This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category features sapphic books with autistic characters.
For this category, read a sapphic book with a main character who is on the autism spectrum. The character can be either formally diagnosed or self-identify as autistic because not every character will have access to psychological evaluations. This also includes books set during historical periods or in worlds where autism wasn’t (yet) recognized.
15 sapphic books with autistic characters
Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic books with autistic characters.
Liddy-Jean Marketing Queen by Mari SanGiovanni
Liddy-Jean Carpenter has learning disabilities. But she also has a surprisingly genius plan.
While she spends her days doing minor office tasks with nobody paying attention, she sees how badly the wand-waving big boss treats the Marketing Department worker bees. So, she takes lots of notes for a business book to teach bosses to be better.
While compiling pages of bad behavior notes, she finds she likes office-mate Rose and Rose’s new friend Jenny. But she doesn’t like Rose’s creepy boyfriend. So how can she save Rose?
Liddy-Jean knows with certainty that love is love, and she concludes that Rose should be with Jenny, bosses should do better, and everybody needs the services of Liddy-Jean, Marketing Queen.
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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?
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The Executive Liaison by Anna Stone & Hildred Billings
By day, she’s her boss. By night, something naughtier…
Isabel Diaz’s post-college life couldn’t be better. While relationships have always proved elusive to her, she’s finally putting herself out there on dating app Darkest Desires. Plus, she has an amazing job leading the graphic design team at a hot Seattle startup.
But everything changes when the startup is sold off and Scarlett Black takes over as CEO. Scarlett is just as ruthless as her formidable reputation suggests. But there’s something mysterious about the icy older woman that draws Isabel to her.
Scarlett Black has it all. The oldest daughter of Seattle’s wealthiest family, she’s been groomed to take over the family company and is engaged to the perfect man. Yet her picturesque life isn’t what it appears to be. And at night, she escapes that life as her seductive alter ego, Dominique.
When she encounters a woman on Darkest Desires who is seeking the same escape, things heat up between them. But little does Scarlett know that the woman she’s having an anonymous liaison with is her young employee. And Isabel has no idea that Scarlett and Dominique are the same captivating person.
As their sensual fling escalates, tensions rise in the office. It’s only a matter of time before their real identities are exposed and both women are forced to confront their true feelings.
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Tarnished by Erica Rose Eberhart
In the struggling city of Braewick, a determined 20-year-old gate guard named Ailith MacCree longs for a chance at financial stability and adventure. Little does she know, her wish is about to come true. She accepts a mission from Princess Greer that promises both: escort Princess Caitriona to the Endless Mountains to meet the enigmatic hermit for a great financial reward. Ailith jumps at the opportunity and bids goodbye to all she’s ever known. But as they journey together, Ailith discovers that Caitriona holds a dangerous secret—she possesses powerful magic in a kingdom where magic is outlawed.
Ailith and Caitriona face mysterious attacks and supernatural challenges. But as they delve deeper into the treacherous landscape, Ailith learns of Caitriona’s tragic past and the dark curse that threatens her very existence.
With rebellion brewing in Braewick, and the oppressive king hot on their trail, Ailith must not only navigate her growing feelings for Caitriona, but also fight against relentless foes. As they race against time to stop the curse, Ailith and Caitriona uncover shocking truths about their kingdom, their families, and themselves.
Will their burgeoning romance survive the trials ahead? Can they break the curse and save their homeland from tyranny?
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Sweet Surrender by J.J. Hale
She’s the boss at work. At home? Not so much.
At work, Eliza is a high-powered COO. People do what she wants, when she wants, and thank her for the opportunity. At home, she’s a single mom to eight-year-old twins who make the terrible twos look like angel years. Struggling to juggle work and family, Eliza is desperate for support.
After a breakup, Rowyn’s plan to finally settle down is a bust. So, when she gets a call about a job nobody else will touch, she uproots herself once again to be a live-in nanny. It’s just another temporary gig—until the door opens and she’s staring at Eliza, the stranger she shared an unforgettable night with.
Now under the same roof, Rowyn understands why no one else wanted this job. Eliza’s take-no-prisoners attitude just isn’t going to work with her kids—or with Rowyn. Navigating family demands, tight schedules, and sexual tension that crackles hotter than the summer heat, can Rowyn convince Eliza that heart and home is the sweetest surrender?
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Here in My Heart by Jo Fletcher
One awkward marine biologist. One ambitious professor. One gap year that changes everything.
In the golden glow of a South of France autumn, two very different lives collide.
Professor Sylvie Boucher is sharp, elegant, and chasing a major promotion. The last thing she wants is to chaperone a bunch of Californian gap-year students—until she meets Adelaide Poole.
Ade is an awkward, earnest marine biologist more at ease with sea life than people. But Sylvie captivates her, and to Sylvie’s surprise, the feeling is mutual.
As warm days fade into cosy nights, their connection deepens. But with an age gap, diverging paths, and an ocean between them, can a fleeting spark become something more? A warm sapphic romance about unexpected love, self-discovery, and finding someone who truly sees you.
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An Extraordinary Passion by Kit Meredith
Drew Barker is used to having to fight for acceptance, and when they get the chance to represent non-binary people on a popular podcast, they are determined to make the most of the opportunity. They’re even more excited once they get to know the elusive host.
Hannah Carr spends her spare time focusing on her passion project. Her books podcast was a welcome distraction as she recovered from the breakdown of her marriage following becoming polyamorous. Drew gets her, and they share an extraordinary passion, but is she ready to date again?
As a queer autistic woman, Hannah knows that not everyone can be trusted to understand her. As Drew pushes her to put more of herself out there, they risk pushing her away. In a world that does not make space for either of them, they must learn that there is more than one way to have pride.
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Fire (Daughter of Nature: Book One) by L.C. Mawson
It only takes one night for the world to turn on its head…
Finishing my second degree was supposed to be a quiet time of wrapping up my academic work and maybe making a friend or two before everyone left town. That was before the monsters started attacking.
I’ve always ignored the strange occurrences that tend to happen around me, but now these creatures are hunting me, everything I touch is erupting into flame, and all I’ve got to help is a guy I barely know, his reclusive sister, an invitation to train with a secretive magical faction, and a strange necklace that apparently belongs to the magical world’s most wanted…
I’m not used to trusting anyone, but as monsters close in, I don’t think I have a choice.
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The Meet and Greet by Liz Rain
Uptight lecturer Jane Miles reluctantly takes her superfan niece along to meet touring Aussie singer Amber Hatfield. Jane comes away with a happy niece and…Amber’s phone number?
How on earth does that happen? Being whisked into Amber’s creative and free-flowing life feels so right but it also threatens to jeopardise Jane’s promotion at a prestigious university.
Can two such different career women ever find a way to create an unexpected harmony together?
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Glass Spinner by Maggie Brown
She’s an escort with a secret agenda. Falling in love with the mark was never part of the deal.
Marise has made a living slipping into roles. She becomes Veronica Hale, high-end escort, paid to be whatever her clients need. But behind the performance lies a hunter who spins her web of deceit to find secrets.
Her latest assignment? Kathleen Knowles, a brilliant but socially awkward scientist on the verge of an energy breakthrough.
The plan is simple. Get in, get what she came for, and get out.
But even the best laid plans go astray. What begins as a calculated infiltration becomes something far more dangerous: an emotional entanglement she can’t afford.
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Aliens in My Stockings by A.A. Fairview
Home for the holidays, Temperance would rather be anywhere else in the world– or off it. Alien abduction is a dream come true. Her alien captors, Chyme and Ivx, should follow protocol and release the Earthling.
Except Chyme is absolutely sure this woman needs their help. Why else would she be so calm about her abduction? Ivx prefers to follow the rules that Chyme loves to break, but as they travel the stars it’s clear the duo is better as a trio.
There’s one big problem: Temperance travel onboard the ship breaks intergalactic law. Once they reach their destination, it’ll take a Christmas Miracle to keep them all together.
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Inside a Dark Space by MJ James
Finch was sent to the moon as a canary. They were one of the expendable—a soul desperate enough to risk their life for the safety of the ‘real’ astronauts. A decade later, they are the last canary left alive. Alone at the first lunar water mining station, Finch finds peace in solitude and the safety of routine.
Ray grew up hearing her father rant about corporations ‘making the moon gay.’ For her, that sounded like hope. She shaped her life around reaching a place where she could finally come out.
Except when she arrived on the moon to start a research project, Ray was left at a station with only one occupant—Finch.
Finch may have sparked Ray’s journey, but life together in a dark crater proves far more complicated. Finch struggles to connect. Ray craves belonging. Both are haunted by what they left behind—and what the moon has in store for them.
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Carving a New Shape by Rhiannon Grant
Arriving in a new village on her first ever trading voyage, Laki immediately feels unsettled by some of the rude and bullying behaviour and the loss of her necklace – and attracted to Bokka, who is both helping and hindering. As they start to work together to escape the situation, will Laki’s naive ideas and Bokka’s struggles with communication make it impossible to carve out a space in their society which is the perfect shape for them?
Set in the Neolithic village of Skara Brea and around the Orkney Islands, Carving a New Shape is an evocative exploration of an ancient society, the power of love, and the ability of humanity to adapt. Featuring central characters who would be described today as lesbian, bisexual, and autistic, this is a warm-hearted story which doesn’t play down the challenges they face but leads to a happy ending.
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Seure the Tempered by Rien Gray
Follow a fellowship of sapphic knights as they’re seduced by witches, queens, goddesses—and each other—in a dark, lush fantasy inspired by Arthurian legend.
Under the reign of King Theomacha the Exalted, the Land of Maidens flourishes. Her knights protect and explore the realm, seeking artifacts lost to time and fending off wicked, cunning magics.
Seure, scholar and knight, traverses the world on quests of discovery. When an invisible, eldritch library begins capturing local villagers and subjecting them to strange interrogations, Seure tracks the enchantment to its source – a woman named Ganeida, who has been bound to the library for centuries.
They make a bet with Ganeida to break the enchantment that holds her in place, but it could come at the cost of Seure’s own freedom – or losing their heart in the bargain.
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A Taste of Red by Stephanie Lee
Samira of the Wolves is the twenty-four year old granddaughter of the Alphas, who rule over the pack and oppress the Reds. Through laws and genocide, the Alphas have reigned down horrors on formerly magickal people who they deemed a deadly threat.
But all of that was before Samira was born and now she finds herself on a mission to follow a seemingly innocent Red girl through the forest to deliver supplies to her sick grandma. Only she’s not a young girl, but rather a young woman hiding a deadly secret in plain sight under the guise of innocence.
Rose of the Riverbournes is not only Samira’s born enemy, but someone the Wolf is duty bound to execute. An unexpected attraction keeps her from killing the young woman, leading to other revelations of a bigger coverup and lies from her own blood family.
Foes lie in wait as the two hide their forbidden love and discover magick still thriving among them. Now, their secrets and lies could get them killed—if a hidden enemy doesn’t do it first.
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Leave a comment
What sapphic book will you be reading for the “sapphic books with autistic characters” category? Let us know in the comments!
6 Responses
I highly recommend the Two Hearts Trilogy by Harper Bliss. Read the first novella Two Hearts Alone and I bet you’ll want to read the rest. Plus there’s a cute kid, a book store and a dog named Hemingway.
Liddy-Jean Marketing Queen by Mari SanGiovanni is a wonderful book – funny, insightful and totally heartwarming. A total surprise package
Hi. There is one that wasn’t mentioned. It is Soul Unique by Gun Brooke. Excellent story line, well developed characters.
I’d add,
All the Love Songs by Nicole Pyland
&
Down to a Science by Haley Cass to the mix!
I’d add,
All the Love Songs by Nicole Pyland
&
Down to a Science by Haley Cass to the mix!
Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings is also a great choice!