This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features sapphic books that start with the first day of a new job.
For the book to count for this category, pick a novel in which the main character starts a new job within the first three chapters.
Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge
If you are only discovering the Sapphic Reading Challenge now, the good news is you can still join! It’s a year-long challenge, so it runs until December 31, 2021. Read up on the rules of the Sapphic Reading Challenge and download your PDF so you can keep track of the books you read this year.
15 sapphic books that start with the first day of a new job
I put together a list of 15 sapphic books that start on the first day of a new job for the main character. I hope you find at least one you’ll enjoy.
Under a Falling Star by Jae
Falling stars are supposed to be a lucky sign, but not for Austen. Her new job as a secretary in an international games company isn’t off to a good start. Her first assignment—decorating the Christmas tree in the lobby—results in a trip to the ER after Dee, the company’s second-in-command, gets hit by the star-shaped tree topper.
Dee blames her instant attraction to Austen on her head wound, not the magic of the falling star. She’s determined not to act on it, especially since Austen has no idea that Dee is practically her boss.
Available at:
Irregular Heartbeat by Chris Zett
After nearly a decade as a professional drummer, Diana Petrell leaves her rock-star life behind to continue her residency in emergency medicine. She’s determined not to let anything stop her—not even falling in love with her aloof mentor, Dr. Emily Barnes.
Emily has only ever focused on her career as a senior attending in the emergency department, and she isn’t happy about having to babysit a resident with a ten-year gap in her résumé, no matter how intriguing she is.
But every time they work together, it’s not just their patients’ heartbeat that gets a little irregular. Soon, the once-clear lines between work and personal life begin to blur.
When Diana’s unorthodox secret past is revealed, putting her job in jeopardy, Emily has to choose between her career and her relationship.
A lesbian romance that asks how much we’d risk for love.
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Perfect Timing by Dena Blake
Lynn Monroe is finally living life on her terms. The niece she raised as her own has finished medical school and started an internship, and she’s healing from a painful divorce that was long overdue. But when she runs into a ghost from her past, the stable life she’s worked so hard to build begins to crumble.
Dr. Maggie Randall is focused, driven, and in love with her best friend’s aunt. When she unexpectedly bumps into Lynn it’s like no time has passed. She’s sure it’s a sign they’re meant to be. But all Maggie ever wanted in life is to raise children, and Lynn’s not ready to start a second family.
The choice between love and family has never been so difficult, and different visions of the future may end their romance before it’s begun.
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46 by Lynn Ames
It’s November 3, 2020, and Emma McMasters has just been elected the 46th president of the United States. She’s facing a divided Congress and nation, allies that no longer trust America, enemies that have been emboldened, and the legacy of destruction left by the last administration. She must rebuild and reestablish trust in government, in the media, and in the electoral system, all the while carrying the mantle of first female president, and along with it, the hopes and dreams of millions of women and little girls who need her to prove that a woman can get the job done.
Palmer Estes has devoted her life and her career to the military, rising to become the highest-ranking female officer in the US Army. An enigmatic, battle-tested hero, she’s the perfect choice to brief the new president on one last, urgent, highly sensitive mission before she retires.
Two strong women, both driven to serve the country they love, neither prepared for the sparks that fly between them.
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The Bartender’s Pride by TJ Dallas
Lara’s world is turned upside down when her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend and she’s forced to move to a new city.
Desperate for money, she lands a job in an LGBT nightclub, but her racing heart and inappropriate thoughts about the club’s owner, Harry, must have everything to do with the stress she’s under. She’s not gay.
There’s something about Harry. She’s stunning, cocky, and looks far too good in a shirt and tie, ignoring the fact she’s telepathic and can read Lara’s emotions like a book. Harry is one of seven managers at the Cardinal, and she has a set of skills that can help Lara, but she has to manage her own feelings about three of the other managers in the meantime—Lust, Gluttony, and Envy.
When things go downhill for Lara, can Harry ultimately make her proud of who she is without admitting their deadly secret? Or will Lara’s shame, depression, and her homophobic parents, lead her down a path of destruction?
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Whatever Gods May Be by Sophia Kell Hagin
Jamie Gwynmorgan doesn’t believe in prayer. She doesn’t believe in anything much. Except that people can’t be trusted—certainly not anyone she’s ever met.
But Jamie knows some things. From experience. She knows if she died, nobody would give a damn. Nobody would even notice. She knows the better she can fight, the safer she’ll be. That’s why she can’t resist the sleek, dark lethality of the weapon—and the recruiter’s promise that yes, if she’s strong enough, good enough, she’ll get to fire that weapon in combat. She doesn’t care about the uniform. And screw the pretend-camaraderie. Only Safe matters—and if she can do combat, then maybe she can fight her way to Safe.
Jamie expects a grueling fight that she might lose. What she never expects is to win love.
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Heartlines by Simonetta Pastorini
Dianna Laydon is an actress starring in one of TV’s top series, Treasure Hunt, but she has never gotten used to fame. In her heart, she’s still the simple Southern girl who had moved to Los Angeles years ago to make her dream come true. She’s also a control freak, a play-by-the-book kind of girl, and a totally rational person.
Her life, though, is turned upside down when a new actress is cast as a recurring character in Treasure Hunt.
Vivien Reese has spent her whole life under the spotlights, being the wild daughter of a renowned British director, and a famous actress herself since she was just eighteen years old. With her party girl reputation and her go-with-the-flow attitude, she seems Dianna’s polar opposite, so when the two girls meet sparks start flying, and not necessarily in a good way.
But as they work together and they get to know each other, they discover that they might be more similar than they had initially thought, and more importantly, they’re terribly drawn to each other.
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Lucky in Love by Cara Malone
Jules Wakefield’s family has rescued rabbits for decades, but with her parents gone and her veterinary practice demanding all her time, Jules desperately needs a successor. She decides to run an essay contest – the winner must love bunnies.
Parker Rose is exactly who Jules is looking for – warm, smart, not afraid to get her hands dirty, and a gorgeous country girl to boot. She’s the answer to Jules’ prayers… and a few unspoken fantasies, too.
Summer days at the rescue turn into autumn nights of passion, but when Jules finds out that Parker’s been keeping a secret, her problems start multiplying again like rabbits.
One little lie has the power to tear everything apart, but what if it leads her home, to a fur-ever kind of love?
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A Road Through Mountains (Love’s Encore Book 1) by Miranda MacLeod
When Cecily Parker volunteers backstage at the Oakwood Theater, the only thing she wants is a few hours of relief from the doldrums of her upper class suburban existence. The last thing she expects is to be reunited with the only person she ever truly loved, a woman she left behind almost twenty years ago.
Rorie Mulloy has built a career as an award winning production designer in Hollywood, but her personal life is anything but a success. When she agrees to design the sets for a community theater production of A Streetcar Named Desire in Connecticut, she has no idea that the woman who broke her heart and ruined her for love will be assigned to her crew.
As the sparks are rekindled between them, these star-crossed lovers just might have a second chance at a life together. But only if they can overcome the ghosts of their past, and survive the evil suburban soccer moms and reality television divas determined to keep them from their happily ever after.
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Prescription for Love by Radclyffe
Flannery Rivers is content to let her sister Harper carry on the family dynasty—at the Rivers hospital where they both work and on the home front. Now that Harper is settled and soon to be happily married, Flannery can ease back into her life of casual flirtations and find all the excitement she needs in the ER. She’s even got her next playmate all lined up, or so she thinks.
Abigail Remy is a city girl who accepts a position at the imperiled country hospital in the hope of finding a stable, safe community for her teenaged trans son. Unfortunately, when she arrives to work, she discovers the current ER chief is less than happy to be replaced by a fresh-out-of-residency newcomer.
Add unexpected attraction to the incendiary mix of city and country, fire and ice, tradition and change—and the prescription is combustible.
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The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley
Anna is the newest member of an elite ballet company. Her first class with her mysterious idol, Victoria, almost ruins her career before it starts. When she shows she might be a potential star, Victoria chooses Anna to launch a new season around.
Now Anna must face down jealousy, sabotage, and injury, not to mention navigate the circus of friends and lovers within the company. The pressure builds as she knows she must pour everything she has into opening night and prove to her rivals and herself that Victoria’s faith in her is not misplaced.
In the process, Anna discovers that she and the daring, beautiful Victoria have a lot more than a talent for ballet in common, and that not every thrilling dance can be found on stage.
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Hunter’s Way by Gerri Hill
Homicide detective Tori Hunter was used to doing things her way. But even after six different partners in seven years, she was not prepared for the hot-tempered Samantha Kennedy.
Samantha, on the other hand, was trying to juggle a new job, a demanding boyfriend, and now finds herself with an even greater challenge — being partnered with the most difficult detective in the entire squad.
After a brief terrorist scare disrupts their serial killer investigation, the two women find themselves growing closer. Sam begins to question the relationship with her longtime boyfriend, and Tori, never one to allow anyone to get too close, begins to feel her defenses slipping in Sam’s presence.
A serial killer and drug deals gone bad; the two detectives struggle with their feelings, trying to maintain their professional relationship while keeping their nearly flammable physical relationship in check.
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Turbulence by EJ Noyes
Stockbroker Isabelle Rhodes has a lot of money, a lot of trust issues, and a whole lot of reasons to believe her ex-girlfriend was right when she said that Isabelle sucked at relationships. With that accusation stuck in her head, Isabelle throws caution to the wind and dives into her first one-night stand. Checking that off her bucket list should be something to celebrate—except it turns out that the woman she just spent an earth-shattering night with is actually her newly hired company pilot, Audrey Graham.
Ms. Never-See-You-Again just turned into Ms. See-You-Constantly.
Concerned about the stigma of workplace dalliances, Isabelle vows it can’t go further than the one night. Good plan—if not for an insistent libido and an even more persistent Audrey who conspires to break Isabelle’s resolve. Soon their no strings arrangement starts to feel a lot like dating, and Isabelle finds herself wanting more than just casual nights together…
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Comrade Cowgirl by Yolanda Wallace
For cattle rancher Laramie Bowman, family always comes first. After her brother is injured in a rodeo accident, she accepts a lucrative position in remote Godoroye, Russia, to help pay his medical bills. When she meets the woman assigned to be her interpreter, however, her heart might end up getting lost in translation.
Anastasia Petrova would prefer to remain on the front lines of the seemingly futile fight for gay rights in her conservative homeland, but dwindling finances force her to leave Moscow to take a full-time job working as a translator for a pair of American trainers on a start-up cattle ranch. If she comes out to her new coworkers, she could lose the job she so desperately needs. But when she meets gorgeous cowgirl Laramie, how can she possibly deny her feelings?
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Cowgirl 101 by Laina Villeneuve
What Jo Harding loves most about the summer is being able to retreat from annoying humans. Though her friends say she’d be happier with someone sleeping by her side, she insists that all she needs to be happy are her mules, her dog, and a trail into the backcountry. She has absolutely no time to teach the incompetent, if attractive, newcomer.
Daisy Lucero is an eager student from the start. Hired for work in the café, her real dream is to explore the High Sierra wilderness on horseback. While she would love to earn the respect of the handsome woman who inspired her adventure, she may have to settle for pestering her with songs and questions.
In the vast classroom of the California wilderness, each woman finds herself tested. Tests of perseverance for Daisy as she learns to ride, and tests of patience as Jo considers whether life is about more than riding alone.
It doesn’t take either of them long, however, to realize that neither one of them needs a lesson in chemistry.
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Leave a comment and let us know which book you’ll be reading for the “first day of a new job” category!
