Jae

Sapphic Slow-burn romances

Character works in a bakery

Character works in a bakery

This week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo features sapphic books with a character who works in a bakery or is a baker.

For this square of your main bingo card, read a sapphic book with a main character who either owns or works in a bakery or makes a living baking yummy things like bread, pies, and pastries.

 

15 sapphic books with a character who works in a bakery

Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic books with a main character who works in (or owns) a bakery.

 

Not the Marrying Kind by Jae

Small-town florist Ashley Gaines loves her little flower shop and putting together the perfect bouquets for weddings and other happy occasions. Her own love life, however, is far from blossoming. Ash has decided that staying in the closet is safer than risking her heart again.

Local bakery owner Sasha Peterson hasn’t had much luck mixing it up with romance either. Besides, she’s too busy whipping up delicious treats to have time for a relationship.

But when their town’s first lesbian wedding forces them to work together, Ashley and Sasha discover they have more in common than they imagined.

During food fights, cake tastings, and slow waltzes, they begin to see each other in a new light. Soon Ashley has to admit to herself that Sasha is tempting more than just her sweet tooth.

Available at:

Ylva Publishing

Amazon

Apple books

Audible

 

The Date by T.B. Markinson

Brittny Parker, an American graduate student, is moving to London with her lovable Boston Terrier, Cooper, in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics. Could life get any better? How about adding a super sexy woman next door? The problem is her snooty neighbor is not a dog person. In fact, she despises Cooper from the moment he knocks her over and sends her groceries spilling all over the ground.

Prin Jones is a native-born Londoner whose most successful relationship is with Francesca, her Persian cat. With a bakery to run and an unpleasant ex-girlfriend to dodge, the last thing Prin needs in her life is an obnoxious American and her poorly trained dog. But it becomes almost impossible not to run into Brit at every turn.

When Francesca and Cooper decide to become balcony friends, and Prin’s twin sister takes on the role of enthusiastic matchmaker, Brit and Prin decide to give each other a second chance. All they need is one date to see if there might be something more between them.

It should be easy, right? But somehow everything keeps going hilariously and disastrously wrong.

Can two women from different worlds meet in the middle to become more than neighbors?

Available at:

Amazon

 

Christmas Cupid by Barbara Winkes

Natasha’s favorite way of spending Christmas is on a beach with a cocktail, far away from the mistletoe and cheer she doesn’t believe in. She’s not happy when her boss sends her to the small town of Pinedale to investigate the legend of the Christmas Cupid:

In the Magic Christmas Bakery, customers have fallen in love while sharing sweet treats, for generations.

Natasha is prepared to uncover a scam—until she meets Ivy, third generation owner of the bakery and the current Christmas Cupid. Instead of a fraud, Natasha discovers seasonal delicacies and meets the couples who were blessed by the bakery’s matchmaking magic.

As the story changes, is it possible that a cynic like her could fall for a woman who is all about helping others find The One?

Available at:

Amazon

 

Frosted by the Girl Next Door by Aurora Rey & Jaime Clevenger

Casey Stevens needs distance from her movie producer parents and her social media starlet ex-wife. When she lands in Rocky Springs with a bruised ego and a pile of cash, the quaint tourist town seems like the perfect place for a fresh start. But is it the right place to make her dream of owning a classy sex shop a reality?

Tara McCoy knows a thing or two about licking her wounds. She never wanted to move back home, but she’s making the most of it, turning her family’s sleepy bakery into a cupcake destination. The last thing she wants next door is some seedy sex store, even if it’s promoting self-care as much as sex. And especially if the new owner is drop-dead gorgeous.

With the busy holiday season heating up, neither can afford to be petty or lose a customer. But when their reluctant truce melts into a little bit of sugar and a whole lot of spice, will love prevail, or will their differences be too hot to handle?

Available at:

Bold Strokes Books

Amazon

Apple books

Audible

 

Hero(ine) Addict by Blythe H. Warren

Harper Maxfield is going to change the world. But first she has to change her life.

Harper’s mundane job provides a steady paycheck but not much else—leaving her feeling frustrated, a little empty, and wondering how she let her girlfriend talk her into it in the first place. Her friends and family wonder how she let her girlfriend talk her into anything—especially a relationship. But how could she help falling for a gorgeous, successful doctor who saves kids from cancer?

At least Harper has her volunteer work with Mental Illness Allies to fulfill her. And if the big fundraiser she’s organizing is the success she hopes it will be, maybe it will end in a full-time position with Allies.

When comic book artist Eliot DeSanto isn’t thinking about superheroes, sidekicks and archrivals, she’s worried about her niece, whose recent cancer diagnosis has turned her life upside down. Eliot has no time for anything outside of work and family. But when eager humanitarian Harper asks for help with a fundraiser, Eliot finds herself unable to resist the attractive young woman.

Their work brings them closer together, but with so many obstacles between them, will they have the courage to follow their hearts?

Available at:

Bella Books

Amazon

Apple books

 

Whisk Me Away by Georgia Beers

Whisk Me Away is must-see TV. When the famous host arranges a retreat for up-and-coming pastry chefs, Regan Callahan applies. Everything she’s been working for is served up hot and delicious right under her nose: recognition of her self-taught skills, learning from a master, there’s even been a secret prize hinted at that just might give her the means to buy her boss’s bakery when he retires. It’s not supposed to be a competition, but if it is, she’ll do anything to win.

Ava Prescott has no intention of allowing that to happen. Not that she’s worried. Regan doesn’t have what it takes. Just like she couldn’t excel with Ava as her boss when they worked together at the high-end restaurant in New York City. Their rivalry sharp as a lemon tart, Ava’s going to win, then she’ll ditch the high-pressure kitchen and open a small restaurant where she’ll have the creative freedom to follow her instincts, and her unique desserts will blossom.

Their styles are different. Their personalities are miles apart. Regan’s a gorgeous flake. Ava, a beautiful untouchable ice queen. Let the competition, and the ovens, heat up. Everyone knows the best recipes come straight from the heart.

Available at:

Amazon

Apple books

Audible

 

Don’t Marry Me At Christmas by Clare Lydon

Meet Sara Snow: Christmas fanatic, festive wedding Grinch. Her dream nuptials? Sun-soaked, Beth-free.

Meet Beth Callaghan: Expert at running. From countries, feelings, and one-night stands with best friends.

Now Beth’s back, armed with apologies and tinsel-wrapped determination. But can she melt Sara’s frosty heart? Or will she need a Christmas miracle? One thing’s crystal clear: Sara Snow will NEVER have a Christmas wedding. Right? RIGHT?

Available at:

Amazon

Audible

 

Two Moons Bakery by B.L. Wilson

Two Moons Bakery is a trilogy of novellas about relationships among African-American lesbians, their friends, and family who live in NYC. The three stories interconnect through a central meeting place called Two Moons Bakery. Terry Samson and Essie Brooks are the co-owners of the bakery.

In the first novella, entitled MAYDEANE, a middle-aged, conservative businesswoman, Sylvia Royce, must learn to accept the love of a younger woman, Fredericka Hicks, who drives cabs for a living. MAYDEANE also touches on a problem baby boomers face: to put an aging parent with Alzheimer’s into a nursing housing or not.

The second story, LEGS, introduces the reader to an unlikely pairing. Somebody’s been whistling at Delaney Peters, an ER doctor, for the last five days precisely at 7 AM. When she confronts a worker in the manhole, she discovers it’s female electrician, Andrea Joiner. They meet again in the ER when Delaney treats Andrea’s eyes for chemical burns from an electrical fire in the manhole where she works.

In the third novella, WORKSPACES, Janelle Montgomery is a geriatric psychiatrist who works from her home. She wants customized shelves built similar to the ones in Two Moons to hold her never-ending paperwork. Terry refers Janelle to her friend, carpenter Caitlin Robbins. Caitlin’s confession of her guilt-ridden behavior with a younger woman provides Janelle with the opportunity to find out more about the quiet, self-contained carpenter. Things heat up when Caitlin, a die-hard single widower, admits her feelings for Janelle and finally acts on them.

Available at:

Amazon

Apple books

 

Any Girl But You by Dana Hawkins

Quinn Lee is a walking disaster with perfect hair, zero filter, and an alarming caffeine addiction who’s just ploughed her life savings into rescuing her family’s failing Christmas tree farm. She’s got one shot to pull off a Christmas miracle, so when an important promotional cookie order goes wrong, it understandably leads to a spectacular meltdown in front of cute-as-a-button bakery owner, Zoey.

Zoey bakes like an angel, thinks “drat” is a swear word, and is wholly unprepared for the opinionated, red-headed hurricane who storms into her shop competing for “world’s worst customer”. But she’s equally unprepared to discover that you don’t have to like someone to find them irresistible.

When both their businesses are threatened, a reluctant partnership becomes their only solution. But somewhere between Zoey’s killer dance moves and Quinn’s Chuck Norris puns, incompatible starts looking a lot like inevitable. As Christmas approaches, can these polar opposites navigate unexpected feelings, and the terrifying possibility that sometimes the person you clash with most is exactly the one you need?

Available at:

Amazon

Apple books

Audible

 

Who Am I? by Diana Jayne

How can four little words make you question everything you thought you knew about yourself?

Baker Georgina Wilkes’ laidback life is thrown into turmoil the moment her mother whispers a shocking confession.

Now she needs answers. Putting her wedding to cute accountant Tania on hold, Georgina whisks her fiancée off on a road trip to New Zealand’s remote Stewart Island.

What will she discover? Pieces of herself? Understanding? Will she even like what she finds? Or are some secrets better left buried in the past?

Available at:

Amazon

 

Sweet Surprises by E.R. Lebeaux

Ashley Pierce, a world famous author , finds herself newly pregnant, perpetually single with a string of bad dating luck and straighter than an arrow, or is she?

Queue in her best friend for life Katey Maverick , a somewhat famous in her own right as a baker, owner of the beloved cupcake shaped bakery,and secretly in love with Ashley since middle school.

A harebrained scheme and soon to be fulfilled dreams, choices made, and chances taken. Will they fail horrendously, or will everything turn out to be a Sweet Surprise.

Available at:

Amazon

Audible

 

Barging In by Emily Banting

Clem Wentworth, cake baker and marketing extraordinaire, moors her beloved orange narrowboat, Florence, outside her late Great Aunt Maud’s house to keep an eye on its renovation for her parents. With a canal-side trading spot secured nearby to run her new business, Clem’s Coffee & Cakes, she’s looking forward to a fresh start free from the corporate rat race.

Victoria Hargreaves is less than impressed when a bright orange boat disrupts the picturesque view of the canal from her home. She’s even less pleased to find that its owner has set up shop outside Otterford Wharf, the struggling heritage centre she manages, complete with its own café. The boat isn’t just ruining her view — its owner and her mouthwatering cakes could destroy her livelihood.

A disastrous first meeting leads to a very public, and very soggy altercation that neither of them can easily forget. Then, one evening, Clem witnesses something unsettling at Victoria’s home and realises she can’t ignore it. When she tries to warn her new adversary, she’s met with a frosty reception and further retaliation.

With trust running low and tensions rising, the last thing either of them needs is a spark of attraction — and yet, denying it might be harder than they think. As the wharf’s future hangs in the balance, Victoria realises that Clem might just be the person to help, but with her own challenges to consider, will she be willing?

Can the pair navigate their growing feelings and work together to achieve their goals, or will fear and uncertainty sink them both?

Available at:

Amazon

 

Where There’s Smoke by Aricka Alexander

Everyone knows Phoenix “Phee” Preston as the gorgeous, gentle giant, always ready to help in any way she can with a smile on her face.Ever since she was younger, she has always looked up to her grandfather, the town’s Fire Chief. She admired him and respected him, having been raised by him from the age of 6. So it’s only natural that when she turned 18, she followed in his footsteps, becoming the first and only female firefighter in the small town of Tucker, Louisiana.

When her grandpa passed away suddenly, she left town because it was hard being there when he wasn’t. It isn’t until a year later that she finally returns, and as if the Universe was gifting her for returning, she runs into a beautiful woman who immediately captures her heart, not only with her beauty but with a slice of strawberry shortcake. However, the moment is short-lived, and the woman disappears from her life, leaving only the taste of the sweet dessert and her name behind.

A year later, that mysteriously intriguing woman permanently moves to town to take over her late grandmother’s bakery.

Angel Savoie has spent a great deal of her adult life avoiding small towns because of the bad memories she had involving her parents’ death, but now she has no choice but to move to one. To her surprise, the town quickly grows on her, and she can see herself putting down roots in Tucker. Especially after she reconnects with a certain very attractive female firefighter who stops at nothing to make her smile

Available at:

Amazon

Audible

 

The Summer We’ve Had by Katherine Blakeman

After a nightmare couple of years following the death of her celebrity singer mother, Cass Mulligan is moving down to the sun, sea and shingle of Cornwall for a fresh start. But she soon realises that she’s not the only one in need of some TLC…

Felicia Wilson’s life is one long series of spinning plates. She has Dissociative Identity Disorder, a system of five alternate personalities living in her body, and they all have different hopes, fears and desires.

When Cass is thrown together with Felicia, some beautiful friendships grow, and soon there is substantial mutual attraction between Cass and dominant alter Heather. But if things go wrong, they could go very wrong. Can they build a relationship AND keep everybody happy?

Available at:

Amazon

 

Oh My Stars by S-Jay Hart

You can outgrow a place, it’s common knowledge. You can even outgrow people. Honey Rosenberg has spent her entire life in the small town of Verity Vale and it still fits her perfectly. She lives her life in certainties. She goes to work every day with her sisters at their family deli. She bakes sweet treats that the town clamor for and she spends her nights drinking cider and playing chess, under the moonlight, with her elderly neighbor and best friend.

Everything is idyllic.

But life can turn on a dime and when it does, she wonders if things will ever feel the same.

Liv Henderson thought she had it all, beautiful girlfriend, a luxury seventh-floor apartment with a city view and job she always wanted. But then she is handed something she never asked for. The deed to a place she barely remembers. Suddenly nothing is what it seems and Liv starts to question everything she’s ever known, including herself. As Liv’s life starts to unfurl around her she soon comes to learn that in order to find ourselves we have to be ourselves.

Sometimes all you have to do is look up.

Available at:

Amazon

 

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What book will you be reading for the “character works in a bakery” category? Let us know in the comments!

 

Book on sale

Departure from the Script is on sale

Since February is Romance Month, my publisher put one of my romance novels, Departure from the Script, on sale! For a few days only, you can get the ebook at 60% off via Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Ylva, and most other online bookstores.

After an anti-Valentine’s Day party and too much vodka, actress Amanda wakes up in Michelle’s bed, with no memory of how she got there or what happened between them. But Michelle isn’t even her type…or is she?

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2 Responses

  1. Lily Seabrooke’s Port Andrea series includes One Step at a Time where a MC is doing an internship at a Patisserie. Oui. Oui.

  2. Here are a couple other books that qualify:
    How Sweet It Is by Melissa Brayden
    A New Leash on Love by Jaime Clevenger and Aurora Rey

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