Mate selection book series in reading order

by Ally Condie

Jane Austen

22 books• 7 series

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 to 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose reputation rests on six novels. The novels examine the English landed gentry of the late 18th century, and Austen's plots turn on how far women depended on marriage for social position and financial security. Critics and scholars credit Austen's wit, irony, realism and social commentary, and place the novels in the shift from the novel of sensibility toward 19th-century realism. The catalogue lists 22 titles, from the juvenilia of 1787, such as Love and Freindship, through Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Mansfield Park (1814).

Jennifer Probst wrote a first book at age twelve, bound it in a folder and read it to classmates. Probst holds a master's degree in English literature and lives in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York. The catalogue lists 67 Probst books, from Executive Seduction (2004) to Belong to Me (2026), with The Long Way Back to You due in 2027. Contemporary romance and erotica are among the subjects, alongside billionaires, marriage, Italy and New York. Series include Marriage to a Billionaire, Searching For, Stay, Billionaire Builders, Sunshine Sisters and Meet Me in Italy.

Victoria Alexander, born 1953, is an American author of historical romance. Romantic Times nominated Alexander four times for its Reviewers' Choice Award, with a win for A Visit From Sir Nicholas, and gave Alexander a Career Achievement Award. Avon released Lady Amelia's Secret Lover as an e-book original on September 4, 2007. The catalogue holds 45 books, from Yesterday and Forever (1995) through The Perfect Wife (1996), The Wedding Bargain (1999) and The Husband List (2000). Series include Effingtons, Lady Travelers Society, Millworth Manor and Sinful Family Secrets.

Twenty-seven catalogued books carry Celeste Bradley's name, from Fallen (2001) to A Liar Under The Mistletoe (2020). Bradley, born in 1964, is an American writer of historical and Regency romance, and English nobility, secret service work, inheritance and courtship recur as subjects. The Liar's Club, the Royal Four, the Heiress Brides, the Wicked Worthingtons, the Courtesans, the Vauxhall Vixens and Haven Holiday are the named series.

Historical romance set in the Regency and the wider Georgian period is Mary Balogh's territory. Born Mary Jenkins in Swansea on 24 March 1944, Balogh moved to Canada in 1967, taught in Kipling, Saskatchewan, and became a school principal there before the first novel appeared in 1985. The catalogue runs to 106 books, from A Chance Encounter (1985) to A Waltz to Remember (2026). Series headings include Westcott, Bedwyn Family, Survivor's Club, Huxtable Quintet, Simply Quartet, Dark Angel and Ravenswood. Mary Balogh is still publishing.

Cowboys, ranchers and ranch life run through Linda Lael Miller's 134 catalogued books, in historical, contemporary and western romance alike. Miller's families and places include the McKettricks, the Montana Creeds, Stone Creek, Springwater Seasons, Painted Pony Creek and the Brides of Bliss County, with a Tremayne vampire sequence off to one side. Desire and Destiny (1983) is the earliest title and The Silver Hills Boarding House the newest.

Georgette Heyer

65 books• 7 series

Georgette Heyer (16 August 1902 to 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer in two genres, Regency romance and detective fiction. The Black Moth (1921), the first of 65 catalogued books, grew from a story Heyer invented for an ill younger brother. These Old Shades (1926) became popular even though it came out during the General Strike. Inspector Hannasyde, Inspector Hemingway and Alastair-Audley are the recurring series. The Chinese Shawl (2019) is the newest listed edition.

Marion Chesney

184 books• 22 series

Marion Chesney, later Marion Gibbons (1936-2019), was a Scottish writer of romance and mystery whose published career began in 1979. Historical romances appeared under the Chesney name, the Travelling Matchmaker and Daughters of Mannerling books among them, while the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mysteries appeared as M. C. Beaton; both of those mystery runs were adapted for television. Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Charlotte Ward, Jennie Tremaine and Sarah Chester are further pen names on the record. This listing gathers 185 books dated from 1979 onward, including later titles on which R.W. Green is credited.

Regina Scott writes historical romance, with subject tags covering the Regency period, Christian romance, aristocracy and frontier and pioneer life. The catalogue lists 74 of Scott's books, from My True Love Gave to Me (1998) to Unexpected Cowgirl Bride (2026). Series include Fortune's Brides, Frontier Bachelors, Grace-by-the-Sea, Uncommon Courtships, Lady Emily Capers, Marvelous Munroes, Everard Legacy and Spy Matchmaker. The Unflappable Miss Fairchild (1998) and The Bluestocking on His Knee (1999) come from the early years of the run.

Anna Harrington writes historical romance set among the nobility. Her 29 catalogued books run from Dukes Are Forever (2015) to The Duchess Debt (2026), across five series: Capturing the Carlisles, Lords of the Armory, the Secret Life of Scoundrels, Dukes of Darkness and the Sinfell Sisters. Dukes, marquesses, earls, rogues and scoundrels fill the titles, while guardianship, widowhood and soldiering recur in the subject headings.

Jerry S. Eicher has 46 catalogued books published between 2002 and 2025, and the subject tags include Amish, Mennonites and Christian romance. The first listed titles are Transforming the Believer (2002) and Living Christianity (2003). Sarah (2007) and Sarah's Son (2008) came next, then Rebecca's Choice, Rebecca's Promise and Rebecca's Return (all 2009). Eicher series include Hannah's Heart, Adams County, Little Valley, Fields Of Home, Beiler Sisters and St. Lawrence County Amish, and Portrait of Love (2025) is the latest release.

Across 194 catalogued books, Danielle Steel writes contemporary romance and family drama: love stories, marriages, widowhood and the turns that reshape a life. The run starts with Going Home (1973) and continues through Celebration, with 24 Hours scheduled for 2027. Steel's catalogue also holds children's picture books, short stories and non-fiction beside the standalone novels that make up most of it.

Debbie Macomber

245 books• 35 series

Debbie Macomber, born October 22, 1948, is an American author of romance novels and contemporary women's fiction. Six Macomber novels became made-for-TV movies, and the Cedar Cove novels became a television series of the same name, with Macomber serving as executive producer on the adaptations. Macomber won the first fan-voted Quill Award for romance in 2005 and holds a RITA Award and a lifetime achievement award from the Romance Writers of America. The catalogue counts 245 books between Starlight (1983) and A Date with Santa (2026). Series include Heart of Texas, Midnight Sons, Navy, Those Manning Men, Orchard Valley and Angels Everywhere.

Julia Quinn

39 books• 12 series

Julia Quinn is the pen name of the American novelist Julie Pottinger, born January 12, 1970. Quinn writes historical romance set among the English nobility, and the catalogue holds 39 books from Dancing at Midnight (1995) through to titles dated 2026. Series include the Smythe-Smith Quartet, Bevelstoke, the Lyndon Sisters, the Two Dukes of Wyndham and the Bridgerton short stories. Quinn's novels have been translated into 41 languages and reached the New York Times bestseller list nineteen times, and the Bridgerton books became a Netflix television series of the same name. The Romance Writers of America inducted Quinn into its Hall of Fame.

Susan Mallery is an American romance novelist born in 1970, whose books are set in small, tight-knit communities and give pets a prominent role. The catalogue counts 201 books from Tender Loving Care (1991) onward, including early titles published as Susan Macias. Series include Fool's Gold, Desert Rogues, Hometown Heartbreakers, Happily Inc., Marcelli, Buchanans, Blackberry Island and Mischief Bay. The Bookstore Diaries (2026) is the newest release, and Friend Request is due in 2027.

Regency England is where Eloisa James sets her historical romances - aristocracy, nobility and London society. Potent Pleasures (1999) opens the catalogue, which runs to 54 books and The Last Lady B in 2026. Desperate Duchesses, the Essex Sisters, the Duchess Quartet, the Pleasures Trilogy and the Wildes of Lindow Castle are the main sequences, and the Happily Ever After books work from fairy tales.

Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Stephanie Laurens is an Australian romance novelist and a winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. The catalogue counts 105 books between Tangled Reins (1992) and Who Killed The Earl Of Moran? (2026). Cynster Next Generation, Bastion Club, Black Cobra Quartet, Casebook of Barnaby Adair and Legend of Nimway Hall are among the series, and subject tags name the Cynster family. Subjects also include historical Regency romance, England and the nobility.

Romantic comedy is Jill Mansell's territory. The British novelist published Fast Friends and Solo in 1991 and has 38 catalogued books through Just One Look At You (2026). Mansell's novels work through man-woman relationships, female friendship, sisters, widows and love triangles, several of them set in London. Sales pass fifteen million copies worldwide, and Mansell is still publishing.

Amanda Scott is a historical romance novelist whose catalogue lists 61 books from The Fugitive Heiress (1981) to The Kissing Stone (2018). More than twenty-five Scott novels take place in the English Regency period of 1810 to 1820, and others are set in fifteenth-century England or sixteenth- and eighteenth-century Scotland, with three contemporary romances as well. Scott began writing on a dare from a spouse and has sold every manuscript written. Awards include the RITA/Golden Medallion and Romantic Times honours for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency. Series include Highland, Secret Clan, Border Trilogy, Galloway Trilogy and Lairds of the Loch. Scott lives in northern California.

Julianne MacLean is a Canadian romance novelist, chiefly of historical romance, living in Nova Scotia. MacLean earned a bachelor's degree in English literature at the University of King's College in 1987 and a business administration degree in accounting in 1992, then worked in the Office of the Auditor General before leaving to write. Harlequin bought the first novel, Prairie Bride, in 1999; the catalogue dates it to 2000 as Mail Order Prairie Bride / Prairie Bride. Love According to Lily (2005) won a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice award for Regency-set historical romance. The list holds 49 books through What Tomorrow Will Be (2026), with series including Color of Heaven, Pembroke Palace, American Heiresses and Dodge City Brides.

Historical romance, Regency in particular, is what the catalogue records for Elizabeth Boyle, along with subjects covering the aristocracy, nobility, England and man-woman relationships. Twenty-nine books run from Brazen Angel (1997) to O Little Town of Bethlehem (2024), with Brazen Heiress (1998) and Brazen Temptress (1999) following the debut. Bachelor Chronicles, d'Artiers Family and Marlowes are the series credited to Boyle, and Rhymes With Love appears as a character entry. The 2000s are the heaviest decade on the list.

Tricia Goyer is an American author of Christian fiction, with 68 books catalogued from From Dust and Ashes (2003) to Twist of Time (2026). Series include World War II Liberator, Chronicles of the Spanish Civil War, Big Sky Amish, Pinecraft Pie Shop, Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors, Swiss Agents, London Chronicles and Clockwork Chronicles. Non-fiction on parenting appears too, such as Life Interrupted: The Scoop on Being a Young Mom (2004). The Second World War and the Amish recur in the subjects.

Milly Taiden writes paranormal romance, and the catalogue lists 517 titles from 2012 to 2026, with Claimed by the Enemy Alpha due in 2027. The earliest entry, Mr. Buff (2012), appeared under the name April Angel. Paranormal Dating Agency, Alpha Geek, Veil Lands, Sassy Ever After, Caged and Dangerous, Shifter Mates of Hollow Oak and Midnight Mates are among the series. Subjects include shapeshifting, vampires, mate selection and dating services. Bite for Sore Eyes (2026) is the newest title.

Karen Ranney (February 5, 1963 - June 15, 2020) wrote historical and paranormal romance. The 59 catalogued books run from Tapestry (1995) to The Wizard (2020), with Scotland, the nobility, widows and social life and customs among the recorded subjects. Series in the listing include the Highland Lords, Clan Sinclair, the Montgomery Chronicles, the MacIain books, the Duke Trilogy and the Murder Club Murders.