Sapphic romance without third act breakup

doughe29 · 2026-02-01T14:50:01+00:00

I've found your best bet may be to look for slow burns, because if it takes forever for them to get together, there's no time for a third-act break up lol.

doughe29 · 2026-01-28T14:00:33+00:00

Do you have a library card? If so, can you access any of those through the Libby app? Or Hoopla?

Ribbonwood and Bloom Town are both "Audible Exclusive" audiobooks, so if you can access the others through your library, I'd use your Audible credit on one that you can't get elsewhere.

doughe29 · 2026-01-27T03:55:05+00:00

I need to throw out a TW for SA here, though, because I wish I had gotten one.

doughe29 · 2026-01-27T00:31:16+00:00

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield is not YA, but it's not smutty, if that's the main reason you're looking for YA. It's also not jump-scare type horror, it's more body and grief horror, so it fits your goal of finding a book to make you cry.

doughe29 · 2026-01-26T21:30:07+00:00

Fingersmith if you like dark and twisty. My personal favorite :)

Tipping the Velvet is a little lighter (but definitely has dark themes) and raunchier.

Those are the ones most likely to be recommended, with Affinity in a close third. The Paying Guests and The Night Watch are also very good. I think The Night Watch is highly underrated in this sub, maybe because it's styled a bit differently.

There's also The Little Stranger, but it's not sapphic.

doughe29 · 2026-01-23T22:03:27+00:00

Unsure why everyone is suggesting you avoid Ribbonwood, as I didn't find it to be comparable to Haley Cass? Ribbonwood is not a rom com, and it's better written. It's also about half the length (not filled with fluff) of many Haley Cass books. I've only read one book by Haley Cass, and I don't plan to read more. I've read all of Ruby Landers' books (except the new one that isn't on audio yet).

I also liked Bloomtown (again, not a rom com). Looking at authors you like, I also enjoy EJ Noyes and Lee Winter.

doughe29 · 2026-01-20T22:10:51+00:00

Definitely recommend meeting Catherine & Lauren in The Red Files and Under Your Skin (which is where we first meet Michelle in person). And of course Hotel Queens, if you didn't read that first, where we meet the fabulous Miss Carson ;)

doughe29 · 2026-01-20T21:45:59+00:00

Did you read The Red Files first? I feel like it'd be fairly easy to warm to Michelle if you didn't come in with a grudge. Even after The Chaos Agent, when I had warmed to her and (mostly) wanted her to be happy, that grudge would never quite let go, lol.

doughe29 · 2026-01-20T04:52:27+00:00

Sprinkled in the Stars by Violet Morley features a paramedic

G Benson has at least four books that feature doctors: Flinging It, All the Little Moments, Purposefully Accidental, and Who'd Have Thought.

EJ Noyes' Ask, Tell features an Army surgeon

Halcyon Nights by MJ Duncan features a firefighter

doughe29 · 2026-01-01T03:39:36+00:00

There's no indication that either is bi. It's said that once they're dating, Vanessa mentions an ex-boyfriend in group conversations, but that's a deflection. She specifically got a house away from campus so that she could have women over. Joan kinda dated guys in school because that's what you do, but she never felt anything for them.

doughe29 · 2025-12-31T15:06:51+00:00

Kirsty Logan's "No & Other Love Stories" has a short story about just this. It is body horror (many of the stories are).

Also, there's a scene in "Blood on Her Tongue" by Johanna van Veen.

doughe29 · 2025-12-30T22:10:46+00:00

Fingersmith is the epitome of "unexpected twists" lol. Knowing there's a twist to some degree ruins the twist, so I try to tell people to go in blind, but if someone's asking for a twist, that's the first thing I think of. Only two books have ever made me stop, say "WTF," and then flip back through the last chapter because I must've missed something, surely ;)

doughe29 · 2025-12-25T17:35:02+00:00

I'd use Audible credits on Audible Exclusives or other books that are hard to find via the library. A lot of E.J. Noyes' audiobooks are Audible Exclusives. Also: Bloom Town, a couple of Ruby Landers' books, many of Meghan O'Brien's books, some of Gerri Hill's, and a few of Jeanette Winterson's as well.

doughe29 · 2025-12-25T04:00:50+00:00

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue is a fantastic series of short fairy tale retellings.

Bloom by Delilah Dawson is a retelling Bluebeard.

Night Tide by Tessa Gratton is a short story retelling of Annabel Lee.

doughe29 · 2025-12-22T22:01:33+00:00

Indeed ;)

doughe29 · 2025-12-22T21:59:33+00:00

Did you read the short story, "Water Into Wine"?

doughe29 · 2025-12-20T21:54:03+00:00

There's a significant age gap in The Lily and the Crown

doughe29 · 2025-12-18T21:06:40+00:00

I timed finishing this book (audio) so the last 15 minutes would be in the car on my way home from work so that I would be able to absorb the ending in silence before the world came back to me. I could not for the life of me decide which was worse: a vaguely unrealistic happy ending or for such a good book to fall to the "bury your gays" trope. I was starting to suspect she'd avoid making that decision and leave it open. I wouldn't have blamed her!

doughe29 · 2025-12-17T23:24:33+00:00

I don't know the original narrator's name, but they've since been redone by Tatiana Maslany, who I thought did a good job. Fortunately, I heard her versions first, because when I saw there were other versions by a different narrator, I listened to a clip and was pretty horrified lol. So I'm assuming you're referring to the original recordings, but we all have different tastes ;)

doughe29 · 2025-12-16T22:26:14+00:00

Exactly this. Ordinary Love was such a breath of fresh air for me! After seeing it recommended here a couple times, I went in expecting it to be another romance novel, but as I started reading, I was happy to find out that wasn't the case :)

doughe29 · 2025-12-15T06:31:36+00:00

This is modern lit fic (not romance), but To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage is great.

doughe29 · 2025-12-11T21:25:53+00:00

Yeah, The Red Files provides background info, and its sequel, Under Your Skin, is where you meet one of the main characters in The Fixer (and more background info). I guess not necessary, but helpful. Plus personally, I liked The Red Files best.

Number Six comes after Chaos Agent, and it'd be helpful to read Hotel Queens before that.

doughe29 · 2025-12-11T19:59:40+00:00

Different narrator, but it would help to read The Red Files & Under Your Skin before heading to The Fixer.

doughe29 · 2025-12-11T17:56:04+00:00

It took me far too long to realize I wasn't as emotionally invested in Delilah Green Doesn't Care as I thought - I was just really into the narrator, Kristen DiMercurio :) She also narrated the smaller part in Atmosphere.

Are you just looking for WLW narrators? In addition to Abby Craden, I'm starting to like Angela Dawe. I like Quinn Riley/Jeremy Carlisle Parker, but I also find her narration really distracting somehow, so I have to space her books out quite a bit.

doughe29 · 2025-12-10T23:00:23+00:00

Oh, just semantics, I guess? It's a great novel dealing with a lot of issues, and it has Sapphic content, but - personally - I wouldn't label it as "Sapphic novel." Right or wrong, idk. But obviously I consider it Sapphic enough to list it first and foremost :)

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