This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category is all about sapphic books published before 2015.
New releases tend to steal the spotlight, but there are so many incredible stories that have been around for a decade (or more!) and still hit just as hard.
So this square of the bingo card celebrates the classics, the evergreens, and the older sapphic books that deserve more attention.
15 sapphic books published before 2015
Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic books published before 20215.
Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest
The intimacy of a cabin at Lake Tahoe provides the combustible circumstances that bring Diana Holland and Lane Christianson together in this passionate novel of first discovery.
Candid in its eroticism, intensely romantic, remarkably beautiful, CURIOUS WINE is a love story that will remain in your memory.
Available at:
Touchwood by Karin Kallmaker
Fleeing the ruins of her life and relationship, Rayann Germaine rents a room from bookstore owner Louisa Thatcher. Decades older, Louisa offers shelter and work—and eventually passion that takes them both by surprise.
Falling in love, and into bed, turns out to be the easy part. Rayann’s mother disapproves of a liaison with a woman her own contemporary. Louisa’s son blames Rayann for revelations about his mother’s past and present that he does not want to accept. Friends universally agree that it can’t last.
These doubts would be easier to withstand if Rayann wasn’t already worried about sustaining the interest of a fascinating woman with a lifetime of experiences. Louisa isn’t sure she has any right to lay claim to the future of a much younger woman. Their only common ground seems to be the searing attraction that they simply can’t deny.
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Tropical Storm by Melissa Good
Dar Roberts, corporate raider for a multi-national tech company, is cold, practical, and merciless. She does her job with razor-sharp accuracy. Friends are a luxury she cannot allow herself, and love is something she knows she’ll never attain.
Kerry Stuart left Michigan for Florida in an attempt to get away from her domineering politician father and the constraints of the overly conservative life her family forced upon her. After college she worked her way into supervision at a small tech company, only to have it taken over by Dar Roberts’ organization. Her association with Dar begins in disbelief, hatred, and disappointment, but when Dar unexpectedly hires Kerry as her work assistant, the dynamics of their relationship change. Over time, a bond begins to form.
But can Dar overcome years of habit and conditioning to open herself up to the uncertainty of love? And will Kerry escape from the clutches of her powerful father in order to live a better life? The answer to both questions is no – unless these two women can strengthen and cement the tenuous bond that forms between them. First they must face storms that neither expects . . . and live to tell the tale.
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Conflict of Interest by Jae
Workaholic Detective Aiden Carlisle isn’t looking for love—and certainly not at the law enforcement seminar she reluctantly agreed to attend. But the first lecturer is not at all what she expected.
Psychologist Dawn Kinsley has just found her place in life. After a failed relationship with a police officer, she has sworn never to get involved with another cop again, but she feels a connection to Aiden from the very first moment.
Can Aiden keep from crossing the line when a brutal crime threatens to keep them apart before they’ve even gotten together?
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Jericho by Ann McMan
Welcome to Jericho, Virginia.
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.
And, if that’s not enough, Syd is straight and going through a divorce―and Maddie somehow forgets to mention her sexual orientation to her new best friend. Almost everyone who crosses their paths believes it’s only a matter of time until they figure it out, but sometimes, it takes a while to see the obvious.
Together, Syd and Maddie learn that life and love can have as many twists and turns as a winding mountain road.
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Desire at Dawn by Fiona Zedde
Recently turned from human to vampire, Kylie wants nothing to do with her new life or with the clan that claims her. She certainly wants nothing to do with her mother, Belle, who is completely infatuated with her vampire wife and clan leader.
To escape her unwanted existence, Kylie befriends a human, Olivia, who has been abandoned by her family. But unknown to Kylie, someone is watching her. An enemy has targeted her as the perfect way to destroy her clan. While battling this enemy, Kylie also grapples with the surprising desires she feels for the human. Desires that she’d once seen as wicked and wrong.
Fighting for her life, Kylie must confront both the assassins and the beast within her that would do anything to keep her loved ones safe.
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Don’t Call Me Hero by Eliza Lentzski
It’s been over a year since Cassidy Miller retired from the United States Marine Corps, but try telling that to her nightmares. She knew that coming back after eight years in a war zone wouldn’t be easy, but she’d underestimated the real difficulties of transitioning back to civilian life. War is hell, but the aftermath is endless. Looking for a fresh start, she’s left her friends and career in Minneapolis to be a police officer in northern Minnesota.
It’s in the tiny town of Embarrass where she learns more about Julia Desjardin. The city prosecutor is cool, professional, and untouchable. But she and Cassidy have history, and Cassidy isn’t going to let her easily forget that.
For all their surface differences, Cassidy and Julia have more in common than they first realized—both are reluctant to hand over their pasts to be judged and studied. But it might take someone just as damaged as the other to help each cope with the skeletons in their respective closets.
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And Playing the Role of Herself by K.E. Lane
Actress Caidence Harris is living her dreams after landing a leading role among the star-studded, veteran cast of 9th Precinct, a hot new police drama shot on location in glitzy LA. Her sometimes-costar Robyn Ward is magnetic, glamorous, and devastatingly beautiful, the quintessential A-List celebrity on the fast-track to super-stardom.
When the two meet on the set of 9th Precinct, Caid is instantly infatuated but settles for friendship, positive that Robyn is both unavailable and uninterested. Soon Caid sees that all is not as it appears, but can she take a chance and risk her heart when the outcome is so uncertain?
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Starting Over by Jen Silver
Ellie Winters, a successful potter, is living on a remote hilltop farm inherited from her parents. Her well-ordered life is shaken apart when her past meets her present.
Robin Fanshawe, Ellie’s philandering long-term lover, has a fragile truce with Ellie. The arrival of women from Robin’s present threatens to break that tentative pact.
Charming Dr. Kathryn Moss, an archaeologist and an old lover of Ellie’s, arrives on the farm searching for a new site to dig. When she discovers a previously unknown Roman settlement and ancient burial site on Ellie’s farm, Ellie allows her to start an archaeological dig of the area. Will Ellie also allow the rekindling of an old romance or will she stay with Robin? Can that long term relationship, albeit tentative, recover from this collision or will an old romance trump everything she knows? Will Robin, seeing the interaction between Ellie and Kathryn, leave her womanizing ways behind? Will she take a chance on giving herself wholly to the woman she loves?
These questions and the mystery of whose royal resting place is disturbed at Starling Hill are answered in this classic romance of simmering passions, anguished loss, and the wonder of love.
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The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer
At just 19, Kendall Bettencourt is Hollywood’s hottest young starlet, with the world at her feet – but behind the glamour and designer dresses is a girl who longs for normal.
Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood, and the one person who reminds her of who she really is – 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.
Just as they need each other more than ever, they’ll have to answer the question of where friendship stops and love begins? And find out whether the feelings they have can survive the mounting pressure of fame…
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Out of Time by Lesley Dimmock
Haunted by her past, Lindsay ap Rhys ap Gruffud just wants a quiet life. What she gets is Elizabeth the First appearing in her back garden. Lindsay and her best mate, Meg, must find a way to send Elizabeth back before a sixteenth century conspiracy succeeds in removing her from the throne of England.
When feisty librarian Kate Spencer joins the quest, Lindsay struggles to avoid the one thing she dreads the most – falling in love. As they embark on a journey that takes them from one end of the country to the other, time is running out – for Queen Elizabeth and Lindsay ap Rhys ap Gruffud.
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Eyes on the Stars by Lynn Ames
Jessie Keaton and Claudia Sherwood were as different as night and day. But when their nation needed experienced female pilots, their reactions were identical: heed the call. In early 1943, the two women joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots—the WASPs—and reported to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, where they promptly fell head-over-heels in love. The life of a WASP was often perilous by definition. Being two women in love added another layer of complication entirely, leading to ostracism and worse. Like many others, Jessie and Claudia hid their relationship, going on dates with men to avert suspicion. The ruse worked well until one seemingly innocent afternoon ruined everything. Two lives tragically altered. Two hearts ripped apart. And a second chance more than fifty years in the making.
From the airfields of World War II, to the East Room of the Obama White House, follow the lives of two extraordinary women whose love transcends time and place.
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Veritas by MJ Duncan
Working as a chef aboard a private yacht might not seem like a vacation for most people, but to Lauren Murphy, a highly-regarded sous chef at a top New York restaurant, the opportunity to spend seventeen days in the Virgin Islands, sailing from one tropical location to the next, while having complete freedom to create her own menus is a dream come true.
Enter Grey Wells, the owner and captain of the Veritas, and the most complicated person Lauren has ever met. Cold and distant one minute and then cautiously friendly the next, Lauren is compelled to get to know her better. What happens when she does, however, is enough to change both of their lives forever.
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The Sjöfn Academy: The Chronicles of Arianthem by Samantha Sabian
The Ha’kan, an all-female race that reveres sexuality and views monogamy as unnatural, have been at war with the Tavinter for centuries. Queen Halla seeks to end this long-term dispute with the nomadic forest people by extending a unique offer to the Tavinter Chieftain. She invites his daughter, Skye, to attend the most prestigious school in all of Arianthem: the Sjöfn Academy. Skye accepts the invitation and sets out with determination and trepidation. She does not know what to expect, for the Queen’s own daughter, Dallan, is but a few years older than her and will serve as her mentor at the Academy. Skye has only to meet the laughing dark eyes of the princess once before she realizes she is going to get far more of an education than she ever dreamed possible.
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Ice Massacre (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai, Book One) by Tiana Warner
For twenty years, the island of Eriana Kwai has sent its young men to battle the mermaids that plague their waters. None have ever returned alive.
Now, Eriana Kwai sends its daughters to fight—their last hope against the mermaids’ deadly allure. Among them is eighteen-year-old Meela, trained as a warrior and ready to avenge her brother’s death.
But Meela has a secret: a lost childhood friend named Lysi, a mermaid who is nothing like the vicious creatures Meela was taught to hate and fear. When Meela comes face-to-face with the mermaids in battle and reunites with Lysi, their hatred for each other melts as their old friendship lingers beneath the surface.
With her loyalties tested and her mission in jeopardy, Meela must choose between duty to her people and the dangerous yet irresistible connection she feels with Lysi. Her decision could either end the war or ruin them all.
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Leave a comment
What sapphic book will you be reading for the “sapphic books published before 2015” category? Let us know in the comments!
2 Responses
The Gravity Between Us. I already listened to quite a few excellent ones. Especially Jae & Eliza’s. I loved Kristen’s other audio of two teens so I hope this will be fun.
It will be Tropical Storm again. I read all books at least five times (first the books she posted on her website than I bought all books as paperback and than all ebooks).