Reader Guide

All books can be read as stand-alone romances, but some characters from previous books will appear in later novels.

RECOMMENDED READING ORDER:

PINE HOLLOW
THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS
ONCE UPON A PUPPY
TO ALL THE DOGS I’VE LOVED BEFORE
PRIDE & PUPPIES (COMING NOVEMBER 2022)

THE REALITY ROMANCE UNIVERSE
(INCLUDING THE BOUQUET CATCHERS & YOURS FOR CHRISTMAS SPIN-OFFS)

MARRYING MISTER PERFECT
ROMANCING MISS RIGHT
FALLING FOR MISTER WRONG
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (novella)
PLANNING ON PRINCE CHARMING
COURTING TROUBLE
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW (short story)
ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID
LITTLE WHITE LIES
DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS
ALL HE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS
THE DECOY BRIDE
THE REAL THING
MIRACLE ON MULHOLLAND
AN UNPLANNED CHRISTMAS

Not connected to the books in series:
A ROYAL CHRISTMAS WISH
SWEETER THAN CHOCOLATE (COMING JANUARY 2022)

HEAT LEVELS

Some books are sexier than others.  The heat levels noted on the BOOKS page are defined as follows:

HALLMARK SWEET – No swearing, sex or overly mature situations.  Appropriate for all audiences.
CLOSED DOOR – There will likely be swearing and mature situations.  Any actual sex scenes will occur off-the-page, but sexual attraction may clearly be a part of the story.
OPEN DOOR/SENSUAL – There will likely be swearing (which may be explicit) and mature situations, and sex scenes will be fully described/happening on the page.

SERIES OVERVIEW & LINKS BETWEEN BOOKS FOR THE PINE HOLLOW SERIES (WITH LIGHT SPOILERS):

The Pine Hollow series is a closed-door, animal-lovers’ contemporary romance series following the residents of Pine Hollow, Vermont – where every happily-ever-after begins with adopting an adorable rescue dog.

In the first book of the series, THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS, New York-based photographer ALLY arrives in Pine Hollow to help her grandparents with the Furry Friends Animal Shelter over the holidays, only to discover the town Scrooge has cut their funding and the shelter will be forced to close by the end of the year. When she confronts BEN, the curmudgeonly town councilman responsible, she discovers he’s actually attractive, single, and the sole guardian of an adorable dog-crazy niece. He offers to help her find homes for all the dogs by Christmas…and they fall madly in love and save the shelter, of course.

One of the dogs adopted in The Twelve Dogs of Christmas was the wolfhound Maximus, an overgrown puppy with a gigantic heart – but his new owner CONNOR, a workaholic lawyer and one of Ben’s best friends, has no time to train the unruly wrecking-ball-of-love. Enter DEENIE – a free-spirited birthday party princess who befriended Ally in the first book, and who has the magic touch with dogs. Deenie agrees to train Max…and then somehow finds herself pretending to date Connor to keep her family off her back. As they spend more time together, they begin to discover that even though they couldn’t be more opposite, he just might be her Prince Charming in ONCE UPON A PUPPY.

Also adopted in The Twelve Dogs of Christmas was the escape-artist Australian Shepherd mix, who went through a series of names (including Houdini) before becoming dubbed Dory. In TO ALL THE DOGS I’VE LOVED BEFORE, Dory is the beloved dog of the school librarian ELINOR (who we met in both of the previous books), but she keeps escaping and running amok through town, forcing the chief of police, LEVI, to chase her down. Which would be inconvenient enough if Levi weren’t also Elinor’s ex and the man who broke her heart. But as Dory keeps bringing them back together, they might discover they might have a future as well as a past…

SERIES OVERVIEW & LINKS BETWEEN BOOKS FOR THE REALITY ROMANCE, BOUQUET CATCHERS, & YOURS FOR CHRISTMAS BOOKS (VERY LIGHT SPOILERS):

The Reality Romance series focuses on love behind the scenes of two reality dating television shows: Marrying Mister Perfect and its spinoff show with a female lead Romancing Miss Right. In these shows Mister Perfect and Miss Right, respectively, search for the loves of their life among a crowd of Suitors and Suitorettes.

In the first book of the series, MARRYING MISTER PERFECT, the show’s producer loses her Mister Perfect at the last minute and recruits an old friend of hers, JACK – heart surgeon and widowed father of two. His best friend and nanny, LOU, has been in love with him for years and through the course of the show, Jack begins to realize he has feelings for her as well. During the show, he gets along well with one of the Suitorettes, MARCY, who is chosen to be the next Miss Right in ROMANCING MISS RIGHT.

Marcy isn’t expecting to find love on national television. She’s only in it for what it can do for her career as a romance novelist, but she is surprised by the connection she feels for bad-boy CRAIG, who will say anything to get a reaction – and a contract as a television personality. Marcy is torn between following her heart or picking the perfect-on-paper candidate, Daniel–who is ultimately chosen to be the next Mister Perfect.

In FALLING FOR MISTER WRONG, piano teacher and former child prodigy CAITLYN accepts Daniel’s proposal at the end of their season together, but immediately begins to question if she’s made a huge mistake – especially when she meets her downstairs neighbor: sexy firefighter WILL. As the season airs, her doubts intensify – as do her feelings for Will – until ultimately she breaks it off with Daniel. Throughout the course of the first three books, we also see the relationship develop between producer MIRANDA and her mentor BENNETT.

In HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, the second runner up from Daniel’s season as Mister Perfect, SAMANTHA, is flying home after being rejected by Daniel only to find the seat next to hers on the flight occupied by the man who once broke (and still owns a piece of) her heart, JASE. When a blizzard changes their travel plans, they must find their way home together.

In PLANNING ON PRINCE CHARMING, we meet another of the Suitorettes from Daniel & Caitlyn’s season: SIDNEY. A wedding planner struggling to make her business thrive, she goes on the show looking for exposure for Once Upon a Bride, but also for her own fairy tale romance. She’s hoping to fall for Mister Perfect Daniel – but feels an instant connection with the recently divorced host of the show, JOSH, instead. She leaves the show early, but can’t stop thinking about JOSH – and when the two of them are thrown together again to plan Caitlyn and Will’s fairy tale wedding, she may have found her own perfect match.

Bold, unfiltered, aspiring actress ELENA got stuck with the nickname the “Slutty Suitorette” after an infamous night in the Jacuzzi with Daniel aired. In COURTING TROUBLE, Elena is attacked at Cailyn and Will’s wedding reception by a drunken guest taking her reputation a little too literally. Luckily, ADAM, one of the security guards from Sidney’s brother’s ELITE PROTECTION celebrity bodyguard service, is there to step in. He earns her trust, and becomes her haven when her reputation gets even more out of hand, eventually helping her find her feet – and her sense of self – again.

FINDING CHRIS EVANS: THE HOLLYWOOD EDITION is part of the Finding Chris Evans multi-author mini-series. It features CHRIS, a reality TV housing contractor who got his start on an early season of Marrying Mister Perfect(before Jack’s season), and TRINA, the med student he met for one incredible night who has now burst back into his life. The other books of the mini-series all feature various Chris Evanses as one woman searches for the man a fortune teller told her she would marry and trips through other happily-ever-afters on her way.

The Bouquet Catchers books all involve weddings and feature many of the ELITE PROTECTION bodyguards and characters we met in the Reality Romance series.  The affiliated YOURS FOR CHRISTMAS series includes novels with family and Christmas themes featuring characters introduced in the Bouquet Catchers series.

In SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW (released as part of the Second Chances Anthology), Sidney’s business partner VICTORIA (TORI) is picking up the slack at Once Upon a Bride now that Sidney has begun filming a new reality television show with the same name. She is coordinating a wedding when she realizes the best man is NICK, the man who left her broken-hearted and pregnant over a decade ago.

In ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID, the third member of Sidney and Victoria’s BFF trio, PARVATI is surrounded by weddings. Losing friends to the love bubble left and right, she begins spending more and more time with Sidney’s brother MAX. The wealthy CEO of Elite Protection has always had a Midas touch when it comes to business, but his lovelife has been less successful. When Parvati’s business is failing, he offers to help her, but knows it can’t go beyond that with his little sister’s best friend. But when he agrees to be her date to a wedding, those lines start to blur.

LITTLE WHITE LIES features two of Elite Protection’s best – tech specialist CANDY and former male model PRETTY BOY (REN). Candy has been lying to her mother about being married to Pretty Boy for years, but when she’s summoned home to DC for a family wedding, she must convince her on-again-off-again lover to come with her and help her sell the lie. But when they arrive at the wedding, it is immediately obvious they aren’t the only ones with secrets.

In DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, Candy’s youngest brother AIDEN, a widower and father of twin girls, is considering carrying on the family legacy of political office, but his political aspirations are complicated when he finds himself falling in love with his nanny, Iranian-American SAMIRA. At his sister’s wedding, everything comes to a head.

In ALL HE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS, we meet spoiled Hollywood playboy TY WALKER, who has never met a woman he couldn’t charm, except his assistant, ANDI.  When he comes home from a press tour to find a daughter he never knew he had on his doorstep, he will need Andi’s help more than ever to figure out how to become a father. As he and his new daughter tag along to Andi’s brother’s Christmas wedding, Ty may just discover the family he never knew he needed.

Andi’s roommate BREE is a struggling artist who pays the bills by acting as a decoy for a famous actress. In THE DECOY BRIDE, when that actress needs her to plan a fake wedding to divert the press away from the real nuptials, Bree finds herself on a private island being guarded by Elite Protection’s own retired football star, CROSS… and in a destination designed for romance anything can happen.

Bree spent years impersonating The Great MAGGIE TATE, but in THE REAL THING the A-List actress is on her own.  She’s looked for love in all the wrong places–and she has the tabloid stories to show for it–but when she inherits a beach house from her estranged aunt, Maggie goes back to her roots…and finds IAN, the first boy she ever kissed, is still just as irresistible as ever.

It’s Elite Protection’s “Smiling Samoan” ELIA AIAVAO who is hit by the love stick in MIRACLE ON MULHOLLAND, when he’s assigned as the holiday protection detail for Pop Princess ALEXA, only to find himself babysitting her daughter when the nanny is called away for a family emergency.  Alexa has never quite figured out how to be a mom, but the former MMA fighter just might be the unlikely Christmas elf to bring Alexa and her daughter together.

We met Cross’s half-sister RACHEL in The Decoy Bride, but now she gets her own starring role in AN UNPLANNED CHRISTMAS.  This event planner and single mom thinks she has it all under control…until CAM walks back into her life.  She never expected to see him again, but this Christmas nothing is going as planned…

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