These are my top 10 lesbian books of 2015.
1 The Red Files by Lee Winter
Published by: Ylva Publishing
What It’s About
Ambitious Daily Sentinel journalist Lauren King is chafing on LA’s vapid social circuit, reporting on glamorous A-list parties while sparring with her rival—the formidable, icy Catherine Ayers. Ayers is an ex-Washington political correspondent who suffered a humiliating fall from grace, and her acerbic, vicious tongue keeps everyone at bay. Everyone, that is, except knockabout Iowa girl King, who is undaunted, unimpressed and gives as good as she gets.
One night a curious story unfolds before their eyes: One business launch, 34 prostitutes and a pallet of missing pink champagne. Can the warring pair work together to unravel an incredible story? This is a lesbian fiction with more than a few mysterious twists.
Tara’s Note
How is this Lee Winter’s first book? It’s wickedly funny, with whip-smart writing and a slow burn romance. I can’t say enough good about it and I will be eagerly awaiting her next book. This is my pick for top book of the year.
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2 The Witch of Stalingrad by Justine Saracen
Published by: Bold Strokes Books
What It’s About
As the German Blitzkrieg brings the Soviet Union to its knees in 1942, a regiment of women aviators flies out at night in flimsy aircraft without parachutes or radios to harass the Wehrmacht troops. The Germans call them “Night Witches” and the best of them is Lilya Drachenko.
From the other end of the world, photojournalist Alex Preston arrives to “get the story” for the American press and witnesses sacrifice, hardship, and desperate courage among the Soviet women that is foreign to her. So also are their politics. While the conservative journalist and the communist Lilya clash politically, Stalingrad, the most savage battle of the 20th century, brings them together, until enemy capture and the lethal Russian winter tears them apart again.
Tara’s Note
I didn’t know anything about the Night Witches before I read this book and it knocked my socks off. It’s a historical novel with romantic elements and you’ll be entertained while you learn a whole lot.
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3 Damage Control/Just Physical by Jae
Damage Control
Published by: Ylva Publishing
What It’s About
An actress practically since birth, Grace Durand has finally made it in Hollywood. When a photo of her in a seemingly compromising situation with another woman is plastered all over the tabloids, she fears for her career as a lead in romantic movies. Desperate for a publicist who’ll convince America that she’s straight, Grace hires Lauren Pearce, one of Hollywood’s leading PR agents, not knowing that she’s a lesbian.
Lauren has dealt with PR nightmares for years, so doing damage control for one more rich, spoiled client shouldn’t be a problem—or so she thinks. But the more time she spends with Grace, the more she realizes how different she is from her television persona. Getting involved with her client is not in her game plan, especially since it would confirm the rumors and ruin Grace’s career, but the attraction between them is growing as they run the gauntlet of the paparazzi together.
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Just Physical
Published by: Ylva Publishing
What It’s About
After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, twenty-five-year-old Jill Corrigan takes herself off the romantic market. Not wanting to become a burden to a potential partner, she focuses on her career as an actress instead.
On the set of a disaster movie, she meets stunt woman Kristine “Crash” Patterson, whose easy smile instantly makes Jill wish things were different. Meanwhile, Crash is trained to fall, but she didn’t count on falling in love. Despite their growing feelings for each other, Jill resolves to let Crash into her bed, but not her heart. As they start to play with fire on and off camera, will they really be able to keep things just physical?
Tara’s Note
I can’t choose between these two entries in Jae’s Hollywood Series, so I didn’t. Both are excellent and I know I’ll be reading them over and over again.
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4 By Design by JA Armstrong
Published by: JA Armstrong Books
What It’s About
Building bridges has a very different meaning for Jameson Reid than it does for Candace Fletcher. J.D. Reid spends her days designing some of the most elegant and majestic buildings and homes in North America. U.S. Senator Candace Fletcher has spent her life working to build bridges between people.
J.D. Reid is not who Candace Fletcher was expecting to arrive on her doorstep. Candace will challenge all of Jameson’s preconceptions about the women of Washington D.C. The enigmatic architect will test the resolve of the Junior Senator from New York. Two women will discover that falling in love may be out of their control, but creating a relationship in the world of politics and business is completely BY DESIGN.
Tara’s Note
JA Armstrong has a few strong serial novels going at the moment, but this is my favourite. Start with the first book and work your way through the the next four.
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5 Soul Unique by Gun Brooke
Published by: Bold Strokes Books
What It’s About
Greer Landon is a successful art gallery owner. She has created an empire by discovering and developing new artists. When she agrees to visit an art school in Boston, she encounters a woman, Hayden Rowe, whose paintings take her breath away. Greer realizes Hayden is not a student, but lives in a remote wing of the school and the maddeningly frustrating headmaster is her mother.
Mesmerized by Hayden and her art, Greer learns the young woman has Asperger syndrome. Hayden awakens something in Greer she didn’t know she was capable of. Having suffered from a profound loneliness for most of her life, Greer develops an overshadowing love and protectiveness toward Hayden. As she learns more about Hayden and her heartbreaking family situation, Greer is amazed at how courageous and brilliant she is. Can there be a future with a woman like this, and will Hayden, who can only put words to her emotions through her paintings, return her feelings?
Tara’s Note
Gun Brooke writes some of my ultimate comfort reads, and although she also released the second book in her current sci-fi series this year (which is also great), this was her best book in 2015 and one of her best ever.
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6 A Little Bit of Spice by Georgia Beers
Published by: Brisk Press
What It’s About
Andrea Blake’s life has order. Everything is meticulously laid out and planned, from her house in its quiet neighborhood to her career path at Hagan’s, the largest supermarket chain in the Northeast. Andrea knows what she wants.
Enter Kendall Foster, the distractingly attractive woman in charge of sales for her family’s local microbrewery, and somebody who wants very much to get her beer onto Hagan’s shelves. A decision that happens to be Andrea’s.
The physical attraction is immediate and hard to resist, but Andrea doesn’t need a complication like Kendall in her life, not when she’s rocketing toward predictable security. But Kendall is fun. And smart. And oh-so-sexy. Can she convince Andrea that her rather flat, flavorless life could be way better with just a little bit of spice?
Tara’s Note
Georgia Beers is one of the best contemporary romance authors writing right now, and it was a toss up between this and her other 2015 release, Zero Visibility. This book has one of the best first kisses though, so here you go.
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7 Totally Worth It by Maggie Cummings
Published by: Bold Strokes Books
What It’s About
Welcome to the world of Bay West Social. Twenty-something Meg McTiernan is all about her career when her house hunt unexpectedly lands her at Bay West—a lesbian mecca tucked away in the suburbs of NYC—and her social life is given a turbo boost. There’s a pool, a softball league, even a nightclub practically in her backyard. In this loaded environment, finding the right girl just got a lot more interesting.
Case in point: law student Lexi Russo grew up at Bay West and is about to start an internship at the law firm of another local, self-assured, sexy Jesse Ducane. Lexi’s had a crush on Jesse forever, but Jesse’s the one Bay West woman she can’t possibly have. And not just because she’s her boss. Together, new friends Meg and Lexi navigate romances, fun flirtations, juicy gossip, tons of drama, and maybe just the right amount of true love.
Tara’s Note
Full disclosure: I proofread this book, but I loved it too much not to include it here. Again, I can’t believe this is the author’s first book. It’s more lesbian chick lit than romance, and it works oh so well.
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8 The Bureau of Holiday Affairs by Andi Marquette
Published by: Ylva Publishing
What It’s About
Executive Robin Preston has dedicated her life to climbing the corporate ladder, using whatever means necessary. In the shark-infested culture at Frost Enterprises, anything goes, and Robin is a master at the game. On the verge of a major promotion, Robin receives a strange visit from Agent Elizabeth Tolson of the Bureau of Holiday Affairs, who informs Robin that, though Robin may be a lost cause, the Bureau has scheduled her for intervention.
Robin will receive three visitors in the two weeks before Christmas, who will escort her on visits to her past, present, and future. Robin will be forced to face not only who she’s become, but the parts of herself she left behind, when she was an art major in college and in love with fellow art student Jill Chen, in whom Robin found a kindred spirit—until Jill broke if off with her. In order for Robin to change her ways, she’ll need to reclaim who she was and open her heart again, to a past she thought she left behind.
The Bureau clearly has its work cut out for it, but Agent Tolson relishes a challenge, and she’s put together just the team for Robin’s case. They may have to cut a few corners and go outside a few lines, but Agent Tolson has a perfect salvage record and she’s not about to let that change. The question is, will Robin?
Tara’s Note
This retelling of A Christmas Carol was my favourite holiday read of 2015 and makes me want to read her retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The character work is strong, and the finds the right balance of fun and sweetness.
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9 Once in a Lifetime by Harper Bliss
Published by: Ladylit Publishing
What It’s About
Leigh Sterling and Jodie Whitehouse share a deep love and extreme passion in the bedroom. But when Jodie’s desire for a child becomes inevitable, it clashes with Leigh’s career ambitions as well as with her lack of maternal instinct, and forces them apart.
They go through life separately and, as years go by, their attempts at other relationships fail to measure up to the power of the union they once shared. When they see each other again eleven years after their painful breakup, an opportunity arises to explore if they really were each other’s one true love.
Tara’s Note
Harper Bliss is a master at short erotica and erotic romance pieces, and this is her second full-length novel. Her work isn’t to be missed and she has a healthy backlist if you’re looking for some sexy writing to glom.
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10 The Time Before Now by Missouri Vaun
Published by: Bold Strokes Books
What It’s About
More than fifty years have passed since “peak oil” has left the Earth without access to modern technology while great Cloud Cities for the rich float above the oceans. On the ground below, Vivian Yates leaves Oklahoma on an epic 700-mile journey east to her ancestral home. Early on, she encounters Elizabeth, who preys on Vivian’s inexperience and naivety, luring her into a brief affair that ends in disaster.
Betrayed and withdrawn, Vivian sets out again on her eastward trek. Along the way, she meets the beautiful, lighthearted Ida. Together they face obstacles both natural and manmade. Ida brings Vivian, wounded in both body and spirit, back to life.
Destiny has thrown them into each other’s arms where they find not only love, but hope, trust, and forever.
Tara’s Note
While I enjoyed the first two books in the Return to Earth series, this is my favourite by far. A prequel to All Things Rise, I loved seeing Vivian and Ida meet, travel, and fall in love.
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BUT WAIT!
That’s right, there’s an 11th book on my list. It was published in 2013, but out of the nearly 190 books I’ve read this year, this is the one that’s spent the most time crawling around my brain.
11 Behind the Green Curtain by Riley Lashea
What It’s About
When Caton’s sleazy boss offers her a position as his wife’s personal assistant, she accepts the job with reservations, certain Jack Halston has ulterior motives. After meeting Jack’s wife Amelia, though, it’s Caton’s motivations that begin to unravel. As vicious as she is beautiful, Amelia threatens Caton’s position and her sense of decorum.
As the attraction between the two women spirals into a torrid affair, Caton is drawn deeper into Jack and Amelia’s world of privilege and prestige, where everything is at stake and nothing is what it seems.
Tara’s Note
This is one of the best erotic romances I’ve ever read, not just in 2015. There’s a lot of sex in this book, none of it is repetitive, and all of it drives the story and romance. It’s dark and gritty and I cannot say enough good about it.
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I hope you enjoyed this Top 10 Lesbian Books of 2015 list.
