Not-So-Straight Sue

Can she leave the past behind to seize the future?

“Sorry, I’m straight.” Until she’s not. A coming-out romance full of awkward moments, big dreams, and small-town charm.

“Sorry, I’m straight.” Those words, accompanied by a smile, were the ones Sue Brent, an Australian lawyer living in London, always used to turn down women. But the truth was buried so deep that even her best friend, Nora, didn’t know that Sue was queer. Sometimes Sue even managed to convince herself.  The only person in London who’d ever seen through her façade was Moni, an American tourist.

When a date with a friend’s brother goes disastrously wrong, Sue has to confront the truth about herself. Leaving London, she returns to Australia to take up the reins in an outback law practice. Back in the country of her birth, she is finally able to accept who she is. When Moni arrives in outback Queensland to work as a doctor, Sue starts to see a path to happiness. But when Sue’s teenage love, Denise, tracks Sue down in Mungabilly Creek to beg a favor, Sue and Moni’s burgeoning relationship is put to the test.

“Sorry, I’m straight.” Those words, accompanied by a smile, were the ones Sue Brent, an Australian lawyer living in London, always used to turn down women.  Sometimes Sue even managed to convince herself.  The only person in London who’d ever seen through her façade was Moni, an American tourist.

Leaving London, she returns to Australia to take up the reins in an outback law practice. When Moni arrives in outback Queensland, Sue starts to see a path to happiness.

About this book

What readers are saying about the book

The Lesbian Review

Not-So-Straight Sue has a really easy style to it that sucked me in and left me wholly content by the time I was done. Although it doesn’t really follow the typical beats of a romance and is more about Sue’s personal journey (both literal across the outback and metaphorical as she begins to live openly as a lesbian), it so satisfying and my heart was so happy at the end.

Pippa D, Goodreads Reviewer

This was a really good book to read. The story has more density to it than many others I’ve read for a while, and the main character is more complex. The flaws she has are reasonable and forgivable, and the plot works with her character really well.

Amy, Goodreads Reviewer

It is very much a journey of healing and of realizing what are the most important things in life, and of self-discovery. The setting of the story, the landscape, is almost another character within the book, because both main characters have such a love for it, and it twines itself around their lives together.

Reading challenges

Sapphic Book Bingo 2026

  • Queer friend group

Hidden Gems 2026

  • Main characters have different nationalities

IHS Reading Challenge 2026

  • Set in Australia

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