Happy weekend!
Saturdays are when we curate all the sapphic book news and queer happenings of the week into one convenient location. Think of it as your personal reading directory! After all, we know the weekend is when so many of us are able to unwind for a minute and want to get lost in a good woman loving woman book. What could be better?
In today’s post, you’ll find cheerful LGBTQ+ news stories to combat all the negative ones bombarding our screens.
Donna Jay, a sapphic author, shares a Caturday photo of kitty who is her writing companion.
One of the things we love about the weekly author selfie is getting to know the personality behind the words. Check out the picture of Ashleigh Martin with Siren’s Last Song.
If you’re looking for something to read this weekend, below you’ll find 20 books on sale.
Finally, scroll to the bottom of the post to see photos of TB & Miranda’s visit to Kimball Farm.
We’re grateful to Tessa Brooks for sponsoring today’s post. Please check out Sanctuary of Night.
It’s time to reveal the identity of this week’s Guess the Author!
Every week we provide five clues about a sapphic author. On Saturday, we reveal the author’s identity.
Before we unveil this week’s author, here are all 5 clues in case you missed them:
1. Author’s father was a famous published poet from the mid 1990’s who encouraged his daughter to write as soon as she could read.
2. Author began her career writing seven mainstream M/F romantic suspense novels before she began writing her truth as a W/W novelist in 2017.
3. Author questions whether Sapphic fiction is too exclusive to readers who identify as LGBTA+, asking whether authors’ books might also appeal to mainstream audiences.
4. Author is a career art gallery owner, art lover and art collector.
5. Author wrote a series featuring a real estate agent, so she got her broker’s license and sold real estate in order to make the character authentic.
Now it’s time to reveal their name. Drum roll please…
This week’s author is Kate Merrill!
Check out Lost Girls Club, Kate Merrill’s new release!
World-weary detective gets second chance at love.
When the terrorist Attacks of September 11th, 2001 rocked the world, the sudden disappearance of sixteen-year-old Ashly Morgan from a classy neighborhood in Charlotte, NC, was hardly headline news. Twenty-five years later, Ashley’s sister, Jessica, approaches Detective Red Calendar of the Cold Case Unit with an impossible request: Can you find out what happened to my sister?
Red is in a bad place, devastated by her breakup with her longtime lover, Gina. Red thinks the powerful attraction she feels toward Jess, a young divorced mother of a teenage daughter, is as impossible as Jess’s request. Yet Red reopens Ashly’s cold case and learns that Ashley was one of seven lost girls gone missing in 2001—all presumed dead at the hands of a serial killer who was never brought to justice. By the time Red realizes that the attraction she feels for Jess is mutual, and they begin a passionate affair, the investigation heats up and awakens dangerous old ghosts. Clues lead Red to Fun Zone, an abandoned nightclub where Ashley and her friends used drugs, gambled, and sometimes got pimped out to older men. Red discovers a “haunted” gravesite in an abandoned reform school that produces the bodies of most of the lost girls, but not Ashley’s.
Red learns about a secret sisterhood of women helping woman escape abuse via an Underground Railroad network, with safe houses throughout the southeast, which takes Red and Jess to the sultry streets of New Orleans. With the pressure on, both personally and professionally, Red and Jess come under fire from the now-elderly serial killer. Will Ashley’s story ever be told, and who will live to tell it?
Kate Merrill’s bio:
Kate is a passionate writer and longtime art gallery owner. After graduation from Wittenberg University, her first two galleries were in suburban Philadelphia, and for the past two decades, in Davidson, NC. The galleries offered original art and custom framing, specializing in surrealism, folk art and emerging African American artists. Kate holds a BFA, with concentrations in sculpture and ceramics. Recently she closed her retail gallery to concentrate solely on their own creative endeavors. Currently Kate is fashioning Kate’s Krazy Kritters from unique driftwood. (merrilljennings.com)
Kate has always been a passionate writer and has published a dozen books, mostly romantic suspense and a police procedural series.
After penning two traditional romances, she created the Diana Rittenhouse Mystery series (5 books) featuring a Yankee real estate agent who begins a new life in the south. To lend authenticity to these titles, Kate obtained her broker’s license and sold real estate. Then Amanda Rittenhouse, Diana’s daughter, took over the mystery series, allowing Kate to develop a lesbian character with whom she could closely identify. (6 books) Currently Kate is writing the Red Calendar mystery series of up to ten titles. She also wrote a non-fiction title about Addie James, an American folk artist she adored and represented as well as editing a collection of poetry by Herbert Merrill called North Shore. (Kate’s father was a renowned poet in the mid Twentieth Century.)
The next Guess the Author will start on June 22, 2026!
No matter what happens in these difficult times, TB and Miranda remain committed to bringing you good news from the queer community. While it’s important to stay informed, it’s also vital not to lose sight of all the kindness in the world. Below are the happy queer stories that made us smile this week. They’re queer news links worth clicking!
Ariana Grande Launches Charity Focused on “Protecting Trans and LGBTQ+ Rights” — Wonderful!
Steps of St. Pete City Hall adorned in pride colors — The world needs more rainbows!
5 sexy queer vertical romances to binge during Pride Month — Happy watching!
100 Women We Love: Class of 2026 – TB’s on the list!
Teacher spreads joy across the internet with “fun & easy” lesson on calling something “gay” — Great teaching!
Haters tried to ruin this queer couple’s joyful baby announcement but failed miserably — Congrats!
KPop Demon Hunters Writer Hannah McMechan Says Creating Movie Helped Her Come Out as Bisexual — Be you!
This last one isn’t technically queer news, but TB and Miranda are suckers for cute animal stories:
O Romeow … cat steals the show during final scene at Romeo and Juliet ballet – video — The cat steals the show!
Meet Riley! Here’s a picture of my writing companion, Riley. Submitted by Donna Jay, a sapphic author.
Alex B Porter also sponsored today’s post. Please check out Branding Her.
Please note, sale prices may change without notice, so check the price before clicking a buy button. International prices may vary, especially for permafree titles. Amazon has a habit of changing the price of permafree titles in stores outside of the US. We’ve only checked the sale prices on Amazon. We simply don’t have the time to check every store. Some of the books are only on sale today, June 20, 2026.
