Jae

Sapphic Slow-burn romances

Sapphic book with a stunning or unusual cover (Book Unicorn #7)

sapphic book with a stunning cover

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book with a cover that is stunning, unusual, or stands out in some way.

Of course, “stunning” is a very subjective term, and what stands out to one person might be considered nothing special by another. So for this category, just go by whatever cover you think is amazing or unusual in some way.

I picked the books I recommend for this category either because they won a GCLS Tee Corinne Award for Outstanding Cover Design or because they were among the top 10 favorite covers voted on by readers in my Facebook group.

 

15 sapphic books with a stunning or unusual cover

Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic books with a stunning or unusual cover.

 

Art of Magic by KJ

Cath Monroe loves her teaching job, her friends, her family, and her colleagues. They fill her life and her heart. She knows that it’s important to share love with actions and words, but that last one? About the words? That’s a problem. Because when it comes to saying ‘I love you’ to her forever person, Cath discovers that she doesn’t really know anything about love at all.

Then, Rica Diamandis strolls into her life. Rica is all stardust and sexy, and Cath is intrigued. The sudden availability of a romantic blank canvas takes Cath’s breath away. But when her father is taken to hospital with a life-threatening disease, Cath boxes up the romance with Rica, and packs it into the back of her heart. Fortunately, the Universe has other ideas and Cath begins to realise that embracing emotional chaos is actually the art that creates the magic.

Available at:

Amazon

 

The Headmistress by Milena McKay

A chance encounter. An unforgettable night.

And back home, trouble is brewing on the remote island of Three Dragons, where nothing feels like it used to. Alone and lonely, Sam Threadneedle wishes upon a star, hoping for change. But when said change comes, it’s with a roar and not a whimper.

Torn between loyalty and lust, Sam is forced to re-evaluate everything.

Can she and the Home of Dragons withstand the storm that is Magdalene Nox, or will any and all crumble?

Not everything is as it seems, and as she slowly unravels the mysteries behind the centuries-old walls, Sam realizes that home is much more than oak and stone.

Available at:

Amazon

Audible

 

Plain English by Rachel Spangler

When Claire Bailey left London to open her own art gallery in the tiny village of Amberwick, she’d hoped to make an honest go at simple living right up until the moment a shockingly attractive aristocrat rocketed o the road and knocked her world n its axis.

Pip has learned to play the part of a ne’er-do-well upper elite: charismatic, enigmatic, and a little bit erratic. Luckily, women tend to like that. After leading such a charmed existence, Pip finds that Claire’s complete lack of interest in money or status sparks both curiosity and attraction.

Surrendering to both boredom and sheer chemistry, the two agree to an unconventional, no-strings, romantic adventure designed to provide them both a bit of freedom and entertainment. However, once released from the pressure to project perfect images of themselves, the walls they depended on for protection begin to crumble. Worlds blend and identities blur as their whirlwind romance quickly becomes more than they bargained for. Will their almost elemental attraction be enough to overcome the complexities rushing in from all sides? Or will the pressures they’ve both sought to escape force them to forge a new path neither of them had dared to dream of?

Available at:

Bywater Books

Amazon

Apple Books

 

An Outsider Inside by RJ Samuel

For Irish-Indian lesbian activist, JAYA DILLON, an outsider who craves belonging over all else, survival depends on hiding the truth of who she is and who she loves – from herself.

In the heated run-up to Ireland’s referendum on same-sex marriage, she finds herself trapped between the “Yes” and “No” sides. And Jaya’s got a boulder on her shoulder about bisexual women and being brown in Ireland.

While clearing out an Indian couple’s rental house in Galway, she discovers a manuscript, written by the wife, Lana, who disappeared in worrying circumstances. When Jaya travels to France, she comes closer to the characters in Lana’s unfinished novel than she ever imagined possible. And she is shoved back into contact with her ex- fiancée, Chloe, who is planning her own wedding. To a man.

Jaya is drawn into a fictional world that may be truer than reality. As she fights to uncover the truth, everything she thought she knew about her politics and her place in the world turns on its head as she falls for the elusive Lana, is attracted to the charming, gay French-Algerian Ishmael and his beautiful sister Isabella, and confronts her unresolved feelings and dread over the choices Chloe is making.

Can she find Lana and the truth in time to save Chloe … without losing herself?

Available at:

Amazon

 

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:

Ylva Publishing

Amazon

Audible

 

House of Agnes by Fiona Zedde

Agnes Noble is private, mysterious, and untouchable. She rules House of Agnes, the most exclusive escort agency on the East Coast, with a diamond fist. Crossing her is a mistake no one makes twice.

Investigative reporter Lola Osbourne is not afraid. She’s gunning for the House and its so-called queen. She’ll make sure no other innocent gets dragged into Agnes’s alluring web, to be used and discarded the way Lola’s sister was.

But her plan to get close to the elusive madam shatters the moment her eyes meet the Queen’s. One look and everything’s different. More complicated. Dangerous.

Now, Lola’s not just fighting to topple a queen from her throne, she’s also scrambling to escape their explosive collision with her suddenly vulnerable heart intact.

Available at:

Ylva Publishing

Amazon

Audible

 

Nottingham by Anna Burke

After a fateful hunting accident sends her on the run from the law, Robyn finds herself deep in the heart of Sherwood Forest. All she really wants to do is provide for her family and stay out of trouble, but when the damnable Sheriff of Nottingham levies the largest tax in the history of England, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands. Relying on the help of her merry band of misfits and the Sheriff’s intriguing—and off-limits—daughter, Marian, Robyn must find a way to pull off the biggest heist Sherwood has ever seen.

With both heart and freedom at stake, just how much is she willing to risk to ensure the safety of the ones she loves?

Available at:

Bywater Books

Amazon

Apple Books

Audible

 

Outcaste by Fletcher DeLancey

Rahel Sayana is desperate to escape the life her parents have planned for her. She runs away to the dangerous port city of Whitesun and becomes an outcaste: a person of no caste and few rights.

From backbreaking labor on the docks to fighting off bullies, Rahel learns the lessons that propel her to the life of her dreams. Happiness does not last. A planetary threat pulls her into the biggest battle in Alsean history, then into a treacherous game of power.

The loss of both her honor and caste sends her reeling, but Rahel has always made her own fate. She gambles everything on one final chance.

Will giving up her hopes lead to the highest honor of all?

Available at:

Amazon

Apple Books

 

Aurora’s Angel by Emily Noon

Joined in a battle for survival, a broken-winged angel and a shapeshifter huntress with a bloody past form a bond that may change their world. Alone since her father’s murder, Aurora has spent years hunting his killers. Battle-weary she’s ready to start over where no one knows who or what she is – she just has one last mission. Everything is going to plan until she discovers the beautiful winged girl caged underground. Her decision to rescue Evie and to help her get home safely, despite avians being infamous for selling out shifters like Aurora to cutters and black-market flesh dealers, will put her on a perilous path.

As the women travel together their attraction grows but Aurora is guarding her lonely heart almost as much as her dangerous secrets and Evie is struggling to accept how important Aurora has become to her.

With their enemies conspiring to kill them, they may be each other’s only hope. Aurora is powerful but she’s also emotionally scarred. It will be up to Evie to save her from herself and to fight for them, or innocent people will die along with the guilty ones and Aurora will disappear from Evie’s life forever.

Available at:

Amazon

Audible

 

The Lily & the Crown by Roslyn Sinclair

Ariana “Ari” Geiker lives an isolated life on an imperial space station commanded by her father. The skilled, young botanist rarely leaves her living quarters, where she maintains an elaborate garden. When an imperious older woman is captured from a pirate ship and given to her as a slave, Ariana’s perfectly ordered life is thrown into chaos. Her nameless slave is watchful, intelligent, dangerous, and sexy, and seems to know an awful lot about tactics, star charts, and the dread, marauding pirate queen, Mir. What happens when the slave also reveals an expertise in seduction to her innocent mistress?

Available at:

Ylva Publishing

Amazon

Apple Books

Audible

 

A Breathless Place by Harper Bliss

Isabel ‘Izzy’ Adler used to dominate the world’s stages with her vocal acrobatics. But since she lost her voice ten years ago, Izzy’s been to hell—and hasn’t found her way back.

When journalist Leila Zadeh is brought in to finish her biography, Izzy’s dark plans for her life are challenged by the brilliant and gorgeous new woman in her life.

Will the instant attraction between them be enough to stop Izzy from playing out her final song?

Available at:

LadyLit Publishing

Amazon

Apple Books

Audible

 

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:

Amazon

 

Under a Falling Star by Jae

Falling stars are supposed to be a lucky sign, but not for Austen. Her new job as a secretary in an international games company isn’t off to a good start. Her first assignment—decorating the Christmas tree in the lobby—results in a trip to the ER after Dee, the company’s second-in-command, gets hit by the star-shaped tree topper.

Dee blames her instant attraction to Austen on her head wound, not the magic of the falling star. She’s determined not to act on it, especially since Austen has no idea that Dee is practically her boss.

Available at:

Ylva Publishing

Amazon

Apple Books

Audible

 

Cast Me Gently by Caren J. Werlinger

Teresa Benedetto and Ellie Ryan couldn’t be more different, at least on the surface.

Teresa still lives at home. As much as she loves her boisterous Italian family, she feels trapped by them and their plans for her life. Their love is suffocating her.

Ellie has been on her own for years, working hard to save up enough to live her dream of escaping from Pittsburgh to travel the world. Except leaving isn’t that simple when she knows her brother is out on the streets of the city somewhere, back from Vietnam, but not home.

When Teresa and Ellie meet and fall in love, their worlds clash. Ellie would love to be part of Teresa’s family, but they both know that will never happen. Sooner or later, Teresa will have to choose between the two halves of her heart—Ellie or her family.

Available at:

Amazon

Apple Books

Audible

 

A Calculated Risk by Cari Hunter

Detective Jo Shaw has it all worked out. She’s good at her job, she has loads of mates, and she likes being single. She doesn’t need complications, but an emergency call to the stabbing of a young woman brings plenty of those. Jo has to risk her career to save the woman’s life, and a bad night gets worse when the trauma surgeon turns out to be Isla Munro, Jo’s only real love, who walked out on her fifteen years ago and never came back.

With the victim’s children missing and the husband the prime suspect, Jo’s investigation is stonewalled by a community living in fear. As one dead end leads to another, she and Isla are forced to put their differences aside and work together. But the case is far more dangerous than Jo realizes, and her determination to sort the truth from the lies may put her own life on the line.

Available at:

Bold Strokes Books

 

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Leave a comment and let us know what book you’ll be reading for the “sapphic book with a stunning or unusual cover” category or what your favorite book cover is!

 

 

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4 Responses

  1. Beautiful covers. I wish you had listed the artists that designed them. I know some were by Em Schreiber, but I’d like to know who the others are.

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