Since earlier this week was Butch Appreciation Day, this week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo celebrates butch characters! For this square of the bingo card, read a sapphic book featuring a butch main character who doesn’t have a unisex name or doesn’t go by a butch nickname.
Let me point out that, of course, butch women can have any name, so any name can be a butch name. That’s the point I’m trying to make with this category. In most sapphic books, butch characters are given unisex or traditionally male names. However, real life shows us that butch women are just as likely to be named Tiffany, Cindy, or Isabella. These names reflect the diversity of butch identities, yet they’re rarely seen in fiction.
15 recommended sapphic books featuring butch characters with non-butch names
Below, you’ll find a list of 15 sapphic books featuring butch characters who don’t go by a typically butch name.
Departure from the Script by Jae
Aspiring actress Amanda Clark and photographer Michelle Osinski are two women burned by love and not looking to test the fire again. And even if they were, it certainly wouldn’t be with each other. Amanda has never been attracted to a butch woman before, and Michelle personifies the term butch.
Having just landed a role on a hot new TV show, she’s determined to focus on her career and doesn’t need any complications in her life. After a turbulent breakup with her starlet ex, Michelle swore she would never get involved with an actress again.
Another high-maintenance woman is the last thing she wants, and her first encounter with Amanda certainly makes her appear the type. But after a date that is not a date and some meddling from Amanda’s grandmother, they both begin to wonder if it’s not time for a departure from their usual dating scripts.
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Dark Horse by A. L. Brooks
Sometimes, going back is the only way forward. Punished for a crime she did not commit, Sadie is sent away to live with her grandmother in Sydney, Australia. Now, several years later, Sadie’s an aloof, lone wolf, café-manager who loves only her best friend, her gran, and her motorbike. Returning home to see her dying mother, she’s forced to face her past.
In the midst of family turmoil, she connects with the most unlikely of people. Holly, a beautiful hotel desk clerk, is Sadie’s polar opposite and a beacon of warmth and light amidst Sadie’s darkness.
It’s a lot to take in. Between Sadie’s growing love and old family lies, can she build a new, bright future with Holly?
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Face the Music by Aimée
England, 2011. Phyllida Reynart has come back from Afghanistan wounded and bitter, having lost both her army career and the love of her life. Through a friend, she gets an audition for the local orchestra, directed by Trishia Knight, a woman who has fought hard to get where she is. Both women are strong-willed, and serious about their work – both women struggle to keep their lives together and neither of them is looking for love. However, it is usually to be found in the most unexpected places.
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Enthralled by Her by Chelsea M. Cameron
Things might be going well enough, but I couldn’t see much to look forward to. Sure, I somehow had a thriving business repairing and rebinding books, and my parents had gifted me their vacation house after my apartment was turned into a co-op. Still, there wasn’t a whole lot of action and excitement in little Arrowbridge, Maine, but I was making the best of it, like I always did. Just me and my guinea pigs, Gomez and Morticia, taking on the world.
Then a tree falls in my yard, barely missing the house and my car. My kind neighbor recommends a local arborist, but when Shae Wentworth shows up, I don’t quite know what to make of her. Not only is she physically intimidating, with her ripped arms from her wood-chopping hobby, she’s surprisingly well-read and funny, once she opens up a little. I’m addicted to spending time with her, and it’s unsettling, to say the least. Shae has somehow unlocked something I thought I buried deep down, but I’m at a point where I can no longer ignore the way I feel.
One night, after a few too many glasses of wine at book club, she gives me a ride and I make her a wild proposition: teach me how to date women. For some reason, she agrees, and I’ve got myself an incredibly sexy sapphic dating tutor.
There’s just the small problem of me completely falling for her and wishing Shae was my girlfriend instead.
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Sealed with a Hiss by Eule Grey
Mave Kitten is ecstatic when she lands a dream job as a paranormal journalist for a local newspaper, the Echo. It’s a chance in a lifetime for a neurodivergent Witch. She’s a little nervous about the boss, leather-clad motorcyclist Lisa Blonde. But Lisa’s got a heart of gold, and Mave soon settles into her new role. There’s even an office cat to help out. Only one tiny problem remains—Lisa doesn’t believe in the paranormal. How is Mave to change her mind?
Her Little Joke
Mave and Lisa investigate a creepy sound emanating from a nearby canal. Little do they know to what depths the trail will lead: Ghosts, a haunted well, ignorance, a flapping bird. What of the woman in green? Mave’s interviews lead to some unexpected situations, and all the time, the hissing sound grows louder. The last place Mave and Lisa wish to visit is the depths of a macabre well. Heck, no. They’re just ordinary women with bills to pay. But entities are fashionably unpredictable, and ghost whisperers can’t choose when to answer a supernatural SOS. When the darkness closes in, Mave is glad of Lisa’s winning formula of strength and softness.
Swamp Woman
Although Mave loves her Sunday dates with Lisa, she wishes the outings would lead to something more intimate. When a swamp monster at Ladybower Reservoir goes AWOL and a researcher disappears, it’s a brilliant opportunity for Mave and Lisa to get better acquainted and stretch their investigative skills. Mave leaves no gravestone unturned. Phantom aircraft, a missing scientist, abandoned lizard tails, tussles in the bushes: all pathways lead to one heated conclusion—it’s time to tell Lisa how she feels.
Kitten and Blonde set forth on Lisa’s motorbike armed with packed lunches and crucial questions. Why is a mysterious noise coming from the well? What’s causing the toxic chemicals at Ladybower Reservoir? Where’s the nearest pub? Maybe the most crucial question of all is whether Lisa Blonde will ever believe in the supernatural.
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Ice Quake by Tiffany E. Taylor
43-year-old Lenora Wexler is the conservative CEO of The Wexler-Grahmme Group in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, a cold—yet kind—and guarded butch with a painful past. Because of the damaging trauma she has suffered at her ex-wife’s hands, she’s sworn she will never, EVER get involved with another woman again. Femmes are too catty, too selfish, and too unkind—in her experience—and they aren’t worth the risk to her heart.
40-year-old Willow St. James is the new business analyst and developer at Wexler-Grahmme, a brilliant, quirky femme with a fondness for Chuck Taylor sneakers and eclectic clothing. Her unconventional life includes a kooky nonbinary barista roommate with lavender hair named Rebel, a pet chinchilla named Drip, and a tabby cat with a shoelace fascination named Glitch. Len’s best friend and business partner, Beck Grahmme—who is also the chief operating officer of Wexler-Grahmme and Willow’s new boss—is convinced Len only needs to spend a little bit of time with Willow and Rebel in “Chaos Central” to see that not all femmes are the same.
When a sneaky corporate thief raises their ugly head in an embezzlement scheme, Willow draws upon her formidable analysis skills to help Len and Beck identify and capture the thief. But Willow’s heart has been breaking—because she’s fallen in love with the handsome CEO, who is encased in such a thick layer of ice, Willow despairs of ever getting through to her.
Until, of course, an ice quake strikes and turns all of their worlds completely upside down. Oh, the things that make you go Boom.
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When It Feels Right by Tagan Shepard
Marlene Diggs has her whole life figured out and a ten-year plan for success. You know what’s not on that plan? A one-night stand with a woman who makes her question everything. How could she have spent thirty years not knowing she’s a lesbian? Her first lesbian relationship ends in disaster and leaves her even more confused than before. Of course, the lingering crush on a certain bartender doesn’t help.
Abby McCallister has always felt good in her own skin. It’s everyone else who has a problem. When yet another girlfriend labels her “too much,” another relationship bites the dust, and she winds up sleeping on the couch in her art studio. A cute regular at the bar offers up her spare room in exchange for some tips on fitting into the gay scene, and Abby jumps at the chance. What’s the worst that could happen?
Marlene and Abby know that falling for your roommate is the worst cliché ever, and it’s absolutely not going to happen to them. But resisting their feelings is hard to do when being together feels so right.
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Wicked Fem by Edie Marr
I’ve always fantasised about a woman like her.
Can I handle the reality?
I’m just your average recently-heartbroken scruffy butch. When I bump into my dream woman in the supermarket I’m so overwhelmed I can barely speak to her. She’s out of my league. So how come I’m putting so much effort into tracking her down.
She’s a beautiful polished dominant fem. She’s never been with a woman before. And I’ve never ever been with a woman like her. It can’t possibly work. Can it?
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A Crime of Secrets by Ann Aptaker
New York City, 1899—a city on the cusp of a new century. A city growing taller, faster, a city of new inventions, new ideas—and old dangers on its shadowy streets where crime, misery, and murder lurk.
When Pauline Godfrey, a young woman embodying the coming modern age, is viciously murdered, her throat cut, private inquiry agents Finola “Fin” Donner and Devorah Longstreet must navigate a world of violence and passion, lust and betrayal, where duty is twisted into bitter obedience and love is soiled.
Fin, a tough survivor of the dockside slums, and her beloved companion, the elegant, intellectual socialite Devorah, probe deep into the festering secrets of a family, the rot and corruption of the police department, and the sinister world of the city’s thieves, whores, and thugs to find the killer.
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Music from Stone by Brenda Murphy
Celebrated concert pianist Nüwa Zhou had it all. Until she didn’t. Forced out of the closet while testifying at the kidnapping and murder trial of her obsessive former assistant turned stalker, she retires from the high-pressure world of performing to recover at her parents’ estate.
Stone mason, and frustrated sculptor Julia Johnson, spends her days stone building walls and patios while dreaming of quitting her day job.
After a chance encounter with Julia leads to more, Nüwa imagines a life with Julia. When her stalker returns, determined to kidnap Nüwa and end anyone who stands in his way, Nüwa will do whatever it takes to keep Julia safe, but will it be enough?
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Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd
Mattie Belman’s life has gone from dismal to desperate. After the loss of her acting career, her marriage, and her usual optimism, she’s back home teaching high school theater. Maybe it’ll be a fresh start.
St. Rita’s arrogant soccer coach Jillian Reed sees Mattie’s musical as an outrageous distraction for her champion players. When Jillian declares war, Mattie is far too stubborn to back down.
But as Mattie discovers there might be more to Jillian than spectacle, fire, and ego, she gets dangerously close to her iron-willed colleague. Can she avoid temptation? Or will the growing flame in Jillian’s dark eyes ignite them both?
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Vicarious by Chloe Spencer
After suffering a savage assault in a bathroom as a girl, Gertie meets the man of her dreams. Her trauma soon vanishes as they begin to build a life together. However, with the sudden death of her beloved Jack, and the return of her school bully—Bea—years later, Gertie’s long-buried trauma bubbles to the surface. All the think is one thing: Revenge.
Inserting herself into Bea’s life, nobody is safe—not her parents, not her children. Hell, not even the PTA members of her daughter’s high school. Starting a sordid romance with Bea in a bid to destroy her life from the inside out, Gertie soon learns revenge is messier than she thought.
But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
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These Thin Lines by Milena McKay
In the heart of Paris, Chiara Conti is a Queen trapped in an Ivory Tower of haute couture, fortune and lovelessness. Lonely and dejected, she’s longing for inspiration, for direction, for understanding.
When Vi Courtenay falls at her feet, losing her shoe like a veritable Cinderella, events are set in motion that will unravel their carefully fashioned lives.
With everything tainted, will the thin lines they rend ever be mended?
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Love or Hate by Rita Potter
In a world full of divisiveness, what would it be like to walk in someone else’s shoes?
Two worlds collide when Rain Hargrove, a progressive lesbian, and Ivy Nash, a conservative Christian, clash at a political rally. Normally, that would be the end of the story, but it’s just the beginning when they’re approached by an old woman. Her bizarre chanting about love and hate disrupts their argument, and the two go their separate ways, pushing the incident from their minds.
That is, until, without warning, they find themselves in each other’s bodies. Then they’re suddenly switched back. This can’t be real…can it? Did the old woman have something to do with this? The unpredictable body swaps continue, sometimes with hilarious consequences.
While Rain and Ivy search for a way to stop these unsettling events, they’re forced to see the world through each other’s eyes. As the unlikely friendship develops, they must face some of their deeply held beliefs and prejudices.
Is it possible to not only accept their differences, but also embrace them? If so, could the bond they’ve developed lead to something deeper?
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Let Love Be Enough by Robyn Nyx
When a killer sets her sights on her target, is there any stopping her?
Award-winning journalist Madison Ford is taking a well-deserved break from covering foreign wars. That break is cut short when she receives a mysterious package, full of incriminating information on an organ trafficking ring. When she’s asked to do an interview with actress and humanitarian, Elodie Fontaine, it seems like a welcome distraction. She has no idea how distracting Elodie will become.
Elodie Fontaine is in demand. She chooses the movies she wants to work on and the women she wants in her bed. Humanitarian work takes up the rest of her time. Love isn’t an option. Madison walks into her life and turns it upside down and inside out. Elodie wants to see where their instant connection might lead, but Madison just wants to be friends.
When Madison’s work puts her life in danger, will Elodie’s love be strong enough to save her? Or will they lose everything?
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Leave a comment
What book will you be reading for the “butch character with a non-butch name” category? Are there other books that are a good fit for this category? Let us know in the comments!
3 Responses
Departure from the Script is my choice this week. I have read it before and a revisit will be fun.
Gonna read Departure From The Script now!
Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll enjoy it.