Here are the sapphic books out this week! There are lots of romance novels out today, including the highly-anticipated third book in Olivia Waite’s Feminist Pursuits F/F historical romance trilogy. For more sapphic books out this week, also check out 58 Bi and Lesbian Books Out This Pride Month: June 1st was the big release day this month, so most of those are already out and waiting for you to pick them!
Indestructible Object by Mary McCoy (Bisexual Polyamorous Contemporary YA)
For the past two years, Lee has been laser-focused on two things: her job as a sound tech at a local coffee shop and her podcast “Artists in Love,” which she cohosts with her boyfriend Vincent.
Until he breaks up with her on the air right after graduation.
When their unexpected split, the loss of her job, and her parent’s announcement that they’re separating coincide, Lee’s plans, her art, and her life are thrown into turmoil. Searching for a new purpose, Lee recruits her old friend Max and new friend Risa to produce a podcast called “Objects of Destruction,” where they investigate whether love actually exists at all.
But the deeper they get into the love stories around them, the more Lee realizes that she’s the one who’s been holding love at arm’s length. And when she starts to fall for Risa, she finds she’ll have to be more honest with herself and the people in her life to create a new love story of her own.
The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor (Middle Grade Historical Graphic Novel)
Part historical fiction, part magical realism, and 100 percent adventure. Thirteen-year-old Mei reimagines the myths of Paul Bunyan as starring a Chinese heroine while she works in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885.
Aware of the racial tumult in the years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Mei tries to remain blissfully focused on her job, her close friendship with the camp foreman’s daughter, and telling stories about Paul Bunyan–reinvented as Po Pan Yin (Auntie Po), an elderly Chinese matriarch.
Anchoring herself with stories of Auntie Po, Mei navigates the difficulty and politics of lumber camp work and her growing romantic feelings for her friend Bee. The Legend of Auntie Po is about who gets to own a myth, and about immigrant families and communities holding on to rituals and traditions while staking out their own place in America.
A Turn of Fate by Ronica Black (F/F Romance)
Nev Wakefield is happy working as a blacksmith on her sprawling ranch, until one fateful evening driving home her past comes rushing back, literally running her off the road. Kinsley Padovano escapes to a spiritual retreat only to just miss a collision with Nev, a woman she never expected to see again.
Twenty-five years before, Nev and Kinsley shared a heartbreaking loss when Nev’s twin and Kinsley’s best friend, Vivian, died in a plane crash. Nev was left alone with parents too caught in their grief to notice her, and Kinsley was propelled toward a career as an aviation expert.
Now, Kinsley’s retreat is right next door to Nev’s ranch, and they’re continuously thrust together as undeniable attraction becomes too irresistible to ignore. Can they overcome the pain of their past to turn fate around?
Opposites Attract: Butch/Femme Romance Novellas by Aurora Rey, Meghan O’Brien, Angie Williams (F/F Romance)
Sometimes opposites really do attract. Fall in love with these butch/femme romance novellas.
In An Epiphany in Flannel by Meghan O’Brien, small-town waitress Maisie Davis resolves the mystery of her sexuality after an unexpected encounter with a handsome stranger seated in the corner booth of Moe’s Fine Diner. Aiden Crane opens Maisie’s mind and body to exciting new possibilities—but can she find the courage to follow her heart?
In Follow Her Lead by Aurora Rey, venture capitalist Jude Benoit is named Majesty of Artemis, New Orleans’s premier lesbian Mardi Gras parade and ball, and enlists the expertise of private dance instructor Gabriella Viard to save her from making a fool of herself. Jude can follow the steps, but what happens when Gabby challenges her to lead with her heart?
In Just as You Are by Angie Williams, Dylan Fleming is a confident and capable woman in every way except the stereotypical ways her ex-girlfriend thought she should be. When her insecurities get the better of her and she fumbles on a date with beautiful auto mechanic Carrie Grice, Dylan has to let go of the past. Can she accept that she is loved just as she is?
Not Guilty by Brit Ryder (F/F Romance)
Glass ceilings, red tape, rules…Some things are meant to be broken. No one expects their heart will.
Claire Weaver’s only goal is to climb the ladder of success. After winning an unwinnable toxic tort case and securing a ninety-million-dollar verdict, she’s a shoo-in for a judgeship at Kansas City’s circuit court.
The last person fire investigator Emery Pearson expects to see in court is the stranger she had the pleasure of dominating last night—only this time, Judge Claire Weaver is definitely in charge. To say she’s excited is an understatement. Claire is everything she needs—sexy, available, and not looking for a relationship.
Their day jobs clash, even as their desire burns, and a discreet sex-only arrangement is the only option. But when pushing their sexual limits threatens the boundary of their hearts, will they be guilty of breaking their own rules, or allow love to tip the scales?
Measure of Devotion by CF Frizzell (F/F Historical Romance)
Disguised as her late brother, Cooper, in the 19th Massachusetts Volunteers, Catherine Samson fights to quell the Confederate rebellion and preserve her nation’s unity. She believes the Constitution’s declarations of equality and freedom apply to everyone, and dreams that someday they will extend to her own pursuit of happiness with a woman.
Helping her father raise her siblings on their Gettysburg farm, Sophie Bauer likewise clings to hope for a woman to love, but when she serves as an army aide and meets Cooper, Sophie is confounded by her growing feelings for him. Catherine, meanwhile, wrestles with her deception and the disguise she must maintain. Disclosure could not only repulse Sophie but send Catherine home a social outcast.
When the Battle of Gettysburg engulfs the Bauer farm, Catherine and Sophie learn far more about themselves than they ever expected. But first there’s a war—and hearts—to be won.
The Hellion’s Waltz (Feminine Pursuits #3) by Olivia Waite
It’s not a crime to steal a heart…
Sophie Roseingrave hates nothing more than a swindler. After her family lost their piano shop to a con man in London, they’re trying to start fresh in a new town. Her father is convinced Carrisford is an upright and honest place, but Sophie is not so sure. She has grave suspicions about silk-weaver Madeline Crewe, whose stunning beauty doesn’t hide the fact that she’s up to something.
All Maddie Crewe needs is one big score, one grand heist to properly fund the weavers’ union forever. She has found her mark in Mr. Giles, a greedy draper, and the entire association of weavers and tailors and clothing merchants has agreed to help her. The very last thing she needs is a small but determined piano-teacher and composer sticking her nose in other people’s business. If Sophie won’t be put off, the only thing to do is to seduce her to the cause.
Will Sophie’s scruples force her to confess the plot before Maddie gets her money? Or will Maddie lose her nerve along with her heart?
Sexuality: A Graphic Guide by Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele (Graphic Nonfiction)
Sex is everywhere. It’s in the stories we love – and the stories we fear. It defines who we are and our place in society … at least we’re told it ought to.
Sex and sexuality can seem like a house of horrors, full of monsters and potential pitfalls. We often live with fear, shame and frustration when it comes to our own sexuality, and with judgement when it comes to others’. Sex advice manuals, debates over sex work and stories of sexual “dysfunction” only add to our anxiety.
With compassion, humour, erudition and a touch of the erotic, Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele shine a light through the darkness and unmask the monsters.