Love on the Road

by Erica Goodwin

Tour manager, Olivia Jade, has been on the road for fifteen years. The road life can be frequently chaotic and although Olivia loves the camaraderie and spontaneous hook-ups with women she meets and will never see again, her job isn’t exactly set up for finding (and keeping) the one. During her hiatus to figure out what’s next, Olivia is offered the job of tour managing pop icon, Peyton Davis’ world tour. She weighs out her options on going out on one last adventure. Her mom always says, “you just never know what you’re going to find when you least expect it.”

On the face of it Peyton is living the dream. A pop star at the top of her game, about to headline arenas around the world. But the reality of being Peyton Davis off stage? That’s another story. Her relationship with her family is challenging, and after years of being with her boyfriend, she’s beginning to realize that her relationship is far from happy. Peyton feels stuck and she can’t seem to shake the feeling that the bigger her career gets, the more the cracks in her life are beginning to show. Her relationship, her career, her future all are swirling around when she begins to share meaningful looks with her beautiful, if a little guarded, tour manager. With everything that’s going on, a crush for the first time on a woman and her employee no less, was the last thing she needs. But as time went on their connection becomes impossible to ignore. When both of their pasts start to stir up their present, the tension, insecurities, and jealousy only seem to make things worse. Will their love survive the obstacles when the world is watching?

Genres: Lesbian, Romance, Queer, Contemporary, LGBT, Rom Com

292 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2025

About the author

Erica Goodwin is an entertainment industry professional turned author based in Southern California. When she’s not typing away at her computer, you can find Erica with her feet buried in the sand by the ocean with a sapphic novel in her hand or cheering for the New York Knicks at a local spots bar.

Once upon a time, Erica was dreaming up her own stories as a child, but it wasn’t until she purchased her first sapphic novel, introducing her to a new world, that she realized she wanted to write her own stories. After her wife’s endless support and encouragement, Erica finally turned her imagination into words. Creating fun, happily ever after, spicy romance novels while her one-eyed pug snores beside her has been an exciting new journey for Erica.

Follow her on Instagram @ericagoodwinauthor for all her future updates!

Reviews

[Diane (IF U'RE PRIVATE, PLEASE SKIP ME!!!) Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

**'Please don't confuse completion with functional..'

2.5 stars!
This was between mediocre and okay -- just wasn't sure about their (Olivia & Peyton) chemistry or maybe there was none.

[Aunt Missa]

Not gonna rate it because I didn’t finish it. I have so many other good books to hang out with.

[Andrea (looseleftlesbian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute and fairly quick read! I love romances that include celebrities because it is so interesting to me how they navigate fame and being in a relationship. I found myself relating to Olivia a lot. She was terrified of being hurt again but still wanted the wife and family. It was also refreshing to see someone in their mid 30's to still be wanting those things and not feeling like they were too old. Yes, I know she’s not old, but in today’s age, being 35 and pregnant is consider a geriatric pregnancy and I do feel like once you are 30, people start to look at you and wonder if you are going to get married and have a family if you are single. And then when she said she wanted kids but not to carry, I was like, “oh hey, it’s me.”

Olivia did make me frustrated at times with her running so much. I mean girl, come on. You’re 36.. be so for real. But in the same breath, it made sense with her past and the fears she had. I do feel like it was realistic in that aspect.

I love when epilogues are months into the future and nineteen months was the perfect amount to see where Peyton and Olivia were. I do wish we had seen a little bit more of how they navigated the fame and Peyton coming out, but I still loved that we got to see them so far into the future.

Something that surprised me was how much I was rooting for Sam and Adam. I do not read straight romances. Anyone who reads my reviews knows this because I mention it a lot. But I was so invested in their relationship. So much so that I might even read a romance about them. Which is wild to think about. It would probably have to be a novella, because let’s be real, there’s only so much straightness I can take, but I do think I’d enjoy it. Sam and Adam are both such great supports to their best friends.

Overall, this was a cute, easy read that I enjoyed. I loved getting to know Peyton and Olivia and wouldn’t mind reading more about their story in the future!

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Erica Goodwin and her wife McKenzie Goodwin, and I purchased the book as soon as it came out. But I was sorely disappointed in the quality of the writing and overall story. I understand it is Erica’s first book, but it simply needed more time and effort before publishing.

1. Countless typos and errors - I found two typos in just one chapter, and many more throughout the book. It needed more time in editing.

2. Lack of detail and description - The author lacked world-building and any kind of description to describe basically everything. The writing made it difficult to imagine their world, thoughts, and movements any more than the superficial. It was written as “this happened, then this happened, then she said this.” It was novice writing skills.

3. Lackluster smut - In some cases, the author glossed over s*x scenes in less than one sentence. And even in the s*x scenes described, it was short and lacked detail. If there was any a time to describe something in the book in detail, this was it. Missed opportunity. This didn’t even make the rest of the poor writing worth recommending.

4. Meh romance and story - The main characters basically fell in love at first sight and became obsessed with each other immediately. This would’ve been fine (and hot) if there was something for the reader to imagine and hold on to about WHY they were so obsessed with each other. But again, lack of detail. When they made up (and then had makeup s*x), all of this was written in about one paragraph. This would’ve been a good opportunity to really describe the passion between the main characters, but it was subjected down to one line.

I begrudgingly finished the book, but I do not recommend it.

[mali · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 from me. the writing itself was fine but i got genuinely annoyed by the characters and the plot.

peyton, a+ list pop-star, falls in love with her tour manager, olivia. olivia has been out as a lesbian since highschool, peyton starts the story in a relationship with a male country singer and considers herself to be straight. they quickly get to know each other, start crushing on each other, and hooking up/dating within days of meeting.

the book itself follows the same storyline over and over. olivia gets upset at peyton for something, such as not being willing to come out to her fans within a few days. they get into an argument, olivia mopes around whining that "peyton could never love a small town gal like me, shes famous and i'm from nEw JeRsEy!" and suddenly peyton is putting together a big romantic gesture to save the relationship, even though olivia keeps running away. i feel like you'd get to a point where celebrities feel a bit more "normal" to you once you're a tour manager for 20 something years. peyton kept making it sooo obvious that she cared about and loved olivia, then olivia would be the one to run away, and olivia was questioning whether or not peyton was interested in her??? got it.

the expectations olivia had for peyton within days of even being together are wild. it would've made sense if the book was doing some time jumps and months were passing and there wasn't any sign of things looking up, sure. but all i could think of everytime olivia gets mad about being "dragged back into the closet" is that its been like days/weeks at most!!!! you're dating an international pop star that thought she was straight and in a 5yr relationship with a man a few weeks ago (who she dumped partially to be with you, fyi.) peyton would give her an inch and olivia would get mad because she wanted a mile.

however.... author must be a gaylor and i respect that.

[Rachael · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing was VERY simplistic. The drama was so juvenile, immature, and not even fun - it was exhausting. There’s no way you’re convincing me these women are 30 & 37.

[RomanceReadingJess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a new to me author that reached out about are reading her second book. Of course I said yes, so headed straight to KU to read the first one! I haven't read a lot of debut authors without much research so I didn't go in with any expectations either way. But l really enjoyed this one so much! It didn't take too long for things to heat up and I really liked the chemistry between the characters. There was ALMOST a little too much drama/angst between the characters for my mood at the time, but hey, sometimes that's real life! overall I really liked this one! And I can't wait to dive into the ARC that she sent. I've never been invited in on the ground floor of an author's career so I'm excited to see the growth between the first and second books and I know it's going to be a good time!

[Nat E · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t like the writing and flow of dialogue between characters. It was as if I was reading a teenager or younger adult’s diary. I kept forgetting the MCs were supposed to be in their 30s. The relationship between the MCs felt forced. It was instant love without the romantic buildup. The arguments were childish. I wanted to DNF after rolling my eyes a few times but, I paid for it.

[Madison Denuve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this yesterday and couldn’t put it down! The way the author weaves the two narratives of these characters kept me turning each page needing to know how they would end up together. I really enjoyed this book as the perfect summer beach read!

[Chelles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A toaster oven, celebrity romance with lots of spice, lots of drama, and plenty of sweet moments that'll make you swoon!

[Stephanie MARTINEZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful love story! Classic rom com vibes but with two well adjusted adults. Breath of fresh air. Yes they each have their triggers but they talk it out and let their feeling be known! No games in this one.
Spoiler: The Troubadour are you kidding?! What a gorgeous grand gesture 😭😭😭 love all the jersey and Sinatra moments and the rocking chairs. It’s lovely. So happy to see a new writer on the sapphic scene and can’t wait to see what Erica cooks up next! (Ps the sex scenes… CHEF’S KISS!)

[Dani Kass · Rating 2 out of 5]

my notes while reading:

•could have been written by AI?
•too much jealousy - exhausting
•insecurity to the point of being unhealthy
•exhausting that every little insecurity led to a break up zero communication
•the whole celebrity-could-never-love-me mentality doesn’t make sense for someone always in the thick of top artists
•overall, not a healthy relationship
•my least favorite epilogue trope

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending.” IYKYK.

Good, quick beach read. Def enjoyable.

[Maddi Lamuraglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and lighthearted vacation read. Sapphic 🌶️🌶️romance. A gaylor’s dream

[kelly johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is soooo sweet! It was perfectly balanced between being romantic and also exciting and sexy. As someone whose love language is gifts I loveeee how the MCs would get gifts and romantic gestures for each other cuz I haven’t found a lot of books recently that have that. I was happy with the ending but it did feel a little rushed almost. I would’ve liked to see some of the scenes of like Peyton meeting Olivia’s parents or them stay at Olivia’s house together for the first time. Honestly though I just love these characters and their relationship so I think I just want more and more of their story lol. Their love felt so real and authentic to me and my experience as a queer woman and it was just so special!!! 10/10

[MC · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5🧤🧤🧤🧤 to Erica Goodwin
I Really loved the book, you gave us the messiness, the romance and those little tiffs you have as you find out “new” details about your partner. I’m so glad this wasn’t another age gap period book.
Although I really wished we would have had a kiss or a 🫦xx scene under the 100 page mark.
If there’s a 2nd book Please add 🫦xx scenes.

[Susan Wecksler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written by Erica Goodwin, with stardom, sisters, romance, love and vulnerability. Erica captured the challenges that come with uncertainty and vulnerability of love. It was very interesting learning about being on the road work for a celebrity. I felt like I was a passenger on the bus which made it more exciting. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Sabina Couturier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun read! A great escape to a different world

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am normally the type of reader who does not rate a book so low, because I prefer to DNF books rather than read books I dislike. However since I actually brought this book, I felt obligated to finish.

This book suffered from a few main flaws:
1. The writing was overall poor, and felt awkward and forced at points. Instead of writing out scenes for what would be important conversations, and the breakup with Josh, the author summarized what occurred instead. Additionally, I noticed multiple typos or wrong words being utilized which distracted me from the overall flow of the story.
2. The characters were supposed to be in their 30s, but instead I felt like they were teenagers. The characters seemed to have no emotional maturity. The reappearance of Josh at the end of the book, trying to force Peyton to be with him because of the single song they recorded felt over-done.
3. Instead of writing out sex scenes, there was one example when a sex scene legitimately lasted one paragraph. If you are going to write a sex scene with orgasms, include more description - otherwise make it fade to black.

I did like the idea of a tour manager/pop star being together, however overall the book suffered from poor execution. The writer does have potential, however I hope that she gets a better editor before writing additional books.

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the celebrity romance trope and have read quite a few from this subgenre.

I liked the premise of the pop star and tour manager and can see how they could come together. I did find Olivia's character slightly juvenile with her need to run and not face or communicate about issues.

I would have liked to see more about Peyton's decision to come out and how that impacted her and her career.

I found it to flow well and I was able to get an understanding on what had impacted the characters. The drama that was included was minor and felt like it could have been worked out easier than these characters chose to handle it - but that's often a plot device as well - lack of communication.

If you like a celebrity driven romance, tour buses, and long road trips you can give this book a read.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️

A quick, easy and fun read. Nothing that truly stood out but still had a good time.

Reads more like a fanfic, writing feels a little YA except for the spice scenes. I hoped to have more in depth talks between the two FMCs, maybe more quirky and bantering conversations, but it was kind of glazed over. Like they were telling me their connection was growing but not fully showing me. They had some great moments but the growth didn’t feel like it was there.

I still rooted for them and am glad they figured it out in the end.

Loved the two best friends though and Olivia’s sister. They kept it real and kept Olivia and Peyton in check.

Story was predictable but again, still a fun and quick read.

[Morgen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me. It felt much more teen than adult and I caught multiple grammatical errors. The dialogue was very unnatural, and the narrator exacerbated this issue by reading with a children's book intonation that reminded me of Lilly Moscovitz in Princess Diaries. It was hard to take any of it seriously.

BUT It's Erica Goodwin's first novel and I'm excited to check out her newest book and see how she's progressed. Would love to see more depth and maturity in the characters.

[Kd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Their story was so sweet and I loved how they overcame the problems that come with a new relationship. They really fought to be with one another and communicated their feelings and fears. I wish we could've seen the scene of meeting the parents and the farm for the first time but still this was an amazing story. The steam was also great! I look forward to the next story from this author

[Liz Porpora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story but lots of editing issues

The story was really cute but there were a ton of instances where words were missing from sentences or the wrong word was used (i.e. “wondering” instead of “wandering”), or the wrong tense of a word was used. It took away from the experience of reading the story a bit but it was still a good story.

[Tiffany Mejia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fairly quick and easy read with getting through it within a day. I enjoyed the chemistry between Olivia and Peyton. The miscommunications were a bit much tbh. The running away from Olivia when things were hard? Come on girl, you are 36! I get being hurt and not wanting to be hurt but stay and communicate with your girl. Other than that a good read for sure :)

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is good enough to keep your mind off of the news today. The weird back and forth between Peyton and Olivia made me think it was two women in their twenty's instead of thirties. I loved the happy ending and I'm looking forward to Erica's next book.

[Julie M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

keep at it

Characters are good, story is good. You must edit more. Simple things that someone else reading through once should be able to fix. You have the hard parts down, now just learn to polish it.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone seeking a fun sapphic romance, this one is a quick read and everything you would expect of a HEA upbeat novel. Goodwin maintains the emotional stakes throughout the novel, ensuring readers remain invested in the characters’ journey and rooting for their romance until the very last page.

[Hanna Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Danielle Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it 4 stars! Incredible first book by indie author, Erica Goodwin! It’s always obvious when it’s a lesbian writing queer smut!