Publisher: Self-Published
Bio: Layla Reyne is the author of What We May Be and the Fog City, Agents Irish and Whiskey, and Changing Lanes series. A Carolina Tar Heel who now calls California home, Layla enjoys weaving her bicoastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline fueled suspense and heart pounding romance.
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A woman realizes she was meant to decline a wedding invitation, but only after she’s arrived. Can she borrow some of a stranger’s charm to make it through an awkward night? A power outage during a rehearsal dinner. A vanishing bride. A distraught groom. How’s an innkeeper to keep up? Especially when the bride reappears with a strange request: help her escape her own wedding. It’s awfully easy to bring “something old” to your wedding when one of the brides happens to be Death’s 700 year-old Head Minion. As if a museum wasn’t enough of a draw for a history nerd, throw in holograms, a secret wedding, and a mysteriously well-informed woman and things really get interesting. Weddings are so much more than parties. They’re a gathering of family and friends. The start of an adventure. And most importantly, they’re a celebration of love. Publisher: Bella Books
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Six teenage girls. One deserted island. Removed from civilised society, can they challenge class, identity and toxic femininity to pull together and survive? Or will they descend into savagery? This thrilling must-read adventure novel is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent. Seventeen-year-old farm girl Ellery is used to being alone; used to taking care of herself. After she wins an athletics scholarship to a prestigious new school, she finds herself facing her own personal nightmare – stuck on a plane with a bunch of mean girls, the school dork and her ex-best friend. But when the plane crashes and they find themselves alone on a deserted island, the real challenge begins. As they fight for survival, long-buried secrets are uncovered and – one by one – each girl’s true character emerges. Can friendships, like fires, be relit? And can Ellery survive on Girl Island? Publisher: Dark Horse Publishing
Bio: Kate Castle is the author of the best-selling adventure novella 'Born of the Sea'. Her debut novel 'Girl Island' - a contemporary Young Adult adventure - is out now.
Kate's books fall into the Young Adult and New Adult adventure and romance categories. Kate is passionate about representing young queer females in mainstream literature and writes about fierce, independent young women - the kind of characters she wished she could have read more about growing up. Read more about Kate, or sign up for new releases, giveaways, and other news at her website. |
Pirate Captain Cinder is a terror on the open sea, striking fear into hearts wherever she sails. Now she has a new target. The vulnerable Princess Georgina should be an easy mark in Cinder’s kidnapping plot. But the legend of Captain Cinder is more intertwined with Georgina’s own history than either of them expect. Treacherous storms. A mysterious pirate king. The prince’s unrelenting pursuit. Georgina and Cinder can only escape by following the uncharted course of their hearts. But just as a future together is within their grasp, Cinder’s past threatens to drag them both to the deep. Self-Published
Bio: Alli Temple has been a writer since the second grade, when she wrote a short story about a girl and her horse. Her grandmother typed it out for her and said she’s never seen so many quotation marks from a seven-year-old before. Alli took that as a challenge and has gone on to try to break her previous record in all her subsequent works.
Alli lives in Toronto with her very patient husband and the world’s most adorable rescue dog. She splits her free time between writing, community theater stage management, and traveling anywhere that has good wine. Tragically, this leaves no time to clean her house. Alli writes contemporary queer romance as Allison Temple. |
Publisher: Affinity Rainbow Publications
Bio: Annette is an award-winning author, published by Affinity Rainbow Publications, who lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her wife and their five furry kids. With twenty published novels, three Lesfic Bard Awards, and one Goldie Award for her fourth novel, Locked Inside, she finally feels like a real author. Annette is as much a reader as a writer and always looking for the next lesfic novel to cue up. She came up with the One Fan at a Time tagline because it rolled off the tongue much better than One Reader at a Time. After pondering who she was at her core, it was all about connecting to each reader on a personal level. She would be the first to admit she doesn't do well with the masses. If someone picks up her book and it touches them she believes she has achieved what she wants with her writing by reaching each reader. It is who she is at her core. Drop her a line she loves to hear from readers:
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Mystery – Retrospect: The Hidden Life of Mac Scott by A.J. Forton Synopsis: McKenna Scott is missing. She’s presumed dead. Perished. Out of her misery... Suddenly, she’s not. She’s alive! Existing. Viable, just about… Two years after she vanished, Mac Scott stumbles into a London hospital. Scars encrust her body. She cannot tolerate the slightest physical touch despite her body aching for human connection. She has no memory of what happened to her. As Mac tries to ease herself into a life that now feels alien, she is consumed with grief and anger at losing the self-assured, fun-loving woman she once was. So she looks for help. Enticing therapist, Alisha Cole, helps her retrieve shards of horrific memories and it soon becomes clear… Mac may be home, but she is far from free. Using her scars and memory fragments like a road map, she investigates her disappearance and journeys through the perilous twists and turns of her own mystery. Unexpected love and an insatiable need to be freed from the evil which torments her, drives Mac to rediscover herself and find newfound fortitude. Where has she been? Why was she captured? She’s about to find out. And then she will make them pay. Escape is just the beginning; Mac is going to raise hell. Self Published
Bio: A.J. Forton is a newly emerging author who seeks to shock and thrill readers with brutal and honest action, shamelessly scorching intimacy, and unforgettable goosebump-inspiring moments. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she aims to bring strong queer characters boldly into the limelight with realism and authenticity. Parallel to this mission, she hopes to break the stereotype that many people on the Autistic spectrum have no imagination.
So, if you’re looking for action, suspense, and compelling characters you can’t help but fall in love with, you came to the right place. I just began my journey as a BA (Honours) student studying English Literature and Creative Writing. While writing is something I have always done as an outlet - I never for one second imagined being an author. Now that it has happened, I can't imagine doing anything else. I guess you could call me the accidental author, and it truly has been the best accident ever. When I am not absorbed in writing and reading lesbian fiction; I enjoy cake, cheese, and whiskey - as should all right-thinking people. I'm a terrible cook, an enthusiast in all things good and geeky and my readers are my very favourite people. I write lesbian fiction and I am happy and honored to be rubbing shoulders with some incredible lesfic authors who - like me, are all trying to give the LGBTQ community accurate representation. |
New Author – Retrospect: The Hidden Life of Mac Scott by A.J. Forton
Synopsis: McKenna Scott is missing. She’s presumed dead. Perished. Out of her misery... Suddenly, she’s not. She’s alive! Existing. Viable, just about… Two years after she vanished, Mac Scott stumbles into a London hospital. Scars encrust her body. She cannot tolerate the slightest physical touch despite her body aching for human connection. She has no memory of what happened to her. As Mac tries to ease herself into a life that now feels alien, she is consumed with grief and anger at losing the self-assured, fun-loving woman she once was. So she looks for help. Enticing therapist, Alisha Cole, helps her retrieve shards of horrific memories and it soon becomes clear… Mac may be home, but she is far from free. Using her scars and memory fragments like a road map, she investigates her disappearance and journeys through the perilous twists and turns of her own mystery. Unexpected love and an insatiable need to be freed from the evil which torments her, drives Mac to rediscover herself and find newfound fortitude. Where has she been? Why was she captured? She’s about to find out. And then she will make them pay. Escape is just the beginning; Mac is going to raise hell. Self Published
Bio: A.J. Forton is a newly emerging author who seeks to shock and thrill readers with brutal and honest action, shamelessly scorching intimacy, and unforgettable goosebump-inspiring moments. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she aims to bring strong queer characters boldly into the limelight with realism and authenticity. Parallel to this mission, she hopes to break the stereotype that many people on the Autistic spectrum have no imagination.
So, if you’re looking for action, suspense, and compelling characters you can’t help but fall in love with, you came to the right place. I just began my journey as a BA (Honours) student studying English Literature and Creative Writing. While writing is something I have always done as an outlet - I never for one second imagined being an author. Now that it has happened, I can't imagine doing anything else. I guess you could call me the accidental author, and it truly has been the best accident ever. When I am not absorbed in writing and reading lesbian fiction; I enjoy cake, cheese, and whiskey - as should all right-thinking people. I'm a terrible cook, an enthusiast in all things good and geeky and my readers are my very favourite people. I write lesbian fiction and I am happy and honored to be rubbing shoulders with some incredible lesfic authors who - like me, are all trying to give the LGBTQ community accurate representation. |
Romance – Love Under Lockdown by Maggie McIntyre
Synopsis: Locked down under the Covid19 pandemic, Isabel Bridgford has never felt so frightened. Bryony, the love of her life, risks her life daily as a doctor in the I.C. Unit of an overwhelmed London hospital. How can Isabel keep her adored young wife safe, and also bring back joy into her troubled soul? Meanwhile, Stephanie and Alana, Isabel’s closest friends, have their own crushing disappointments to surmount. Their wedding has been cancelled and their plans to move to the USA, crushed. But life moves on, and as lockdown continues they painfully discover that true love can conquer everything, if one decides never to give up. Isabel’s oldest friend, Jane, and her new fiancée, Jenni, seem able to sustain their happiness in a bubble of romantic bliss. But Jenni faces a huge challenge to raise a vast amount of money at very short notice, otherwise her African girls’ project will face collapse. It is not only Jane’s enthusiastic love-making which keeps Jenni awake at night. As the strangest of springs unfolds, these three sets of friends cope with the challenges Covid 19 brings, and learn new ways to share their love and friendship, sometimes with unlikely people. This passionate contemporary lesbian romance from award winning author, Maggie McIntyre, will lift your spirits, tug at your heart-strings and remind you of the power of love, even when you live through the most difficult of times. It is fourth in the series, “Isabel and friends.” Publisher: Ryeland Press
Bio: Hi, I'm Maggie McIntyre and I try to set my love stories in the real world, where harsh realities often impact on the lives of my characters and challenge them at times to come to terms with what really matters, and where the path to true love lies. But I also love humor, and try to make something to laugh about throughout my stories.
The three books in my California based series "Behind the Camera" focus on the adventures in love of Media Ice-Queen Kat Konrad, and her assistant, Cat Sinclair. Wildfire was the finalist in the Lesfic Bard awards for Action and Adventure, 2020. My UK based series, "Isabel and friends". focuses on warm and witty women who are all connected by their friendship to Isabel, the head of a radical women-led charity. The first in the series, "Isabel's Healing' won the Lesfic Bard award for new writers, 2020. "The Girl on the Plane" is part love story, part mystery story which is played out over the Christmas Holidays between 2019 and 2020. "Into the Rough" takes up the plot while providing a sweet and funny romance between Isabel's best friend Jane, and a frisky Canadian nun. The fourth in the series, "Love Under Lockdown" takes all the characters from the previous three books and shows how they survived the spring of 2020, when Covid was stalking the streets of London, and people were locked down at home. Most of my life now is taken up with writing warm, steamy and positive romances for real women, about real women and the challenges we all face in the 21st century. |
Science Fiction – A Melanie Lockhart Journey Secrets of the Strand by Randi Goldleif
Synopsis: Secrets can be lethal. In 2354, secrets can also keep you alive. For twenty-three-year-old Melanie Lockhart, knowing which secrets to keep means the difference between life and death. Living in a world ruled by The Book of the Enlightened Dove, where incures are extracted from society and never seen again, Melanie has learned to hide among the normal people – the perfect citizens of the Sovereignty. Hiding was easy until her parents were killed. Was it an accident? Before their deaths, they were working on a top-secret research project. A project that is now missing.A project believed to be in Melanie’s possession.A project that others will stop at nothing to get. Nothing. With a target on her back, can Melanie keep her secret safe and find the research? Self Published
Bio: Randi Goldleif a.k.a. Mandy Oaks lives in the Appalachian Mountains. Always drawn to reading and writing, she dictated her first story to her mother in the first grade.
She constantly found herself in trouble during elementary and middle school because she was either reading books in math class or reenacting grand adventures with damsels in distress on the playground. When not creating science-fiction or fantasy stories, she can be found hiking, running, or hanging with friends. |
Cover – Stone Memory by Aimée
Synopsis: Clifton, present time. Kate O’Carroll has just moved to take up a new position at Bristol University. She’s found a lovely house that comes complete with its own library – a big bonus for an avid reader. Her new life seems to be starting auspiciously when she slips on the pavement and ends up at the local A&E. Adrienne Sargent, the surgeon on call, immediately feels a connection to her patient, but of course, there’s no reason they should meet again outside the hospital. Clifton, 1900. Dorcas Fairstead, a parson’s daughter, is starting a teaching career at one of the pioneering colleges for women. Not much older than her students, she is finding her feet, making friends and writing a journal for the first time in her life. At a conference, she and her friends meet Elizabeth Sutcliffe, a young doctor working at one of the first women’s hospitals in London. There must be something in the air, for although none of these women is actively looking for love, life has other ideas. As past and present intersect, are they ready to follow their desires?
Bio: Aimee works as a psychologist in France. When she isn't working, she's reading. Or writing - usually in a Parisian café or at home, where her cat is always ready to lend a paw ...
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