lesfic Archives - Harper Bliss

Huge Lesfic Sale

May 22, 2017 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Lei ho from Hong Kong, where it’s raining lesfic deals! 😉

Since summer is nearly here, many of you may be looking to stock up your e-readers with scorching lesbian romances to read at the beach, by the pool, or wherever. (Or if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, these may keep you warm.) This is why fellow lesfic author T.B. Markinson has put together a HUGE lesfic sale, of which I’m lucky to be part.

I’ll keep this intro brief because there are many lesbian fiction goodies to discover at rock bottom prices. Here we go…

Please note: this sale ends on May 26^th. Before you click the buy button, please ensure the sale price matches.

Now, for the authors and their e-book deals just for you!

Harper Bliss

Harper Bliss is the author of a number of Amazon bestselling Lesbian Romance novels as well as the Pink Bean & High Rise series and the French Kissing serial. She is the co-founder of Ladylit, an independent press focusing on lesbian fiction and My LesFic, a weekly newsletter offering deals on lesbian fiction. Together with her wife, she has a weekly podcast on The Lesbian Talk Show network called Harper Bliss & Her Mrs.

No Strings Attached (Discounted from $4.99 to $0.99)

It’s never too late to find the right person… and yourself along the way.

Micky Ferro has lived her entire life according to other people’s expectations. She married a man, had two children, and became a dutiful stay-at-home mom in suburban Sydney. Until she realized, with a little help from her best friend, that her picture-perfect life wasn’t making her happy.

On the first anniversary of her divorce, Micky decides it’s time for the next step in her journey and gets a job at her neighborhood coffeeshop, The Pink Bean. Becoming a barista sparks a big change in Micky’s daily routine, but could loud-spoken American customer Robin do the same for her love life?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Far from the World We Know (Discounted from $4.99 to $0.99)

How far must you run to escape the past?

Laura Baker has just moved to the small Texas town of Nelson for a life of solitude and recovery after a traumatic event that has scarred her irreversibly. But her chosen isolation is difficult to maintain after she meets Tess Douglas, the charming editor of the town paper. Tess is determined to break down the walls Laura has built up around herself. As their friendship develops, so do their feelings for each other. Will Tess be able to get past Laura’s defences? And will Laura allow herself to love, and live, again?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS / Direct from me / Apple / Kobo / B&N

Suzie Carr

Suzie Carr is a contemporary novelist, podcaster on the Lesbian Talk Show, and avid blogger at Curves Welcome.

With eleven bestsellers on Amazon Kindle, Suzie continues to enjoy writing about the beauty of love and life. She believes strongly in giving back to the community. She donates a portion of book sale proceeds to the Hearts United for Animals and NOH8 Campaign.

The Dance (Discounted from $5.95 to $0.99)

2016 Rainbow Book Award Runner-Up for Lesbian Contemporary General Fiction

2016 Rainbow Book Award Runner-Up for Best Lesbian Book

Dog trainer Jacky Applebaum is focused on one thing – making up for a grave misunderstanding that damaged her relationship with her fifteen-year old stepdaughter Sophie. They are suffocating under the pressure of hurt and guilt. Old wounds begin to heal between them when a spirited beekeeper named Brooke Hastings contracts Jacky to train her overly-protective dog, Bee. A mutual affinity grows instantly between them, an affinity Jacky won’t allow herself to embrace. But, the heart knows what it needs. Meanwhile, Brooke hires Sophie as her assistant in the bee apiary. A trust forms, and soon Sophie begins to feel alive again as she comes face-to-face with the many parallels between her and the honeybees she nurtures.

Just as they learn to open up and dance with life again, a hurtful truth reveals itself. Will this truth set them free or unravel all they’ve come to learn about life?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Sandcastles (Discounted from $5.95 to $0.99)

2015 Rainbow Book Award Runner-Up for Lesbian Contemporary General Fiction

2015 Rainbow Book Award Runner-Up for Best Lesbian Book

Lia is smart, successful, and best friends with Dean, a gay man who is just as neurotic as she. Life is smooth and flowing, unmarked by much more than a little family jealousy here and there, until she runs into Willow, an exciting enigma from her past. Willow, a psychic, receives a sense that something is off kilter surrounding Lia. Should she tell her, even though Lia, the person she’s never been able to stop thinking about since childhood, might run the other way? It’s a risk she decides to take, and Lia’s curiosity surprises her. As truths about life, love and uncertainties are unearthed, Lia and Willow, along with Dean, learn to seek strength from unexpected places and people. Along their journeys, the three learn what a struggle it is to maintain their sandcastles as they embrace the parts of their lives that really matter.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon FR

JA Armstrong

Nancy Ann Healy writes as J.A. Armstrong and is a woman, a mother, a wife, an author, and an explorer. From a young age she told tall tales and created make believe worlds full of adventure and romance. The difference between J.A.’s tales and those that she spent most of her young life reading, was that she never had much interest in those gleaming knights in shining armor that her friends seemed to dream about. No matter what J.A. became in her fantasies, the outcome was always the same; she found her one true love. And that is where all of these stories were born. So, travel along and enjoy the ride.

By Design (Discounted from $1.99 to $0.99)

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.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

First Course (Discounted from $1.99 to $0.99)

Devon Brine has just left a successful career as a chef in New York City to open a restaurant with her childhood best friend, Bruce (affectionately known as Solo). Carrie Maynard works across town, the managing partner in a design firm that she owns with her best friend, Darlene (Dar) Willis. When Dar decides to promise a last minute decadent affair to a potential client, Carrie lands in the new restaurant Devon owns. Immediately, the charming chef and the quirky businesswoman feel a strange connection. As their friendship progresses, they discover that they have a few quirky things in common—a love of Star Wars, a love of women, and best friends who constantly need them to come to the rescue.

A story full of humorous banter, overcoming old fears, and finding love where you least expect to, First Course is the first installment in the newest romantic comedy series by best-selling author J.A. Armstrong.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Special Delivery (Discounted from $1.99 to $0.99)

Obstetrician Brooke Campbell helps families grow every day. She delights in the anticipation of her patients and finds satisfaction in watching new families be born, and families she’s helped for years continue to grow. Still, something is missing in the doctor’s life. Busy with her work, Brooke is determined to avoid romantic attachments.

Tess Sinclair is a single mom raising two incredibly energetic children, Davey and Dani. Every day Tess delivers packages to Salem Women’s Health Center hoping to catch a glimpse of an attractive doctor named Brooke Campbell.

A chance encounter in a pizza parlor will change the direction of both women’s lives forever. The doctor who has spent her life delivering bundles of happiness for others just got an unexpected SPECIAL DELIVERY of her own.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Off Screen (Discounted from $1.99 to $0.99)

To the world looking in, actress Emma Bronson has it all; fame, talent, wealth, and beauty. But, Emma spends most of her nights alone wondering how her life became so secluded. Surrounded by people constantly, she remains lonely. Skeptical of people’s true motives, and guarded in her personal attachments; it seems the one thing Emma craves most in life is destined to allude her; love.

Addison Blake is a charming and witty aspiring writer. She sees life as an endless adventure full of possibility and prides herself on taking chances. When Addison accidentally collides with Emma; sparks immediately ignite. Friendship and companionship are rivaled by an attraction that neither woman has ever experienced. But, Addison seems reluctant to pursue a romantic relationship with the popular television star, challenging Emma to finally demolish all of her self-imposed walls.

Off Screen is the story of two women’s discovery of love and passion and the courage to embrace both.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Building Blocks (Discounted $4.99 to $2.99)

It’s often said that in life everything happens all at one. New York’s new First Family is about to find out the meaning of that familiar expression.
Just a few months into her first term as governor, Candace Reid already has a full plate. Managing the business of the State of New York is a challenge that requires creativity, intelligence, and infinite patience. And, that isn’t the greatest challenge facing Governor Reid. With three grown children, and three grandchildren underfoot, the thought of becoming parents to a toddler would have seemed preposterous less than a year earlier to Candace and her wife Jameson. Now, the pair finds themselves juggling the demands of work, the issues facing their grown children, and the needs of their four-year-old adopted son Cooper.

A devastating accident in the state, hurtful allegations, the meddling of distant family members, a health scare, and competing personalities will put Candace and Jameson to the test. As the storms of life rage and pass, Candace and Jameson must endeavor to find their way forward. To succeed, they will require patience, compassion, love, and laughter—the Building Blocks for the future. Falling in love may happen in an instant, relationships and families are BY DESIGN.

Building Blocks is the seventh installment in the BY DESIGN series.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Miranda Macleod

Originally from southern California, Miranda now lives in New England and writes heartfelt romances and romantic comedies featuring witty and charmingly flawed women that you’ll want to marry. Or just grab a coffee with, if that’s more your thing. Before becoming a writer, she spent way too many years in graduate school, worked in professional theater and film, and held temp jobs in just about every office building in downtown Boston.

Telling Lies Online (Discounted from $5.99 to $0.99)

When her dating app decides she’s a man, what’s a lonely lesbian to do?

Jamie Richards is a scientist who embraces reason– except when it comes to romance. Tired of her impulsive streak leaving her heartbroken, she’s determined to do everything right the next time she’s in love. But her resolve crumbles when a technical glitch matches her with perfection in Claire, a woman who lives on the opposite side of the country. Who is straight. And under the impression that Jamie’s a guy. But Jamie can’t help being smitten. Would one tiny lie be so terrible if it gets her closer to the woman of her dreams?

Claire Flores is a dreamer and a believer in signs, but she has a secret that keeps her cautious about love. All she wants is a picture-perfect family of her own, but she’s never met a man who attracts her. Until now. Throwing caution to the wind, she goes from Portland to Boston to meet Jay, her online love. Instead she meets Jamie, his work colleague, who befriends her in Jay’s unexpected absence. Claire’s heart is aflutter. Jamie stirs up feelings Claire never knew possible, but how close can she get without having to admit that she’s been lying to herself about her dreams all along?

What starts as a simple fib soon snowballs as Jamie fabricates increasingly ridiculous tales to keep her identity as Jay under wraps, until a comedy of errors threatens to topple the whole charade to the ground. Can true love prevail when it’s founded on a lie?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Waltzing on the Danube (Discounted from $5.99 to $0.99)

They’re the only two single ladies on the Lesbian Love Boat. Can opposites attract?

Jeanie Brooks is a small town history teacher who sometimes looks before she leaps, but when she books a last minute river cruise for lesbian singles, she knows she’ll have no regrets. Two weeks of beautiful women and glorious adventure against the backdrop of Europe’s most famous cities—what more could she want?

Eleanor Fielding is an actuarial accountant from Manhattan, and an expert at assessing risk from every angle. Analytical and reserved, the only thing worse than spending the summer floating around with a gaggle of desperate single women is the prospect of her sister nagging her for all eternity if she refuses to go.

But thanks to a ticketing error, Jeanie and Eleanor unexpectedly find themselves the only two eligible women on the Danube. What starts as an awkward alliance to salvage some enjoyment from the trip soon transforms into something more. When it comes to love, can this odd-couple learn to dance to the same rhythm?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Holme for the Holidays (Discounted from $5.99 to $0.99)

An American musician with a broken heart meets a local farmer with a hidden past on a holiday house swap in Yorkshire. A charming romantic comedy that will fill your heart with holiday cheer.

A country cottage is the last place Paige expected to spend the holidays, but a year after her girlfriend dumped her, her life is in shambles. A last minute house swap sends her from California to Yorkshire to put her life back on track. She doesn’t believe in forever anymore, but when she meets a raven haired beauty in the local pub, she seizes the chance for a night of fun.

On the brink of fame and fortune, Fiona suffered an unthinkable loss, and a year later she’s given up on singing, and just about everything else. When the brother she relies on too much skips town “for her own good” and loans his cottage to a stranger for the holidays, her life is turned upside down. She knows she can’t make a new relationship work, but when she meets a purple haired American at the local pub, she figures it wouldn’t hurt to blow off some steam.

They never meant to see each other again, yet from the very first morning when the vicar comes to call and Paige gets mowed down by a runaway llama, they just can’t seem to escape their lives becoming increasingly, and hilariously, entwined. And when a series of calamities threatens Christmas in Holme village, the two must work together to save the day, and maybe find true love along the way.

A year ago, their lives fell apart. Can a bit of Christmas magic help them build a new life together?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

A Road Through Mountains (Discounted from $4.99 to $0.99)

When star-crossed lovers reunite, the road to happiness is anything but straight.

When Cecily Parker volunteers backstage at the Oakwood Theater, the only thing she wants is a few hours of relief from the doldrums of her upper class suburban existence. The last thing she expects is to be reunited with the only person she ever truly loved, a woman she left behind almost twenty years ago.

Rorie Mulloy has built a career as an award winning production designer in Hollywood, but her personal life is anything but a success. When she agrees to design the sets for a community theater production of A Streetcar Named Desire in Connecticut, she has no idea that the woman who broke her heart and ruined her for love will be assigned to her crew.

As the sparks are rekindled between them, these star-crossed lovers just might have a second chance at a life together. But only if they can overcome the ghosts of their past, and survive the evil suburban soccer moms and reality television divas determined to keep them from their happily ever after.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Your Name in Lights (Discounted from $4.99 to $0.99)

Your Name In Lights picks up where A Road Through Mountains ended. Minor spoilers ahead!

After eighteen years, the stars may have finally aligned to give Cecily and Rorie a second chance at happiness together. The trouble with stars, though: they don’t stay aligned for long.

As Cecily settles into her life in sunny California, she imagines her biggest challenge will be learning to take care of herself as a newly divorced mother and publicly out lesbian. The last thing she expects is to land the acting role of a lifetime. But is it worth being so far away from the loving support of her girlfriend and son?

Rorie is dismayed by the prospect of a long distance relationship, but there’s no time to dwell on it. Between stepping in as a surrogate parent and facing a family crisis of her own, she’s soon in over her head. Will Cecily ever be the true partner that Rorie needs?

Despite time, distance, and some very persistent paparazzi, Cecily and Rorie have found in each other a love to last a lifetime, but only if they can learn to navigate the dual pressures of fame and family.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Noelle Winters

Noelle Winters grew up in Washington and then decided Arizona was a smart career move. While she has not yet turned into a shriveled husk after four summers, each summer she is certain it will be her last. Noelle can most often be found in Starbucks, sipping frappuccinos and enjoying free A/C as she types away at her latest novel, breaking her characters’ hearts and then putting them back together. While she enjoys reading lesbian romance, she loves writing it even more, and especially enjoys writing two flawed women finding love in each other even when they didn’t think it was in the cards.

Falling for You (Discounted from $4.99 to $0.99)

Two women whose pasts threaten to break them. The last thing they expect is to fall in love.

After a past betrayal, attorney Isi Addison is determined to live life on her own terms. She has no intention of falling in love. But when she meets Taylor at a party – well, lust isn’t love, and one night won’t hurt anyone, right?

Dr. Taylor Wallace has locked her heart away where no one can reach it. She knows getting too close is impossible when her tragic past could mean she’s a ticking time bomb endangering anyone she loves. But then she meets Isi, and gets close to her once, twice…well, who’s counting? It’s not like it means anything.

But when the hospital assigns Taylor to be a consultant on Isi’s malpractice cases, keeping emotions separate from sex isn’t as easy as it seems, and that one night together keeps getting repeated. Again. And again…

Can they leave their losses behind them? Or will the past come to threaten their futures before they get their happy ending?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Jea Hawkins

Jea Hawkins writes sweet and spicy contemporary lesbian romance. If love conquers all, then she’d like to think her heroines can rule the world one day. An east coast transplant to the Midwest, she loves to write about complicated women and settings that feel like home.

Personal addictions include autumn, cozy sweaters, hot chocolate, and the Sims 3. She’s both an avid reader and gamer, and hopes readers don’t mind a few geeky references here and there in her work.

Game of Hearts (Discounted from $3.99 to $0.99)

When it comes to encountering love, there is no saving throw.

The last thing Tori wants is to live her life by anyone else’s rules but her own. Ever since she left the world of country clubs and debutante balls behind, she has lived free of the standards imposed by others. But something is missing…

…and that something is Madeleine, a carefree grad student from the same upper class social circles. The attraction is unexpected and, to Tori’s surprise, more liberating than the life she has cultivated for herself. Piece by piece, Madeleine takes down the wall that conflict and heartbreak have built around Tori’s emotions.

Is loving Madeleine the key to Tori’s healing and happiness? And is Tori willing to step back into that world, even just a little, to take a chance on a love that could last?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Must Love Chickens (Discounted from $3.99 to $0.99)

City girl meets country girl.

Natalie’s life is on a precipice with too many failed career moves in the last year. Faced with the loss of everything she has ever worked for, Natalie looks for a way to get out of the city and realign her priorities.

When Jessica Morgan places an ad for a new farmhand, she doesn’t expect to hear from an urbanite. And when the respondent turns out to be gorgeous Natalie Wells, she’s really at a loss for words!

Natalie thinks taking a job in the country is a great plan, until she realizes she’s attracted to her boss. When she learns her boss’s bias against her is the result of issues with an ex-girlfriend, Natalie realizes she’s not imagining the sparks between them – that Jess might just be open to a new relationship, if only Natalie can prove she belongs in Jess’s life.

The last thing Jess needs is a new love interest, especially one who works for her! But she can’t deny Natalie is pretty darn cute trying to learn her way around the farm and as she falls in love, Jess wonders if there’s a chance for romance with the city girl…

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Em Stevens

Em Stevens got a MA in Liberal Studies, but she can’t tell you what that means. She’s worked all sorts of jobs, from cashiering to peddling vitamins to building airplanes. Now she lives in Raleigh, NC with her family and writes about the things she loves: Romance, Happily Ever Afters, and Games.

Rook Takes Queen (Discounted from $3.99 to $0.99)

Rook Black is determined to leave her chess career in the past. Unfortunately, beyond being able to kick ass on the board, she doesn’t have many skills to offer up, which leads her to a hustle– and a lot of trouble. Trying to make it right, she’s stuck back in the game and miserable about it… until she meets Carmen.

Carmen Barnes is a beauty queen who’s out to prove she’s more than just a pretty face. Determined to use her crown to change the world, she wants to leave a mark that makes people think. Hosting a chess tournament for a local teen’s homeless shelter is just the thing. One caveat: She doesn’t know a thing about chess. There’s also the stifling rules that come with her title. Romance–or a lack thereof– is written into her contract.

When a stubborn chess player is pitted against an ambitious pageant winner, heads butt and sparks fly. Will Rook’s gambit pay off? Fate aims for a checkmate in this lesbian romance!

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Critical Hit (Discounted from $4.99 to $0.99)

Kris Hess has more than enough on her plate. She’s taking care of her sick father, struggling to make deadlines with her art, and keeping up with the bills. There’s no room for dating unless it’s for the long haul, and Kris’s past experiences with women have left her full of doubts. Her relief comes from her weekly Dungeons and Dragons session with close friends. As Dungeon Master, this is one world she can actually control.

Lacey Jenkins is getting over heartbreak. She’s still full of resentment over her emotional vampire of an ex. The sole joy in her life comes from her little terrier, Barkley. Yep, she’s reached crazy dog lady status and she doesn’t care if you know it. But she knows the only way to move on is to start meeting new people, and her coworker offers her the perfect opportunity. Nice, easy, and no drama.

Adventure comes easy while playing a game, but finding true love in the real world is quite a challenge. Are they up to it? It’s a roll of the dice.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

T.B. Markinson

T. B. Markinson is an American writer, living in England. When she isn’t writing, she’s traveling the world, watching sports on the telly, visiting pubs, or reading. Not necessarily in that order.

Confessions from a Coffee Shop (Discounted from $3.99 to $0.99)

Cori Tisdale was on top of the world. A basketball star at Harvard and a promising author with a lucrative book deal.

A few years later, Cori’s life is falling apart. Her beautiful girlfriend, Kat Finn, has a shopping addiction. To make ends meet, Cori takes a part-time job at a coffee shop.

Just when Cori thinks her life can’t get any worse, an old crush appears out of the blue. Cori’s friendship with Samantha Clarke pushes Cori further into a dangerous abyss when Sam reveals two secrets to Cori and asks her not to tell a soul, including Kat.

Will this be the end of Cori’s and Kat’s relationship?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

Confessions from the Dark (Discounted from $3.99 to $0.99)

Nobody should ever have to lose a baby before it’s born. Both author Cori and artist Kat feel hollow, yet their strong bond enables them to go on despite tragedy since they’ve been through thick and thin before.

The couple has the support of family and friends, though their romantic antics scream for Cori and Kat’s help. This work of LGBT fiction explores the many facets of sexual identity and attraction. From the philandering of Cori’s high-profile uncle, to the throuple situation of their endearing friend Harold, there’s never a dull moment when it comes to love in Boston, Massachusetts.

Kat has some big life change surprises in store and has been conspiring with Cori’s mom and aunt behind her back. Is the couple headed for another tragedy in this lesbian romance, or will their enduring love conquer all?

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AUS

I know I just threw a lot of names, prices, and links at you. Take a deep breath, and scroll back up to see which of the above titles you need to add to your library. I don’t want you to miss out on getting all these fab books before the sale ends on May 26^th.

Enjoy!

My LesFic

May 19, 2017 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Hey all,

Today Caroline and I are launching a brand new weekly newsletter focusing on lesbian fiction ONLY. We have called this new baby My LesFic and it works like this:

1. Sign up to My LesFic for free: www.mylesfic.com

2. Every Friday (at approximately 10AM EST – 3PM GMT) My LesFic will send you a newsletter featuring three to four lesbian fiction books that are discounted on that day.

3. Clicking on a book you’re interested in will take you to our website where you will see which retailers are selling the book at the discounted price.

4. Click on your store of choice and you will be taken to that store to purchase the book and download it to your device.

5. The book is yours to enjoy forever.

That’s it. All you really need to do is sign up, and you’ll get all the deals delivered to your inbox.

We’ve been working hard to include some great books by lesfic favourites in the first few newsletters, which you’ll be able to get at a nice discount… if you’re signed up to mylesfic.com! 😉

If you’re a lesbian fiction author/publisher, you can submit your books here: authors.mylesfic.com

Caroline and I believe this newsletter will be great for both readers and writers and we hope to bring you many exciting deals in the future.

Enjoy!

Preview ‘Beneath the Surface’

December 13, 2016 by Harper Bliss 20 Comments

My new novel Beneath the Surface (Pink Bean – Book Two) will be out in 10 days. Here’s a preview. Enjoy!

Beneath the Surface
© Harper Bliss

PART 1: 1997
CHAPTER ONE

Sheryl checked her watch. She’d told Aimee repeatedly she didn’t have time to chat, but Aimee, her boss, never listened. She just talked. And when Aimee talked, Sheryl had to listen. But Sheryl could hardly be holier than thou about running late. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a very persistent tendency to be tardy for many appointments, no matter how hard she tried to manage her time properly. But this was not an appointment to be late for. When Sterling Wines agrees to sponsor your fundraising party, you have to show your gratitude by, at the very least, showing up before the delivery guy arrives.

Sheryl rounded the corner and jogged into the laneway that held the back entrance to the party venue for the next day. She didn’t see anyone waiting for her. She relaxed her pace to a brisk walk and felt for the door key in her pocket. She breathed a sigh of relief: she’d made it on time to accept the generous wine delivery. The other women on the organizing committee would be there soonish to help stock the refrigerators with the about-to-be delivered wine, but Sheryl was in charge of smooth acceptance of the goods. She, Sheryl Johnson, who didn’t drink a drop of alcohol, who didn’t know the faintest thing about wines and their grapes of origin and what made them palatable, had been in charge of procuring the sponsorship.

Just as she inserted the key into the lock, a white van pulled up at the entrance of the laneway. She looked as a man dressed much like herself—jeans and a T-shirt—jumped out, followed by a woman whose pale gray skirt suit didn’t exactly indicate she’d come to help unload the boxes.

Sheryl had only spoken to Miss Park on the phone. She had no real reason to be present for a simple wine delivery. Sheryl straightened her posture as the woman walked toward her while the man opened the side door of the van and started unloading boxes onto a trolley.

“Miss Johnson,” the woman said, hand extended. “I’m Kristin Park.” She gave Sheryl a quick once-over and followed up with a smile that seemed to show a little appreciation for the way Sheryl had clinched a sponsorship deal worth a few hundred dollars—a fortune for the LAUS.

“Very nice to meet you, Miss Park,” Sheryl tipped her head and took Kristin’s hand in hers. Very nice indeed. She let her gaze linger a little longer than was perhaps socially acceptable in a situation like this. Sheryl couldn’t in good faith claim her gaydar was alerting her to something, but of course Miss Park knew exactly what kind of event her company was sponsoring.

“We’re trying to make inroads with the lesbian community as well as with the gay one,” she’d said when Sheryl had first called up the marketing department of Australia’s largest wine distributor. How very advanced of you, Sheryl had thought, while her eyes rolled all the way to the back of her head. But she knew she had to be grateful because, even though things were slowly shifting—and Mardi Gras was turning into a celebration more than a march for rights every year that passed—not every company would be willing to sponsor this Mardi Gras fundraising party that the university’s lesbian association was throwing.

“And you,” Miss Park said, “please call me Kristin.” Was she responding to Sheryl’s glance? To the way she narrowed her eyes and pulled the corner of her mouth into a hint of a smile—not too much so as not to offend?

“How very nice of you to come all the way down here.” Sheryl tried a full-on smile now.

“It’s no trouble,” Kristin said. “Just a good excuse to get out of the office on a Friday afternoon.”

“Would you like to inspect the venue where your wares will be served?” Sheryl gestured at the open door. Meanwhile, the delivery man had piled boxes onto his trolley and was rolling it in their direction.

“Sure.” Kristin followed Sheryl inside.

Sheryl flipped on the lights. The venue was small—especially compared to where the boys partied—and Sheryl hoped it would be packed tomorrow. She eyed the room. They had a lot of work to do before then. But Sheryl got that tingling feeling deep inside her belly that it would be good. Excitement mixed with a sense of contributing to her community. The concept of Gay Pride wasn’t foreign to her. If anything, it was the only thing she hadn’t struggled with throughout her formative years. When everything else was going to hell, Sheryl always had that to hold on to. That and the fact she wasn’t born ten years earlier. That she had come of age in the eighties, when LGBT youth groups started popping up in Sydney—an agonizing one-hour bus ride from Campbelltown where she lived with her father, who didn’t much care what she was up to, anyway.

Sheryl had found her community early on and it had made her thrive, of that she was sure. Now it was time to give back. Out of gratitude for the people who had come before her and battled for her rights in a way she would never have to, and for everyone who was less fortunate than her. The women’s studies department of the University of Sydney where she was doing her PhD was a veritable paradise for lesbians.

“I can see the potential,” Kristin said, snapping Sheryl out of her reverie.

Sheryl plastered the most seductive grin on her face she could muster and turned to Kristin. “Your name is on the guest list, of course. You’re very welcome to come see for yourself how Sydney’s lesbians are enjoying your wine.”

Kristin gave a nervous laugh—the first sign of her being nervous at all. “Maybe I will,” she said.

“I’ll look out for you.” Sheryl had to stop herself from winking.

“Where do you want these?” the delivery man asked.

“Just over there by the bar, please,” Sheryl said, and the moment had passed. Though she had a sneaking suspicion Kristin might very well show up tomorrow night. “I’ll give you a hand.” Sheryl helped unload the boxes from the trolley so the man could go for the next round in the van while, from the corner of her eye, she watched Kristin walk about the venue. She stood where the dance floor would be, and Sheryl tried to picture her dancing under the pulsating light, wondered if she danced at all. Maybe she would find out tomorrow. Maybe.

* * *

Kristin paced in front of her bedroom mirror. She hadn’t planned to go to this party. She hadn’t even planned to escort the wine delivery yesterday afternoon. Sterling Wines sponsored many events. If she accompanied every delivery, she wouldn’t get any actual work done. But Sheryl Johnson had sent her a leaflet with the Lesbian Association of the University of Sydney’s mission statement and a group picture of the women who ran it. She’d read the names underneath the picture with great interest, hoping she’d come across Sheryl, whose deep, warm voice she’d only heard on the phone.

When she reached Sheryl, crouching in the bottom left corner of the picture, she’d found herself uttering a little appreciative sound in the back of her throat. That wide, confident smile. Those light blue eyes. Kristin didn’t really know what her type was, although, as she approached thirty, she was quite certain her type was female and not male. The image of Sheryl combined with her voice had convinced her to call up Ari in the warehouse and ask him to wait for her so she could tag along on the delivery for the LAUS.

And now there she stood. Kristin didn’t like parties with loud, thumping music. Places where people were ogled and scored for how they looked. She had plenty of suitable attire for the many work receptions she had to attend, but what on earth did one wear at a lesbian party? And would there only be women? She’d felt a warm rush of something travel through her when Sheryl suggested she come to the party, as though she had somehow known that Kristin was only there that afternoon to meet her in the flesh.

Goodness, she was being silly. She wasn’t going to that party. She really didn’t have anything to wear. This was not what she did. Which was exactly the reason Kristin hadn’t extensively tested her newfound self-awareness—or was it acceptance?—that no man would ever do to her what a woman could.

She’d gone on a couple of dates with women who had advertised in the classifieds’ section of Lesbians on the Loose. One of them had been quite nice. Maybe not exactly what Kristin was looking for, but really, how could she possibly know what she was looking for? She and Petra had gone out a couple of times, had sort of hit it off, and Kristin had—foolishly—believed that was it.

She was sleeping with a woman for the first time in her life, and even though the sky didn’t come crashing down, it was infinitely more pleasurable to be touched by a woman’s hands than by a man’s. Because Kristin didn’t know any better, she believed she had found The One. Until, only five dates into their short-lived affair, Petra told her it wouldn’t work out. Kristin’s heart wasn’t broken, but the rejection stung enough to have her retreat. She even, if only for a split second, considered going back to men because it would be so much easier. Her parents would be happy, for one. Now they—almost silently—tolerated that Kristin wasn’t even engaged to be married on the cusp of her thirtieth birthday.

Kristin looked at herself in the mirror again. She had to go. She could call Cassie and ask her to join. Kristin knew Cassie would do that for her. Apart from the women Kristin had furtively dated, Cassie was her only friend who knew about her wanting to be with women.

“Don’t be such a coward,” she said to her reflection. “You’re not like this. You’re not like this at all.” Kristin had found that saying things out loud to herself worked toward spurring her into action. It wasn’t enough to think it or whisper it. The thought had to be voiced as loud and combative as possible. She conjured up Sheryl’s smile. Had she known that Kristin was a lesbian? Kristin didn’t think she looked like one at all, though it was starting to dawn on her, perhaps lesbians came in all shapes and sizes. Ha. What a novel idea. So what had given her away? The way she carried herself? Just her being there? Or perhaps Sheryl was just guessing. Perhaps she had even been engaging in some wishful thinking?

“I’m going to this party,” Kristin said out loud. “I’m a grown woman. Four measly days away from turning thirty. I am going to that lesbian party.” She took a deep breath, dug out a pair of jeans she didn’t often wear and a red blouse from her closet, applied a minimal amount of makeup, and went on her way.

<<End of preview>>

Beneath the Surface will be available on 23 December 2016

NEW RELEASE: In the Distance There Is Light

September 12, 2016 by Harper Bliss 2 Comments

I’m very happy to announce that In the Distance There Is Light is already available (a couple of days before its official release day!) Ah, what to say about this book? I know I’ve been playing up the controversial part of it, but really, at its heart, it’s a love story (just like all my other books.)

To think I was disproportionally nervous about this one for weeks before it came out… and it has, so far, garnered the best response I’ve ever had to a book. It’s flying up the charts and the amazing reviews are pouring in. (Thank You!)

It’s so incredibly satisfying because when I first started writing this book, I had many (many!) doubts, but I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I really needed to tell this story. And I’m so glad I did. Even though I only decided to write Sophie and Dolores’ story a few months ago, I’ve been carrying it with me for a very long time.

I hope you take a chance on my ‘scandalous’ book. I wrote it with all the passion I have in me.

Here’s the synopsis:

Two women lose the man they love. All they have left is each other.

Sophie’s life is turned upside down when her partner, Ian, dies in a tragic accident. The only one who can understand her devastation is Ian’s stepmother, Dolores. Together, they try to make sense of their loss and rebuild their shattered lives. While their shared grief brings them closer, it also takes their relationship in an unexpected direction. Where does sorrow end and romance begin? Or has Ian’s death blurred the lines too much?

If you love deeply emotional lesbian romance with a twinge of controversy, don’t miss this intense but hopeful novel by chart-topper Harper Bliss.

Available as ebook from
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AUS
Amazon DE

Available as paperback from
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Add it to your Goodreads shelf >>

Enjoy!

Preview ‘In the Distance There Is Light’

August 30, 2016 by Harper Bliss 30 Comments

My new novel In the Distance There Is Light will be out in 2 weeks (and 1 day). Here’s a preview. Enjoy!

In the Distance There Is Light
© Harper Bliss

Chapter One

As they lower his casket into the ground, a part of me still believes this isn’t real. That he’ll push the lid off with those strong arms of his, pop out, and proclaim this was all just a really bad prank. I glance at the coffin as it settles into this grave dug especially for Ian, my Ian, and it suddenly seems to go so fast. Then, just like that, the casket is out of sight.

To my right, Jeremy can’t hold back a loud sniffle. To my left, Dolores, Ian’s mother, doesn’t make a sound. I stand there, waiting for the punchline to this awful, strung-out joke.

“That’s enough now, Ian,” I want to say. “You’ve made your point. We’re all more than ready for some relief.”

Then Dolores’ hand slips into mine, her fingers curl around mine in a desperate grip, and I stop believing in miracles. This is real. I’ll never see Ian again. Dolores will never see her son again. During my thirty years on this planet, I’ve only been to the funerals of people I vaguely cared about. Distant aunts and relatives I never got to know. I’d always thought the first big one, the first one to tear me apart at least a little bit, would be my granddad’s. But I’m burying my boyfriend instead. Well, my partner, I guess. Boyfriend sounds so juvenile, so inadequate for what he was to me. When I told him, in jest, on my twenty-eighth birthday, that I was now of a respectable marrying age, he took me aside and, in all earnestness, proclaimed that he’d given the subject of marriage a lot of thought but that he couldn’t do that to Dolores. She’d never had the chance to wed Angela, Ian’s other mother, while Angela was still alive—the change in legislation had come too late for them. Dolores, whose only child has just been lowered into a grave, and who is clutching at my hand with increasing desperation now—because who else is left for her to hold on to?—never struck me as the marrying kind. Perhaps that’s because I’ve always only known her as a widow. Angela had already died before I met Ian. I’ve never seen her with anyone else.

“It’s not so easy at her age,” Ian used to say when I questioned him about this. “Especially when you’ve been with someone for such a long time.”

Because I refuse to feel sorry for myself, I feel sorry for Dolores the most. First Angela, now Ian.

“She was ten years older than me and smoked like a chimney,” Dolores once said, while heavily under the influence of a bottle of Merlot. “Growing old together was never really in the cards for us.”

How different this is.

I give her hand a good hard squeeze back. Of all the people gathered here today, and there are many, I feel as though I can only compare grief with Dolores. Who else here—the artists Dolores knows, my extended family with whom I’m not close, my best friend Jeremy who lives every day like it’s his last—can possibly know the depths of despair Ian’s sudden death has caused? He was my soulmate. The sweetest boy I’d ever come across. The love of my life. And now he’s gone.

Oh, shit. He’s really gone. He’s not going to miraculously rise from the dead. The punchline is the cruelest one ever, because there is none. I will never witness his smile again, will never hear him fake a British accent because when he was ten, he’d spent a summer in Oxford once with his dad, and he’ll never again breeze into our apartment after work, always loud, always making sure I knew he was home, and joke, “What’s for dinner, wife?”

I lost him. Dolores lost him. Our friends lost him. Even his ex has turned up for the funeral. We’ve all lost him. The world is now without Ian Holloway. My world will never be the same again. And it’s as though only now the shock, the woolen cocoon my feelings have been wrapped in since I got that phone call, is beginning to wear off, and the pain that’s been lying in wait is starting to burrow a way through my flesh, quickly reaching my heart. In a panic, I look around. Ian. Where is he? The man who came into my life just at the right time. Who buffed up my self-esteem when it was at its lowest. The guy who, when I was about to spiral into one of my bouts of wallowing self-pity, would give me a sufficiently hard look and tell me to pull myself together—the only person who ever knew how to snap me out of that particular kind of funk. A person so seemingly uncomplicated, he managed to uncomplicate me along with him.

As I stand here, I curse myself for not pushing Ian harder to get married, because now I don’t even have a ring, or a piece of paper that binds me to him after his death. I’m just a woman, a girl with no claims to make. I might as well be no one.

I turn to Dolores and collapse into her arms. I don’t consider that she’s probably not strong enough to catch me, and that my own parents are here, probably eager to put me back together, but not even on a day like this can I shake off the indifference that has crept into my heart when it comes to them. Dolores and Ian had become my family. As of now, it’ll just be me and Dolores. She throws her arms around me, pats my hair with her hand, and breaks down with me.

Chapter Two

“Stop fussing,” I say, wondering what I look like to Jeremy, who invited me to stay with him after Ian’s accident. “I’ll be fine.” The funeral was four days ago and he has only left my side to sleep.

“Call me any time.” He stands fumbling with his keys, shuffling his weight around. “I won’t be home late.”

“Go do your fabulous thing, darling,” I say in the affected accent we sometimes use with each other, but it sounds wrong under the circumstances. Nothing has been carefree or frivolous since Ian died. Now there’s before, and after. Because I’m still alive. When he left the apartment that morning, I had no idea I would never see him again. Often, I used to watch him scoot off on his bicycle—his pride and joy—through the kitchen window. When I craned my neck at the right angle, I could watch him until he turned the corner of the street. But that day, I didn’t watch him. I was still in bed when he left. I barely kissed him goodbye, having pulled a late night the previous day trying to meet a deadline.

Jeremy sighs. “I don’t have to go, Soph. I can take more time off. If anything, Amy Blatch will be exhilarated by my absence.”

I’m not sure where I get the strength to get up and walk over to him, but I do. “You’ll have to go out at some point. You can’t always be here.” I’ll need to learn to be alone sooner rather than later. I put my hands on his shoulders the way he’s done with me many times. “I’ll be fine.”

“Why don’t you call Alex and ask her to come over?” He cocks his head, tries to look me in the eyes but his gaze slides away.

“Because Alex has her own life to live, and so do you.”

A tear sprouts in the corner of Jeremy’s eye. “Oh shit.” He inhales deeply. “I’m so sorry. I can’t stand that this happened. It’s just so unfair.” Words often repeated by now. Ian’s death is unfair, unexpected, devastating. It’s so many things that don’t make him any less dead.

“Go.” I really need him to leave. I don’t want to fall apart in front of Jeremy again—it’s all I’ve been doing the past week. “Bring me back some juicy gossip.” My voice is breaking already. I all but push him out the door. “I’ll be fine,” I repeat, though, of course, I won’t be.

Once Jeremy is gone, I take a deep breath. I listen for the faint ding of the elevator, wait for the doors to slide shut, then the tears come, again.

“Fuck,” I scream. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Truth be told, I didn’t want Jeremy to go tonight, but I also couldn’t bear to ask him to stay with me another night. I could see how restless it was making him. Jeremy is the opposite of a homebody. We’d be watching television, both with a large glass of wine in our hands, and he’d be fidgeting, his foot shaking with impatience, his glance always darting away from whatever we were watching. I could have stayed with someone else, but Jeremy is my only single friend and I couldn’t face staying with a couple, couldn’t face the inevitable signs of intimacy, of a life shared and uninterrupted.

So here I stand, in Jeremy’s starkly decorated apartment, alone. My eyes fall on a picture of Ian and me, a silly polaroid we took at Jeremy’s fortieth birthday party a few years ago. Ian’s cheeks are filled with air, like little balloons of flesh, his eyes bulging, and it makes me think of how hard it was to find a suitable picture for his obituary. Whenever a camera came near him, he would start goofing around. In the end, we used one I snapped of him when he was unaware of it. Ian staring into the distance, ruminating on something, his expression peaceful nonetheless.

“Get a grip,” I whisper to myself. I hate this version of me, this beaten down, tearful, whiny woman I’ve become. Even though I know I’m allowed this devastation, this weakness—Alex called it vulnerability the other day—I can’t identify with it. Every time I believe I’ve run out of tears, new ones show up, as though I haven’t already been crying for a week. An endless supply of tears.

I head back to the couch and drink more of the wine Jeremy poured before he left—we’ve made a good dent in his stash. Then my cell phone beeps. Convinced it’s Jeremy, texting me from a taxi, I sigh, but smile a little as well. Jeremy is exactly the kind of friend you need when something like this happens—something I can’t wrap my head around, let alone accept. Because he’s a bubble of a man, always ready to burst, to come up with an out-of-the-box plan, even though, of course, Ian dying has taken away some of his spontaneity and quick wit. The other day, I begged him to make me laugh, to tell me one of his outrageous stories I’ve heard so many times, but when he did, he couldn’t put the right inflections in his voice to make it funny.

The message is not from Jeremy, but from my mother, asking how I’m holding up. Well-intentioned, I’m sure, but even now I can’t read any words from my mother without hearing a persistent passive-aggressive ring to them. She probably thinks I haven’t called her enough, haven’t relied on her enough during these dire times. What am I even supposed to reply to that?

Knowing my mother, she’s probably walking around the house, thinking of ways for this tragedy to bring us closer together. But some things are just beyond repair, like our relationship. I can’t deal with this right now, although no matter how much my mother annoys me, at least it makes for a change from this relentless blackness that has wrapped itself around every thought I’ve had since Ian died. I don’t reply.

I push my phone away and grab the remote control. Maybe Netflix will bring solace. As soon as I press the button, I know it won’t, because how can it? How can televised drama possibly take my mind of the horror of real life? How can a sitcom ever make me smile again? Oh, fuck. I really shouldn’t be alone. The loss weighs too heavy on me, the pain is too much for me to shoulder alone in Jeremy’s living room. I reach for my phone again and call the person who reminds me of Ian the most, who knows him the best, whose loss is comparable to mine.

I call Dolores.

<<End of preview>>

In the Distance There Is Light will be available on 14 September 2016

Preview ‘No Strings Attached’

June 29, 2016 by Harper Bliss 40 Comments

My new novel No Strings Attached will be out in 2 weeks. Here’s a preview. Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

“To one year of freedom.” Amber held up her cup of green tea.

Micky stared into her latte and shook her head. “Let’s not toast to that.” She looked up and found Amber’s eyes. “Freedom’s overrated.”

Amber cocked her head. “What’s wrong with you today? This is not the effect my yoga class is supposed to have.” She kept holding up her mug.

Micky averted her glance. Amber was always beaming with positive energy and obvious physical and mental health. Some days, it was just too much. “I’m not saying I’m not happy that my divorce became official exactly one year ago, but I don’t have that much to show for it. This yoga session is the highlight of my week. My children don’t need me anymore, which they keep reminding me of at every turn. I had foolishly believed my life would become better after leaving Darren, but it doesn’t feel that way.”

“You’re still finding your feet. And Olivia and Christopher do still need their mother very much. They’re still getting used to the situation as well. Think long-term, Micky.”

“Well, I definitely don’t want to get back with Darren, I just… feel so empty, so meaningless. My days are filled with literally doing nothing.”

“They’re filled with the exact same activities as before the divorce. It’s just your perspective that’s different,” Amber said.

Amber was a good friend to have, but her spiritual mumbo jumbo did irritate Micky at times like these. Micky could also do with a glass of New Zealand sauvignon blanc much more than this latte.

Micky shrugged as Kristin, The Pink Bean’s owner, headed in their direction.

“Hello, ladies,” she said. “I hope you had a good class.”

Micky let Amber reply to that question. Amber explained how she’d had her students stay in pigeon pose for longer than usual and asked Kristin when she was going to join again.

“As soon as I find a new employee.” She thrust a sheet of paper in Micky’s direction. “Are your children old enough to have an after-school job?”

“My children?” Micky bristled. “Actually work for pocket money?” She feigned an exaggerated laugh, then clasped a hand to her chest. “It’s my own fault. I spoiled them too much.”

“How about you, Micky?” Amber’s voice rose.

“Me what?” Micky stared at the text on the piece of paper. Barista wanted. Being upbeat is much more important than being experienced.

“You’re looking for something to do with your time. Why don’t you apply?” Amber looked at Kristin, possibly for words of encouragement, but Kristin had a business to run so why would she hire a washed-up divorcée like Micky? And why would Micky take a job in the first place?

“It could be fun,” Kristin weighed in. “You come in here every day, anyway. I’ll show you the ropes.”

“Me?” Micky leaned back. “Work at The Pink Bean?” The idea sounded ludicrous to her. “I don’t know the first thing about making complicated cups of coffee like this.”

“You’re an expert at drinking them, though,” Amber offered.

“Think about it.” Kristin shot Micky an encouraging smile, then walked off and pinned the sheet of paper on the notice board by the door.

“Why did you say that in front of her?” Micky gave Amber a wry look.

“You know me, Michaela, I’m always only trying to help.”

It was infuriating, but true. “Can you imagine me serving coffee at The Pink Bean?”

“Why not? You were just telling me about how empty you feel inside. You basically said you’re bored. Working here for a few hours a day can change that. You’d meet new people. You wouldn’t be alone. And you can take my evening classes. They’re a bit fuller, but I’ll still pay special attention to you.” Amber drew her lips into that wide smile of hers. A ginger curl had escaped from her ponytail and danced along her temple as she nodded.

“But”—and Micky was embarrassed to admit this—“I haven’t worked a day in my whole life.”

“What are you talking about?” Amber’s voice rose again. For a yoga teacher, she really had problems keeping her voice level in social situations. “You raised two children. You made a home for them and for your ex-husband. It’s not because you don’t get paid for it that it isn’t a job—and a tough one at that.”

“If you put it that way.” Was Micky actually starting to consider this crazy idea? What did she really have to lose apart from a few hours of her time, which she didn’t do anything useful with, anyway. “But I’ve certainly never had a boss before.”

“You live with two teenagers. No boss can be worse than that. Besides, Kristin is a pussycat.” Amber let her gaze slide to the counter where Kristin was chatting to a customer. “Remember that time I hit on her because she was always alone in here and I read it all wrong and I assumed she was single?”

Micky nodded. “How could I forget when you remind me every few months?”

“She let me down so gently. It was the easiest rejection I ever experienced. She even offered me a free cup of tea, which I didn’t accept, of course.”

Micky had heard the story of Amber’s failed crush on Kristin many a time since The Pink Bean had opened two years ago. Since then, they’d met Kristin’s wife Sheryl, a professor at the University of Sydney, and Amber had successfully gotten over her crush.

“What will my kids think of their mother working at a coffee shop called The Pink Bean?” No matter what she did, Micky’s hormonal teenagers would disapprove noisily for an instant, then retreat back into the silence they wrapped themselves in with their oversized headphones on their heads and their blinking screens in front of their eyes.

“They won’t mind, and it doesn’t matter.” Amber fixed her gaze on Micky’s, as though wanting to say something with her intense stare.

“What?” Micky asked.

“You’ve let it slip that you might be open to… exploring more. This is a great place to start.”

Micky’s eyes grew wide. “What on earth—”

“Don’t play innocent with me now. I’m your best friend. Have been for a very long time. I’ve seen your gaze wander. Besides, you’ve told me in no uncertain terms.”

Micky felt herself flush. This didn’t stop Amber from pushing further.

“On a day like today especially, on the first anniversary of your divorce, I think you should take action. Not just symbolic action. Real action. Make a change. Take a step forward.”

At least Amber was letting go of the innuendo. “I’ll sleep on it, I promise.”

Amber nodded, then slanted her torso over the small table. “I know it wasn’t the actual reason for the divorce, because there’s never only one reason, but I know you’re curious. It’s time to put yourself out there.”

Only Amber could say something like that and have the most endearing, non-smug look on her face as she leaned back.

“When will you put yourself out there again?” Micky countered.

“I have,” Amber was quick to say, then scrunched her lips together. “You know I have, I just haven’t met the right woman yet.”

“Maybe you’re frequenting the wrong places and hanging out with the wrong kind of people.” Micky was still a little unsettled by what Amber had just implied.

“You mean The Pink Bean and you?” Amber narrowed her eyes. “Never.”

Micky looked around the cozy coffeehouse just round the corner from her new home—from her new life. She’d been living in the Darlinghurst area for only a few months, and had chosen this quickly gentrifying neighborhood at Amber’s insistence. Amber claimed Micky couldn’t hide herself away in the suburbs of Mosman anymore, not even if it meant that Olivia and Christopher would have much smaller bedrooms to sulk in.

Kristin gave her a quick wave from behind the counter. Micky tried to imagine herself behind it.

Should she take the leap?

CHAPTER TWO

When she’d gone hunting for a new pad, Micky had fallen in love with the second house the real estate agent had shown her. Her children, not so much. The biggest trade-off when they had swapped Mosman for Darlinghurst had, in the end, not been the size of the bedrooms but the fact the new house only had one bathroom they all had to share. On school days, Micky had no problem letting Olivia and Christopher take their showers first, the latter never spending more than five minutes in there anyway, while she made them breakfast and attempted—mostly in vain—to get them to eat it.

“I’ll have an apple on the bus” was Olivia’s standard reply, while Christopher would eat one forkful of the scrambled eggs she’d made, mumbling, “Mmm, good, Mom,” just to placate her, after which he probably wolfed down a Snickers bar. Micky found the wrappers everywhere.

Today, though, Micky needed to be at The Pink Bean at seven thirty—“Just to observe on your first morning shift,” Kristin had assured her—and she was impatiently waiting for Olivia to exit the bathroom. This reinforced the thought that this whole thing was an awful idea in the first place. She was forty-four years old. She’d been married to Darren Steele for a whopping eighteen of those—she’d given him her prime. What was she doing starting work at a coffee shop where, at least once a week, an LGBT activity took place?

Micky remembered the double-take she had done when Amber had first brought her there just after it opened.

“Must it really be so blatantly obvious?” she had asked, not caring how that made her come across. Her marriage had been in the final stage of its existence and what if someone she knew ran into her at a coffeehouse called The Pink Bean. Why couldn’t it just be called The Bean? And now she was going to work there—or at least attempt to. What did that say about her?

Her kids, who had become regulars at The Pink Bean as well, often going in after school for a muffin or an iced tea, didn’t seem to be disturbed by the Pink aspect of The Bean when she told them about her plans. They’d mostly scoffed and said, “You, Mom? Serve people coffee? Why?”

Micky had explained that she needed something to do with her time, now that they obviously didn’t need her that much anymore.

“But why do that?” Olivia had asked. “Can’t you volunteer at a soup kitchen or something, like other moms?”

Micky had postponed and postponed her decision to leave Darren. She’d wanted to stay until both her children were at university, but Olivia was only twelve at the time and the six years it would take for her to graduate high school seemed like a lifetime.

Micky had not been able to provide Olivia with a coherent answer to her question. Not even she knew why she wanted to work at The Pink Bean—she didn’t even know if she wanted to work there. It was just a leap, like Amber had said. Trying something new.

Christopher, who was a sweet boy at heart, but suffered deeply from the mood swings that come with puberty, hadn’t been very talkative and had just grumbled something Micky didn’t understand.

Micky knocked on the bathroom door. “Hurry up, Liv,” she shouted, while nerves coursed through her body.

The bathroom door flew open, and Olivia stormed out. “Is it going to be like this every morning now?”

Tonight at dinner, Micky would suggest a proper morning bathroom schedule. She shouldn’t have tried to wing it like this. “We’ll work it out, sweetie.” She resisted the urge to kiss her daughter on the top of the head—Olivia had grown out of accepting spontaneous motherly affection a while ago.

Olivia headed off to her room and banged the door shut behind her.

Happy times at the Steele-Ferros.

* * *

Micky never visited The Pink Bean before lunch, and the morning rush took her by surprise. She watched as Kristin and Josephine, the only other morning-shift employee, moved behind the counter with astounding efficiency. As a mother who had just fought with her daughter over bathroom time, Micky greatly doubted her ability to ever do what the two women were accomplishing. They had a rhythm about them, Kristin taking the orders and Josephine executing them seamlessly.

Micky felt foolish just standing around like that. The only thing she’d done so far was take cups of coffee to customers who were sitting at a table, but at this time of the day, most beverages were sold for on-the-go.

Another conclusion she drew was that by opening The Pink Bean, Kristin had built a goldmine. Australians were serious about their coffee, and they were equally willing to pay good money—albeit way too much—for a cup of it from their favorite vendor. Micky imagined all the people who had walked out of there with a scalding hot paper cup on their way to the office, enjoying Kristin’s work. And it was hard work, she could see now.

“Hi, Micky,” Sheryl, Kristin’s partner, said. “First day, huh?” She stood in the middle of the line, clearly not expecting special treatment.

Micky walked over to her, feeling exceedingly self-conscious. She pecked Sheryl quickly on the cheek. “It’s a bit daunting.”

“I bet.” Sheryl always dressed casually for work, and today was no different. She wore jeans and a loose-hanging blouse. Micky actually looked forward to getting to know her and Kristin better. They were acquaintances now who said hello and good-bye to each other and had never gotten further than making small talk. They were an impressive couple to whom, Micky had to admit, she looked up.

“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll bring over your coffee?” Micky said.

Sheryl gave a deep belly laugh. “You obviously don’t yet know the rules of The Pink Bean.” She shuffled forward in the queue. “General Park over there doesn’t do nepotism.” She eyed her partner from a distance. “Not even for me, her wife who owns half this place.” She winked at Micky. “I’ll wait my turn, otherwise I’ll get in trouble tonight.”

Micky gave a nervous giggle. She’d know all about Kristin’s rules soon enough.

She looked at the ever-growing queue and wondered what was so much better about being there than her usual routine of meandering around the aisles of the organic supermarket in Potts Point and picking out the best-looking produce for dinner—at least her children always had a huge appetite after school.

“Micky, can you fetch us some more cocoa powder from the back, please,” Kristin asked, and Micky snapped to attention, though she had no idea where the cocoa powder, or anything else for that matter, was to be found.

<<End of preview>>

No Strings Attached will be available on 14 July 2016

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