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.
For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo square, read a sapphic book with a main character who is not human.
It could be a book about a lesbian vampire, a bisexual werewolf, a pansexual shape-shifter, a queer alien, or any other sapphic main character who isn’t human.
Usually, you’ll find those characters in all subgenres of speculative fiction such as fantasy, science fiction, paranormal romance, urban fantasy, dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction, etc.
Right now, I’m hosting a big Sapphic Speculative Fiction Giveaway with 50 book prizes, plus my lesbian vampire romance Good Enough to Eat is on sale for 99 cents for a few days, so don’t forget to check the links for the book sale & the giveaway!
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.
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.
This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features sapphic fake relationship romance novels—books in which the two main characters pretend to be in a relationship with each other.
The “fake relationship” trope is very popular with romance readers, so you will find 10 additional book recommendations in the “favorite trope” post of the Sapphic Book Bingo.
I think what readers love about “fake girlfriend” or “fake fiancée” stories is that the plot throws together two characters who are often total strangers and who might not even like each other. Under normal circumstances, they would never consider dating each other, but now they are forced to spend time together and pretend to be a couple. As you can imagine, they get into some hilarious situations, and after a while, they discover that their feelings are no longer fake…
This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features sapphic books with an established couple, meaning the main character needs to already be in an established romantic relationship at the beginning of the book.
There aren’t that many “established couple” books within the romance genre because, by definition, the plot of a romance novel revolves around two (or more) characters falling in love. The central question is whether they’ll end up with getting their happily ever after. But while the “happily ever after” is the end of a romance novel, it’s not the end of the couple’s story. Sometimes, readers would love to see how the couple handles problems life throws at them or whether they start a family.
So for this category, read a book in which the characters are already together at the start of the book. The book can be part of a series, with the characters getting together in an earlier book, or it could be a novel that isn’t a romance at all.
For this week’s category of the Sapphic Book Bingo, read a sapphic book by an author who writes full-time. Not a lot of authors are able to support themselves with their writing, especially not in a niche genre such as sapphic/women-loving-women fiction, so I thought full-time writers of sapphic fiction deserve a category of their own.
I put together a list of full-time writers below. Some of these authors retired from their day jobs; others gave them up to write full-time, as I did in 2013, and now make a living off their writing.
This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features the “award-winning sapphic book” category. Read a sapphic book that won a literary award. It doesn’t matter which award the book won, when, or in which category. It could be an award for LGBT+ literature or a mainstream award.
For awards celebrating LGBTQ books, check out the Golden Crown Literary Society Award (affectionately called “Goldie”), the Lambda Literary Award (“Lammy”), or the Rainbow Awards.
Welcome to the first post of the Sapphic Book Bingo 2022!
After a short recap of the rules of Sapphic Book Bingo, I’m sharing book recommendations for the first square of the bingo card: your favorite romance trope.
I’m listing 10 books for the top 6 most popular romance tropes, including ice queen characters, enemies-to-lovers romance novels, age-gap romances, fake-relationship romances, slow-burn romance novels, and medical romances.
Happy new year and welcome to the Sapphic Book Bingo 2022!
The Sapphic Book Bingo is a fun, year-long event for readers of sapphic fiction. It runs from January 1 to December 31, 2022. You can join any time you want.
Here are the rules, prizes, and the categories for the Sapphic Book Bingo 2022!