Sapphic Book Bingo Archives - Page 3 of 4

Sapphic book with a main character over 50 (Book Unicorn #6)

March 6, 2023June 16, 2022

For this week’s Book Unicorn post of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book in which at least one of the main characters is over 50.

In WLW and lesbian fiction, especially in romance, most of the protagonists seem to be in their 20s and 30s. Lately, I’ve seen more books with characters in their forties, but characters who are in their fifties and beyond are still rather rare.

So for this week’s category, I’d like you to read a book with a main characters in their 50s or older. It could be an age gap romance, in which the other main character is considerably younger, or all of the protagonists could be over 50. I’ll leave that choice up to you, as long as at least one of the main characters is 50 or older.

Sapphic book by a newbie author (Sapphic Book Bingo #12)

March 6, 2023June 9, 2022

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category, I would like you to read a book by a new author to give some attention to writers who are just starting out.

For the sake of this reading challenge, I’m defining “newbie authors” as a writer who has published only one or two novel-length books.

I put together a list of 100+ new authors of sapphic books for you, and I’m constantly adding to it as I find new authors, so keep checking back.

Classic sapphic books (Sapphic Book Bingo #11)

June 10, 2022May 26, 2022

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category, read a book that is considered a classic sapphic book—one of the trailblazing books published in the 20th century or before, at a time when most mainstream publishers wouldn’t publish LGBT+ literature and sapphic characters often didn’t get a happy ending.

Today, we are lucky to live in a time when more sapphic books are published every year than most of us can read, across all subgenres, and we owe it to these amazing authors who blazed the trail for us.

For the sake of this reading challenge, I would considered any sapphic book that was first published before the year 2000 a “sapphic classic.”

Sapphic books that includes safer sex (Book Unicorn #5)

September 6, 2022May 19, 2022

For this week’s Book Unicorn post of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book in which the characters practice safer sex. Maybe there’s a scene in the book in which they talk about safer sex, or we find out they’ve gotten tested for STIs (sexually transmitted infections) before sleeping together, or we see them use dental dams or condom-covered sex toys, etc.

As I mentioned in a blog post that I wrote for the Ylva Publishing blog a few years ago, sapphic romances and erotica rarely depict safer sex practices. The characters never seem to worry about contracting sexually transmitted infections, even if they have only just met and don’t know each other’s sexual history.

I get that it can interrupt the buildup and flow of a steamy scene, but as an author, I try to find a way to incorporate it, especially if I’m writing a story in which one of the characters had a lot of one-night stands in the past.

sapphic books out of your reading comfort zone

Sapphic book that is out of your comfort zone (Sapphic Book Bingo #10)

July 20, 2022May 12, 2022

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category, read a sapphic book that is a bit—or a lot—out of your reading comfort zone.

It can be a genre or subgenre you don’t usually read, a trope or topic you normally avoid, or a format you don’t usually read. If you stick to reading novels most of the time, you could try a short story, a biography/memoir, poetry, nonfiction, or a graphic novel. If you normally read ebooks, you could read a paperback or try an audiobook. If you mostly read contemporary romances, you could try a historical romance, a paranormal romance, a mystery, or book of another genre.

If there’s a certain point of view that you usually avoid, you could search out a book written from that point of view for this category–that’s what I might be doing.

Below, I’ll give you some resources and suggestions.

Free sapphic books (Sapphic Book Bingo #9)

July 21, 2023April 28, 2022

This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post offers you dozens of free sapphic books that you can download for your enjoyment!

Traditionally, the center square of a bingo card is a free space, but I thought it would be more fun to make it a square for free books. For this category, you can read any book that you got for free. It could be a free story that the author offered on their website or a retailer or a free ebook the author sent to new newsletter subscribers. Of course, it can also be a book that you got as a gift or that you won in a giveaway.

By the way, there are monthly book giveaways in my Facebook reader group, so feel free to join us.

Below, you’ll find a list of 20 free sapphic books for you to download and enjoy.

Sapphic books based on a historical event (Book Unicorn #4)

March 6, 2023April 21, 2022

This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features sapphic books that are based on a historical event.

This category, of course, overlaps with historical fiction, but it isn’t identical. For the book to count for this category, it needs to include a specific historical event such as the Great Earthquakes and Fires in 1906 in my novel Shaken to the Core.

The book can also be contemporary fiction that contains an important event that happened in more recent years.

Sapphic fake relationship romance novels (Sapphic Book Bingo #8)

April 14, 2022

This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features sapphic fake relationship romance novels—books in which the two main characters pretend to be in a relationship with each other.

The “fake relationship” trope is very popular with romance readers, so you will find 10 additional book recommendations in the “favorite trope” post of the Sapphic Book Bingo.

I think what readers love about “fake girlfriend” or “fake fiancée” stories is that the plot throws together two characters who are often total strangers and who might not even like each other. Under normal circumstances, they would never consider dating each other, but now they are forced to spend time together and pretend to be a couple. As you can imagine, they get into some hilarious situations, and after a while, they discover that their feelings are no longer fake…

Sapphic books featuring an established couple (Sapphic Book Bingo #7)

March 6, 2023March 31, 2022

This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features sapphic books with an established couple, meaning the main character needs to already be in an established romantic relationship at the beginning of the book.

There aren’t that many “established couple” books within the romance genre because, by definition, the plot of a romance novel revolves around two (or more) characters falling in love. The central question is whether they’ll end up with getting their happily ever after. But while the “happily ever after” is the end of a romance novel, it’s not the end of the couple’s story. Sometimes, readers would love to see how the couple handles problems life throws at them or whether they start a family.

So for this category, read a book in which the characters are already together at the start of the book. The book can be part of a series, with the characters getting together in an earlier book, or it could be a novel that isn’t a romance at all.

Sapphic book by a full-time writer (Sapphic Book Bingo #6)

March 6, 2023March 17, 2022

For this week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book by an author who writes full-time. Not a lot of authors are able to support themselves with their writing, especially not in a niche genre such as sapphic/women-loving-women fiction, so I thought full-time writers of sapphic fiction deserve a category of their own.

I put together a list of full-time writers below. Some of these authors retired from their day jobs; others gave them up to write full-time, as I did in 2013, and now make a living off their writing.