Single women book series in reading order

by Carolyn Haines

by Helen Fielding

by Robyn Carr

by Sherryl Woods

by Susan Mallery

by Lois Winston

by Beth Andrews

Robyn Carr is the American author of the Virgin River books, and an executive producer on the television versions of Virgin River and Sullivan's Crossing. The catalogue records 70 Carr books, from Chelynne (1980) to The Friendship Club (2024). Thunder Point, Sullivan's Crossing and the Grace Valley Trilogy are Carr's other series. Several novels, The Hero among them, reached The New York Times Best Seller list. Subject tags on the books include contemporary romance, California, single mothers, veterans and city and town life.

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.

Sherryl Woods is an American writer of romance and mystery, born July 23, 1944, in Arlington, Virginia, who has also used the pen names Alexandra Kirk and Suzanne Sherrill. The Chesapeake Shores novels became a six-season Hallmark Channel series, and Netflix's Sweet Magnolias is based on Woods' books, with Woods as an executive producer. The catalogue lists 157 titles from Restoring Love (1982) to Starlit Secrets (2024). Other named series include Calamity Janes, Devaney Brothers and the Amanda Roberts and Molly DeWitt mysteries.

Sheila O’Flanagan, born 1958 in Dublin, is an Irish fiction writer and journalist who writes for The Irish Times. Maggie's Story (1999) opens a catalogue of 40 books that reaches The Honeymoon Affair in 2024, at a median 471 pages. Contemporary romance is the ground: single women, married people, mothers and daughters, families, Dublin and Ireland recur as subjects. Crystal Run is the one series in the list, and the 2010s were O’Flanagan's heaviest decade.

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.

Marian Keyes

26 books• 5 series

Marian Keyes, born 10 September 1963, is an Irish novelist and radio presenter known for popular fiction. Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Anybody Out There and This Charming Man take on alcoholism, depression, addiction, cancer, bereavement and domestic violence with humour. Keyes has sold more than 35 million copies in 33 languages. The catalogue lists 26 books, from Watermelon (1995) to My Favourite Mistake (2024), with the Walsh Family as the recurring series. Dublin, female friendship and single women are among the tagged subjects.

Carolyn Brown, born Carolyn Louise Brown on October 22, 1948, is an American writer of romance and women's fiction. Brown has written more than 100 novels and 8 novellas and has contributed to anthologies. The catalogue holds 153 books from Love Is (1999) to The Purple Thistles (2026), with Taking Sides due in 2027. Texas, Oklahoma, cowboys and ranchers run through the subject headings, and the series include Spikes & Spurs, Longhorn Canyon, Broken Roads, Honky Tonk and Cadillac, Texas.

Jane Green is an English novelist, born in 1968, who lives in the United States. By 2014 Green's books had sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and been translated into 31 languages, and Green has been called one of the first chick lit writers. The catalogue lists 32 books from Straight Talking (1997) and Jemima J (1998) to The Many Private Lives of Missy Cooke (2026). Subjects include single women, female friendship, dating, family secrets and London.

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.

Beth Andrews writes romance, taking in romantic suspense and historical romance, and has won a RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America. Andrews lives in northwestern Pennsylvania with a husband and two daughters. The catalogue holds 27 books, from The Marplot Marriage (1999) to Holding On To Good (2021). Series recorded under the name include In Shady Grove, Truth About The Sullivans, Serenity Springs, the Diamond Dust Trilogy, Small-Town Redemption and the Flowers on the Wall Duet. Subject headings include man-woman relationships, single women, single mothers, police, nurses, Great Britain and the West Indies.

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.

Karen White writes about family secrets, old houses and the women who inherit them. 36 catalogued books run from In the Shadow of the Moon (2000) to That Last Carolina Summer, with Whispers of Goodbye (2001), Falling Home (2002), After the Rain (2003), The Color of Light (2005) and Pieces of the Heart (2006) among the early titles. The Tradd Street series turns on a real estate agent and a haunted historic property; Royal Street and Falling Home form separate groupings. The Birds on Newcomb Boulevard is scheduled for 2027.

Jojo Moyes

21 books• 5 series

Jojo Moyes writes contemporary fiction about women, families and the communities around them. Sheltering Rain (2002) is her earliest catalogued novel, and the Me Before You books and The Girl You Left Behind are the best known of her 21 titles. Mothers and daughters, single women and small-town life recur as subjects. Moyes published We All Live Here in 2025.

South Carolina is the setting of Dorothea Benton Frank's novels, among them Porch Lights and By Invitation Only. Frank, an American novelist, lived from September 12, 1951 to September 2, 2019. Frank's 26 catalogued books begin with Sullivan's Island (1999) and end with Reunion Beach (2021). The Lowcountry Tales form the main series, beside standalone novels and a children's title. Subjects on the books include family life, mothers and daughters, plantation life, widows and friendship.

Lauraine Snelling is an American author of Christian fiction who has published since 1982. Snelling's historical series draw on Norwegian immigration and the author's own heritage. The Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame inducted Snelling in 2012 at Norsk Høstfest, and sales exceed 5 million copies. The catalogue counts 102 books, from Tragedy on the Toutle (1982) to Fair Are the Meadows (2026). Series include Golden Filly, High Hurdles, Red River of the North, Dakota Plains, Daughters of Blessing and Leah's Garden, with horses, pioneer life and North Dakota among the subjects.

Brenda Novak is an American author of historical romance, contemporary romance and romantic suspense, born in 1964 in Vernal, Utah. The catalogue lists 87 books, opening with Of Noble Birth (1999) and reaching Meet Me in Italy (2026). Early titles include Baby Business (2000), Snow Baby (2000) and Dear Maggie (2001). Series on the author page include the Hanover Chronicles/Evelyn Talbot Chronicles, Bulletproof, the Stillwater Trilogy, Dept 6 Hired Guns, Coyote Canyon and Fairham Island. Whiskey Creek, Silver Springs and Dundee, Idaho appear in the character listing, and subject tags cover missing persons, murder investigation and single mothers.

Tracie Peterson, born 1959, writes Christian fiction, mostly historical novels carrying romance and faith themes. Peterson used the pen name Janelle Jamison early on and has written joint novels with other Christian authors; Bethany House publishes many of the titles. Several Peterson series feature Harvey Girls, the waitstaff of the Fred Harvey Company. The catalogue lists 153 books from A Kingdom Divided (1991) to Devoted to Love (2026), across series such as Heirs of Montana, Westward Chronicles, Ribbons West, Yukon Quest, Shannon Saga and Desert Roses. Peterson lives in Montana and runs Peterson Ink with husband Jim.

Carolyn Haines

99 books• 12 series

A former journalist, Carolyn Haines writes mysteries set in the Mississippi Delta. Born May 12, 1953 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Haines also publishes as Caroline Burnes, R.B. Chesterton and Lizzie Hart. Subjects across the 99 catalogued titles include women private investigators, murder, romantic suspense and the fictitious character Sarah Booth Delaney. Series listed under the name include Sarah Booth Delaney, Pluto's Snitch and the Legend of Blackthorn books written as Caroline Burnes. The run starts in 1989 and reaches Joy to the Bones in 2026, and a handful of entries carry another writer's name on a single title each.

Jennifer Crusie is the pen name of Jennifer Smith, a contemporary romance novelist born in 1949 whose novels are published in 20 countries. The catalogue holds 23 books, from Manhunting (1993) to It Must Be Christmas (2016), and the run is marked likely complete. Getting Rid of Bradley (1994), Anyone But You (1996) and Tell Me Lies (1998) are among the titles, and the Dempseys is one of the series. Humour, single women, divorced people and Ohio feature in the subjects.

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.

Thirty-nine catalogued books, from Living Dangerously (1995) to A Cottage in the Country (2026), make up Katie Fforde's output, with the 2010s the heaviest decade. Fforde was born Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming on 27 September 1952 and writes romance set in present-day England. Away from the novels, Fforde founded a bursary for writers without a publishing contract, chaired the Romantic Novelists' Association from 2009 to 2011 and later became its president, and started the Stroud Contemporary Fiction Writing Competition in 2016. Single women, single mothers and female friendship recur as subjects.

Both of Holly Chamberlin's series carry a Maine place name: Yorktide, Maine and Eliot's Corner, Maine. The catalogue lists 23 books from Living Single (2002) to Summer Roommates (2023), including The Summer of Us, The Friends We Keep, The Family Beach House and Summer Friends. Subjects include Maine, mothers and daughters, female friendship, single women, family life and Boston. No title after 2023 is on file.

Julie Lessman writes Christian historical romance. Irish American families, Boston in the nineteen twenties, sisters and single women run through the recorded subjects. Thirty books are catalogued from A Passion Most Pure (2008) to A Whim and a Prayer (2026), organised into the Daughters of Boston, Heart of San Francisco, Isle of Hope, Cousins O'Connor and Silver Lining Ranch series, plus two Christmas novella groupings. Romance-Ology 101 (2013) sits among the titles.

Helen Fielding

7 books• 2 series

Bridget Jones is the character Helen Fielding created, and Bridget Jones started as an anonymous newspaper column in London's Independent. Fielding, a British journalist, novelist and screenwriter born in 1958, has 7 catalogued books. Cause Celeb (1994), set in an East African refugee camp, came first; Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) followed and sold in more than forty countries. The Edge of Reason (1999), Mad About the Boy (2013) and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016) extend the run, and Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination (2003) stands outside it.