Jae

Sapphic Slow-burn romances

wlw romance

character is a teacher or professor

Character is a teacher or professor (Sapphic Reading Challenge #17)

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge post features books in which the main character is a teacher or a professor.

I know some readers stay away from teacher romances because they assume these books always include a teacher/student romance, but that’s not the case with the books I picked for this category. In almost all of the books recommended, the romance is between the teacher and a colleague or someone who’s not involved with her professional life at all. If the romance is between the teacher or professor and one of her students, the author handled it in a way that avoids crossing ethical boundaries as much as possible. 

romance grumpy & sunshine

Grumpy & sunshine romance (Sapphic Reading Challenge #16)

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge post features f/f romances in which a grumpy character falls for a character with a sunny, upbeat personality.

There’s a bit of an overlap with ice-queen romances at times, so you might want to check out the ice-queen romance recommendations to see if any of these would fit the grumpy & sunshine category too.

character with a disability or mental illness

Character with a disability or mental illness (Sapphic Reading Challenge #7)

Category #7 of the Sapphic Reading Challenge features another group of people that is definitely underrepresented in WLW & lesbian fiction: characters who have a disability.

It can be a book about a character with a physical disability, a chronic illness, or a mental disorder. When you pick the book you’re going to read, don’t forget that some disabilities are invisible or less apparent, for example, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, migraines, and mental illnesses.

romance only one bed

Only One Bed (Sapphic Reading Challenge #6)

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge category features a trope that seems to be quite popular in women-loving women romance. I call it the “only one bed” trope. It includes two characters who are not (yet) a couple having to share the only available bed.

Usually, that leads to hilarious situations: one character clinging to the edge of the bed so she won’t give away her attraction, or they wake up in the middle of the night, cuddled up to each other. And sometimes, a whole lot more than cuddling happens.