This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category features books with butch characters who are blonde.
It’s a Hidden Gem category because butch characters are more often portrayed as having dark-brown or black hair rather than being blonde.
Maybe that traces back to the influence of Xena: Warrior Princess fan fiction, which had a huge impact on sapphic fiction in the 1990s and 2000s. Back then, the butch character tended to be dark-haired, while the femme character was more likely to be blonde or red-haired.
Or maybe it’s connected to the influence of M/F romance, where the male protagonists is more often described as dark-haired, in line with the “tall, dark, and handsome” trope. A more masculine gender expression has apparently become associated with dark hair in fiction.
15 sapphic books with butch characters who are blonde
Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic books with butch characters who are blonde.
Sparks by Jae
What seems broken might just need a reboot in this slow-burn, lesbian romance
New admin Willow Greene has the worst luck with electronics. Computers crash, printers jam, and even coffee machines refuse to cooperate when she’s around.
Like her devices, her relationships never seem to last, so she has given up on dating. That’s why she’s seriously unprepared for the IT department’s easygoing, always smiling Scottie Prescott, who has far too much charm to be safe.
Scottie can’t help noticing introverted, mysterious Willow, but she’s still healing from a bad breakup. The last thing she needs is more chaos, given she’s supposed to fix problems, not get tangled up in them.
But when they get stuck in an elevator together, the sparks between them become impossible to ignore. Can they risk their carefully protected hearts getting burned?
Available at:
Audible (pre-order)
Flipping Hearts and Homes by Chris Zett
Handywoman Rowan is rooted in her small-town community, accepting every odd job to keep her family’s hardware store afloat. When she inherits an old house, it’s the perfect opportunity to flip it to pay off her mom’s debt. She never intends to get tangled up with beautiful, adorably nerdy Maia, a visiting big-city radiologist, staying at her aunts’ place to mend a broken heart.
Evenings at a nearby lake, renovation projects, and a wild storm keep throwing Maia and Rowan together, and an undeniable attraction sparks. But what future could there ever be for two people with such different goals?
Available at:
Courtship by Anna Pulley
Reaux Briggs is no stranger to cruising; each night a different woman warms her bed. She doesn’t exactly mind it, as intimacy is something she gave up on long ago. But when her hot nights land her in hotter water and she’s ousted as drummer by her metal band, Reaux thinks things couldn’t possibly get worse. Then she walks onto the deck of a long-awaited holiday cruise only to run face-first into the woman who broke her heart.
Catherine “Fitz” Fitzgerald is an up-and-coming divorce lawyer too busy trying to make partner to care about her love life, or anything approximating one. But thanks to an antiquated norm at her family’s firm, Fitz needs to find a partner in order to get promoted. As if her mother setting her up on horrible blind dates wasn’t bad enough, Fitz also has to contend with being in forced proximity to Reaux, her high school sweetheart and the girl she’s never really been able to get out of her head.
Increasingly pulled together by feelings they can’t quite ignore—not to mention a tropical hurricane that threatens the lives of everyone aboard the ship—Reaux and Fitz must learn to navigate the emotional and literal storms swirling about them. Will they be able to mend their past hurts and reach safe harbors, or has their ship sailed once and for all?
Available at:
No Such Thing as Serendipity by Rita Potter
Ambitious Blake Saunders is about to have it all. The forty-two-year-old is set to become CEO of a multibillion-dollar private equity firm and win at life. Until everything starts to unravel for the woman who is all about control.
Her sympathetic sister, Emma, offers her a deal: One month with Emma where she makes all of Blake’s decisions for her. How bad could it be?
Then Blake finds herself at rundown Blissful Breeze Sanctuary stuck doing activities including pug yoga, emotion charades, and sharing circles.
Worse, the sizzling hot lawyer at the retreat who Blake has her eye on for “stress relief” is definitely not Emma-approved. No, her sister thinks she should instead romance the soft-spoken feminist bookstore owner who practices yoga and Stoicism.
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Shifting Gears by Jazz Forrester
Workaholic Eleanor Cromwell blows into rural Canada, laser focused on her real estate development project. Given the locals already hate her father’s company, she plans to hide away in a cabin and conceal her identity to get the job done. And then her car breaks down…
Sweet, smart, goofy mechanic Dani Cooper is about as laid-back as they come, all rumpled flannels and cheeky grins. Meeting an uptight, out-of-town stranger sparks more than just a tire change. What starts as a whirlwind summer fling might turn into something more…except Eleanor’s secret threatens to tear everything apart.
Available at:
Study You by Melissa Tereze
It’s been months since Finn Ashton walked into Gillian Masters lecture, and by extension, her life…followed by another six weeks since their last, mind-blowing encounter. In Gillian’s office. On her desk. Then the holidays came and went, and Gillian’s silence spoke louder than words. It was a one-time fling, too risky to repeat.
Finn gets it. With her life packed with architecture classes, a job, and a less-than-ideal home life, it’s no wonder the gorgeous, seemingly confident Gillian wouldn’t want to risk her career on scratching an itch.
But when Finn takes a seat in Gillian’s lecture hall for a new semester, the undeniable gravity between them is still powerful. The moment their eyes meet, they both know their cravings are far from satisfied.
If they’re careful to leave their emotions out of it, they can give each other the desperately needed space to fill their deepest, darkest needs. But is their arrangement just harmless stress-release? Or an addiction that could leave their hearts—and lives—in pieces?
Available at:
Holding Out For Her Hero by Rebecca Freeman
Sam thought she was an ordinary person until her first convoy escort with the military was ambushed, and she was forced to take refuge in the sacred cliffs of the local deity known only as “The Goddess”. The Goddess, a trickster with a heart of gold, informs Sam that she is destined to be one of her elite warriors, a Soturi (the real world calls them butches), and drags her into the adventure of a lifetime.
Gala knew she was destined to live in the realm of The Goddess from a very young age. She comes through the cliffs and finds everything she hoped for as a young girl, except for a Soturi of her own. Gala is an Aiti, what the real world calls a femme, and the only Soturi she has ever loved, she can only find in her intense, erotic dreams.
Sam’s Soturi team, Lili, Dasha, and Fern, became the best friends and found family she could imagine. Sam’s biggest fear in training is finding the Aiti whose body has haunted her dreams since her first day in training. Their first mission starts out as a simple rescue, until Sam and Gala find themselves face to face and in more danger than they ever imagined. Now, it’s not just two hearts on the line; Sam’s training team finds themselves forced to rescue not just one kidnapped Aiti but a town full of people held hostage by a greedy, petty tyrant who would kill anyone who stands in his way.
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Threads of the Heart by Jeannie Levig
No one travels this life alone.
Maggie Rae-McInnis is happy in her twelve-year relationship with Addison and renting out the rooms in their large home in the Hollywood Hills. Her one nagging fear is that her partner is not as happy as she is—and she is right. Addison is a hot mess. Though she loves Maggie, she feels something is missing. When she meets Victoria Fontaine, a confident, sexy, and manipulative younger woman, she is swept into something new, exciting, and a little dangerous.
Tess Rossini and Dusty Gardner, the couple’s closest friends and long-term tenants, face their own fears as they navigate the uncharted waters of love, and Eve Jacobs, newest arrival, finds herself on a path of self-discovery.
The love and friendship these women share make up the threads that weave together to form the unbreakable bonds that last a lifetime.
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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.
Available at:
Binding Bricks by Ami Spencer
When your lost chance reappears…
Grace Khan is disappearing.
Ten years ago, burdened by the devastation of losing her best friend to a life which didn’t include her, she got swept up in a marriage she should never have agreed to. Now, with the relationship barely more than a contentious cohabitation, she dedicates all her energy to her son, the only light in her otherwise dull and uninspiring life.
Until across the crowded school playground she sees Mica Davenport. The lost love which has haunted her life with ifs and maybes is back, and their presence relights a fire in Grace that she thought was long extinguished.
While Grace and Mica navigate the potential of rekindling their friendship, they both also have to face the hand those missing years has dealt them. While Mica argues with themself about getting close to Grace again, Grace has to rediscover who she is outside of being a mother. Quieting the voice of self-doubt which has become her constant companion proves harder than she anticipated, especially when the person offering their unwavering support also reminds Grace of her biggest regret…
Available at:
The Demon Equilibrium by Cathy Pegau
Grace Carter, a “source” of magic, has spent the last nine months searching for Maggie Mulvaney, her “catalyst.”
The joy of reuniting with her partner—and her lover—is thwarted by her worst fear: Maggie remembers neither Grace nor their life together in the Order of Saint Teresa, the centuries-old organization that trained them to be the strongest demon-hunting duo in generations.
When Maggie and Grace unexpectedly come face-to-face with the demon Horde, they are forced to team up once again. As they begin to piece their lives back together, they discover that their memories have been masked by someone within the Order. Should the Horde succeed in their plan, those who have committed their lives to slay worldly demons will be relegated to little more than minions as humans are completely enslaved.
Now, Grace and Maggie must sacrifice everything, possibly even their love, and their lives, in an all-out battle to save humanity.
Available at:
The Planck Paradox by TJ Dallas
Cole Maclean is a philosophy teacher who also fosters service dogs through puppyhood. While she trains cute little Paradox to help a paraplegic friend, she can’t help but notice the pretty new professor with whom she finds herself sharing a supply closet.
Kenzie Philips teaches physics and likes her world to be grounded in the hard sciences. She also fears dogs, so she has no reason to be thinking about the sexy-as-hell teacher who asks head-scratching questions and takes a dog everywhere she goes.
But a shared interest in She-Ra, and a Deaf student needing help with his education, practically guarantee that they can’t ignore the magnetic attraction between them.
Available at:
A Gold Medal in Love by Alex La Bruyere
Imani Gray is known as winter sports’ ice queen, and she’s smart enough to know that moniker has a dual meaning. Her whole life has been one battle after another, but it’s all been leading up to this: the chance for figure-skating gold.
Nothing is going to stand in her way: not the Russian favorite, not the reporters who keep using microaggressions that cause her to tank interviews, and certainly not Blake Floquet, the arrogant masc hockey player who she’s forced to room with at the games.
As her career reaches a peak, she starts to unravel, but there’s one unlikely person who stands ready to catch her, and their dimpled offers to help might just be her saving grace on the way to win it all.
This is an FX kinky sports romcom featuring two messy lesbians. Please check the author’s website or front matter for content notes, and if you have any questions, please reach out to the author.
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The Price of Revenge by Dominique Davis
Can revenge truly heal a broken heart?
Whitney “Whit” Robinson and Sabrina Price have a deep and unbreakable bond forged through years of friendship. They’ve been through it all together, from first loves to family drama, and their bond seems destined to last beyond their college years.
But one fateful night changes everything. Whit is left reeling from the loss of her boyfriend, her once flawless reputation, and worst of all, her friendship with Sabrina. Wracked with grief, Whit devises a plan to get revenge against those who hurt her, including Sabrina.
Whit’s plan is simple: she’ll hurt Sabrina by befriending her estranged half-sister, Jordyn. But as Whit gets closer to Jordyn, she starts to question her motives and wonders if her quest for revenge is truly worth it. As Whit struggles to come to terms with her grief and anger, she finds herself facing a difficult choice. Will she be able to let go of her anger and heal, or will her quest for revenge cost her the one thing she never knew she wanted: love?
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In the Black by L Dreamer
What if you got a second chance at first love?
Hotshot firefighter captain Michelle ‘Mitch’ Mitchell loves her job, loves her dog, and loves her best friend Fish. She did love a girl once, but that girl left their small town, taking Mitch’s heart with her.
Lilly never meant to hurt Mitch. She just wanted some time to figure out who she was. Now ten years later, she’s back in her hometown dealing with an ailing aunt, a failing family bar, and a girlfriend she can’t seem to fall in love with.
When grief brings Mitch and Lilly together, secrets are revealed, old wounds are reopened and long-smoldering feelings reignited. Will they be able to forgive past mistakes and start over again?
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She-Wolf: A Sapphic Beowulf Retelling by E.K. O’Connor
You know the poem. You know the hero. You don’t know the full story.
Beowulf lands on a Danish shore in winter, salt spray soaking her armor, and walks into a failing king’s hall with fourteen warriors and a name that already echoes across seas. She fights the monster Grendel without a weapon and wins. She dives into a cursed lake and faces something worse.
But the battles that cost her the most are not the ones fought with fists. They are the battles of legacy and loneliness, of a woman the world insists on calling a killer when she only ever wanted to protect. When a queen sees past the legend to the woman beneath, something shifts that no monster could dislodge.
The epic poem gave you a hero. She-Wolf gives you the truth of her.
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What sapphic book will you be reading for the “butch characters who are blonde” category? Let us know in the comments!
2 Responses
Queenslander has a blonde butch main character 🚜🦘🐑
I think Cassidy Miller of the Don’t Call Me Hero series qualifies as a blonde soft butch (even though she wore “kitten heels” to Julia’s father’s funeral, she hated them and wished for her combat boots—the things we do for love!).