Jae

Sapphic Slow-burn romances

Friends to lovers romance novels (Lesbian Book Bingo #15)

This week’s Lesbian Book Bingo square is one of my favorite romance tropes, and one I know many readers love too: friends to lovers romance novels.

In a friends-to-lovers romance, the two main characters have been friends for some time, sometimes even childhood friends. Now they are developing romantic feelings for each other.

15 GREAT F/F FRIENDS TO LOVERS ROMANCE NOVELS

I’ve put together a list of 15 great friends-to-lovers romances I hope you’ll enjoy.

Chemistry Lessons by Jae

Chemistry Lessons by Jae

If science teacher Regan knows one thing, it’s chemistry, and she’s sure there’s none between her and best friend Kylie, no matter what everyone else thinks.

To prove it, they agree to go on three dates.

When a good night kiss turns passionate, will they risk losing their friendship for a chance at love?

Available at:
Amazon
Apple Books
Ylva Publishing

Like Jazz by Heather Blackmore

Claiborne High newcomer Cassidy “Cazz” Warner unwittingly attracts the attention of her beautiful, popular classmate Sarah Perkins, though a cross-country move wrests them apart before they begin to understand the depths of their friendship. Ten years later, Cazz runs into Sarah during a fraud investigation at Sarah’s charitable foundation. Will Cazz’s feelings for Sarah compromise her objectivity and jeopardize her case, or will they make her risk everything to protect the only woman she’s ever loved?

Available at:
Bold Strokes Books
Amazon
Apple iBooks

Just Three Words (SoHo Loft Series) by Melissa Brayden

Sometimes the one you want is the one you least suspect…Accountant Samantha Ennis craves order and structure. As the bookkeeper at the boutique advertising agency she owns with her three best friends, it’s her job to apply logic to the chaos. When one of those best friends, laid back Hunter Blair, moves in to share her loft apartment, Sam’s carefully organized world is thrown wildly askew.

Available at:
Bold Strokes Books
Amazon
Apple iBooks
Audible (audiobook)

Jukebox by Gina Daggett

Soul mates from their first meeting at age eleven, Harper and Grace know better than to fall in love. Yet they do. And are too much in love to care. But formidable powers control their lives: shame, fear, and especially money. Potent forces that will challenge their love to its very limits. This breathtaking debut novel is a feast for the senses, an erotic, melodic, lushly-detailed coming-of-age story that erupts with conflict and passion.

Available at:
Bella Books
Amazon

Imagining Reality (Virginia Clan, book 2) by Lynn Galli

Changing a reputation can be the hardest thing anyone can do, even among her own friends. But Jessie Ximena has been making great strides over the past year to do just that. Will anyone, even her good friends, give her the benefit of the doubt when it comes to finding a forever love?

Available at:
Amazon

Coming Home by Lois Cloarec Hart

Rob, a charismatic ex-fighter pilot severely disabled with MS, has been steadfastly cared for by his wife, Jan, for many years. Quite by accident one day, Terry, a young writer/postal carrier, enters their lives and turns it upside down.

Available at:
Ylva Publishing
Amazon
Apple iBooks

Into Thin Air by Jeannie Levig

Hannah Lewis’s life is exactly where she thinks it should be. But when her girlfriend, Jordan, disappears into thin air and she and Jordan’s best friend, Nikki, are drawn closer in the search, the more she learns, the less she seems to know, and the more she discovers about herself. When Jordan Webber is torn away from everything she knows, she finds herself in a struggle for her sanity and is forced to confront who she has been. When they come together again, can anything ever be the same?

Available at:
Bold Strokes Books
Amazon
Apple iBooks

Without Warning (Shaken series, book 1) by KG MacGregor

Two strangers, trapped in a collapsed shopping mall, find each other amid the rubble and join forces to escape.  Hampered by injury and darkness, they claw their way through one crumbled store after another, emerging long after most have given up hope for survivors. Without Warning is the story of their courageous journey through adversity and their promise of steadfast love.

Available at:
Bella Books
Amazon
Apple iBooks

Jericho by Ann McMan

Librarian Syd Murphy flees the carnage of a failed marriage by accepting an eighteen-month position in Jericho, a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. Her plans to hide out and heal her wounds fall by the wayside as she gets drawn into the daily lives of the quirky locals. When Syd gets a flat tire and is rescued by the town physician, Maddie Stevenson, the two women form a fast friendship—but almost immediately begin struggling with a mutual attraction. Together, Syd and Maddie learn that life and love can have as many twists and turns as a winding mountain road.

Available at:
Bywater Books
Amazon
Audible (audiobook)

Awakenings (I Found My Heart in San Francisco series, book 1) by Susan X. Meagher

A glimmer of attraction, discovery of shared interests, growing respect for one another, and the stirrings of desire. These are the building blocks for a nascent relationship. But when one member of the pair is out and experienced, while the other believes she’s straight, their friendship will have to change in dramatic ways to lead to the goal they both seek—love.

Available at:
Brisk Press
Amazon

Beginnings by L.T. Smith

Lou Turner loves Ashley Richards. Always has and always will. This is Lou’s story, a story spanning thirty years…from the innocence of youth to the bitterness of adulthood. But can Lou use her beginnings to shape her future? Only one woman can answer that question. Childhood and friendship, love and belief, and the hope that yesterdays can be what futures are made from.

Available at:
Ylva Publishing
Amazon
Apple iBooks

Prairie Heart by Marian Snowe

Eleanor Higgins has an incredible talent for matchmaking–for everyone but herself. That’s because no one can measure up to her best friend, Morgan…but Morgan’s straight, and Eleanor’s spent her entire life trying to put that fantasy behind her. When Morgan reveals that she may not be so straight after all, can Eleanor find her friend the perfect lady when all she really wants is to be that “perfect lady” herself?

Available at:
Amazon
Audible (audiobook)

The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer

Kendall Bettencourt is Hollywood’s hottest young starlet, but she longs for normal. Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood and her refuge from the craziness of celebrity life. With her career taking off, Kendall moves Payton to LA to help keep her sane.  But Payton is hiding a secret that could make everything ten times worse.  Because to her, Kendall is more than a best friend—she is the only girl that she has ever loved.

Available at:
Amazon
Apple iBooks
Audible (audiobook)

If you haven’t done so already, download your bingo card, pick the book you want to read for the “friends to lovers” square, and start reading! Remember that you can either read one of the 15 books listed above or pick another f/f romance novel with two main characters that start out as friends.

Lesbian Book bingo giveaway: Win a book by leaving a comment

For the “friends to lovers” square, I’m giving away an e-book copy of:

  • Love and Devotion by Jove Belle
  • Just Three Words by Melissa Brayden
  • Jericho by Ann McMan

Anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog and let us know which book you’re going to read for the “friends to lovers” square or if you can think of other lesbian books that fit this category.

Entries close on Thursday, July 26, 2018, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

Subscribe to this blog so you won’t miss the next book bingo post

The reading list for the next bingo square—romantic comedies—will be posted on August 2. Subscribe to my blog so you won’t miss it. There’ll be another giveaway too!

Important notice to make sure you don’t miss any of the Lesbian Book Bingo posts!

The data protection laws have changed on May 25, so I’m asking you to re-subscribe to my blog if you want to get each new book bingo post sent to your in-box.

Happy reading!
Jae

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44 Responses

  1. Good day!!
    This is not really my genre, but I did enjoy “Just Three Words”. I am reading “Without Warning” now for my next card. This bingo is great fun!

  2. You just added 12 more books to my reading list. The hard part is deciding which one I’ll read first to complete the square!

  3. Ooh, None so Blind – one of my old favourites (I could read that one again)! Two more suitable for this category: the Midnight Coffee series (2 books) or the first one of Tinderbox tales: Making a Tinderbox, both by Emma Sterner-Radley.

  4. Ah Jericho; that whole series by Ann McMan is excellent reading. Same goes for Melissa Brayden’s books.
    For this square though I already read Emma Sterner-Radley’s latest “Greengage Plots”. So fun!

  5. I read the Hravity BetweenUs years ago and it was amazing. It was one of my favorite coming of age/ coming out stories. I highly recommend it also. Since I’ve never heard of the rest of them I’m going to try and read some of them with the time I have left before the school year starts.

  6. I’ve read 7 of the 10 novels listed here. It’s a toss up which of the three I will read for the square but leaning towards None So Blind or Love and Devotion – hoping to win Jove Belle’s novel and then I only need to buy one of them :)

  7. I just read ‘Greenage Plots’ by Emma Sterner-Radley for this square. Loved it so much! Or it can also be used for Rom Com square ;)

  8. I’ve read, well listened to, both Jericho (and the rest of the series, it’s so worth it) and Gravity Between Us.

    I caution people about the audio of Gravity. I pushed through it because I really enjoyed the story, but the narration isn’t great. So, if that’s the type of thing that would derail you from a book, read it instead of listening.

    I will add more of these books to my list for the future. :-)

  9. Ive read all of these except Marian Snowe. So, on my second card Ill grab hers. A few are on my reread list, and ive read most from the series.

  10. Having grown up in Southern Calif. I found “Without Warning” to not only being extremely realistic but a darn good story too.

  11. One of my favourite categories… I read Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden to fill this bingo square.

  12. I read the Gravity between us.. it was great…
    I cant wait to see what else is out there for this section.

  13. I’ve read a few of these, but Coming Home seems like a really interesting one I want to try out this month.

  14. I’ve read and enjoyed four of these in the past. None So Blind is classic amazing. The very long San Francisco series, of which Awakenings is the first, is quite good. Lynn Galli is one of my favorite authors. I was excited to see these on your list!
    I put Heist by MJ Duncan in this square. It was a fun read, and the two main characters were friends in college.

  15. Read a couple from the list already, loved the Soho series by Melissa Brayden and The gravity between us is also a great one!!
    A couple more are already on my TBR list, but it’s also a mile long sooo….. nothing new there :) I think I’ll start with Always Alex by Robin Alexander, I just love her books! And I definitely have to read Jericho because it’s been on that TBR list for a long while now. I’m a little afraid to start with Without Warning, because everybody keeps saying you will want to read the whole series at once and I’m already busy with my four bingo cards and a life ;) but I will probably start that one too because it’s sounds great! And I’m still deciding about my fourth card.. Like Jazz has also been on my list for a while now, but I also like some of the other suggestions.. either way my TBR list has grown some more and they all will be read.. someday! Have fun everyone!

  16. So many great books on this list! I’ve previously read “Just Three Words,” “Like Jazz,” “Jericho,” “Without Warning,” “Imagining Reality,” “None So Blind,” and “The Gravity Between Us.” I loved them so much. I would also recommend “Snow Globe” by Georgia Beers (set at Christmas), “Life Rewired” by Lynn Galli, “Sing You Home” by Jodi Picoult (heavy subject matter), and “Banshee’s Honor” by Shaylynn Rose. I’m going to re-read “Without Warning” for this square.

  17. Just Three Words by Melissa Brayden. How can Brayden not write an awesome friends-to-lovers story when she can basically write great friendships and lovely romances in her sleep? She’s like the queen of first kiss scenes, too. Plus, in Just Three Words she addresses bi-erasure; one would think it wouldn’t be perpetuated by folks in the LGBT+ community because everyone in the LGBT community is marginalized in some way and you’d hope for more solidarity because of that fact. Brayden just gets it. All of it.

    Alex Always by Robin Alexander. Alexander’s like the queen of lesbian rom-com; she writes her ladies so well and with just the right doses of relatable humor that you simply can’t wait for her leads to fall in love. Or for their relatives and friends to chime in and complicate things in a funny way… if her leads don’t do it first, lol.

    Still, who am I kidding, because I’m putting all of the books on this list in my TBR pile! Friends-To-Lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and, as such I’ll Likely try to read every book rec’d in the comments as well, lol.

  18. I like this category as well, even when I’ve read only one book of this list, I definitely want to read more, Jericho is a great book and I’m sure the others on the list are as well, I got some that I definitely want to read from this list

  19. “Imagining Reality” by Lynn Galli: I love all her books, but this is my favorite; it’s the second book in the Virginia Clan series, but it was written before the first book (!). I suggest to read all the books in the series, but you can read it as a stand alone.
    I liked “Jericho” and “Without warning”; probably I’ll read “Into thin air” by Jeannie Levig because I liked her other books.
    For this category I also suggest “More than friends” by Erin Dutton.

  20. “Imagining Reality” by Lynn Galli: I love all her books and this is my favorite; it’s the second book in the Virginia Clan series, but it was written before the number 1 (!): I suggest to read all the books in the series, but you can read this as a stand alone.
    I liked “Jericho” and “Without Warning”; probably I’ll read “Into Thin Air” by Jeannnie Levig because I liked her other books.
    For this category I also suggest “More than friends” by Erin Dutton.

  21. I read Lynn Galli – Imagining Reality, Syd Parker – Remember Me, Yolanda Wallace – Lucky Loser. Maybe next LT Smith – Beginnings or Gina Daggett – Jukebox.

  22. I absolutely love Jukebox! One of my favorites. I wish they’d make an audibook of it.
    I believe I read The Secret Pond by Gerri Hill for this square. That’s a great read

  23. Prairie Heart by Marian Snowe! I have enjoyed each of her books, but haven’t read this one, yet! 📚📚📚

  24. I read “Gravity Between Us” and “Just Three Words” last year and would definitely recommend them.

    This year I read “The Goodman’s” by Clare Ashton; also one of my favourite friends-to-lovers books.

  25. Just finished reading Like I Love You. Loved it! Already read the Gravity Between Us. Consumed it. Looking for my next Snack…<3

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