idk but it does
Relentlessly Hers is a spicy sapphic "petty gym rivals to begrudging teammates to lovers" contemporary romance set in a small town. It's book 2 in my Hearts in Hartsville series (interconnected standalones) 🩵
books2read.com/Relentlessly...
DNF. thought it was a soft, emotional contemporary sapphic romance but the petty gym rivals keep jumping each other's bones in semi-public places. how does that add to the plot?
My spouse made me new friendship bracelets!
Two are Frieren jokes: "Zoooltraak" (in yellow and red) and "AK Ferny-7" (in white, black, and purple).
The third is in memory of my late cat, Lil Bit. He was black and white with green eyes, so those are the bracelet colors.
Thanks, my love! 💙
Every so often a new post comes up with someone complaining about terms used in spicy scenes.
Y'all.
There's always gonna be terms you prefer, terms you don't. There's nothing wrong with them either way. We're all doing our best to make things sensual rather than clinical.
Chill.
i'm totally fine and normal about the new cover for Conveniently Hers...... [jittery eyeballs emoji]
The autism that accidentally came through in my older stories is wild.
Good thing now it's autism coming through on PURPOSE.
"You need to understand your niche author brand."
My brand:
🌟 Everybody's sapphic, get over it
🌟 No homophobia, I get enough of that irl
🌟 Spaced-out book releases bc I'm tired
🌟 Ensemble casts so you get cameos of your faves
🌟 Spicy scenes that get more and more out of hand with every book
Kimberly M. Wetherell! I've really enjoyed working with her 💙
I am currently GLORIFYING SIN by getting ready to send my audiobook narrator books 1 and 2 in my Hearts in Hartsville series (spicy and spicier contemporary sapphic romance).
🥵 I cannot wait to corrupt more sinners, I mean readers, with these audiobooks later this year.
Author photo of Ivy L. James: A plus-size white woman with wire-framed glasses and wavy dark brown hair, in a burgundy blouse, smiles at the camera. She leans forward with her wrists crossed, showing two friendship bracelets and a Claddagh ring on her left ring finger.
![First page of Relentlessly Hers by Ivy. L. James. Chapter 1, titled "Paths: Crossed" with two pink hearts as the new-chapter image.
Yelena Montalban glared at the dark clouds overhead before slipping into her white Subaru hatchback. “Do not storm on me,” she told the skies as she started her car. “Don’t you dare.” She could’ve skipped the gym and headed straight home, but a good workout would give her some endorphins. Besides, the weather channel app on her phone promised the storm would pass right over her little Virginia town of Hartsville.
Still, her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel didn’t let up as she eased out of the Hartsville High School teachers’ parking lot and onto the main road. “Don’t storm, don’t storm, don’t storm,” she chanted under her breath. Her nails dug into the leather. But the clouds remained benign, even as they followed her to the local gym. Maybe the weather channel was right after all. [continued]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ufl6dsblcdb4ayfcwfylwxgu/bafkreicxn325nuboecz2ai32nhhtz4uaimxmn26qd6e3twgzt6xwyeftde)
First page of Relentlessly Hers by Ivy. L. James. Chapter 1, titled "Paths: Crossed" with two pink hearts as the new-chapter image. Yelena Montalban glared at the dark clouds overhead before slipping into her white Subaru hatchback. “Do not storm on me,” she told the skies as she started her car. “Don’t you dare.” She could’ve skipped the gym and headed straight home, but a good workout would give her some endorphins. Besides, the weather channel app on her phone promised the storm would pass right over her little Virginia town of Hartsville. Still, her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel didn’t let up as she eased out of the Hartsville High School teachers’ parking lot and onto the main road. “Don’t storm, don’t storm, don’t storm,” she chanted under her breath. Her nails dug into the leather. But the clouds remained benign, even as they followed her to the local gym. Maybe the weather channel was right after all. [continued]
The illustrated cover of Relentlessly Hers by Ivy L. James features two competitive women wielding tennis rackets. Yelena is a slim, muscular white woman with strawberry-blonde hair in a white tennis uniform. Embry is a more muscular Black woman with two long braids, in a blue tennis uniform.
💙 Author ❤️ First Page 💙 Cover ❤️
What the L in Ivy L. James may stand for:
- Legend-of-zelda
- Lady-of-the-lake
- Legendary
- Liminal-space
- Luminous
- Lustrum
- Loitering
- Lycanthropy
- Lizard
- Lobotomy
- Labor-unions
- Last-will-be-first
- Loosey-goosey
- Late-fees
- Live-laugh-lesbian
- League-of-legends
- Losing-my-religion
A banner with text that reads Ducks in a Row | Duxxx in a Row, Curated Collections of Queer Stories. Beside this are two mock-ups of books, their cover titles matching the text. Duxxx shows art of a line of people sunning themselves on the beach while reading, and Ducks shows a group of people cuddling in a pillowfort while one of them reads aloud. There's a "Projects We Love - Kickstarter" badge in the upper right corner.
An ill-timed cold has meant I’ve done less promo than usual on our current Kickstarter. We’ve got 48 hours left in our campaign, and we’re about $1700 short of our goal All you need to do to help is boost this post!
Ready to learn more? Visit our Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/duc...
🌈📚
One thing I will always do is defend authors from "just smut" allegations. Not everything is smut or pörn.
This is, though: books2read.com/RelentlesslyHers
Relentlessly Hers is OUT NOW in both ebook and paperback!
This contemporary sapphic romance (gym rivals to begrudging teammates to lovers) is such a great time -- fun, sexy, and soft.
books2read.com/Relentlessly...
#indie #author #lesfic #sapphic #romance 🌈📚 #writingcommunity #sapphfic 💙📚
Alysa Liu skating peacefully, from above
POV: my "petty gym rivals to begrudging teammates to friends to lovers" contemporary sapphic romance comes out TOMORROW!
I'm so excited to share these soft but spicy ladies with you all 💙
books2read.com/RelentlesslyHers
5-star review: "Working with Ivy on my debut novel was an incredible experience. She was fast and responsive, but more importantly, she was deeply "in" the manuscript with me. Her attention to detail is extraordinary - she caught things I never would have spotted, and her feedback on everything from sentence flow to overall style was spot on. I consistently found myself thinking "that's absolutely right!" What really stood out was how intuitively she grasped my voice. Ivy didn’t just edit the book - I felt like she elevated it. She helped me sharpen the prose while making sure the emotional core stayed exactly where I wanted it. I especially appreciated our face to face discussion...Her guidance felt less like a critique and more like true mentorship...My book is undeniably stronger because of her expertise, and I’m so grateful for the genuine care she brought to my project. I’d recommend her in a heartbeat to any author looking for a skilled and supportive editor!"
I just received the KINDEST review from a recent editing client on Reedsy! Thank you, Harry!
I canceled the preorder for Book 3, Royally Hers. It was the right choice for me.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm not in a position to put out the revamped book by May 2. I'll have a much better story if I take my time on it.
In the meantime: books2read.com/RelentlesslyHers
finally touched up my author website for things like the new book cover, updated poetry chapbook links, my Threads profile, and such. Small things, but they add up!
authorivyljames.com
finally got my new cover and updated formatted files for Relentlessly Hers uploaded to Amazon... and Amazon is down. Why must you betray me in new ways every day, capitalism??
anyway, if you're interested, you can read an ARC and review on BookSprout: booksprout.co/reviewer/rev...
The illustrated cover of Relentlessly Hers by Ivy L. James features two competitive women wielding tennis rackets. Yelena is a slim, muscular white woman with strawberry-blonde hair in a white tennis uniform. Embry is a more muscular Black woman with two long braids, in a blue tennis uniform.
New cover who dis!
Relentlessly Hers is a spicy sapphic "petty gym rivals to begrudging teammates to lovers" contemporary romance set in a small town. It's book 2 in my Hearts in Hartsville series 🩵
Preorder: books2read.com/RelentlesslyHers
#lesfic #sapphic 🌈📚 #writingcommunity #sapphfic 💙📚
Alysa Liu skating peacefully and joyfully
POV: I started writing for myself again this year 💙
Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances, the release date for Relentlessly Hers has been pushed to 31 March 2026.
I want to ensure I'm giving readers the best possible version of this book, so expect a little surprise soon!
Alysa Liu skating joyfully
Me when my manuscript is finalized, formatted, and submitted to Amazon!
(Relentlessly Hers, my "petty gym rivals to begrudging teammates to friends to lovers" contemporary sapphic romance, comes out 1 March 2026!)
books2read.com/RelentlesslyHers
#lesfic
Relentlessly Hers ARCs are up! "Petty gym rivals to begrudging teammates to friends to lovers" is available to 25 people 💜
booksprout.co/reviewer/rev...
#indie #author #lesfic #sapphic #romance 🌈📚 #writingcommunity #sapphfic 💙📚
Relentlessly Hers is with the formatter! It's on track for the 1 March 2026 release, and I'm SO excited to share this sexy sapphic romance with you all!!
Preorder here: books2read.com/Relentlessly...
Anyway, this book is a BLAST! In its updated form, it's now Relentlessly Hers, and it comes out in ebook and paperback on 1 March 2026!
Preorder here: books2read.com/RelentlesslyHers
Well, I meant to portion out my Winner reread/update over a few days to a week, but instead I ended up binge-reading the whole thing yesterday bc I was having a good time.
It was totally fine -- enjoyable, fun, sexy. We're our own worst critics.
You may know that I am revamping and republishing my small press books on my own, making the novels all the same series.
In its orinal drafting and publishing phase, I HATED Winner. I was miserable writing it, and I thought it was terrible.
I'm so grateful for my new clients on Reedsy!
I was nervous about getting started there, but I'm really enjoying all the wonderful manuscripts I have the honor of working on. So many fresh ideas and lovely stories!
(reedsy.com/james-ivy-l)
SAVE THE DATE! #SmallPitch comes back for another indie/small press-focused pitch event on January 19-25, 2026 🌊
This time, it will be open to all underrepresented authors from the #WritingCommunity, agented and unagented alike.
Check our website for more details ⬇️