Avery Keelan Books in Order (Updated March 30, 2026)

Avery Keelan writes contemporary sports romance, mostly centered on hockey.

The official reading path runs from Rules of the Game to the Lakeside University spinoff, then into Top Shelf, but the author also notes that the books are built as standalones with no major spoilers, so readers can either follow the chain or choose the flavor they want first.

Start here, depending on what you want most

1. Offside is the best first pick if you want the book most readers use as their introduction to Avery Keelan. It opens Rules of the Game and gives you her most recognizable college-hockey setup right away.
2. Go with The Enforcer if second-chance romance is your favorite version of hockey romance. It is the start of the Lakeside University spinoff and works well once you already know you want more of the wider world.
3. Playmaker makes the most sense if you would rather begin with her newer adult hockey line instead of the college books. It starts Top Shelf and shifts the feel slightly older while keeping the same sports-romance core.
4. Readers who want one book outside the main series track should begin with Otherwise Engaged. It is separate from the hockey-sequence reading path and works as a clean standalone.

How the catalog fits together

The neatest way to think about Avery Keelan is this:

1. Rules of the Game comes first
2. Lakeside University follows as the spinoff
3. Top Shelf comes after that
4. Standalones can be read whenever you want

That said, these are not heavily spoiler-dependent fantasy-style continuities. They are romance books with recurring family or world connections, so publication order gives the best payoff, but it is not mandatory homework for every single title.

The books, shelf by shelf

Rules of the Game

Included

1. Offside (2022): Bailey rebounds from a brutal breakup and ends up colliding with Chase, a rival-school hockey star, in the series opener that established Keelan’s college-hockey voice.
2. Shutout (2023): After a cross-country move, Sera lands in a house with her brother and his hockey teammates, only to discover that one of them is the stranger from her earlier hookup.
3. Overtime (2024; later trade release timing shifted): Reid and Chloe slide into a fake-dating setup after his ex resurfaces, turning a cover story into the final main romance of the series.

This is still the clearest first series to read because it introduces the broader character web before the next-generation spinoff picks it up.

Lakeside University

Officially surfaced titles

1. The Enforcer (2022): Violet and Nash get a second-chance romance during their senior year, with old hurt and campus-hockey history pushing them back together.
2. The Sniper (2022): Vaughn falls for the coach’s daughter, giving the series a forbidden-romance angle inside the same college hockey environment.

This is the branch to read after Rules of the Game if you want the intended progression through Keelan’s connected world.

Top Shelf

Included

Playmaker (2024): Gabriel Carter’s story opens this newer series with a single-dad-and-nanny setup, moving the catalog into a more adult hockey-romance lane while keeping the same banter-and-angst appeal.

At the moment, this is the newest clearly confirmed series start on the official site.

Standalones

Separate continuity

1. Otherwise Engaged (2021): A separate romance outside the hockey-series chain, best treated as a one-book option when you want Avery Keelan without committing to a connected run.
2. Breakaway (2022): A slow-burn hockey romance about a nursing student and a college player forced into close quarters, best read as its own standalone branch.

The easiest reading path for most readers

If you want the smoothest route through the catalog, do this:

1. Offside
2. Shutout
3. Overtime
4. The Enforcer
5. The Sniper
6. Playmaker
7. Fit in Otherwise Engaged and Breakaway whenever you want a separate read

That path follows the official series logic without pretending the standalones need to be woven into the hockey continuity.

Do you need a chronological order?

No.

For Avery Keelan, the useful choice is not chronology but series order. The books are romance-first, and the main benefit of reading in order is seeing the wider hockey world expand naturally from one shelf to the next.

What about the other Lakeside University titles sometimes listed online?

Two more titles, The Power Forward and The Captain, are commonly listed on Goodreads under Lakeside University. I did not put them in the main order above because I could not verify them as current published titles on Avery Keelan’s official books page, bonuses page, or current featured book pages. The safest reference guide is to keep the main order to the books clearly surfaced by the author site and treat those two as unconfirmed for now.

What is the latest release status?

The newest clearly confirmed book on the official site is Playmaker, which starts Top Shelf. The FAQ also says future titles such as On Tilt and Most Hated Player are still planned, but no firm publication dates are given there, so they are better treated as upcoming rather than added to a current reading order.

Final recommendation

For most readers, start with Offside.

If that lands, continue through Rules of the Game, then move into Lakeside University, then pick up Playmaker. If you want a one-book test instead, choose Otherwise Engaged.