Welcome to the Sapphic Book Bingo 2023! I hope you had a good start into the new year and are ready for the first category of the 2023 reading challenge. We are starting with a very popular trope: sapphic age gap romances.
Check out the rules & download your Sapphic Book Bingo card
If you haven’t done so already, check out the rules of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read the descriptions of the categories, and download your bingo card. Then come back here to take a look at my suggestions for the first square below.
15 sapphic age-gap romance novels
Here are my recommendations for sapphic age-gap romane novels:
Just a Touch Away by Jae
Hannah Martin has an unusual job: she’s a professional cuddler. While she has a big heart for her clients, she hasn’t found someone special to snuggle up to in her personal life.
Winter Sullivan isn’t looking for love. She’s an aloof workaholic who’s built walls of ice around herself. She would rather drive toothpicks under her fingernails than cuddle, and she certainly doesn’t want to share her space with anyone.
When Winter’s estranged father dies, he leaves her one last surprise: she and Hannah, a perfect stranger, will inherit a building together. But there’s a catch: first, they have to live together for ninety-two days.
Winter is determined to dislike her rival, but soon finds Hannah isn’t what she expected at all. Thanks to a hilarious doormat war, a cuddle dare from Winter’s half sister, and a kiss in the most unusual of places, the frosty fortress around her heart begins to melt.
Will she be able to accept that love might be just a touch away?
Available at:
Simply the Best by Karin Kallmaker
Simply the Worst…Alice Cabot’s only great love is science, but a lapse in judgment has exiled the New York journalist to the glitzy Gallerias and vapid bubble-babble of Beverly Hills. The assignment to do a flattering feature series on Simply the Best and the superficial nonsense it sells threatens to crush what little is left of her spirit.
Simply the Best…Pepper Addington can’t believe she’s moved up from grunt intern to personal assistant for Helene Jolie, the celebrity socialite founder of SimplytheBest.com. Succeeding at the job she worked so hard to get is her only priority. Keep a cynical know-it-all reporter in check? She promises Helene that she can.
Simply Irresistible…Expecting nothing but games from the beach-blond surfer girl that Helene Jolie has assigned to keep an eye on her, Alice is fully prepared to resist any and all of California’s charms. Or so she thinks.
Available at:
The Fixer by Lee Winter
A naive activist is hired by a corporate villain but doesn’t realize it. Cue one awkward farce, a twisty puzzle, and the slowest of slow burns in this opposites-attract, ice queen romance.
Nine years ago, aloof, icy Michelle Hastings chose career over love. She’s now living with that choice as she rules a secret corporation catering to the rich and powerful.
Enter Eden Lawless. The guileless activist finds it a bit weird being employed by a mystery organization to bring down a corrupt mayor. But, hey, she’s up for a challenge. Much harder is getting her beautiful new boss out of her head. The pull between them is electric.
Available at:
Amazon (out on January 25)
Apple Books (out on January 25)
Something’s Different by Quinn Ivins
Unemployed academic Caitlyn Taylor comes home to family drama. Her carefree twin Chloe plans to ditch her job to visit a guy she met online. Caitlyn steps in to impersonate Chloe so she won’t get fired for skipping town. Unfortunately, this means answering phones for an icy, dismissive boss.
Busy college president Ruth Holloway never paid much attention to her mediocre assistant. Suddenly, “Chloe” demonstrates insight into faculty politics and a baffling talent for analytics. And since when has she been so attractive?
Caitlyn dreams of getting closer to her sister’s boss but how can she? Everything they’ve shared has been based on a lie.
Available at:
The Duet by Harper Bliss
The Lady Kings and their singer, Lana Lynch, have been out of the limelight since Lana’s partner’s sudden death ten years ago. They’re ready for an epic comeback tour, but have to take a young and hip support band with them.
Cleo Palmer and The Other Women are over the moon when they get booked to support their lifelong idols and share the stage with the iconic Lady Kings—especially queer legend Lana Lynch.
But when Lana invites her to sing a sensual duet together every night, Cleo gets way more than she bargained for.
Lana and Cleo’s on-stage chemistry is off the charts, but the differences in their age and life experience, not to mention some dramatic band politics, prove difficult to overcome.
Can Lana and Cleo find their way to each other once the spotlights are switched off?
Available at:
Looking for Trouble by Jess Lea
Nancy is sick of living in the share house from hell, getting dumped by women who aren’t that into her, and being stuck in dead-end jobs. It’s time to chase her dream to become a political journalist, get her own funky inner-city Melbourne place, and meet Ms Right.
Instead, she meets cranky George, a butch, tattooed bus driver and party volunteer who’s dodging a vengeful ex-girlfriend. George thinks Nancy is stuck up; Nancy thinks George is the rudest woman she’s ever met.
The warring pair is caught up in the crazy election campaign of Clara West, a maverick running on the bizarre promise to shut down the internet. Rich, sexy, and dangerous, Clara will stop at nothing in the pursuit of power.
Nancy and George must learn to trust each other and act fast if they want to stay alive.
Available at:
Truth and Measure by Roslyn Sinclair
Jules Moretti is newly single, an aspiring writer, and the hyper-competent assistant to the most powerful woman in fashion. It’s a tough job, but her ice queen boss won’t settle for less than perfection.
Vivian Carlisle helms the internationally revered fashion publication Du Jour. She might be smack in the middle of a messy divorce, but you have to make sacrifices to be the best. That’s what she tells herself, anyway.
When the unthinkable happens, Vivian’s regimented world is turned upside-down. Her life is about power, success, and dominance—not a baby!
This single, shocking moment throws boss and assistant together into an intimacy neither could have imagined. With their lives in chaos, every day brings a new challenge bigger than the last. But everything will work out…just so long as they don’t do anything totally ridiculous.
Like fall in love.
Available at:
Reclaiming Love by Amanda Radley
Sarah Campbell told one tiny white lie.
When her tech-giant employer moves her to a cottage on a small Scottish island to work on a classified, controversial, and potentially world-saving project, Sarah must keep her eco-terrorist mother in the dark to prevent her from disrupting everything. Sarah’s cover story—she’s fallen in love, she and her girlfriend are escaping the bustle of the city, she couldn’t be happier… But Sarah’s better at firewalls than real walls, and when she arrives at the run-down cottage, she quickly discovers she needs help.
Pippa Kent is a widowed, semi-retired structural engineer who’s done with love. She fills all her free time running a handywoman service on the island. When Sarah calls Pippa out for the most basic repairs, Pippa can’t help but wonder—often out loud—how anyone could be so inept at home maintenance.
Then Sarah’s mother suddenly decides to visit and meet her daughter’s wonderful new partner. With little option, Sarah begs Pippa to be her fake girlfriend. Only the more time they spend faking it, the less pretend it feels.
Available at:
The Danger of Female Curiosity by Suzanne Moss
Thea Morell, Georgian heiress and eligible lady, is not normal. At least, that’s what she has come to believe. She loves nothing more than spending hours at the study of natural history, collecting fossils, insects, dead fish, bones and even the odd spider. Up to now, she has held off her mother’s entreaties to marry, but this year may be her last chance to make a good match and the pressure is mounting.
In her search for scientific truth, Thea also begins to acknowledge a truth about herself – a most inconvenient one which sparks at the lips of the ‘electrical venus’ and bursts into flame in the presence of the very proper Lady Eleanor Harrington. Despite her attempts to observe and understand, this particular truth defies all rationalisation. Has her obsession with the male-dominated world of natural history caused the unnatural tendencies she can’t seem to control? And more importantly, can she protect her family’s interests whilst reconciling the dual passions of her mind and her heart?
Available at:
Finding Jessica Lambert by Clare Ashton
Movie star Jessica Lambert is in danger of burning out. Returning to London for the premiere of her latest film, she’s recognised everywhere she goes. When she runs away through the streets of London, she’s taken in by the beautiful and more mature Anna. The two hide in the sanctuary of Anna’s roof-top flat, a haven away from the crowds, but why has Anna removed herself from the world?
As the two women get to know each other, stripping away the layers, both appreciate what each does for the other. This could be the start of something wonderful, more than either of them know.
Available at:
Nights at the Majestic by Kit Eyre
Her weekly visits to watch classic films at the Majestic are the only bright spots in Eve Thomas’s life since the death of her wife. Meanwhile, Lizzie Carlyle is struggling to enjoy anything as work and a partner she doesn’t love grind her down.
A chance meeting during a robbery at the Majestic throws Eve and Lizzie together. They might be from different backgrounds with a twenty-year age gap but something clicks between them.
And when the Majestic faces a more existential threat, they might be the only ones able to save it.
Available at:
Love and Pride by R.L. Merrill
Popstar Unice Love is thrilled to be recording a high-profile holiday tune for charity, and super-producer Lydia Pride knows she can do something special with Love’s exceptional vocal instrument. Sparks fly between the spirited ingenue and the seasoned musician, but Unice will need to get past the obstacles that have held her back and learn to speak up for what she wants, and Lydia will have to let her in if they’re going to make beautiful music together.
Available at:
Stone Memory by Aimée
Clifton, present time. Kate O’Carroll has just moved to take up a new position at Bristol University. She’s found a lovely house that comes complete with its own library – a big bonus for an avid reader. Her new life seems to be starting auspiciously when she slips on the pavement and ends up at the local A&E. Adrienne Sargent, the surgeon on call, immediately feels a connection to her patient, but of course, there’s no reason they should meet again outside the hospital.
Clifton, 1900. Dorcas Fairstead, a parson’s daughter, is starting a teaching career at one of the pioneering colleges for women. Not much older than her students, she is finding her feet, making friends and writing a journal for the first time in her life. At a conference, she and her friends meet Elizabeth Sutcliff, a young doctor working at one of the first women’s hospitals in London.
There must be something in the air, for although none of these women is actively looking for love, life has other ideas. As past and present intersect, are they ready to follow their desires?
Available at:
Broken by Ami Spencer
Callie Montgomery should feel happy with her life. A rising career, a business inherited from her father and a loving family surrounding her. Besides, she’s in a much better place than a decade ago, so she should be grateful, right?
But everything’s not always as it seems. Appearances can be deceptive. Unless that is, you’re faced with the return of the woman who can read you better than anyone.
Jackie Taylor thought she had found the woman she was going to spend forever with, until one day, she walked away without explanation. But twelve years later, life has dragged her back into the orbit of Callie Montgomery. She can see that something is plaguing the younger woman’s mind, but is she close enough to help her through it? And will she get the answers she’s craved for so many years?
When the woman who left you broken is the one struggling to hold herself together, what choice does she have but to be a friend? Especially when friends may not be where it stops…
Available at:
Lives Intertwined: Love on Sequim Bay by Dorothy Rice Bennett
Brittany Forrest, animal lover and vet tech, needs a better place to rent in Sequim, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Noticing a for-rent sign, she calls the owner of the large house. Brit, guessing she isn’t the only woman needing a better/cheaper place to live, finds three other lesbians to rent with her. Needing one more, Aggie Hollister, the straight older woman who owns the big house, asks to remain as the fifth woman. How will this work out for the five women – a vet tech, a lawn-maintenance worker, a college student with a secret friend, a retired pianist, and a straight woman who has built a life caring for other people, all of different ages – sharing space and lives?
Available at:
Bonus: Upcoming sapphic age-gap romances:
- In Too Deep by Rachael Sommers (March 2023)
- A Curious Visit by Jess Lea (April 2023)
More book recommendations
If you need more book recommendations for Sapphic Book Bingo, here are a few places to find them:
- Join my Facebook group and check out the book cards folder pinned to the top, where authors are adding handy cards that show you into which categories their books fit.
- Join the Sapphic Book Bingo Goodreads group.
- Check out Ylva Publishing’s Sapphic Book Bingo list that shows you how the Ylva books fit into the catgegories of the reading challenge.
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thanks for the great list of books to read….I’m always looking for ideas.
Appreciate the great list of books! Looks like I’ll be pretty busy!
I read The Duet and Simply the Beat so far!! I am so happy I found this. Love it. On to the next category. Thank you
I hope you enjoy all the categories and discovering many new books & authors!
Starting with Truth & Measure, been wanting to read it.