This week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo features sapphic books set on a ship or boat.
For this square of your main bingo card, read a sapphic book where a significant part of the story takes place on a ship, boat, yacht, or other watercraft. If you enjoy science fiction, you could also pick a sapphic book set on a spaceship.
The main characters could be sailors, captains, passengers, merchants, fishing crews, naval officers, cruise ship staff, marine biologists, pirates, or anyone else whose story unfolds on the water.
15 sapphic books set on a ship or boat
Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic books set on a ship or boat.
Waltzing on the Danube by Miranda MacLeod
Jeanie Brooks is a small town history teacher who sometimes leaps before she looks, but when she books a last minute river cruise for lesbian singles, she knows she’ll have no regrets. Two weeks of beautiful women and glorious adventure against the backdrop of Europe’s most famous cities—what more could she want?
Eleanor Fielding is an actuarial accountant from Manhattan, and an expert at assessing risk from every angle. Analytical and reserved, the only thing worse than spending the summer floating around with a gaggle of desperate single women is the prospect of her sister nagging her for all eternity if she refuses to go.
But thanks to a ticketing error, Jeanie and Eleanor unexpectedly find themselves the only two eligible women on the Danube. What starts as an awkward alliance to salvage some enjoyment from the trip soon transforms into something more.
When it comes to love, can this odd-couple learn to dance to the same rhythm?
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All at Sea by Cheyenne Blue
Stevie Sterling is having a day from hell. Snubbed—yet again—by her unsupportive parents, she runs out on their posh party and takes refuge on a deserted yacht. Waking the next day with the world’s worst hangover, Stevie finds herself far from shore. As if being trapped on the yacht in only her party dress isn’t bad enough, Stevie’s frantic that she’ll miss the first day of her new job as a nurse. She has so much to prove in her career—to herself and her parents.
The yacht’s cute but unimpressed captain, Kaz Malone—an eco-warrior who hits the seas with Sinbad the cat—is on a mission: There’s a nuclear-waste-dumping tanker to harass. Kaz is as single-minded as she is stubborn and she’s not about to turn around for some stowaway with a new job. Hell, no. Saving the planet comes first. But perhaps there’s more than one way to a destination?
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Follow The Money by Alexis Westmore
A missing asset. A dangerous mystery. And a woman she can’t afford to fall for.
Jezel is used to chasing adventure—but when a priceless Tokoleh asset connected to a legendary portal key vanishes from the digital ledger, the search pulls her into a mystery that could destabilize two solar systems.
To solve it, she needs the one person who understands the numbers behind the power.
Tessa Danquah.
As the Depository Symbias responsible for maintaining economic balance between Earth and the Tokoleh Alliance, Tessa has built her life on logic, discipline, and emotional distance. The last thing she needs is a distraction—especially one with bright blue eyes, relentless curiosity, and a talent for pulling down the walls she’s spent years building.
But the deeper they dig into the puzzle of the missing asset, the clearer it becomes that someone—or something—went to great lengths to hide the truth.
Their search will lead them through encrypted ledgers, family secrets, and a ruined manor hiding a dangerous vault. With every clue uncovered, the stakes grow higher—not just for the fragile balance between two worlds, but for the guarded hearts neither woman intended to risk.
Because the closer they get to the truth…
…the harder it becomes to walk away from each other.
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Courtship by Anna Pulley
Reaux Briggs is no stranger to cruising; each night a different woman warms her bed. She doesn’t exactly mind it, as intimacy is something she gave up on long ago. But when her hot nights land her in hotter water and she’s ousted as drummer by her metal band, Reaux thinks things couldn’t possibly get worse. Then she walks onto the deck of a long-awaited holiday cruise only to run face-first into the woman who broke her heart.
Catherine “Fitz” Fitzgerald is an up-and-coming divorce lawyer too busy trying to make partner to care about her love life, or anything approximating one. But thanks to an antiquated norm at her family’s firm, Fitz needs to find a partner in order to get promoted. As if her mother setting her up on horrible blind dates wasn’t bad enough, Fitz also has to contend with being in forced proximity to Reaux, her high school sweetheart and the girl she’s never really been able to get out of her head.
Increasingly pulled together by feelings they can’t quite ignore—not to mention a tropical hurricane that threatens the lives of everyone aboard the ship—Reaux and Fitz must learn to navigate the emotional and literal storms swirling about them. Will they be able to mend their past hurts and reach safe harbors, or has their ship sailed once and for all?
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Sailing With Her Wolf (The Nightstar Shifters 1) by Ariel Marie
Wolf shifter, Marley Gerwulf, was protective of her human best friend, Zara York. Their friendship dated back to their sophomore year in high school. Throughout the years they had been glued to each other’s hip, experiencing life together. When Zara broke up with her longtime boyfriend, Marley suggested a three-week girls trip, sailing the Pacific Ocean. It would help her friend clear her mind and celebrate her newly found single life.
Marley had spent the last fourteen years of her life, knowing they’d only ever be friends. Her wolf had identified Zara as her mate the day they’d met. The urge to mate was strong, but she was always able to overcome it, knowing she’d rather have Zara in her life as a friend, then not at all.
After setting sail with Tahiti as their destination, an intense storm caught them off guard damaging their yacht. Floating aimlessly along in the ocean, Marley was determined to ensure their survival. With life or death situations at every turn, will Marley be able to protect Zara while resisting the call to mate?
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Goddess of the Sea by Britney Jackson
Emilia Drakon, pirate, fugitive, and dragon sorceress, loves her captain and her dragons, and she’ll do whatever it takes to protect them—including the will of a sea goddess.
Captain Maria Welles, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to see her enemies bleed. If she wants safety for her crew, that’s only because she’s their captain, and if she longs for the love of her sword-and-magic-wielding surgeon, Em…well, okay, that’s where things get complicated.
Regardless, Maria can honestly say she has no interest in playing this deadly game between gods and goddesses, but when she finds herself in the middle of it anyway, the infamous pirate captain, who likes to think she knows everything, will have to delve into a world unknown to her.
Luckily, she has her dragon-riding surgeon to serve as guide.
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Endurance by Elaine Burnes
What if you were stranded. On a spaceship. Four light years from Earth. With a hundred tourists. And you are the captain. Then things start to go wrong. Welcome aboard the Endurance. It’ll be the trip of a lifetime.
For five years, Captain Lyn Randall of the Endurance has ferried tourists around the solar system for Omara Tours. Now, as she takes in the rings of Saturn for the last time, she’s looking forward to indulging in simpler pleasures like flying antique airplanes over her childhood home in Montana.
The routine tour becomes anything but when a mysterious phenomenon flings Endurance and two other ships into the Rigil Kentaurus system, four light years from Earth. Stranded, with no way to get back.
Lyn’s first duty is to rescue survivors from the other ships before she faces the most daunting task of her life, much less her career. She has to control her fears and grief to lead an untested crew and panicked guests on a quest for a new home planet or risk a return to their solar system that could kill them all. Unfortunately, Lyn’s past with a clandestine military mission gone wrong doesn’t sit well with some guests and crew members, and they don’t quite trust her.
Diana Squires, rescued from another stranded vessel, grudgingly reveals her identity as the daughter of scientists who researched traversable wormholes. To complicate everything, Lyn develops an affection for Diana, something at odds with her responsibilities as captain and her unhealed grief over her own lost loved ones.
Feelings aside, suspicions aside, her own doubts about her ability to lead aside, Lyn has to fight to protect her passengers, her ship, and her heart.
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Death on the Dream by J.A. Rainbow
Ellie and Kate are starting to settle into their new relationship when Aunt Peggy reveals she has won a dream cruise from a radio quiz and she is taking them with her. It doesn’t take long before their dream break turns to murder. Can Ellie help solve the mystery of who killed a fellow cruise passenger before Aunt Peggy gets the chance to interfere?
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Elle’s Alaskan Cruise by Lark Sullivan
Elle boards the Aqua Finis’ twilight cruise to Alaska, hoping to move on from her recent divorce. The last thing she expects to find is romance, but her attention is immediately captured by the beautiful and sophisticated Cali…and the fun and quirky Kit. As the Finis sails towards its ultimate destination, Elle must confront her past and reconsider everything she thought she knew about love and relationships.
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Harvest of the Dragon Saints by Olina Friedra Wayland
Via is dead, killed and buried under piles of ice by Draconists. It’s the place of every Sword Cultist to die and let their souls ascend as weapons, and when she wakes up—centuries later—she can’t understand how she failed. She follows the trail of her centuries late girlfriend, barely withholding her animosity towards Aleti, mage and occasional graverobber.
But hate can fade like snowdrift when they’re alone together.
Aleti is hunting dragons for their valuable scales, but the Dragon Saints are all dead—which would be her lucky break if death wasn’t so complicated around this vampire. Via’s first and unwilling victim, she only allies with the vampire to oppose the Draconists. But, when the vampire is willing to let Aleti have control, she enthusiastically takes it.
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Swept Up In You by Rian Birch
Samantha Garner dreams of sailing away. If only her family business didn’t have her completely anchored down. A conversation has her plotting new paths that may just get her out to sea, if she can avoid hurting the people she loves most.
Taylor Scott knows what she wants. To build up her maintenance business, forget about her ex, and to not—definitely not—get into another relationship. Discovering a new boat shop by accident lands her a client she didn’t expect and can’t take her eyes off.
As their friendship grows, a games night leads to a spark they can’t ignore. While Sam questions everything she knows, Taylor must decide whether to keep her heart safe… or dive into the unknown.
Will they find common ground and sail off into the sunset, or will their relationship sink to the bottom before it even begins?
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Besieging the Moon by S. Y. Thompson
After a year of boredom on the planet Alara, Commodore Van Swann receives a call that makes her blood run cold. An unknown adversary has attacked the Titan Defense Installation. Van leads the battle fleet dispatched to defend Saturn’s largest moon. Cade Meryan, Van’s wife and Alara’s High Queen, follows to provide support. Disaster strikes when the fleet is easily decimated. Van and Cade are left scrambling for a way to repel invaders from the Terran system’s only defensive outpost.
Tales of an ancient weapon and assistance from a new friend offer hope. Unfortunately, it requires a side trip to Earth, which is now a penal colony for the Alliance’s worst offenders.
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Project O.R.C.A. by Serena J. Bishop
Based on her examination of different neurological procedures, Project O.R.C.A. was the most feasible way to control her telepathy.
Kari’s telepathic abilities have made life challenging for her. At eighteen and a recent university graduate, she’s desperate to leave home and work in neuroscience. Will a position at inCog help her explore where her abilities come from and how to better control them? She doesn’t know.
But she’s going to find out.
A new job, a new life, and a fresh start on a cruise ship turned business park await her. It’s a thrilling time. But little does she know the excitement will not stop until the ship’s owner’s goals are met. Henry, a billionaire with an interest in unusual sciences, has unique plans for her. Neuroscientist by day, telepathic spy by night. It’s not all bad, though; her clandestine work allows her to see more of the world, receive funding for ORCA, and expose the injustices committed by the affluent.
But the more she delves into the thoughts of the super wealthy, the more dangerous her new life becomes. Soon she has to ask herself, is the money for ORCA worth the risk?
Now the real science begins . . .
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Daughter of the Light: Book 1: Shadow Makers by Silvia Shaw
An ancient Magical House rises. Old enemies are unleashed.
The Oracle’s prediction has come to pass. A year after the Crevlin war, Rand is faced with a new threat, one which will rock its very foundations.
Given away by her father as a postulant to the Order of the Sacred Fame, Bree has been in their Abbey for ten years. But no piety exists within the cloistered walls, only hate and suffering.
Savannah, wearer of the Sacred medallion and now a Mind Walker, is forced to land at the tavern near the Abbey. Sensing Bree’s magic, she helps her escape from the Order.
Broken by ten years of abuse, Bree flees to Peridon, capital of the Flagspur Islands, ruled by Yaslin, a forceful Queen who won’t bend her knee to the Imperial throne. There, Bree must face her inner demons and learn how to wield her new-found powers. A power that only she possesses. The power of the light.
And she needs to hurry, or Rand will fall.
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Mommy Calls Me Princess by TL Travis
Darcy’s mother never meant to ignore her but to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies life required she work two jobs.
What Darcy needed more than that was love. Someone to hold her, kiss her scrapes and bruises and enjoy playtime together. For the most part, her best friend Vale and his mother took care of that when they more or less adopted her in grade school. But Darcy longed for a deeper connection. One with a Mommy she could trust to take care of everything yet love her in the ways she most desired.
Miss Vivienne, headmistress of Blush, prided herself on running a tight ship, so to speak. Her club basked in the glowing reviews it received, and patrons came from far and wide to visit. Over the years she’d enjoyed the company of pets and those who desired domination and submission. She was, after all a well-known Domme in the community. What she never expected was to become completely enthralled with a random little spending the evening as a guest at her club. Littles, she adored but never indulged in.
And she was a guest her best friend sponsored for the evening.
Can a lost little and a stern Domme find what they need in each other or will this equate to nothing more than a one-time play date?
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Virelai’s Hoard by Vivien Nash
Some treasures should stay buried. Some secrets should never be unearthed.
Riley has spent her life surviving on lies. She cons, she cheats, she takes what she wants and never looks back. When she tricks her way onto the Moonshadow, a pirate ship bound for an impossible treasure, she expects gold, and dreams of the things that come with it. Stability, security, a future where she doesn’t have to fight for every scrap. What she doesn’t expect is to be dealt into the crew’s games, drawn into their stories, and treated like she belongs.
But their leader, Captain Calla Nymeris, is as untouchable as the ocean—secretive, relentless, her gaze always fixed on the horizon as if haunted by something only she can see. Her first mate Sable is a force of nature herself, a warrior with sharp eyes and a sharper tongue, who watches Riley like she’s trying to decide whether to trust her or throw her overboard.
As they chase a treasure that shouldn’t exist, through waters that pull ships under and islands where the dead do not sleep, Riley realizes she wants more than gold.
But the sea is always hungry. And it never gives without taking.
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Leave a comment
What sapphic book will you be reading for the “sapphic books set on a ship or boat” category? Let us know in the comments!
7 Responses
If an airship counts for this category, there’s Ship of Dreams by Brey Willows that’s a fun romp adventure even if steampunk isn’t your jam.
Lise Gold has an entire series of three books that take place on a yacht. The Maiden Voyage series. I enjoyed all three books.
Veritas by MJ Duncan
How could you have left LOST AT SEA by Amanda Radley off this list? Highly recommended!
You’re right; that one totally fits the category too. But I keep each list to 15 books, and there are so many sapphic books out there now (yay!) that it’s impossible to list *every* book that fits a category. Readers are free to read any other book that fits the category description for each square of the bingo card, though.
One of my favorites is a short story by Suzanne Moss (Curiosity Series 1.5) – ‘An Account of A Voyage of Curiosity’.
A Voyage of Curiosity follows Martha and her adventures on her first voyage, firstly to the Cape of Good Hope, and then on to more exotic locations where danger and adventure await.
“Flight to the Horizon” not only has a boat, it is an emergency life raft!