Semantics

by Nicole Pyland

Genres: Lesbian, Contemporary, Lesbian Romance

318 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 3, 2026

About the author

Nicole Pyland is a best-selling author of sapphic stand-alone novels and series.

Since 2017, she’s published over 60 romance novels in different sub-genres (contemporary romance, erotica, mystery, sci-fi, paranormal, historical, fantasy), and more of her books are on their way!

She grew up in Indiana, studying English & Film and then getting a master's degree in Behavior Analysis. She lives with her wife and their opinionated cat, who spends his evenings helping her write stories by occupying half the chair.

​"I’ve always had fictional characters trapped inside my head. Now, I’m giving them their voices in my books. I started publishing in November 2017, but out of all the words I’ve ever used to describe myself, writer has been the only constant."

Reviews

[Stephieloohoo]

3.75 ⭐️

[3DKing]

23% I really don't like the protagonists. Being hung up upon each other because you tried to be the best pupil in school for 6 month is just pathetic. And then switching to some kind of hate fuck in an instant turned me off the book.

[AngBen]

Semantics

Just finished the first book of Nicole Pyland’s new series and I loved it. The story follows the meeting of four strangers who meet, become friends, and then start a business together.
Add in an enemies to lovers storyline (including great steam) and you have an excellent read.

I love how this author writes series. She gives the reader an opportunity to follow their new friends as they move through life.

I enjoyed getting to know all the characters and watching the relationship develop between Violet and Stella. This is a great, fun read and I’m looking forward to the next installments of the series.

Well done.

[Siddie]

Violet and Stella met at a semester abroad on a business degree in Amsterdam, ten years ago. ‘Met’ is doing a lot of work here! They were enemies, each the other’s nemesis, but also their kryptonite. Both were top of the class, vying to out-do the other, but each had their own challenges. Violet was the only child of a business empire family, with a trust fund, expected to be top of the class, and then expected to return to the US to run the family businesses. Stella was from a poor family, doing her best to work hard and be top of the class. Each rubbed the other the wrong way.
While there, Violet also met her three best friends, and these four would later get together to start a company, rather than Violet working in the family business.
Now, their company isn’t exactly successful, and Violet has been financing the company for the last decade using her trust fund. To save money they all live together, and run the company from their garage.
Meanwhile, Stella got a job at a small startup tech company which is growing fast, and giving her a good income.
This is good story for a read, but it wasn’t anything special. I didn’t feel it was as good as others Nicole Pyland has written. All the business talk is rather vague, a fill-in, and there were several times the business talk felt unrealistic. However, the heat between Stella and Violet was strong, and the steamy scenes were some of the best in the book.


After reading one sentence in this book, just for fun I want to start a “comma record” - the longest sentence with the most commas… with eight commas, this is the first one on my list:
“Violet could be so prim and proper, professional, bordering on anti-social, even, at times, from what Stella remembered, but she could also press her to a wall, apparently, and get Stella to beg her to take her home and do anything she wanted.”

[Deb]

I'm always excited when Nicole Pyland starts a new series—she truly excels at creating worlds and characters you instantly want to spend more time with. It was so much fun getting to know this brand-new cast.

The chemistry between the two leads was absolutely electric. Their constant friction created sparks from the very beginning, and when things heated up... they really heated up. The sexual tension was off the charts, with both women determined to stay in control, leading to some incredibly intense moments. The sex scenes were passionate, explicit, and deliciously written, filled with plenty of dirty talk. They were bold, direct, playful, and surprisingly funny at times.

Unfortunately, around the middle of the book, that sizzling chemistry took a back seat as the business side of the story became much more prominent. That part didn't work nearly as well for me, especially when it became very detailed and focused on business matters sometimes. I definitely enjoyed the first half much more, although the second half still had several wonderful moments especially when the story wasn't centered on business.

Overall, I had a great time with this book—especially the first half—and I'm already looking forward to the next installments in this series. 4+⭐

[Sandi]

enemies to girlfriends..

Enemies to girlfriends. Violet and Stella met on a semester abroad. Stella thought Violet was a rich, entitled snob. Violet thought Stella was annoying and ruining the fun she had envisioned having. Ten years later Violet and Stella meet again. Violet and her friends started a company trying to design linguistics software and Stella’s company has a product that will help the implementation go faster.

This is a cute story of enemies to lovers. Seeing that your assumptions about someone can be completely incorrect.

[Robin Kenna]

This is a delightful beginning to a great series!

Nicole Pyland has a gift for writing especially writing series with integrated characters who all grow on the reader! The characters are all well developed, the storyline is interesting and I loved the setting. The story premise is intriguing to me as I have never really been apart of that world. I really loved the pace and the group dynamics as they built the connections between the characters. I can’t wait for the next one!

[Lisa Jackson]

So Excited!

I was unreasonably excited when I saw this author was starting a new series. I loved last year’s New Orleans series. The characters in this seem great so far and I’m rooting for all of them.

[Gaja]

🤌🏻

[Coldwonderland]

Nothing special

[Rebecca Gaddy]

fun

This was a fun book to read, but much too predictable. It did make me wonder what would happen to their characters though which is a good thing if there are sequels.

[Cameo Burton]

Great Beginning

I really enjoyed this first book of the series. Can’t wait to get more of all the friends and continue on with Vi and Stella’s story as well.