This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category features sapphic rivals-to-lovers romances—books in which the main characters start out as rivals before falling in love with each other. In a rivals-to-lovers romance, the characters compete for something, e.g., a job, a promotion, a medal or championship title in sports, etc.
The rivals-to-lovers trope has an overlap with enemies-to-lovers romances, but the animosity between the characters is usually less intense in rivals-to-lovers romances.
15 sapphic rivals-to-lovers romances
Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic rivals-to-lovers romances:
Outdrawn by Deanna Grey
It isn’t always lonely at the top.
Noah Blue’s finally got her foot in the door. After clawing her way to the top of the charts with her webcomic, she’s garnered enough attention to earn a full-time position at a comic company re-launching their cult classic comic: Queen Leisah.
Queen Leisah is predicted to be an instant bestseller with movie deals already in the making. Things are falling into place. There’s nowhere to go but up…as soon as she gets one person out of her way.
Sage Montgomery has always been the best artist in every building she’s stepped foot in. Raw talent’s gotten her webcomic to the top of the charts every month for the past eight years. She’s been the best for as long as she can remember. Sure, her career has plateaued but that can be fixed with a big, mainstream comic.
She was promised full creative control over Leisah. Instead, she got a shared credit with the one artist who’s been breathing down her neck since college. The one artist who has a fighting chance of being better than her. Sage and Noah have to work as a team — or, at least appear to work as a team. They thought the hardest part of the relaunch would be drawing together. But that’s easy in comparison to resisting their feelings for each other.
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A Game of Deceit and Desire by Ruby Roe
Can love survive when trust is the rarest magic of all?
Bella Blythe, master of lattice magic, is determined to win the Runic Games… If only her greatest rival, Remy Reid would get out of the way.
For years they one-upped each other in competitions, jobs, and their apprenticeships…
Until a single kiss changed everything.
With the biggest competition of their lives ahead of them, they’re going to have to trust each other…
A futile task when they’re both harbouring secrets filled with betrayal…
With a reputation and a relationship at risk, they’re left with an impossible choice:
Do they want to win a competition or a heart?
Two women, two betrayals, and a romance that will rewrite their destiny.
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Bad Beat: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance by L.M. Bennett
More than Rivals?
They’re both determined to win the two million dollar poker tournament, but there can only be one winner. Jax Bass will stop at nothing to defeat her rival, Miri Black and build her own legacy.
Miri wants nothing more than to silence her critics and prove she’s the superior player.
Jax thinks Miri manipulates people with her stunning good looks and charm to win tournaments, and hates how she represents women in poker. Miri thinks that Jax embodies all the worst parts of the ways women have had to succeed in poker: by dressing and behaving just like the very men who dismiss her as a skilled player.
When Miri eliminates Jax’s mentor, Enid Torres, from the final tournament of her storied career, Jax promises Enid that she will defeat Miri to avenge Enid’s loss. With the attraction between Jax and Miri intensifying, it becomes more difficult than ever for both women to stay focused on their goals.
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The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee
This is how love rolls…
For teacher Ava Williams, some subjects are not up for debate. Like history—specifically, the one she has with Grace Jones, bowling pro and local celeb. Who is now, for no identifiable reason, teaching at the same small-town Georgia high school as Ava. Once upon a time, they were thick as thieves, best friends, rivals who pushed each other, and total bowling nerds. Then they shared a kiss, sweet and confusing…and after that, they split and nothing was ever the same.
Ava is pretty sure she has every reason to hate Grace. Especially when the school’s soggy potato of a principal announces—finally—that the students can have the bowling team Ava has been pushing for, for years…only to hand it to Grace.
Now they’re expected to be partners and lead their new bowling team to victory in six months. And with that, their rivalry is back. Fierce, ultracompetitive…and with an undeniable attraction that pushes, pulls and crashes together. It’s history. It’s chemistry. And it’s just a matter of time before it explodes…one way or the other.
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An Unusual Year by Mia Kazi
When flirtatious Jo wonders whether she has lesbian tendencies, she begins a relationship with Izzy, a fellow teacher.
Then, Jo moves on to Julia, and agrees to go on a holiday with her to Laos, where she meets Jonno, who isn’t what he seems, and he tricks Jo into becoming a drug mule.
Leaving Laos in great haste, Jo and Julia are stunned when Jonno appears threateningly at their flat in London, and Jo realises she has to solve not only the dilemma of his arrival, but also coming to terms with the fact that she has completely fallen in love with another woman.
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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?
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Devil’s Advocate by TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod
Would you give up everything you’ve worked for your whole life for a chance at true love?
Ashley Tanner’s only desire after losing her father to a prescription overdose as a teenager has been to support her working-class family. Now an ambitious lawyer, she’s on the verge of achieving the coveted partnership she’s worked for her entire career. But with her goal in sight, the return of a mysterious woman from Ash’s past puts the promotion at risk and forces her to confront the sacrifices she’s made to win at all costs.
Caitlyn Brewster is a self-made woman who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Guarding that secret has kept her from cultivating meaningful relationships. In fact, only one woman has managed to pierce Caitlyn’s defenses. A woman who runs more cold than hot. A woman best forgotten. A woman who, when a family emergency forces Caitlyn to move back home to Boston and accept a job at her uncle’s law firm, suddenly becomes her biggest rival.
Their volatile chemistry makes them a powerhouse legal duo, but the energy crackling between them might be more than they’re willing to admit. The closer they work together, the harder it becomes to control their desires, even as they’re faced with a case with stakes that could change everything for them both.
They’re both used to doing whatever it takes to win. What happens when only one of them can be victorious in the end?
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Cory Sloan is Swearing by Jamey Moody
Cory Sloan was the proud owner of The Liquor Box in the brand new Sloan Sisters Shopping Extravaganza. When a rival salesperson threatens the success of Cory’s new business she has to find a way to calm the impending storm, so she uses her best asset: her charm.
Vi Valdez is simply trying to open a few new accounts on the path to her imminent promotion as Vice President of Sales of the largest spirits chain in the state. When a new liquor store opens in the area Vi is working, she takes it as a purposeful threat to her career goals.
Cory finds a way for them to avoid competing for the same accounts and Vi is suddenly able to express the feelings which may have started as animosity but had quickly become more than friendly. Could these two rivals end up on the same team and find love? Or possibly forever?
Come along on this rocky romantic adventure and find out if Cory will be swearing at Vi Valdez or will she be swearing her love forever?
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Chaos Agent by Lee Winter
What happens when the sweetest employee learns her boss’s evil secrets? This opposites-attract ice queen romance asks: Can a villain truly be redeemed?
CEO Michelle Hastings has foolishly promoted a kind, clueless activist to her full-time staff. Now, on top of fighting her inconvenient feelings, Michelle must hide the evil they do.
Eden Lawless relishes her new job, the hot boss who gives her butterflies, and her eccentric workmates who tell weird jokes about their day. Blackmail? Hacking? Doxing? Hilarious! But what if it’s not a joke? Would that mean Eden has to fight the boss she’s falling for?
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The Only Fish in the Sea by Angie Williams
Crab fishing is in Remy Miller’s blood. Millers have been fishing off the coast of Oregon for three generations, so she’s heartbroken when her dad refuses to give her the chance to prove she can captain her own boat.
When Julia Clayman, the beautiful daughter of a rival crabbing family, offers Remy a chance to run her own boat for the Claymans, she knows the decision could deepen the long-standing rift between their families.
All Remy wants is the chance to live her dream, and the more time she spends with Julia the more her dreams include the chance for a happily ever after. But blood is thicker than the waters lapping the Oregon coastline, and old rivalries may mean Remy loses her career and her heart.
Will love overcome the odds for this modern-day Romeo and Juliet?
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It’s in Her Kiss by Rachel Lacey
Two Broadway actresses, one starring role, and a kiss that might turn rivals…into lovers.
Sophie Rindell has dreamed of performing on Broadway since she was a little girl. But after more than ten years of auditioning, she’s still waiting tables and sleeping on a friend’s couch while she waits for her big break. When she lands an audition for a new musical called It’s in Her Kiss, she’s sure this is the one. Not only is she auditioning for the lead, but it’s a queer role, the role of a lifetime for Sophie.
Julia Vega has been working on Broadway for years now, but she hasn’t landed a starring role…yet. When she meets Sophie at the audition for It’s in Her Kiss, she senses a kindred spirit. They’re both talented and driven, but unlike Sophie, who’s been out since high school, Jules is still coming to terms with her sexuality. This role—if she lands it—could help define more than her career.
As their rivalry heats up, Jules and Sophie fight an attraction that blazes hotter than the spotlight. When the curtain rises on opening night, love might take center stage.
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Envy and the Geek by Natalie Falkenwrath
Years ago, Christina Darlington played a sexy teen vampire in High School Bites, a little TV series with a big following. Now Christina travels the country signing autographs, meeting fans, and, if rumors are true, bringing some of those fans back to her bed. Harmony Alder and Jean Lucy Wintz both want to be one of the lucky ones. When the convention circuit brings Christina to town, they both lay plans to connect with their long-time crush. Harmony is sexy, smart, and out- going where Jean is quiet, cunning, and drop-dead gorgeous. Will one of them catch Christina’s eye?
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In the Roses of Pieria by Anna Burke
When Clara Eden is offered a job as an archivist working for eccentric estate owner Agatha Montague, she thinks her prayers have been answered. Soon, she finds herself sucked into the world of her research, captivated by a romantic correspondence thousands of years old. But as her feelings for her employer’s assistant, Fiadh, deepen, so too does her suspicion that something about Agatha Montague isn’t quite right. Unfortunately for Clara, by the time her suspicions are confirmed, it is far too late to run.
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Free Fall at Angel Creek by Julie Tizard
Hundreds of people on Flight 402 vanish in an instant.
When the airplane carrying her sister is reported missing, then later found a smoking wreck, Detective Dee Rawlings never had the chance to finally reconcile after years of estrangement. She’s desperate to find out why the plane crashed, but Dr. River Dawson, the exacting and relentless aircraft accident investigator, believes Dee’s good intentions are interfering with her case and wants her gone. All that changes when Dee discovers critical evidence that doesn’t add up.
Dee and River must find a way to work together to solve the mystery of what happened to Flight 402, all while keeping their inconvenient and unprofessional attraction in check. Their search for answers at Angel Creek will risk their lives and maybe even their hearts.
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Ink Stains & Ill-Fated Lies by Kellie Doherty
No scribe has ever returned from the Sunglade. It’s a continent of burning sunlight and terrifying suncreatures, and the home of the worshippers of Ponuriah, the evil sun goddess. When Adaris Kavari, a disgraced wandering scribe with a lame leg, finds herself following her curiosity too far and gets captured by those worshippers, she’s forced to record their side of history in order to survive. Much to the worshippers’ glee, Adaris is also a Divus—a race whose crafting is used mainly to heal, and sometimes to hurt—and a terrifying young researcher immediately latches onto her because of it.
But Adaris isn’t the only prisoner here. She meets an attractive and snarky painter named Rhonwen with an unfortunate link to Adaris’ past. Wanting to save them both, Adaris conforms to the sun goddess worshippers’ ways while looking for an escape. She knows that once she’s free, she’ll have recorded a keystone story that would help restore her tarnished reputation and might even turn the tide of the upcoming war.
The sun goddess worshippers’ influence is strong, especially with the new elements of crafting Adaris encounters—elements that could turn her pitiful crafting into something new and powerful—and her scribe’s curiosity twists into something even she didn’t anticipate. As a scribe, she’s recorded many heroes’ adventures. Now, it’s her turn to become the hero—by any means necessary.
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An Exclusive Game by Persephone Black
Alessa de Luca always gets what she wants.
And now she wants me.
I’m a federal agent sworn to take down Alessa, the charismatic Mafia princess who runs an illicit empire. But as I infiltrate her exclusive private members’ club in an undercover operation, there’s an undeniable spark between us.
Wanting her is dangerous. Falling for her is forbidden. And loving her?
Well, that could get me killed.
But Alessa seems hell-bent on seducing me. And the closer we get, the closer my team gets to taking her down.
The line between attraction and deception is blurring. Then, when a web of lies threatens to destroy us both, I’m forced to make an impossible decision.
Will I choose the law?
Or love?
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Pride Reads Celebration
Have you checked out our Pride Reads Celebration? It’s basically a sapphic Advent calendar in June, with daily free books, books on sale, and book giveaways.
Leave a comment
What book will you be reading for the “sapphic rivals-to-lovers romance” category? Are there other books that are a good fit for this category? Let us know in the comments!
4 Responses
An absolutely amazing list of books. I have read a lot of them, but others are new to me. I’m opting for the Anna Burke ‘in the roses of Pieria’.
Great list! I put ‘In the Roses of Pieria’ and ‘Guava Flavored Lies’ by JJ Arias (multi-generational Cuban-American feud!!) in this category. I’ve also read Chaos Agent recently. Three truly excellent reads!
A great list of books Jae. Thank you.
Thank you for all the time you take to help your readers learn of new books. I think it’s great that you share others work as well as your own. You’re great!