZakInsomnia Club Emma Radley⚠ This collection is limited edition and will only be available for sale during the summer of 2020, so grab your copy now! ⚠

Just Jorie


Robin Alexander - 2013
    Jorie Andolini is one of those people and has spent a lot of time envisioning that moment. She bumps into a woman at a grocery store, the woman drops a can of peas, Jorie picks it up, their eyes meet, and two souls connect. But it’s actually a wasted trip to New York, a snowstorm, and a canceled flight home that puts her in the path of Lena Vaughn.Lena has found fault in every man she’s ever dated. Her dream of finding a husband is dwindling with every year that passes. Despite what her friends say, Lena doesn’t believe she has a fear of commitment, she simply hasn’t found a man she wanted to commit to. It comes as a surprise that in fact it is a woman who stirs those desires. For Lena, it’s not really a matter of sexuality, it’s just Jorie.Travel the road to happiness with Jorie and Lena. Two crazy old women, meddling friends, and cattitude are just some sights you’ll see along the way.

Hot Dog Girl


Jennifer Dugan - 2019
    There are just a few things standing in her way: * She's landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog. * Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou's never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after. * Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who's always been up for anything, suddenly isn't when it comes to Lou's quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou's scheme to get close to Nick. * And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland--ever--unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.Jennifer Dugan's sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love--and themselves--in unexpected people and unforgettable places.

One Last Mistake: A Billionaire Romance (The Ironwood Billionaire Series Book 3)


Ellie Danes - 2018
    New Life. It was time to leave it all, and the mistakes I’d made, behind. At least that was plan, until I spent the night with him He was supposed to be a one and done. Someone I’d forget and never think about again. Twenty-four hours later, my life is center stage. Standing in front of a thousand strangers and right next to the one-night stand I promised to forget. The man I had spilled all of my drunken secrets to. To make matters worse…he’s my boss’s son and he’s about to spill a secret of his own. One Last Mistake is a standalone billionaire romance and is Book 3 of The Ironwood Billionaire Series.

A Heart to Trust


A.L. Brooks - 2020
    That is until a company shake-up foists the infuriating Olivia Sinclair on her. The woman is uptight, snobby, and has some perfect and famous motor-racing husband.TV and theater producer Olivia moved to New York from the UK to marry her longtime friend. It’s a sham marriage, a favor to a man she loves as a brother, but the strain is beginning to take its toll. How can she even meet women when she’s the picture of heterosexual bliss?Add in her stressful new job, an irritating colleague called Jenny, who thinks being goofy is some kind of admirable work ethic, and life can be a grind some days.The worst part isn’t the office politics or clashing personalities, but the fact there’s an attraction between both women that’s gradually becoming impossible to ignore.So…should they stop ignoring it?That would mean learning to trust your heart that this is the right woman. And that’s a huge step.Tags: enemies to lovers, office politics, TV production assistant, workplace romance

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.

French Summer


Lise Gold - 2018
    After years of hard work and a failed marriage in Chicago, she’s looking for some peace and quiet, a place to clear her mind and figure out her future. Lena loves women, her dog, and landscaping, but that’s about as complicated as it gets. When she meets her new tenant for the summer, it proves hard to stay professional as a caretaker, especially when that tenant turns out to be everything she ever wanted and more. As time passes and boundaries blur, the moment of goodbye becomes inevitable. Nathalie isn’t looking for a new love, especially not in the form of a woman, and Lena has no desire to get her heart crushed again. Is it possible to find home in a place you’ve never been? And is it worth the risk, giving up everything for someone you’ve only just met? They say home is where the heart is…

Love on The Westside


Riley West - 2020
    ASIN B08TRNQJXK moved to the most recent edition

Kash


Brynn Hale - 2020
    He doesn't know about the baby, dog, and two cats. He actually doesn’t know much about me, anymore.But it’s not him I’m really here to see.I’m going to tell Kash something and change his life forever. He’s tall, tatted to the hilt, slightly brooding, and he says and does all the right things.I want to trust him, but my past tells me men can change. Will he always be like this and will he turn out to be the one?KashI could tell she was special and from the moment I met her eleven months ago, and I wanted to make her mine. But she asked me to go without any contact.When the curious kitten with a body so hot it could melt metal takes a little time away from the baby, she asks me to lay down a design on her pristine skin.But the session gets away from both of us and I can't take back what I do or say.Her brother finds us and it’s never good when Cray’s involved.She can trust me. But maybe I can’t trust myself around her.