Jae

Sapphic Slow-burn romances

Sapphic books with a meet-cute (Sapphic Book Bingo #19)

sapphic book with a meet-cute

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category, read a sapphic book with a meet-cute. A “meet-cute” is a first meeting between the two main characters that is cute, hilarious, or unusual in some way. Often, it’s a misunderstanding or an awkward situation, e.g., one character spills coffee on the other.

As a surprise for you, I put together an anthology full of “meet-cute” scenes from 45 popular authors of sapphic fiction. You can download “Meet-Cute” as a free ebook.

Sapphic book that mentions another sapphic book (Book Unicorn #9)

Sapphic book that mentions a sapphic book

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book that mentions another sapphic book or a sapphic book that is mentioned in another sapphic book. For example, Hannah, the main character of my new romance Just a Touch Away, is an avid reader and is seen reading Write for Her by Kim Hartfield. You […]

Sapphic book featuring a character with an unusual job (Sapphic Book Bingo #18)

sapphic books unusual job

This week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo features sapphic books with main characters who have unusual jobs. You could approach this category in two ways: Either pick a main character with a job that is unusual (or unusual for a woman) in “real life” or choose a main character with a job that you […]

Sapphic books with over 400 pages (Book Unicorn #7)

sapphic books over 400 pages

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo square, read a sapphic book with more than 400 pages. There aren’t that many sapphic books that are 400+ pages long, which is why this is a Book Unicorn category. 

If you know the word count, which is more accurate than page numbers, pick a book with more than 130,000 words. If you choose an audiobook, pick one that is at least 13 hours long.

Sapphic book with a main character over 50 (Book Unicorn #6)

sapphic book character over 50

For this week’s Book Unicorn post of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book in which at least one of the main characters is over 50. 

In WLW and lesbian fiction, especially in romance, most of the protagonists seem to be in their 20s and 30s. Lately, I’ve seen more books with characters in their forties, but characters who are in their fifties and beyond are still rather rare.

So for this week’s category, I’d like you to read a book with a main characters in their 50s or older. It could be an age gap romance, in which the other main character is considerably younger, or all of the protagonists could be over 50. I’ll leave that choice up to you, as long as at least one of the main characters is 50 or older.

Sapphic books that includes safer sex (Book Unicorn #5)

sapphic books safer sex

For this week’s Book Unicorn post of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book in which the characters practice safer sex. Maybe there’s a scene in the book in which they talk about safer sex, or we find out they’ve gotten tested for STIs (sexually transmitted infections) before sleeping together, or we see them use dental dams or condom-covered sex toys, etc. 

As I mentioned in a blog post that I wrote for the Ylva Publishing blog a few years ago, sapphic romances and erotica rarely depict safer sex practices. The characters never seem to worry about contracting sexually transmitted infections, even if they have only just met and don’t know each other’s sexual history. 

I get that it can interrupt the buildup and flow of a steamy scene, but as an author, I try to find a way to incorporate it, especially if I’m writing a story in which one of the characters had a lot of one-night stands in the past.