Books Like Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date: 5 Sapphic Romances to Try Next

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Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date puts a romance writer and an actor into a fake relationship after an uncomfortable first encounter. The theater setting gives them a reason to keep meeting, while the supposed performance makes real vulnerability harder to avoid. A useful follow-up should preserve that friction, the queer friendship circle, or the feeling that a confident exterior is concealing something.

Written in the Stars is the clearest next step if the fake dating was the attraction. If Bright Falls itself is what you miss, there are two earlier couples worth meeting. This list separates those routes so you can choose a new story rather than simply another book with a similar cover.

Choose your next read

• Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur — fake dating between very different women.
• The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur — a romantic performance with bigger public stakes.
• D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins — pretend commitment under observation.
• Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake — the beginning of the bright falls friendship circle.
• Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake — creative work, control and an unexpected attraction.

1. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

Try this if you want: fake dating between very different women.

Darcy and Elle’s unsuccessful first date becomes a pretend relationship designed to solve other problems. That gives this the clearest structural connection to Iris and Stevie: an arrangement offers a supposedly manageable way to spend time together, then feelings make it less manageable. The setting shifts to Seattle, with an opposites-attract dynamic rather than a theatrical production. Choose it when you want the gap between what a couple tells other people and what they are beginning to admit privately.

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2. The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur

Try this if you want: a romantic performance with bigger public stakes.

Bookseller Tansy’s invented girlfriend becomes a real complication when Gemma enters the picture. The resulting marriage arrangement makes this a good pick for readers who enjoyed the deliberately constructed relationship in Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date. Family expectations and money push the setup toward a larger, more extravagant rom-com. It is less about rehearsing a role onstage and more about keeping a story believable in public while discovering what the two women actually want.

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3. D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins

Try this if you want: pretend commitment under observation.

A reality-show wedding challenge gives D’Vaughn and Kris a reason to present themselves as a convincing couple. Try it if you liked the way a fake relationship creates real opportunities for closeness. The television premise makes the outside audience literal, which changes the pressure considerably from a local theater production. This is a fresh social setting for the same central reading pleasure: watching an arrangement stop feeling like an arrangement to the people inside it.

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4. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Try this if you want: the beginning of the bright falls friendship circle.

If you arrived at the series through Iris, go back to Delilah and Claire. A photographer returning home for a wedding becomes involved with a single mother whose life is already rooted there. The connection is Blake’s small-town social world and the tensions of being known by other people. It does not repeat the fake-dating plot, which is a reason to choose it: you keep the community while seeing a different kind of romantic problem.

View Delilah Green Doesn’t Care on Amazon →

5. Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

Try this if you want: creative work, control and an unexpected attraction.

Astrid’s renovation project brings her into conflict with carpenter Jordan. This is the Bright Falls option for readers who enjoyed the professional and creative pressures surrounding Iris and Stevie, but want a different relationship dynamic. The renovation setting makes control and competence central to the attraction. Read it for another woman whose carefully organized life is becoming harder to maintain, rather than expecting a second version of the theater or fake-girlfriend storyline.

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Which one should you read first?

If you want one purchase, choose Written in the Stars for the trope match. Choose Delilah Green Doesn’t Care if you want to begin the interconnected series from the start, or Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail if a demanding creative project is the part that sounds most appealing. The Fiancée Farce and D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding take the performance into more public territory.

Before you choose

What is the Bright Falls reading order?

The three novels are Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, then Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date. Each centers a different couple, with an overlapping community.

Which recommendation is closest to the fake-dating setup?

Start with Written in the Stars. The Fiancée Farce and D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding also use an arranged romantic performance, with different stakes.

More reading guides

• Books Like Delilah Green Doesn't Care — 10 Sapphic Small-Town Romance Reads (2026)
• Books Like The Fiancée Farce — 10 Sapphic Fake-Engagement Romances With Bookstores, Heiresses & Public Lies (2026)
• Books Like Mistakes Were Made — 10 Spicy Sapphic Age Gap Romance Reads (2026)

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