Books like 'Strength Check'
Readers who enjoyed Strength Check by Katherine McIntyre also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary lesbian romance new adult friends to lovers bisexual queer found-family
-
Those Who Wait by Haley Cass
Sutton Spencer’s ideas for her life were fairly simple: finish graduate school and fall in love. It would be a lot simpler if she could pinpoint exactly what she should do when she graduates in less than a year. Oh, and if she could figure out how to talk to a woman without feeling completely hopeless, that would be great too. Charlotte Thompson is very much the opposite... -
The Blind Side of Love by Ingrid Díaz
2nd draft available here: ingriddiaz.com Julianne Franqui is a hot actress and secretly gay. On a trip to New York she sees the artwork of artist Kris Milano, whose talent is not the only thing she's attracted to. Undercover of email, she begins a correspondence with the artist . When she comes to New York for filming and finally meets her, will she tell Kris the truth .. -
Just Three Words by Melissa Brayden
Sometimes the one you want is the one you least suspect... Accountant Samantha Ennis craves order and structure. As the bookkeeper at the boutique advertising agency she owns with her three best friends, it’s her job to apply logic to the chaos. When one of those best friends, laid back Hunter Blair, moves in to share her loft apartment, Sam’s carefully organized world is thrown wildly askew...Categorized as:
bisexual friends to lovers queer f-f contemporary forced proximity length-medium open-door -
Honey in the Marrow by Emily Waters
An enemies-to-friends-to-lovers lesbian romance about finding heart, hope, and second chances you never thought you’d have.Stella Carter is a former criminal prosecutor and new widow facing down middle age alone in Los Angeles. Without being a prestigious lawyer and someone’s wife, she’s not sure who she is anymore or where her life is headed...Categorized as:
bisexual friends to lovers queer from hate to love f-f age difference contemporary length-medium -
-
Better Than Expected by Haley Cass
Hannah Dalton had a lot of expectations in her life. Growing up watching her mother struggle for everything they had, she resolved to make sure she did everything she could to make those hardships worthwhile... -
Awaiting by Nicole Pyland
This is book #4 in the Royalty Series.Alexandria – or Alex, as she preferred to be called – would one day be the next Queen of the United Kingdom. She would also be the first out lesbian who would take that title... -
The Next Chapters: An On the Same Page Novella by Haley Cass
Gianna Mäkinen has been in love with her best friend Riley Beckett for her entire adult life. She’d long accepted that her place in life was Riley’s best friend, and that was okay. It was more than okay.She never imagined that she would have the opportunity to confess her love to Riley, to marry her, to have a herd of children with her... -
A Lesbian's Guide to Women by Erica Lee
Annalise Finch is content - she has a job she enjoys, lives close to her family and friends, and spends most Wednesday nights drinking wine with her grandma. According to her grandma, though, she has lost her sparkle, and the only solution is to join a site to hook up with other women. The only problem (aside from a meddling grandma with a dirty mind) is Annalise doesn’t like women... -
Reality In Check by Emily Banting
From the multi-award-winning, best-selling author of Broken Beyond Repair comes a new sapphic celebrity ice queen romance — read as a standalone or as the second book in the South Downs Romance series.Sculptor Arte Tremaine is thrown into the hospitality industry when her beloved late grandmother bequeaths her and her sister a charming yet rundown country hotel with zero guests... -
The Flight Risk by Macon Leigh
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsThings are going great for Baylee Lawrence. Her writing has won awards, been adapted into an outrageously successful movie, and she’s just achieved her childhood dream of selling out a storytelling show at the Ryman. It’s incredible. Her life is perfect—a series of grand adventures. She has no intention of changing anything... -
Patty's Potent Potion by Robin Alexander
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Shawna Haydel was sixteen years old, she dropped Ashton Guidry’s name into a potion that would supposedly make Ashton fall in love with her. She knew it was silly, but she clung to one irrational thread of hope their friend Patty’s concoction would grant her heart’s desire... -
A Deafening Whisper by Erik Schubach
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsMia has lived a life full of harassment, for an affliction not many understand. She thought college would be different, her escape, after all, people there are more mature right? She was wrong. A rebellious girl, Vee, saves her from a bad situation and teaches her that every single day is a gift. A romance blooms between them that not even time can erase... -
Separate Like Stars by Diana Kane
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsOn paper, Jordan Cohen has it all. With numerous bestsellers under her belt, a number of blockbuster movie adaptations to her credit, and a high profile relationship with one of Hollywood’s most prominent stars, what more could she possibly ask for? Maybe for Olivia Bradley, the only woman to ever break her heart, to exit her life as quickly as she’d re-entered it... -
Enthralled by Her by Chelsea M. Cameron
Rated: 4.51 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThings might be going well enough, but I couldn’t see much to look forward to. Sure, I somehow had a thriving business repairing and rebinding books, and my parents had gifted me their vacation house after my apartment was turned into a co-op. Still, there wasn’t a whole lot of action and excitement in little Arrowbridge, Maine, but I was making the best of it, like I always did... -
-
From Fan to Forever by Tiana Warner
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn age-gap lesbian celebrity romance about how much you’d risk to have your dream.Talented A-lister Cate Whitney is the gorgeous middle-aged movie star almost every lesbian has a crush on.Rachel Janssen, an introverted medical physics student, is no exception. So when her celebrity crush starts filming near her Vancouver apartment, she can’t believe her luck... -
Behind the Pine Curtain by Gerri Hill
Jacqueline Keys was ostracized from her small hometown of Pine Springs, Texas when she was seventeen, sent away because she was gay. Her family was the largest employer in the county, owning Pine Springs Lumber, and her father was mayor of this small town. Her mother could not accept the fact that her only child was gay, could not tolerate the gossip about her family... -
Jericho by Ann McMan
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWelcome to Jericho, Verginia.Librarian Syd Murphy flees the carnage of a failed marriage by accepting an eighteen-month position in Jericho, a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. Her plans to hide out and heal her wounds fall by the wayside as she gets drawn into the daily lives of the quirky locals... -
Storm in Her Heart by KC Luck
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLove can weather the stormiest of hearts…Athena Storm, the resilient owner of a struggling tavern, has weathered many storms in her life. As she fights to keep her establishment afloat, she is convinced she does not have time for a relationship.Enter Kate Franklin, an ex-cop turned delivery driver who seeks refuge from her past... -
Only Hope by Ruby Landers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAlison Hartmann is a woman with secrets no one wants her to keep. Gold Hill, with its idyllic setting is the perfect place to hide.Light-hearted Hope Sullivan doesn’t see it that way... -
Paradise Pride by Lise Gold
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsLondon-based casino manager Meghan has no expectations of her two-week holiday in Spain; she’s just tagging along with her friend who’s visiting her love interest. When they arrive at a deserted hotel due to a booking fault and her friend leaves to see her boyfriend, she’s left with the bartender who stays on for the night... -
Unforgettable You by Chelsea M. Cameron
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsAccording to my mother, I ruined my life the minute I quit ballet in college and destroyed her dreams of having a professional dancer in the family. My steady bartending job, friends, and fanfic hobby weren’t good enough apparently. Not that I cared what she thought anymore. Mostly. Things had been pretty conflict-free up until my new neighbor showed up and threw everything into chaos... -
Tempted By Her by Chelsea M. Cameron
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsI wasn’t looking forward to finding a new roommate after my best friend, Joy, moved in with her girlfriend, Ezra. We’ve lived together for years, and I didn’t want to start over with a stranger. Then there’s a fire at the house Lark’s renting and for some reason I open my mouth and offer to let her move in with me... -
Teach Me by Melissa Tereze, Jourdyn Kelly
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter years of separation and mutual longing, Vanessa Hughes and Emma Bradley are blissfully engaged. Everything about their new life together is wonderful, until Emma learns the children’s sport agency that sent her to Africa has gone bankrupt. Back when she was pining for Vanessa, Emma’s work was a godsend, both for her and for the kids who had nothing else good in their lives... -
The Secret Pond by Gerri Hill
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsGrieving over the loss of her family and feeling like her life is unraveling, Lindsey McDermott quits her job, gets a puppy and retreats to her grandparents’ home in the Texas Hill Country. She spends her solitary days walking childhood trails and reminiscing, trying to reconcile the conflict within her as she struggles with survivor’s guilt... -
-
Operation: Secret Santa by M.J. Duncan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsWhen Holly Burke saw who she’d drawn for Secret Santa, she knew she had to do something to make it special. It was Christmas, after all, and if anyone deserved some extra Christmas cheer, it was Mo Davy... -
Lightning Strikes Twice by Erik Schubach
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsReturning home to Seattle from a twenty year absence in London...Victoria discovers that time has not erased her feelings for an unrequited love. It soon becomes obvious that with true love, lightning can sometimes strike twice.This is set in the same world as Music of the Soul but is a standalone book... -
Sleigh Bells Ring: A Sapphic Romance by Alyson Root, Tara Sullivan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsFor Nicole Robinson, Christmas means returning to the family home in Hebden Bridge with her sister Beth and their brother Liam, who has lived with permanent delays since a childhood accident. Though Beth and Nicole have grown up and moved away, every December the Robinson kids reunite for a month of family and festive traditions... -
This Is the Season to Make You Mine by Johana Gavez
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWill the Christmas magic help these two friends take a shot at love?Morgan Bergman doesn’t want to go home for Christmas. She loves her family, but since her parents retired and her sister moved back to their hometown of Apfelville to take over the family business, she’s been avoiding them, feeling guilty about choosing her rising career in New York over her family... -
Just Jorie by Robin Alexander
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsSome believe that special someone is out there just waiting to be found. Jorie Andolini is one of those people and has spent a lot of time envisioning that moment. She bumps into a woman at a grocery store, the woman drops a can of peas, Jorie picks it up, their eyes meet, and two souls connect... -
Every Little Thing by Lily Seabrooke
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsThe end isn’t the best time to realize you’ve been in love all along.Bakery owner Harper has her secrets. She’s always kept to herself, constantly on a career climb that only she can see, with no one allowed close—except the one person in Bayview who won’t take no for an answer.Paisley’s fallen into bed with Harper twice already over their years of friendship, but it’s never meant anything... -
Girls of Summer by Kate Christie
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe first four books of the Girls of Summer series introduced Emma Blakeley and Jamie Maxwell, two athletes with bright soccer futures. Now, in Girls of Summer, the US Women's National Team (USWNT) is in its final round of preparations before the 2015 World Cup. For Jamie, a starting spot on the World Cup roster would be a dream come true... -
Only Hope by Ruby Landers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAlison Hartmann is a woman with secrets no one wants her to keep. Gold Hill, with its idyllic setting is the perfect place to hide.Light-hearted Hope Sullivan doesn’t see it that way... -
No After You by Nicole Pyland
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsDani Wilder only intended to go to a fundraiser and donate money to a worthy cause. She had no idea that she’d meet the love of her life that night. There were only a couple of problems with that chance meeting. Dani had a boyfriend. That chance meeting – it was with Peyton Gloss, the world’s most famous music star, who also happened to be a woman. Peyton had only planned on performing that night... -
Enchanted By Her by Chelsea M. Cameron
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsI was NOT looking forward to my sister’s wedding in the fall. It’s just another reminder of how single I am and how much pressure my family is putting on me to “find the one.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m a hopeless romantic, but all their meddling is making me feel a little murderous.Then one day a woman walks into the bookshop where I work... -
-
Run Away With me, Girl 2 by Battan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsMaki's first love was her high school classmate, a girl named Midori. But Midori broke up with Maki at graduation, saying they were now "too old to be fooling around dating girls... -
Whenever You're Ready by Rachel Runya Katz
After reconnecting on a road trip, two friends must decide if love is the ultimate risk worth taking in this funny, emotional sapphic romanceNia and Jade had been inseparable ever since their best friend, Michal, introduced them at her tenth birthday party...Categorized as:
queer friends to lovers found-family forced proximity humor contemporary f-f length-medium -
That Secret Something by Emily Wright
Rebecca Lawson is off-limits. Jess knows this, but Rebecca has captured her heart for as long as she can remember. She’s sporty, tall and confident—all the things Jess is not—but most of all…she’s her best friend Lily’s sister. Nothing can ever happen between them.Especially after that slip-up at prom night... -
Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFour artists are drawn into a web of rivalry and desire at an elite art school and on the streets of New York in this “gripping, provocative, and supremely entertaining” (BuzzFeed) debut“Captures the ache-inducing quality of art and desire . . . a deeply relatable and profoundly enjoyable read, one drenched in prismatic color and light... -
Making It by Laura Kay
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsFrom the author of Wild Things comes a heartwarming and relatable queer rom-com about an isolated young woman whose artistic celebration of her pet chinchilla suddenly launches her into the professional art world, reality TV fame, and first love.Isobel's life is just her, her mum, and her pet chinchilla, Abigail, in their council flat on the Kentish coast... -
A Long Way From Home by Olivia Lucas
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLogic versus desire – only one can survive the scorching heat of the Australian Outback. When no-nonsense, Chicago teacher Callie Rogers receives news that her deadbeat father has passed and has left her a share of his million-acre cattle station in the inhospitable Outback, she begrudgingly flies to the other side of the world... -
Rat Race by Eden Emory, Ashley Pines
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom Ashley Pines and Eden Emory comes a queer dark, smutty thriller set in world where the rich pay handsomely to watch the live-streaming event of the year. The desperate sign-up to play a game with life-changing rewards and life-ending consequences.CamLegacy. A word I reckon I’d heard a hundred times more than my own name.It’s what I am, who I am. The product of generations of greatness... -
Closer than Ever by Lisa Elliot
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLong-lost friends from university explore their unresolved history on a road trip around Scotland in this second chance sapphic romance.Anna lives in the Scottish Highlands and works at Glenbuinidh whisky distillery. Loyal to her small town and her beloved distillery, all she wants is to find her future wife, settle down and start a family... -
Feels Like Home by Jo Cox
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsJess has loved Melissa for longer than she can remember and it’s bearable when they’re a hundred miles apart, but what will happen when they’re thrown back together and there’s nowhere to hide?Jess has tried everything to put her feelings aside, but when Melissa comes home from university and becomes a permanent fixture in her office, kitchen, and sometimes even bed, she’s got no chance of... -
Wherever Is Your Heart by Anita Kelly
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHow long, exactly, had June been coming to Moonie’s for the sole purpose of pining after the bartender? She certainly didn’t come for the karaoke. Even though the karaoke made her smile sometimes. All these young queers with their off-key, bouncy energy. They made Mal smile, too, June knew. Even if Mal tended to hide her smiles. But she saved them sometimes, for June... -
-
Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
Following Written in the Stars and Hang the Moon, national bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur pens another steamy queer rom-com about former best friends who might be each other's second chance at love…Margot Cooper doesn’t do relationships. She tried and it blew up in her face, so she’ll stick with casual hookups, thank you very much... -
Dare to Love by A.L. Brooks
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsInvestment banker Ash Taylor left her cut-throat world to set up a cool, cutting-edge tattoo studio. Her love life’s been a lot bumpier, though. Ever since a heart-breaking affair with a straight colleague, she’s vowed to steer clear of women unsure of their sexuality...Categorized as:
friends to lovers bisexual queer f-f contemporary slow burn dual-pov third-person-pov -
Bingo Love Volume 1: Jackpot Edition by Tee Franklin, Marguerite Bennett
When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall...Categorized as:
bisexual friends to lovers queer contemporary f-f mature couple curvy heroine length-novella -
Flight SQA016 by A.E. Radley
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSpurred on by overwhelming and ever-increasing debts, Emily White takes a job working in the first-class cabin on the prestigious commuter route from her home of New York to London with Crown Airlines. A gruelling transatlantic schedule means she is in the air nearly as much as she is on the ground and desperately misses her five-year-old son... -
I Saw Mommy Kissing the Nanny by Shannon O'Connor
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsMorgan loves three things; Books, women, and being single. But when Grad school costs more than her rent, she needs to come up with a way to make some money and fast. After a one night stand with a beautiful woman, she wakes the next morning in a hurry to make it to her interview as a live in nanny... -
The Hues of Me and You by Morgan Lee Miller
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsArlette Adair has always done what’s right. From the day she was born, she’s lived the life her parents forced upon her. Now, she’s stuck in a sparkless relationship and a job she never wanted. Her father's presidential campaign will forever root her in the world of politics that she’s trying to escape from.Brooke Dawson has always made her own rules...
Find out more about romance.io.
Get recommendations by genres & tropes
Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.