Yuletide Yearning: A Sapphic Solstice Anthology

by Bethany Baker, Tilly Bramley, E K Darnell

Late into the longest night, a certain magic stirs.

Daring demons, sassy spirits, winsome witches, and humble humans—none can resist the magic of the winter solstice. Rich with imagination, brimming with heart, and blazingly hot, this cozy anthology spans worlds near and far to bring you nine timeless stories of sapphic love.

The Difference Between Christmas and Yule by Tilly Bramley - Human Forensic Scientist x Lillith Demoness

Tidal Affairs by Emlyn Gray - Human Sailor x Potions Witch

It’s Cute What a Mess You Are by Imogen Knowed - Ice Witch x Fire Witch

Solstice Faerie Surprise by Amelia Lascaux - Wind Witch x Three Faerie Visitors

Witches, Wishes, and Wax by Maya Maitea - Fire Witch x Ice Witch

Out of the Woods by Kenzie James - Green Witch x Mysterious Woman

Sniffles and Sonnets by Melissa Montecuollo - Sniffly Human x Winsome Witch
 
Moonstar and Firelight by E. K. Darnell - Frost Bat Shifter x Pink Witch

The Spirit of Forlorn Flames by Bethany Baker - Human Analyst x Sentient Candle Spirit

YULETIDE YEARNING: A SAPPHIC SOLSTICE ANTHOLOGY collects nine sapphic short stories by queer indie authors. Here you’ll find forced proximity, enemies to lovers, insta-lust, inconvenient mating bonds, secret pining, a pet raven, hot apple cider, fresh cookies, cozy cabins, potions, spells, and more. These sweet, spicy, and witchy stories of sapphic love will keep you warm through the longest night of the year.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance

228 pages, Paperback

Published December 4, 2025

About the author

Bethany Baker (she/they) writes erotic romance that blends the familiar and the fantastical, the erotic and the emotional, the silly and the sexy—into one downright tasty concoction.

When she's not baking cookies or writing smut, she enjoys collecting weird animal facts and going for walks with her partner. She has two cats, who go by "Disaster Bean" and "Chaos Baby" more often than their actual names.

Content advisories for all works are available on her website.

Reviews

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. This was such a fun collection of Solstice romances. I’ve never heard of any of these authors so that was cool to find new ones to look into. I thought all of the stories were good, there were none that I disliked at all. They’re short and to the point and they’re all pretty sexy but with a lot of heart. My favorites of the bunch were ‘Solstice Faerie Surprise’ by Amelia Lascaux, ‘Witches, Wishes, and Wax’ by Maya Maitea, ‘Out of the Woods’ by Kenzie James, and ‘The Spirit of Forlorn Flames’ by Bethany Baker. Those stood out the most to me but I would for sure recommend this anthology it’s wonderful.

*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Song Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Anthology has 9 heartwarming sapphic stories all containing some level of spice. You are sure to find something that hits the spot for you! These short stories are great little peeks into each of the authors writings style and in some cases worlds that they have built in their own book series'.

'The Difference Between Christmas and Yule' by Tilly Bramley is a lovely "Fated Mate" story

'Its cute what a mess you are' by Imogen Knowed and 'Moonstar and Firelight' by E.K. Darnell both had the most Pining in them the first being an "Enemies to Lovers" story and the latter being a "Friends to Lovers" story. Both tropes I love equally.

'Tidal Affairs' by Emlyn Gray- A cute little tale of a sailor making landfall in a cozy town and finding an Apothecary witch who catches her eye.

'Solstice Faerie Surprise' by Amelia Lascaux and 'Forlorn Flames' by Bethany Baker are both delightful stories with summoned supernatural beings helping to guide the FMC to some lost, forgotten or hidden away part of herself.

'Witches, Wishes and Wax' by Maya Maitea has an almost "fated mate" feel with the two characters meeting rather serendipitously and falling for each other.

'Sniffles and Sonnets' by Melissa Montecuollo is just an adorable and fun when a human turns to witchcraft to fix an inconvenient cold.

And 'Out of the Woods' by Kenzie James had Rip Van Winkle meets Brigadoon kind of vibes. Cute and sweet and heartwarming /heartbreaking. I wanted more of this one most out of all of the stories.

Now I'm off to find these authors other books because I need more!

[Tonika · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Difference Between Christmas and Yule - by Tilly Bramley 5/5
- good girl
- fated mates
- human x Lilith
- yule vs. Xmas
- spicy 5/5
- accidental and non accidental bumping into

Tidal Affairs
~ by Emlyn Gray 4/5
- Sailor
- herbalist/healer
- multicultural society
- One night
- experiments
- Spice 5/5

It’s Cute What a Mess Your Are
~ by Imogen Knowed 4/5
- Toxic relationship
- Lovers quarrel
- shifters
- Fire vs Ice
- Spice 4/5

Solstice Faerie Surprise
~ by Amelia Lascaux 5/5
- Witch
- Fae
- Yule/Solstice eve
- Alter Offering’s
- Lighting the Yule Log
- Unlocking witchy power
- multi-partner Smex
- d!ld0
- Spice 5/5

Witches, Wishes, and Wax
~ by Maya Maitea 5/5
- Ice witch
- Fire witch
- One cabin / one bed
- Alter Offering's
- Ice play
- Spice 5/5
- Ice Play
- Wax Play

Out of the Woods
~ by Kenzie James 4/5
- witch
- Witch’s Familiar
- Spirit
- Cursed Cabin
- Spice 4/5
- Sweet and Cozy

Sniffles and Sonnets
~ by Melissa Montecuollo 5/5
- Sick human
- Helpful friend (unhelpful but funny)
- Funny 4/5 the antics are perfection
- Spice 3/5

Moonstar and Firelight
~ by E.K. Darnell 5/5
- Frost Bat shifter
- Pink Witch (spring is their season)
- friends to lovers
- scissoring
- Spice 5/5

The Spirit of the Forlorn Flames
~ by Bethay Baker
- Religious cu-lt behaviour
- Witch
- Longing
- Candle/Flame Entity
- “Strap” (no strap) on
- Wax Play
- Spice 5/5
- Loved the message

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the majority of the short stories in this anthology. As you’ll see in my reviews of my favorites, there were some I wished were full length novels.

The Difference Between Christmas and Yule by Tilly Bramley was such a fun read I found myself wishing it was a full length novel! Suzanne is a human, and Lily is a demoness. Lily is surprised to discover that Suzanne is her fated mate and will stop at nothing to keep her. What what follows is an adventure filled with sass and steam.

It's Cute What a Mess You Are by Imogen Knowed is so vividly written that I felt like I was watching Hazel and Adeline duel on a movie screen. The majority of the story is split into what I feel are two main scenes: their annual duel and the spicy scene after the duel.

Solstice Faerie Surprise by Amelia Lascaux features Celyn, an air witch, who is on a Solstice retreat to claim her power. She has steamy visits from three different faeries. It was one of the most unique and enchanting sapphic romances I have read.

The Spirit of Forlorn Flames by Bethany Baker is the story of Erin, a human, and a candle spirit. This story is so creative and fantastical but engaging at the same time. I think it’s safe to say that it’s a very hot story in more ways than one!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Rhiannon Cheyenne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yuletide Yearning - Anthology

Authors include Tilly Bramley, Ellen Gray, Imogen Knowles, Amelia Lascaux, Maya Maitea, Kenzie James, Melissa Monticello, E.K. Darnell and Bethany Baker

This book had so many authors that I adore and a couple of new ones. I found so many new authors that I can’t wait to read more from. Everyone had such amazing writing and characters. It was so hard to pick a favorite. Even though every book was centered around Christmas or you’ll or just the holidays, it was all done very differently, which I really enjoyed. If you’re wanting the perfect paranormal holiday anthology or just want several sapphic stories and then I highly recommend this book and the authors

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Out of 5 Stars ⭐️

🔥 / Spice Rating ☀️

# of Pages 🌙 roughly 150 pages

Release Date 🌟 11/18/25

Format 💫 Gifted Digital Copy, Digital, Physical, Audio

Series 🌙 Unknown/Not Applicable

Genre/Tropes ✨ Sapphic, FF, anthology, multiple authors, Christmas, Yule, holidays, paranormal romance

Favorite Character ☀️ Rhiannon

Favorite Line 🌟 ‘Special? Must be because I’m a witch.’

“Then let's get these candles lit, my little fire witch.”

[Anastey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you BookSprout, and Bethany Baker for sending me this advance review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was fantastic in every way! I was excited to see several of my favorite authors, and now I have a few new to me ones to check out too.

The quality of the writing was top notch. There wasn't a single story that I felt like I wanted to skip. It was so cozy, and full of warmth, love, and spicy goodness.

The characters were all interesting in their own ways, and the relationships were so beautiful. Even with a lot of them meeting for the first time, it never once felt like they were moving too fast. The spice was hotter than the yule log in the fireplace! There was a lot of variety in the spicy scenes, so it didn't feel like you were reading the same thing over and over in the slightest. I rally enjoyed the magical aspects, and the interesting creatures we met along the way too.

This is an absolute must read for anyone that loves spicy Sapphic romance!

[BethAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short stories start out fun, turn spicy, and end with a HEA. While I haven't read the entire collection of short stories, the ones I've read so far have been very enjoyable. Tilly Bramley's story left me wanting to see more of these characters. I could practically see and feel the demoness' wings. Maya Maitea's fire and ice witches really heat up the holiday. I can't wait to read the the rest of the stories.

[• Dan reads books • · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of coziness, the embrace that comes with the holidays and a bunch of witchy characters this collection of stories has the perfect balance between lovely characters, entrancing storytelling and smutty scenes that was just an absolute pleasure to read!

I really enjoyed every single short story, even though each one of them had a uniqueness charming vibe, all of them worked so well together making an amusing anthology!

I really recommend it was festive, unique and cozy!

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of sweet and spicy stories. All of these have such a cozy vibe that made me want to snuggle up with a hot toddy and someone special.
I highly recommend this book for all of your winter needs.

[lindsey]

cute? i think i am not one for romance (smut?) anthologies, there just isn't enough there for me to get into. i meet some characters and then bang (literally lol)
but these were sweet!