Friday Friends: Many shades in the rainbow – #FridayFriends #LesbianRomance #CheyenneBlue

I just started reading the latest lesbian romance from my long-time friend Cheyenne Blue, The Reluctant Roommate. (It’s great so far!) And that made me realize that I’d never done a Friday Friends feature about Cheyenne, though I’ve read and reviewed at least half of the books she has written.

I’ve known Cheyenne for more than two decades. When we first “met” (in author circles and in shared anthologies – we’ve never met in person), she was writing gorgeous, arousing, sensitive and challenging lesbian erotica, mostly in the short story form. I loved her stuff... but we all change over time. (For instance, I haven’t written a BDSM story in ages...!) Gradually she moved from erotica to romance and from short stories to lesbian romance novels.

And she’s at least as good in her new genre as in her old one.

There are many reasons that I love Cheyenne’s lesbian romance. First of all, although her characters frequently embody romance tropes in their relationships (especially, the “opposites attract” trope), they always feel real and distinctive as individuals. They have jobs, families, financial problems, ambitions and dreams. The obstacles to their relationships (after all, romance always has to have obstacles, right?) very often stem from their ambitions and their dreams.

Second, I adore the vision of a queer-friendly world that exists in most of her novels. For the most part, her lesbian characters are accepted as perfectly normal and ordinary by their straight friends and by their families. That is certainly not how the real world is, especially in some countries. It’s relaxing to escape to a world where a woman loving another woman (or a man loving a man) is not a political or religious problem.

Third, Cheyenne excels at creating a sense of place. Many of her stories are set in Australia, where she now lives. I’ve never visited the country, but I really have some feeling of what Melbourne, Sydney and the Outback (each of which is a setting for a book I’ve read) might be like. My own work relies heavily on setting, for mood as well as not infrequently for plot. I appreciate another author who can take you places with her books.

Finally, even when Cheyenne’s lesbian romance is not sexually explicit, she still does a fantastic job exploring and communicating the emotional as well as the physical aspects of desire. I often tell aspiring writers that sexual tension can be as erotic as intercourse—maybe even more so. Cheyenne’s books demonstrate the truth of that advice. Most of her romances are of the “slow burn” variety, where the protagonists very gradually recognize their attraction to one another. Cheyenne knows how to convey the sudden thrill, the unexpected heat, that can gradually lead to a full out love affair. And her first kisses are incendiary.

Over the years, I’ve reviewed quite a number of Cheyenne’s novels here at Beyond Romance. Here are a few of my favorites:

Not-So-Straight Sue

This was one of Cheyenne’s earliest lesbian romance novels, when she was finding her voice. In most of her later novels, the characters already are pretty clear about their sexual preferences, but this is a story about one woman’s journey of discovery.

https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2016/11/review-tuesday-not-so-straight-sue-by.html

Party Wall

This another early title, one that’s more erotic than her recent work. I loved the conflict between flesh and spirit that underlies this tale.

https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2017/10/review-tuesday-party-wall-by-cheyenne.html

For the Long Run

I so not a jock! In general, mention “sports romance” and I’ll run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, Cheyenne managed to hook me with this story of a totally obsessed runner who learns that there’s more to life than winning.

https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2022/12/review-tuesday-for-long-run-by-cheyenne.html

Love’s Inheritance

This recent release is a lovely slow burn romance with the unlikely setting of a sausage factory! It features great secondary characters and family conflicts to complicate what would otherwise be an obviously “right” relationship.

https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2025/12/review-tuesday-loves-inheritance-by.html

These are just a few of the reviews you’ll find on my blog. Unfortunately, writing this post I came to realize that Beyond Romance lacks a search box! I plan to remedy this as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, check out Cheyenne’s work, including her most recent novel, The Reluctant Roommate. If you are a fan of lesbian romance, you will not regret it.

 

Trust your heart. Follow your dreams. #PNR #ReaderMagnet #MFRWHooks

Happy Wednesday!

I am revamping my mailing list strategy after moving to a new provider. As part of this effort, I’ve selected one of my most popular romances, The Eyes of Bast, as a new reader magnet. Anyone who subscribes to my new mailing list can download copy of this steamy, suspenseful paranormal romance absolutely free!

The new link for my email list is: https://lisabetsarai.eo.page/kqyq4 If you’re a fan of romance with strong heroines and unexpected twists, why not sign up?

Anyway, in the hopes of tempting new readers to join, I’m featuring The Eyes of Bast for today’s MFRW Book Hooks hop. Enjoy!

Blurb

When instinct tells Shaina to visit the feral cat trap she’s set in Central Park, she listens to that inner voice. The sleek black cat she finds has a terrible secret. Tom is an unwilling shape shifter, cursed by a sorceress who craved a human plaything. Shaina vows to defeat the vicious but seductive witch and save the man she believes is her soul mate—though it might mean losing him forever.

Rave Reviews for The Eyes of Bast

The Eyes of Bast is hard to put down once you start reading it. Between highly arousing sex scenes and nail-biting suspense, it'll keep you turning pages until the very satisfying ending. ~ Ria Restrepo, Amazon (5 stars)

What I DO want is extremely hot sex between one man and one woman, and plenty of it, as they fall in love. And WOW! Does this book have that! ~ Fiona McGier, Amazon (5 stars)

Lisabet brings it all together seamlessly: mystery, thriller, paranormal, black magic, shape shifting, smoldering sensuousness, hot, hot sex and a touching love story. This one has it all. Really enjoyed it. ~ Max Lemberger, Amazon (5 stars)

I picked up this novella, meaning to read the first chapter or two in the time I had before I had to be somewhere. Needless to say, I read a lot more than I intended, and I was very late. ~ Cheyenne Blue, Goodreads (5 stars) 

The Hook

I slipped my key into the front door of my building, thinking about ordering Chinese for dinner. All at once, I heard someone call my name. I glanced around. Aside from an old woman walking her golden retriever, the sidewalk was empty.

Weird. But then it had been a weird twenty-four hours.

Go check the old elm.

I swear, the voice was clear as crystal in my mind. Lack of sleep, I told myself. Or stress. The cage is still in my apartment. There won’t be anything there. But the urge to go back just wouldn’t let go.

Trust your instincts. With a sigh, I turned and headed for the park, pulling my mace out of my purse as I walked.

The sky was still light enough for me to see shapes and shadows, even under the trees. As I’d expected, the area beneath the elm was empty, the grass trampled from my previous visit. Of course, no cats revealed themselves. If there were ferals around, they’d be hiding in the underbrush, wary of my scent and the sounds I made, despite my attempts to move quietly.

Tom wasn’t afraid of me. The thought made me ache. He’d been such a gorgeous, affectionate cat. I hoped he was okay.

“Hello.” The voice was male, low and throaty. I jumped and whirled around.

A man stood behind me, a fairly young man with sleek, dark skin and a wide, shy smile. Although his body appeared to be fit and muscular, he held himself in an awkward manner, as if he had some subtle handicap. His arms hung at his sides, his hands clenching and unclenching as though he didn’t quite know what to do with them.

I gripped my mace more tightly. He didn’t appear at all threatening, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

“Um—what are you doing here?”

“Nothing, nothing…” He shrugged and scratched the curly black locks that covered his head. “I heard your voice. I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

Had I spoken aloud? I returned his smile, still uncertain whether I should trust him. “I’m fine. Just taking a walk.”

“It’s not safe here after dark, you know.”

His earnest tone made me chuckle. I held up the can of mace. “I can take care of myself.”

Worry furrowed his high forehead. “That won’t help against some of the things that come out at night.”

A chill shot through me. I shook it away. “I was just headed home anyway.”

“Good. You should be careful.” His smile returned, melting my last vestiges of suspicion. He pronounced his English with a precision that made me wonder if he spoke something else as his native language. It wasn’t exactly an accent, but I could tell he wasn’t a native New Yorker.

“What about you?”

“Oh, I know my way around here,” he answered. He ran his fingers through his curls and arched his back a bit, as though stretching. Despite that odd awkwardness, he was lithe and graceful. A brief pang of desire shot through me. “And I have excellent night vision. Exceptionally sharp hearing too.”

I couldn’t figure out why, but something about him felt familiar. “Have we met before?” I asked then cringed, realizing it sounded like a pick-up line. “I mean…um… I don’t mean…” Hot blood climbed into my cheeks, though the shadows were probably too dense for him to detect my discomfort.

His bold laugh rang out in the growing darkness. “Maybe we have met,” he said. “I live in the neighborhood. Do you?”

“Pretty close,” I answered, alarm bells sounding in my head. No matter how handsome and charming he was, I wasn’t about to give him my address.

“Well, then, you never know. You said you were heading home. May I walk with you?”

“Um… Actually…”

He took my arm without waiting for my permission.

Find the buy links for this book at https://www.lisabetsarai.com/eyesofbastbook.html

Be sure to visit the other authors participating in today’s Book Hooks!