Updated on October 5, 2026
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This is my August 2026 sapphic TBR, rebuilt in October with every fact checked again. It is for readers who want a short, honest stack rather than a hundred-title dump: four dark indie mafia romances, two of which were everywhere in my feed this summer, three sapphic books that actually came out in August 2026, and five well-loved backlist novels for when you want something with a long track record.
Each entry now carries its release date, its Goodreads average with the number of ratings behind it, its series status and how it ends. Where I have reviewed the book in full, the entry links to that review so you can see the evidence rather than take my word for it. If a book’s rating rests on a small number of readers, I say so, because a 4.2 from 120 people is not the same signal as a 4.0 from 130,000.
This update also corrects the original list. Two titles were described as books they are not, one “essential” turned out not to be a sapphic romance at all, and one title was misspelled. The details are in the section on what changed, near the end.
The August 2026 List at a Glance
Goodreads numbers below are work-level averages. Every figure was checked on Goodreads in early October 2026. Counts for the big backlist titles are rounded, because they move every day.
| Book & Author | Released | Goodreads | Series | Ending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession — Jaspreet K. Bajwa | January 26, 2026 | 3.91 from 108 ratings | Sapphic Obsessions | HEA, no cliffhanger |
| The Ways She Makes Me Sin — A. Goswami | January 27, 2025 | 4.00 from 370 ratings | The Ways We Burn #1 of 2 | Hard cliffhanger |
| Sua Sponte — Remy Marino | March 3, 2026 | No ratings yet | In Contempt #3 of 3 | HEA, per the publisher |
| Her Wish, My Command — Wilson Dominic | June 10, 2026 | 2.00 from 1 rating | No series listed | Not yet reported by readers |
| Accidentally Falling — Shannon O’Connor | August 4, 2026 | 4.19 from 142 ratings | Sapphire Falls Orchard #2 | Romance resolves; some loose ends |
| Death Card — Jasmine Smith | August 11, 2026 | 3.78 from 918 ratings | YA fantasy | Romance is a subplot |
| To Love the Stars too Fondly — S.D. Simper | August 28, 2026 | 4.15 from 93 ratings | Steaming Hearts #1 | Hopeful |
| Delilah Green Doesn’t Care — Ashley Herring Blake | February 22, 2022 | 4.04 from about 132,000 ratings | Bright Falls #1 (trilogy complete) | HEA |
| One Last Stop — Casey McQuiston | June 1, 2021 | 3.88 from about 298,000 ratings | Standalone | HEA |
| Something to Talk About — Meryl Wilsner | May 2020 | 3.60 from about 35,800 ratings | Standalone | HEA |
| Written in the Stars — Alexandria Bellefleur | November 10, 2020 | 3.83 from about 70,400 ratings | Written in the Stars #1 | HEA |
| Last Night at the Telegraph Club — Malinda Lo | January 19, 2021 | 4.18 from about 129,000 ratings | Standalone, with a companion novel | Bittersweet, open |
The Dark and Spicy Picks
These four were the heart of the original August list. All are indie mafia romances on the darker side of the genre. The first two have more readers than their quiet Goodreads review counts suggest, because a lot of their audience reads through Kindle Unlimited and never writes anything down. The other two have almost no ratings yet, so for them I can tell you what the books are, not how readers took them. They are also very different books once you get past the covers, and the difference is the thing worth knowing before you start.
1. Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession by Jaspreet K. Bajwa
The facts: Published January 26, 2026, about 167 pages in the Kindle edition. Goodreads sits at 3.91 from 108 ratings and 13 written reviews, so the evidence base is small. Goodreads lists it as book two of the author’s Sapphic Obsessions series, which Amazon now shows at eight books, including Mommy’s Noble Lie and Mommy’s Private Jet.
What it is: Jessica Qureshi, a Dubai mafia heiress, and Natalia, a Croatian model getting out of a controlling relationship. It is an age-gap romance built on obsessive protection and a possessive, caretaking heroine. The “mommy” in the title describes a consensual adult dynamic, not anything involving a minor.
What readers say: The setting and the pace get the praise. Readers describe it as fast and hard to put down, and several single out Jessica as the reason to keep going. The recurring complaint is about heat rather than plot: some readers expected the title to mean frequent explicit scenes and found it lighter than that. When I reviewed it in August I scored the heat a 3 out of 5, with one standout chapter, and the ending a clean HEA. The Goodreads average has drifted down since then as more readers arrived, which is normal for a book that found a wider audience than its first fans.
Read it if you want a possessive, devoted heroine and a twisty crime plot in one sitting. Skip it if you are here mainly for spice. My full review of Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession has the scorecard, and the same author’s Mughal Mommy is another Sapphic Obsessions title, with more open-door heat (we have not scored it yet — too few reader reviews). Check Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession on Amazon →
2. The Ways She Makes Me Sin by A. Goswami
The facts: Published January 27, 2025, about 249 pages in the Kindle edition, and available in Kindle Unlimited. Goodreads shows 4.00 from 370 ratings and only 17 written reviews. It is book one of The Ways We Burn, a two-book series; the second book, The Ways She Owns My Heart, is already out, so you can read straight through.
What it is: Evelyn, 39, takes in her 19-year-old step-niece Sophia after Sophia’s parents are killed by the mafia, and the two hide out on a Montana estate while a forbidden attraction builds. The original version of this list called it “taboo-lite.” That undersold it. A twenty-year age gap plus a step-family relationship is a hard taboo for a lot of readers, and the book leans into it rather than softening it.
What readers say: “Addictive” is the word that keeps coming up, along with strong chemistry between the leads. The criticisms are consistent too: the mafia plot stays thin and secondary to the romance, and some readers found the characters frustrating. In my August review I rated the heat 5 out of 5, erotica-leaning, and flagged the ending as a hard cliffhanger with nothing resolved in book one.
Read it if you know the taboo works for you and you have book two ready. Do not start it expecting a standalone. My full review of The Ways She Makes Me Sin goes through the content in detail. Check The Ways She Makes Me Sin on Amazon → and the sequel, The Ways She Owns My Heart, on Amazon →
3. Sua Sponte by Remy Marino
The facts: Published March 3, 2026, as a Kindle edition. It is book three, and the finale, of Remy Marino’s In Contempt trilogy, after Prima Facie and In Camera, and its own description says it must be read after both. Goodreads shows no ratings yet and Amazon shows one, so there is no reader consensus to report.
What it is: A dark mafia lesbian romance. Six months into an uneasy peace, Alexandra Chen and Bella are pulled back in when Bella’s father is murdered in federal prison and her aunt, heir to a criminal network spanning three continents, offers Bella a place in it. The publisher promises revenge, found family, morally complex heroines, explicit content and a guaranteed happily ever after, and lists content warnings for violence, family trauma, references to historical atrocities and explicit sexual content.
The correction: The August version of this list called it a contemporary military slow burn with an ice-queen lead. That does not match the book, so treat this as a fresh entry.
Read it if you have already read the first two books. If you have not, start with Prima Facie, which I reviewed in full. Check Sua Sponte on Amazon →
4. Her Wish, My Command by Wilson Dominic
The facts: Published June 10, 2026, about 150 pages in the Kindle edition, with no series listed. Goodreads shows a single 2-star rating and no written reviews, and Amazon shows no customer ratings yet, so I cannot tell you how readers have taken it.
What it is: An enemies-to-lovers lesbian mafia romance. Vespera Moretti is a mafia heiress kept in an isolated “Glass Fortress”; Rhea Del Rey is the blacklisted former extraction specialist hired to keep her contained. When the syndicate behind them turns on both women, bodyguard and asset have to rely on the one person they were never meant to trust.
The correction: The August list described it as a Regency-style historical fantasy about a royal and her guard. The real book is contemporary and mafia-set; only the bodyguard dynamic survived.
Read it if you want a short forbidden bodyguard romance and do not mind going in without reviews to guide you. Check Her Wish, My Command on Amazon →
If this corner of the genre is your thing, our sapphic mafia romance list collects the rest of it.
New Sapphic Books Released in August 2026
The original list was a TBR of books I was reading in August, not a guide to what was published that month. That left a gap, so here are three sapphic books that genuinely came out in August 2026. All three are new enough that their ratings rest on modest numbers of readers, and I have not reviewed any of them in full yet, so treat these as informed pointers rather than verdicts.
5. Accidentally Falling by Shannon O’Connor (August 4)
A single mother and the nanny she hires after a one-night stand, set in a small New York orchard town in autumn. It is book two of Sapphire Falls Orchard, about 260 pages, and Goodreads shows 4.19 from 142 ratings and 50 written reviews. Readers praise the cozy fall atmosphere, the chemistry between Hattie and Emmy, and grown-up communication with very little third-act drama. Several also note multiple explicit scenes. The complaints cluster at the end: a rushed final stretch and a few threads left open, including the leads never telling the child about their relationship. If you like the single-parent setup, our sapphic romance with single moms list has more. Find Accidentally Falling on Amazon →
6. Death Card by Jasmine Smith (August 11)
A traditionally published young adult fantasy from G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, about 304 pages. An 18-year-old New Orleans witch draws the Death card and sees a beautiful stranger stab her, then keeps that girl close to work out why. Goodreads shows 3.78 from 918 ratings, the largest readership of the August titles here. Readers love the setting and the Black, queer cast, and the grief storyline lands. The most repeated criticism is that the sapphic romance does not get enough page time to earn its intensity by the end, alongside a plot that juggles too many threads. Read it as a witchy YA fantasy with a romance subplot, not as a romance. Find Death Card on Amazon →
7. To Love the Stars too Fondly by S.D. Simper (August 28)
A contemporary hurt/comfort romance, about 196 pages, opening a series called Steaming Hearts. Terra is a barista still grieving a partner lost five years earlier; Alex is a wealthy heiress with her own trauma who steps in when Terra is stalked at work. Goodreads shows 4.15 from 93 ratings and 30 written reviews. Readers praise the emotional depth and the bipolar disorder representation, mention the spice consistently, and split on how fast the relationship moves. Check the content warnings first: stalking, homophobia, assault, references to suicide and mentions of rape, mostly off page. Find To Love the Stars too Fondly on Amazon →
For the full year of releases, see our running guide to new sapphic books of 2026.
The Sapphic Essentials Worth Revisiting
These are the backlist books that kept turning up in recommendation threads all summer. All five have full reviews on the site, and none of them scores higher than a 4.0 with me, which is worth saying plainly: they are essentials because they shaped the genre and are easy to find, not because they are flawless.
8. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
Berkley, February 22, 2022. Goodreads: 4.04 from about 132,000 ratings. A photographer returns to her hometown for her stepsister’s wedding and falls for the bride’s best friend, a single mom. It opens the Bright Falls trilogy, which is complete, with Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail and Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date following. Expect explicit, open-door scenes, a third-act breakup and a full HEA. My Delilah Green Doesn’t Care review gives it 3.8 and explains the likeability problem some readers hit. Check it on Amazon →
9. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
St. Martin’s Griffin, June 1, 2021. Goodreads: 3.88 from about 298,000 ratings. A New York subway romance with a time-slip twist and one of the best found-family casts in the genre. It is a standalone with an HEA, and the first half carries no heat at all. My One Last Stop review gives it 3.8: warm and funny, with a central couple the supporting cast sometimes outshines. Check it on Amazon →
10. Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
Berkley, May 2020. Goodreads: 3.60 from about 35,800 ratings, the lowest average on this list. A Hollywood showrunner and her assistant are rumoured to be dating and slowly realise the rumour is not entirely wrong. It is a standalone with an HEA, careful about the power imbalance, and very slow: the one open-door scene arrives in the final tenth. My Something to Talk About review calls it a principled romance that takes too long to become a romance. Check it on Amazon →
11. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
Avon, November 10, 2020. Goodreads: 3.83 from about 70,400 ratings. An astrologer and an actuary fake-date through the holidays. It opens a trilogy where each book follows a different couple; book two is a straight romance and book three, Count Your Lucky Stars, is sapphic again. Open door, an HEA, and an ending a lot of readers found rushed. My Written in the Stars review gives it 3.8. Check it on Amazon →
12. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Dutton Books for Young Readers, January 19, 2021, 416 pages. Goodreads: 4.18 from about 129,000 ratings, the highest average of the essentials. A Chinese American teenager finds the lesbian bar scene in 1950s San Francisco. It won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, keeps its intimacy behind closed doors and ends bittersweet and open; the 2022 companion novel A Scatter of Light offers some closure for the central couple. It replaces The Charm Offensive on this list (see below). My Last Night at the Telegraph Club review gives it 4.0. Check it on Amazon →
New to the genre? Our sapphic romance for beginners guide puts these and other easy starting points in order.
How to Pick Your Next Read From This List
The original list sorted these books by mood. That still works, but the facts above make the choice sharper:
- Want danger and devotion with a guaranteed happy ending: Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession. Short, complete, lighter on heat than its title.
- Want the most heat and do not mind a hard taboo: The Ways She Makes Me Sin, with book two ready to go.
- Want a bodyguard romance or a finished mafia trilogy: Her Wish, My Command for the first, and Remy Marino’s In Contempt trilogy, starting with Prima Facie, for the second. Both have very few reader ratings so far.
- Want cozy, adult and new: Accidentally Falling.
- Want a slow burn that earns it: Something to Talk About, if you are patient, or browse our spicy slow burn sapphic romance list for ones that pay off with more heat.
- Want an age gap: the first two dark picks qualify, and our lesbian age gap romance books list has dozens more, sorted by dynamic.
- Want a big, well-loved comfort read: Delilah Green Doesn’t Care or One Last Stop.
- Want something literary and historical: Last Night at the Telegraph Club, accepting that it is not a romance-novel ending.
What Changed in the October 2026 Update
I would rather tell you what was wrong than quietly swap it out.
Two titles were described as books they are not. The August version led with Sua Sponte by Remy Marino and Her Wish, My Command by Wilson Dominic. Both books exist, but the original blurbs did not match them. Sua Sponte was called a contemporary military slow burn; it is the third book of a dark mafia trilogy. Her Wish, My Command was called a Regency-style historical fantasy; it is a contemporary mafia bodyguard romance. Both entries above are rewritten from the books’ own listings, and neither has enough ratings yet to say how readers have taken it.
One “essential” was not sapphic. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun is a lovely book, but it is a romance between two men. It does not belong on a sapphic list, and Last Night at the Telegraph Club takes its place.
A title was misspelled. A. Goswami’s book is The Ways She Makes Me Sin, plural, and the earlier list called Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession by a shortened title. Both are corrected, and the earlier “taboo-lite” label on the Goswami book has gone because it was not accurate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which book on this list has the most heat?
The Ways She Makes Me Sin. I rated it 5 out of 5 for heat, erotica-leaning, in my full review. Accidentally Falling and To Love the Stars too Fondly are also frequently described as spicy by readers.
Does Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession end on a cliffhanger?
No. It ends with a happily-ever-after and no cliffhanger.
Is The Ways She Makes Me Sin a standalone?
No. It is book one of The Ways We Burn and ends on a hard cliffhanger. The second and final book, The Ways She Owns My Heart, is already published.
What sapphic books came out in August 2026?
Three worth knowing are Accidentally Falling by Shannon O’Connor (August 4), Death Card by Jasmine Smith (August 11, young adult) and To Love the Stars too Fondly by S.D. Simper (August 28).
Can I read Sua Sponte first?
No. It is book three of Remy Marino’s In Contempt trilogy, and its own description says to read it after Prima Facie and In Camera. Start with Prima Facie.
Your Turn
August turned out to be a drama-and-heat month for me, and the October check made the list more honest without changing that. If you only pick one, make it the book whose ending matches what you want tonight: Mafia Mommy’s Sweet Obsession if you need a complete story, The Ways She Makes Me Sin only if you have the sequel lined up. Tell me in the comments which of these you read this summer and whether the ratings match your experience.