Sapphic Reading Challenges 2023
One of the great things about the start of the year, are the year-long events for readers: The good people at I Heart SappFic are hosting another Reading Challenge for 2023, and the mighty Jae is hosting another year of Sapphic Book Bingo.
A few times a month, each challenge highlights a category with a list of recommended books for that category. But of course you’re not limited to only those books–you can read any sapphic book that fits the theme.
For full details about the challenges, visit the challenge websites.
In the meantime, below is a list of my books showing where each one fits in both challenges. Whatever you read, I hope you find new books, authors, and tropes to enjoy.
An enemies-to-lovers lesbian sports romance about making it to the finish line.
A koala ruined her life. Well, that’s how elite athlete Shan Metz sees it.
When an idiot charity runner in a koala suit trips Shan during a community fun run, her knee blows out, destroying her dream of making the Australian Commonwealth Games team. Recovering from knee surgery will be bad enough, but living on her building’s fourth floor will make it a nightmare.
Consultant Lizzie Carras, aka the dream-wrecking koala, does guilt like a pro. The only decent thing to do is offer Shan her spare bedroom during recovery. Their incompatible lifestyles don’t help matters. Neither does Shan’s training partner, the haughty and possessive Celia. But they’ll muddle through until Shan’s knee has healed enough to get out of Lizzie’s life.
Because it’s not like Shan would ever miss a dream-wrecking koala or anything. Right?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Roommate romance
- Enemies-to- lovers
- Low-angst romance
- Brown eyes
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Athlete / Coach
- Bi or Pansexual
- Body Positivity
- Grumpy / Sunshine
- Nursed Back to Health
- Opposites Attract
- Slow Burn
- Tomboy
I Do
A fabulous twin-swap lesbian romance where the toaster oven could double as a wedding gift.
Accountant Allie Lane would do anything for her injured twin sister, including pretend to be her to save Sophie’s fledgling event-planning business. All Allie has to do is fake being a lesbian for a few weeks and co-ordinate a rural gay wedding festival. Simple. Except she’s nothing like her outgoing sister and, last Allie checked, she was straight.
Tarryn Harris cannot stand weddings. Now her small Australian town of Quandong is being overrun by matrimonial madness for its first gay wedding festival. The other hitch is she’s been roped into being the assistant to the cute lesbian event planner. Frankly, she’d rather be left alone with her alpacas and metal art.
The finale of the festival is a fake wedding. Surely no one will vote for a wedding hater and an undercover straight woman to play the fake couple? Right?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Pride scene
- Same-sex wedding
- Sibling relationship
- Boss/employee romance
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Blue collar
- Fish out of water
- Opposites attract
- Slow burn
- Toaster oven / Gay for you
- Wedding
- Workplace romance
Desperate situations call for desperate lies in this charming, fake-relationship lesbian romance.
Andi Barrons has no time for kids or the chaos they bring—certainly not when she runs a high-end decorating business. Mischief and little fingers around expensive materials? No thanks!
But then her gorgeous friend, Sarah Santoro, winds up in a custody battle with Sarah’s former in-laws and now… Well, somehow Andi’s agreed to pretend she’s Sarah’s live-in partner.
She’s still not quite sure how she got stuck playing a role she’s so utterly clueless about and that’s everything she doesn’t want in life. But as long as Sarah and Noa, the world’s cutest seven-year-old, don’t get a hold of her heart, she’ll be fine.
Easy, right?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Roommate romance
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Single parent
- Tool belt
- Fake relationship romance
- Brown eyes
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Blue Collar
- Divorce
- Fake relationship / Marriage of Convenience
- Fish out of Water
- Found Family
- Opposites Attract
- Slow Burn
- Butch / Femme
Renovation takes a sexy turn when a cute country girl rocks up with a tool belt and plans that throw the whole gay neighbourhood into disarray in this light-hearted lesbian romance.
When handywoman Jorgie’s uncle leaves her an old house in Melbourne, it’s a dream come true. Sure, 94 Gaylord Street is falling apart, and she has to deal with her uncle Bruce’s eccentric friends thanks to his unusual Will.
But that’s okay. She’ll fire up her power tools and turn the dilapidated terrace house into a desirable inner-city pad. Then she’ll sell up and head home to the country.
Jorgie hasn’t counted on falling for cute neighbour Marta, who’s found her heart-home among the tight queer-community of Gaylord Street. Between mugs of too-strong tea and Jorgie’s lack of a working shower, the two forge a surprising connection.
But what happens when the renovation’s complete? Can Jorgie really just toss aside her tool belt and saunter away?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Inheritance
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Low-angst romance
- Tool belt
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Blue Collar
- Found Family
- Slow Burn
- Butch / Femme
A captivating opposites-attract lesbian romance about a city woman discovering her country heart.
Australian country girl Nina Pellegrini runs a program for city kids to experience a taste of rural life at Banksia Farm. But when a child is hurt and a lawsuit threatens, Nina is determined to find the best legal assistance to help her save the farm.
Enter high-flying lawyer Leigh Willoughby, whose city world is far from the farm’s chaotic mix of kids and animals. She certainly doesn’t have time for small cases that don’t pay or farm visits that wreck her cool—and her clothes.
Still, the warm-hearted Nina and her challenging, twelve-year-old daughter, Phoebe, are awfully hard to say no to. What on earth has she gotten herself into?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- “Heart” in the title
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Single parent
- Low-angst romance
- Workaholic character
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Bi or Pansexual
- Femme / Femme
- Fish out of Water
- Found Family
- Ice Queen
- Opposites Attract
- Slow Burn
An enthralling, opposites-attract lesbian romance about what lies beneath.
Stevie Sterling is having a day from hell. Snubbed—yet again—by her unsupportive parents, she runs out on their posh party and takes refuge on a deserted yacht. Waking the next day with the world’s worst hangover, Stevie finds herself far from shore.
As if being trapped on the yacht in only her party dress isn’t bad enough, Stevie’s frantic that she’ll miss the first day of her new job as a nurse. She has so much to prove in her career—to herself and her parents.
The yacht’s cute but unimpressed captain, Kaz Malone—an eco-warrior who hits the seas with Sinbad the cat—is on a mission: There’s a nuclear-waste-dumping tanker to harass.
Kaz is as single-minded as she is stubborn and she’s not about to turn around for some stowaway with a new job. Hell, no. Saving the planet comes first.
But perhaps there’s more than one way to a destination?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Enemies-to-lovers
- Sibling relationship
- Unusual setting
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Adventure / Survival
- Boat / Cruise Ship
- Fish out of Water
- Forced Proximity / Stranded Together
- Starting Over
- Vacation / Travel
An enemies to lovers lesbian romance about crossing lines that hold us back.
From the moment Freya looks in the window of the brash, new sex shop in Grasstree Flat she knows it will be nothing but trouble. For a start, it will clash with her own new-age store next door. And she’s right. Outgoing newcomer Lily begins to intrude on Freya’s well-ordered life. Freya’s friends, lifestyle, and even her cat are all affected by Lily’s magic touch. Even Freya’s yoga classes rub shoulders with Lily’s sexual-expression workshops. Lily stands for everything Freya has lost in life—playfulness, spontaneity, delight in the physical, and sex. But does Lily have more in common with Freya than the wall that divides them?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Enemies-to-lovers
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Age gap
- Body Positivity
- Femme / Femme
- Grumpy / Sunshine
- Ice Queen
- Opposites Attract
A lesbian sports romance about breaking all the rules.
Viva Jones was great once. A top ten tennis player with a grand slam trophy to her name, she had the world at her feet. Then an overzealous lineswoman’s bad call knocked her out of the US Open, and a persistent injury crushed her career. While battling to return to the game she loves, a chance meeting with the lineswoman, Gabriela, forces Viva to rethink the past…and the present.
Away from the court, Gabriela is sexy, athletic, and lives for her career as an umpire. She seems to be falling for Viva as hard and fast as Viva is for her. There’s just one problem: players and officials can’t date.
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Enemies-to-lovers
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Athlete / coach
- Ice Queen
- Taboo / Forbidden
- Vacation / Travel
- Workplace / Office Romance
This fabulous sequel to small-town lesbian romance, Not-So-Straight Sue, sees Sue and Moni tie the knot in an outback wedding stuffed with crazy characters and chaos.
Three years ago, lawyer Sue Brent proposed to doctor Moni Kratzmann in the corridor of the Royal Flying Doctor Base. Now, their wedding is on. As friends and family from near and far gather at Jayboro Outstation in outback Queensland, Australia, Moni and Sue strive to keep their wedding plans—and their lives—on track.
Between well-meaning families, ex-girlfriends, and a community that just wants to party, their wedding is set to be bigger than Moni’s home state of Texas. But is that what they want?
It’s a simple outback wedding. What could possibly go wrong?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Same-sex wedding
- Low-angst romance
- Immigrant or ex-pat
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Living Abroad
- Married or Established Couple
- Tomboy
- Wedding
Felix falls hard for a cute drifter whose horse she’s boarding in this slow-burn, small-town, lesbian romance. But is the woman, or her horse, what they seem?
Felix Jameson is working hard to get her outback hospitality business off the ground. Building cabins, leading trail rides and enticing tourists means she hasn’t much time for distractions—and that includes romance.
But when she meets Josie, a drifter who picks up casual work as she goes, Felix is intrigued and attracted. Josie asks Felix to board her horse, Flame, and Felix is delighted. Not only can she use the extra money, but it means she will see a lot more of Josie.
Felix finds Josie fits in well into her life, and for the solitary Felix there’s finally the possibility of romance. But there’s something suspicious about Flame, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a valuable stolen racehorse. Felix knows she is falling hard for Josie, but is Josie all she seems, or is she mixed up in shady dealings?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Workaholic character
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Misfit / Socially Awkward
- Mystery / Suspense
- Opposites Attract
- Tomboy
- Vacation / Travel
Footloose Nora discovers the woman she’s fallen for is from a family battling a blood feud with Nora’s own proud Irish family. Oops? A fun, sexy, reformed-player lesbian romance.
Paralegal Nora Kelly loves her carefree London life where there’s always a new woman to seduce. Her big Irish family tease her about her carefree ways, but Nora knows she’s in no danger of losing her heart.
Her family has only one rule when it comes to dating: Nora can date any woman she wants—as long as she’s not a Flannery. The Kellys and the Flannerys have been feuding ever since both families arrived in London from Ireland sixty years ago, and time has not lessened the hatred.
But never-tied Nora has just met the woman of her dreams, a sexy redhead architect, and suddenly commitment isn’t a dirty word. Trouble is, Geraldine is a Flannery.
Can Nora convince Geraldine that, despite their families’ bad blood, they are meant to be together?
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (UK)
- Enemies-to-lovers
- Sibling relationship
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Love at First Sight
- Tomboy
Lawyer Sue is totally, completely straight. Then she meets cute doctor Moni. Things get awkward. And kind of gay. And awkward again. A coming-out romance about small towns and big dreams.
“Sorry, I’m straight.” Those words, along with a smile, are how Sue Brent turns down women. The Australian lawyer, living in London, has the line down pat, but the truth is buried deep. So deep that sometimes Sue even manages to convince herself she’s not a lesbian. The only person in London who has ever seen through her façade is Moni, an American tourist.
After a date goes disastrously wrong, Sue has to confront the truth about herself. Leaving London, she returns home to Australia and buries herself in running an outback law practice in Queensland.
When Moni arrives in town to work as a doctor, Sue starts to see a path to happiness for the first time. But can their exciting new relationship survive the arrival of an unexpected visitor? Sue’s teenage, first love, Denise, has tracked Sue down to Mungabilly Creek to ask a favour. Okay, definitely not awkward at all…
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Country you haven’t visited (Australia)
- Second book in a series
- Immigrant or ex-pat
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Adventurer/explorer/world traveler
- Friends to Lovers
- Living Abroad
- Tomboy
- Vacation / Travel
She’s off limits but the attraction burns so bright it’s impossible to resist.
This collection of seventeen stories charts the spectrum of unwise lesbian desire, gathering tales of women you should resist—but can’t. In Jean Roberta’s Shelter the bad girl’s back from prison. An upper-class lady seduces her maid in Laila Blake’s poignant story set in Regency England, while a Catholic nun is beguiled by a hooker in Lisabet Sarai’s powerful The First Stone.
These women are cops, slave owners, doctors, Dommes, and horse thieves, and you’ll find them at the pool, being seduced by older women, putting their job on the line for lust, or seducing the salt-and-pepper butch.
With stories from writers at the top of their game, including Sacchi Green, Erzabet Bishop, Beth Wylde, Harper Bliss, and Allison Wonderland, this collection is sure to thrill.
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Romance: Erotic/Erotica
Rule 4 and other stories (short stories)
In these four romantic stories, Cheyenne Blue shows you women falling in love and lust. In the titular Rule 4, a cuddly chef falls for a fitness freak, in the process breaking her self-imposed rule of never getting involved with a housemate. Gorgon and Goat tells of a young nurse determined to seduce an older woman at her cheese tasting group. In Warm Hands, a patient is determined not to let her doctor escape, while Out for the Count pits a card counter against a casino security officer.
Sapphic Book Bingo:
- Free sapphic book
- Roommate romance
- Age-gap romance
- Country or state you haven’t visited (Colorado, Nevada)
Sensual Lesbian Stories of New Beginnings (Edited by Cheyenne Blue)
Dive into these fifteen sizzling tales of lesbian love and romance and experience the wonder, the joy, and the magic of new beginnings.
A woman sees her lover for the first time after years of blindness. For the first time in her life, a top trusts her girlfriend enough to let her take control. A connection forged in a bar in New Mexico encourages a breast cancer survivor to take a lover. Stories of new love and first lesbian encounters intermingle with other emotional and physical firsts, and the excitement of new experiences: an around the world flight, the thrill of a carnival, and even the first time to see the sea.
With fantastic stories by favorite writers such as Sacchi Green, Harper Bliss, Annabeth Leong, Allison Wonderland, and Jeremy Edwards, the variety in this anthology means there is something for everyone.
IHS Reading Challenge:
- Romance: Erotic/Erotica
Here’s where my books fit into Jae’s Book Unicorn categories.
Here’s where my books fit into Jae’s Sapphic Book Bingo categories.
Happy reading, everybody!
Cheyenne