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The Relationship Mechanic: A Spicy Small Town Black Sapphic Rom Com (Peach Blossom, 2)
Karmen Lee
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There’s more than one way to love and more than one place to call home in this rousing small-town romantic comedy that’s sure to charm fans of Hannah Bonam-Young’s Next to You and Ashley Herring Blake’s Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date.
There’s no fix for a lonely heart like a little TLC…
Jessica Jae-un Miller came to Peach Blossom, Georgia, for a visit, not a breakdown. But when her rental car dies on the outskirts of town, mechanic Lavenia “Vini” Williams provides a tow—and a very welcome jump start to Jessica’s heart. It’s been a minute since Jessica’s last fling—her relationship specialty—and Vini checks all the right boxes. If only the sexy car whisperer seemed interested…
Vini knows herself and what she wants. She loves her job, her family, her hometown—but she’d love to fall in love. Jessica stirs up all the right feelings, but the city girl has no intention of staying in Peach Blossom. Why sign up for a broken heart? But the temptation is real as Vini goes out of her way to drive a carless Jessica around town. The pair can’t seem to keep their distance—or their hands to themselves.
With only six weeks to figure out where their red-hot chemistry might lead, Vini and Jessica will have to decide if home can be where the heart is when the heart only knows how to run.
From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles…
Peach Blossom
Book 1: The 7-10 Split
Book 2: The Relationship Mechanic
Book 3: The Secret Crush Book Club
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Posts about this title from R&R Reads
R&R Reads\
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Ebony\
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• May 16 2025
✨🍃Welcome to R&R Reads!❣️
✨🍃Who All Gon’ Be There?
❣️ITS BLACK ROMANCE BOOK FEST MONTH!!
Who’s excited!?! I can’t wait to see y’all!! Omg!!
I also got some books there! Share who you’re going to see and who I missed! Chile there are so many authors going oh my gosh!!
#books #blackromanceauthor #blackromancebooks #blackromancenovels #brbf2025
24 books
2
R&R Reads\
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Ebony\
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• Feb 20 2025
✨🍃2025 Anticipated Releases Post
✨🍃2025 Anticipated Releases Post
thank goodness they extended this to have 20+ pictures
I missed some because covers have not been released yet so there will probably be a part two to this post
i am for sure going to get back to posting monthly anticipated releases on here rather than the clock app if the clock app gets deleted
#bookstagram #books #romancebooks #fantasybooks #blackauthors #diverseauthors #diversebooks #2025bookreleases
67 books
2
Posts about this book from across Bindery
Alex (Pucksandpaperbacks)\
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Alex (he/him/his)\
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• Jun 1
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June Content Plans and Hopefuls 🌈📚
10 books
2
Wanderland Reads\
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Sayer\
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• Mar 8
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Book recommendations shape reading culture. A short list of titles moves across social media again and again. The same names appear under every post asking for sapphic romance. You know the list before you open the comments.\
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For a reader who loves sapphic stories, the pattern feels exhausting.\
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When we ask for sapphic book recommendations, the responses flood in, but they are all the same popular trad-published books over and over again. A handful of authors dominate the conversation. Many write great books. Many deserve praise. The problem lies in the repetition. A small circle of names ends up standing in for an entire community.\
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Sapphic romance holds far more than a short list of recommendations.\
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Women and femmes write across genres, identities, and cultural experiences. Black lesbians write stories about joy, and culture. Disabled sapphic authors write romance where access and care sit at the center. Trans women write stories about desire, transformation, and belonging. Indigenous writers explore land, language, and kinship through queer love stories. Immigrant authors write about diaspora, family pressure, and found family.\
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Many readers never hear about those books.\
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Algorithms reward repetition. A recommendation culture built on repetition erases huge sections of the sapphic reading world. The cycle tightens and visibility shrinks.\
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Look at how requests often appear online.\
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Someone asks for a sapphic fantasy. The replies list two or three titles - The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Jasmine Throne. Not that those books aren’t epic, but there are so many more out there. The Curse of the Goddess by C.C. Gonzalez, The Balance of Fate by Raquel Raelynn, or The Fall that Saved Us by Tamara Jeree are three incredible fantasies I never see talked about.\
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Someone asks for a sapphic sports romance. The replies list the same two authors Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute and maybe a YA author or two? What about The Baton Rougue Bayou Series by Aricka Alexander or Love and Sportsball by Meka James, Half Court Shot by Kimani Mae or Summer Breakdown by J.S. Jasper.\
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Someone asks for historical sapphic romance. And all we get are Olivie Waite and Sarah Water’s recommendations. What about That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole or A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar.\
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Each time you recycle a recommendation, hundreds of other stories remain invisible.\
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Those missing books carry different bodies, different cultures, different kinds of love.\
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Some focus on working class lesbians navigating economic pressure like Make Room for Love by Darcy Laio. Some center queer women of color building community like in the Peach Blossom Series by Karmen Lee. Some explore late in life love between older women like Margin of Error by Rachel Lacy. Some tell stories about trans lesbians finding joy in their bodies. Some focus on femmes who resist narrow beauty standards. Some step outside Western settings. Some challenge the structure of romance itself.\
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When recommendations are narrow, readers lose access to those stories.\
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A wider approach to recommending books shifts the entire reading experience.\
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Start by asking a different question before recommending a title. Instead of asking which book is most popular (because chances are they have already read it), ask which voices rarely appear in the conversation. Search for small press releases. Look at anthologies. Follow reviewers who focus on marginalized sapphic voices.\
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Your recommendation list will change quickly.\
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You’ll go from a list of five repeating titles to a long list of hundreds of stories. Different cultures. Different genres. Different forms of desire. Different visions of queer life.\
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Both you and other readers will benefit from that shift.\
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Someone searching for a sapphic book deserves more than the same three answers. They deserve access to the full range of queer storytelling.\
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Recommending widely changes how communities read.\
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One new recommendation introduces a reader to a writer who rarely receives attention. That reader shares the book with friends. A book club picks it up. Another reader writes a review. The story moves further into the world.\
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Visibility grows through intentional choices.\
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If you love sapphic books, think about your next recommendation. Look past the familiar titles. Search for authors whose stories expand the picture of sapphic life.\
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Your next recommendation might introduce someone to a story they never knew existed.\
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That’s what I try to do here, push readers beyond the books that traditional publishing think are marketable to the stories that deeply shape our community.\
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Stop Recommending the Same Seven Books
11 books
2
R&R Reads\
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Ebony\
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• May 16 2025
\
\
Join for free or login](https://randrreads.binderybooks.com/item/xDsFAXqCumVsqAws00FA/)
✨🍃Welcome to R&R Reads!❣️
✨🍃Who All Gon’ Be There?
❣️ITS BLACK ROMANCE BOOK FEST MONTH!!
Who’s excited!?! I can’t wait to see y’all!! Omg!!
I also got some books there! Share who you’re going to see and who I missed! Chile there are so many authors going oh my gosh!!
#books #blackromanceauthor #blackromancebooks #blackromancenovels #brbf2025
24 books
2
Wanderland Reads\
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Sayer\
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• Apr 5 2025
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A bookish take on this weird TikTok trend
Happy Sapphic Sunday lovers!
What books would you recommend for these prompts? I have no recs for a touch me sometimes??!! Also someone educate me on that last one 🤷🏼
#queerbookstagrammer #sapphicbookstagram
#sapphicsunday #sapphicromance #sapphicbooks
7 books
Sapphic and Proud \
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Amivi\
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• Mar 31 2025
Join for free
Shelves and the city was such a fun trip
Shelves and the city was such a fun trip @Avon Books @Epic Reads @HarperCollins #shelvesandthecity #bookishtrip #sapphicbooks
7 books
1
1
R&R Reads\
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Ebony\
\
• Feb 20 2025
✨🍃2025 Anticipated Releases Post
✨🍃2025 Anticipated Releases Post
thank goodness they extended this to have 20+ pictures
I missed some because covers have not been released yet so there will probably be a part two to this post
i am for sure going to get back to posting monthly anticipated releases on here rather than the clock app if the clock app gets deleted
#bookstagram #books #romancebooks #fantasybooks #blackauthors #diverseauthors #diversebooks #2025bookreleases
67 books
2