Home for the Holidays

Iris Abbott spends the holidays in Indiana with her roommate and best friend, Zac Nowak. She has agreed to play his girlfriend in his small hometown while he builds up the nerve to tell his family he is gay.

Early one morning, Iris meets a woman who stops her cold. The woman turns out to be Heidi, Zac's mother.

The attraction runs both ways. Iris and Heidi trade glances across the house and take whatever private moments they can find, and what begins as a spark grows into a relationship they have to hide.

The secret strains the pretend romance that brought Iris to town, and it presses on a fear both women share about who they are allowed to love. Zac's coming out is still waiting in the background.

This contemporary sapphic romance alternates between Iris and Heidi, so the reader sees each woman's doubts from the inside. Small-town expectations hang over every scene, and the question is whether the two can build a life that fits them.