This week, we’re diving into a Sapphic Book Bingo category that is a true Book Unicorn, as they are quite rare: sapphic books with an average rating of five stars on Amazon or Goodreads!
For it to count as a five-star read, it needs to have at least five reviews or ratings, with an average of at least 4.8. Amazon and Goodreads will then round up to 5 stars.
In the quickly growing world of sapphic literature, finding exceptional books can be a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack, so even if you don’t participate in the Sapphic Book Bingo, you might want to check out this post to find your next read!
15 sapphic five-star reads
Below, you’ll find 15 sapphic books with an average rating of five stars:
Hidden Truths by Jae
Everyone on the Hamilton ranch seems to be harboring a secret: Luke has been living as a husband and father for the past seventeen years, telling no one but her wife that she’s not the man she appears to be. Nora hides her past as a prostitute, while their daughter Amy is trying to keep her attraction to women secret.
Into this tricky situation arrives Rika Aaldenberg, a mail-order bride who traveled to Oregon to marry the family’s foreman. She, too, has her own secret: she’s not the woman who wrote the letters.
At first, Amy isn’t happy about having to show the newcomer around, but soon, Rika earns her respect…and maybe even her heart.
When hidden truths are revealed, will their family fall apart, or will love keep them together?
Available at:
Above All Things (The Carlisle Series – Book 2) by Roslyn Sinclair
Aspiring writer Jules Moretti and iconic fashion editor Vivian Carlisle have been through the wringer.
As Vivian’s personal assistant, Jules was there for her ice queen boss’s whims, commands, and the shocking discovery of her pregnancy. Just as shocking was Jules’s realization that she was falling hard for Vivian…and that the feeling was mutual.
Now Jules is forging her own path. At the same time, how can she and her workaholic lover balance romance in the midst of backstabbing bosses, meddling families, and the impending arrival of a baby? Will their explosive chemistry fizzle, or can they take their relationship to a new level of passion—and commitment?
Above All Things is the second part of the two-book Carlisle series. This age-gap lesbian romance is a steamy tale of discovery, desire, and the rewards of opening yourself up to love.
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On the Same Page by Haley Cass
Riley Beckett met Gianna Mäkinen – drop-dead gorgeous influencer, trilingual, daughter of world-famous models, yes, that Gianna Mäkinen – their first year at Boston University, and it changed everything for the both of them. After all, when you find the person who just gets you, nothing feels quite “the same” right?
And in the ten years since, Riley has come to depend on Gianna more than anyone else in her life. She knows Gianna just as well as she knows herself – maybe better, some days. She knows Gianna is incredibly sex-positive, she knows Gianna doesn’t do romance or relationships, and she knows nothing could ever come between them.
This is what makes sense to her, all of this is status-quo. But when a holiday party mix-up sets in motion a domino effect of changes to these previously inalienable truths, Riley has to question everything she thought she knew about their relationship. What, exactly, does Gianna mean to her after all?
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Losing Control by J.J. Arias
Strait-laced talent agent Adriana Ortiz’s world is rocked when she’s thrust into the tumultuous orbit of Roxy, the raw, enigmatic pop rebel with a notorious edge and a guarded heart.
Tasked with steering the wild Roxy on a whirlwind tour, Adriana boards Roxy’s opulent tour bus. The nights are filled with roaring crowds, but it’s the electric tension between Roxy and Adriana that sets the air on fire.
As they blaze through cities, the magnetic pull between them turns undeniable. A forbidden connection that threatens to consume them.
But for Roxy, who’s danced on the edge of fleeting passions and never let anyone through the barriers around her heart, the intensity is too real. Is she ready to take a chance on genuine intimacy?
Is the wild, unbridled Roxy worth the risk to Adriana’s career, or is she just another woman falling victim to Roxy’s charms?
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Caught Sleeping (The Senator’s Wife Series – Book 2) by Jen Lyon
Despite the fragility of their relationship, Catharine and Alex have found a happiness together they never expected to find. Alex’s career is soaring with her hard-fought place on the US Women’s National Team as she prepares for the World Cup over the summer. Catharine is flourishing in her newfound freedom, embracing her love with Alex, while still being forced to keep their romance a secret amidst her soon-to-be ex-husband’s presidential campaign.
But it’s more than either woman hoped for. More than they ever imagined.
Until a secret is revealed that threatens it all. Their relationship. Alex’s career. Catharine’s business. Even their lives. When it all comes crashing down, both women must ask themselves—how can love survive?
Available at:
Prewrath & Rapture by TJ Dallas
This story follows on from the events of the Pride trilogy. Four years ago, Harry’s first act of Humility sent her hurtling to the deepest recesses of the dream world. When Death gives her the chance to save her family, her second act will prove infinitely worse. When Persephone arrives at the Cardinal, it’s time for Harry to keep her end of the deal. But it isn’t Pride, or even Humility, that Persephone wants; it’s Wrath. Emilia must join ranks with four forces of evil that long predate the Seven Deadly Sins; Death, Pestilence, War, and Famine. Emilia’s ruthless volcano has lain dormant for centuries, but a hidden agenda and a betrayal could tip her over the edge, causing an eruption felt throughout the very fabric of time and space.
Content warning; 18+, sexually explicit erotica, mature audiences only. One scene features consensual role-play between two women using Daddy/Baby Girl names, and one scene involves consensual and safe erotic asphyxiation.
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Pirates of Aletharia by Britney Jackson
Emilia Drakon was once the youngest and kindest of the dragon sorcerers, but she’s now the last of her kind. Betrayed and angry, she trades her meekness for a sword and embarks on a quest for vengeance that will lead her straight into the arms of the legendary Captain Maria Welles.
Captain of the famed pirate ship, the Wicked Fate, Maria is every bit as treacherous and bloodthirsty as they say. She has her own vendetta and practically jumps at the chance to trick Emilia into joining her crew.
But when their animosity toward each other blossoms into a passionate romance, the two women will have to decide what they want most.
Vengeance?
Or love?
Available at:
An Unlit Candle by Caren J. Werlinger
Patricia Horrigan is the eldest daughter of a family determined to gain entry into the upper echelons of Rochester society as the 1950s give way to the turbulence of the 60s. Born of an Irish father and a French-Canadian mother, Pip inherited the stubborn pride and fierce determination of both. With her life in the family business all planned out, she is most definitely not interested in throwing it all away to become a nun. But some calls will not be ignored, no matter how hard she tries. Fifty years later, she can’t help but wonder if her choices and sacrifices were worth it.
In present time, Lauren Thackeray has managed to put her life back together—in a manner of speaking. She has her weaving, her home, her chosen family, and she has the monastery and the lasting friendship of the nuns there. The one thing she doesn’t have, she doesn’t want. She won’t open her heart again after she barely survived the last time.
Gail Bauer is questioning her own vocation as an Episcopal priest. How can she minister to others when she’s not sure she believes anymore? In desperation, she flees, hoping to find answers.
In the shadow of St. Bridget’s Abbey, three very different women will need one another—to come to terms with their demons, to heal, and to rekindle the light that life has all but snuffed out.
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Just a Birdhouse by Emily Fohr
When twenty-one-year-old Bellamy Artois returns to the coast of Saint de Vie to visit her wine aficionado grandfather for the summer, she falls eagerly back into step, daydreaming alongside her childhood friend, Appoline Alarie.
Vacationing on the seaside, Bellamy attempts to balance the affections of the village baker, while struggling to keep her growing infatuation with Appoline, internal and at bay. Together, the pair rediscover friendship and explore its confines, as deemed by society. The soundtrack of their summer is narrated by Paul Simon songs and the fantasy of French romance; melodious freedom begging to be inhaled and exhaled without any inhibitions.
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Beyond Any Experience by Anne E. Terpstra
Olivia Northman’s world shattered the day she lost her wife to a drunk driver. Three years later, she still struggles with grief and the demands of being a single parent to their autistic son, Ben. After her first attempt at a new relationship crumbles, Olivia retreats to the simple, the predictable. It’s what’s best for her son and her heart.
Ellie Vasquez isn’t simple or predictable. In fact, she’s charmingly impulsive, as well as gregarious, confident, and attracted to Olivia, which she reveals in an unguarded moment. Olivia doesn’t know what’s more surprising—Ellie’s interest, or her own—but a quiet conversation over drinks soon spins into something more. As Olivia’s caution gives way to hope, she sees another chance at love, both for her, and for Ben, who takes to Ellie with a tender openness. Ellie is fearless about love in a way that makes Olivia want to be brave, but the deeper their passion, the closer she gets to drowning—in grief, in fear, in guilt. To have a future with Ellie, Olivia must come to terms with her past. If she can’t, she risks losing the second love of her life.
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Covenant by Ann McMan
Covenant continues the beloved saga of the residents of Jericho, a sleepy town in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, where life and love have as many twists and turns as a winding mountain road.
Six weeks have passed since the fateful unfolding of events at the town’s Fourth of July celebration. Questions swirl about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the town nemesis, Gerald Watson. Was it an accident, or was Watson murdered? As the scorching summer gives way to an early fall, suspects in the potential homicide abound, and everyone seems to be keeping secrets.
Throughout it all, bonds of love and fealty are stretched and tested as the endearing and quirky residents of this once-idyllic community weigh the covenants they keep against the secrets that threaten to tear them apart.
Join Syd, Maddie, David, Michael, Henry, Celine, and the irrepressible Roma Jean Freemantle as they band together to navigate the minefields of their ever-changing world in this newest Jericho novel.
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The Forever and the Now by KJ
Bron McIntyre, forty-two, has it all together. Terrific job. Loving family. No desperate need for a girlfriend but would be interested if one came along. Bron McIntyre is Teflon.
Kate Agostino, forty-eight, is not Teflon. Yes, she has a terrific job. But a loving family? Not really. And her personal life is rapidly disintegrating and turning into dust.
When her orange smoothie explodes all over her business suit while she’s on her afternoon walk, Kate simply shakes her head in resignation.
Bron, having witnessed the smoothie eruption, races to help, and suddenly her life takes an unexpected turn.
Falling in love is like watching the grandest sunset on the calmest ocean where the tiniest ripples wear silver sparkles as their hats. Kate and Bron find that sunset on that ocean with those ripples of love, but what happens when you take that love for granted? What happens when your person disappears? The answers are hard to hear and Bron chooses not to listen.
After a relationship break, a family intervention, and conversations that rip apart seams, Bron and Kate eventually find themselves, each other, and their now. And what they discover is that love is the large and the deliberate, and the simple and the small.
So when tragedy strikes, they call on its strength because, when you think about it, love can live on in the forever, particularly if it lives courageously in the now.
Available at:
Not All A Dream by Sophia Kell Hagin
What do you do when the whole world breaks?
Like when you make it through a plague with the woman you’ve loved for way more than half your septuagenarian life—only to watch her die, leaving you alone. And then, just weeks later, the world around you descends into relentless dark and cold.
Besieged, desolate Hester is too numb to know what to do. And even though she’s lucky to have the means to endure for quite a while, she’s tempted—really tempted—to just give it up. What, after all, is she enduring for?
But giving up will have to wait when she stumbles upon people who introduce her to the first rule of survival: Don’t try to go it alone if you don’t have to.
Available at:
The Language of Light by Kathleen Brady
It’s 1982, and China has just barely begun to open to the West.
When Lu McLean sells all her possessions and leaves Los Angeles to study Mandarin Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute, she imagines a life of serious scholarship and an eventual job as a translator at the United Nations. On the night of her arrival, Lu meets the captivating, Ming, a Chinese teacher at the institute. Still recovering from a failed ten-year relationship, Lu has vowed never to give her heart away again.
But as Lu struggles to balance Beijing’s simple beauty with the confounding rigidity of ageless custom, her feelings for Ming deepen. She soon finds herself vacillating between letting herself love Ming and her escalating fears about the certain barriers that would prevent them from ever navigating a life together. Against the backdrop of China’s Spiritual Pollution and a tightening cultural climate, it becomes clear that Ming cannot leave—and Lu cannot stay indefinitely. Events soon force Lu—and Ming—to balance the love that binds them against the social and political forces that threaten to tear them apart.
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Leave a comment
Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the sapphic five-star reads category! If there are other books that an average rating of at least 4.8 (with at least 5 ratings), let us know in the comments!
I’m missing Lies of Omission and Acts of Contrition, both historical romances by Elena Graf, on this list.
Thanks for letting us know!
You missed this one: Lies of Omission by Elena Graf, and Acts of Contrition by Elena Graf
Goldie and Rainbow Award winners for historical fiction
Thanks for adding them.
No One Else Could Heal Her: An FF Fantasy Romance (Clem & Wist) by Hiyodori