Kait Nolan Books in Order (Updated July 24, 2026)

Kait Nolan is a Mississippi romance author known for small Southern towns, Scottish settings, found families, military heroes, community matchmaking, and couples whose private decisions quickly become public business.

Her books rarely demand a strict order for the central romance. Most installments follow a new couple and provide a complete ending. Order still matters when readers want recurring-character updates, town development, family connections, and crossover appearances to unfold naturally.

Kait Nolan’s bibliography is best understood as several connected neighborhoods rather than one enormous series.

The Four Main Reading Neighborhoods

The largest continuity groups are:

1. Wishful: Wishful Romance, Wishful Moments, and Wishing for a Hero.
2. Eden’s Ridge: The Misfit Inn, Men of the Misfit Inn, Rescue My Heart, and Bad Boy Bakers.
3. Scotland: Kilted Hearts and Special Ops Scots.
4. Newer independent towns: Gibson Hollow, the Summer Fling books, and the short Meet Cute romances.

Readers can begin in any neighborhood. Inside one neighborhood, the orders below preserve the clearest flow.

Where a New Reader Should Begin

1. Start with To Get Me to You for Kait Nolan’s signature Southern small-town setting.
2. Start with When You Got a Good Thing for the family-centered Misfit Inn continuity.
3. Start with Cowboy in a Kilt for Scottish village romance.
4. Start with Hero After Midnight for the newest Gibson Hollow sequence.
5. Start with Make You Feel My Love when romantic suspense and protective heroes are the main attraction.

The Wishful Universe Reading Order

Wishful is Nolan’s longest-established town. It contains the twelve main Wishful romances, shorter Wishful Moments stories, and the more suspense-oriented Wishing for a Hero sequence.

The author treats the main novels as standalones, but the town changes around them. Couples marry, businesses develop, relatives return, and later books assume that earlier relationships are already settled.

Wishful Romance Books in Order

Optional Opening Novelette

• Once Upon a Coffee (2014): Avery mistakes busy MBA student Dillon for her online date, turning a coffee-shop misunderstanding into a compact romance that introduces the lighter side of Wishful.

This story is Optional. It occurs before the main series, but To Get Me to You remains the strongest full-length starting point.

Main Wishful Novels

1. To Get Me to You (2014): City consultant Norah arrives to help Cam protect Wishful from a development threat, only to find that saving the town may change the future she planned for herself.
2. Know Me Well (2015): Riley and Liam confront the difference between knowing someone as part of a close community and understanding what that person needs from a lasting relationship.
3. Be Careful, It’s My Heart (2014): A local theatrical production creates the setting for Brody and Tyler’s second-chance romance, where pretending onstage makes their unresolved feelings harder to avoid.
4. Just for This Moment (2016): Piper’s plans for the Madrigal Theater bring her into repeated conflict with newspaper publisher Myles, while community matchmaking pushes them toward a relationship neither expected.
5. Wish I Might (2016): Cecily’s return and Reed’s connection to her past turn an apparently temporary reunion into a romance involving old identity, family expectations, and unfinished love.
6. Turn My World Around (2016): Tucker and Corinne move from a troubled history toward a mature second chance, with personal recovery mattering as much as their attraction.
7. Dance Me a Dream (2017): Dance teacher Tara and musician Jace build a relationship around shared creativity, family needs, and the question of whether two uncertain careers can support one future.
8. See You Again (2017): Trey and Sandy meet again after years apart, forcing them to decide whether the people they have become can repair what their younger selves lost.
9. The Christmas Fountain (2017): Chad and Mary Alice become involved in a holiday romance shaped by Wishful traditions, public celebration, and a town that rarely leaves a promising couple alone.
10. You Were Meant for Me (2018): Mitch and Tess reconnect through hidden identity, past choices, and the growing realization that their earlier separation may not have been final.
11. A Lot Like Christmas (2018): Hannah and Ryan’s holiday relationship pairs a guarded heroine with a hero whose steady presence challenges her expectations about love and belonging.
12. Dancing Away with My Heart (2019): Zach and Lexi bring the principal Wishful Romance sequence to its final full-length pairing through music, family loyalty, and a romance connected to the wider town.

Where The Matchmaker Maneuver Fits

The Matchmaker Maneuver (2024): This prequel story shows Piper arranging events around the Madrigal Theater while Myles notices both her matchmaking and the attraction developing between them.

Read it immediately before Just for This Moment when following internal chronology. It is optional for readers who already understand Piper and Myles’s main romance.

Wishful Moments Books in Order

Wishful Moments contains shorter romances connected to the town.

1. Once Upon a Coffee (2014): A mistaken blind date gives Dillon and Avery an unexpectedly convincing first meeting.
2. Once Upon a Rescue (2018): Animal-shelter director Brooke and longtime admirer Hayden race to save her animals during a rare Mississippi snowstorm.
3. Who I Am with You (2024): A returning Wishful couple or connected characters receive a shorter story focused on identity, acceptance, and being fully known inside a relationship.

These stories are Optional, but Once Upon a Coffee and Once Upon a Rescue have clear links to the larger Wishful community.

Wishing for a Hero Books in Order

Wishing for a Hero remains connected to Wishful but places greater emphasis on danger, law enforcement, military experience, and protective relationships.

1. Make You Feel My Love (2019): Lifelong friends Judd and Autumn are pushed toward romance when danger turns his long-standing protectiveness into something neither can dismiss.
2. Watch Over Me (2020): Nash and Rowan’s opposites-attract romance combines personal vulnerability with the risks that follow a hero determined to keep her safe.
3. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (2021): Ethan and Miranda become connected through protection and attraction, while the surrounding threat makes emotional distance increasingly impractical.
4. Burn for You (2022): Firefighter Sean and Delaney close the four-book sequence through a romance shaped by danger, courage, and the cost of putting other people first.

Read these in order after at least the early Wishful novels when you want the fullest town context. They can still be understood as individual romantic suspense stories.

The Eden’s Ridge Universe Reading Order

The Eden’s Ridge books revolve around the Reynolds sisters, the Misfit Inn, their extended found family, and the military and community figures who become connected to them.

The cleanest route is:

1. The Misfit Inn
2. Men of the Misfit Inn
3. Rescue My Heart
4. Bad Boy Bakers

Some events overlap more closely than that simple sequence suggests, but this route keeps the major family introductions understandable.

The Misfit Inn Books in Order

1. When You Got a Good Thing (2017): Kennedy returns home after a family crisis and must work beside former love Xander, reopening the relationship she left behind while the Reynolds sisters confront their shared future.
2. Til There Was You (2017): Misty and gruff contractor Denver develop an opposites-attract romance connected to the rebuilding and daily life of the inn.
3. Those Sweet Words (2017): Pru and musician Flynn move from an unexpected encounter toward a relationship complicated by fame, family, and the refuge offered by Eden’s Ridge.
4. Stay a Little Longer (2019): Athena and Logan face grief, healing, and second chances in a romance that draws heavily on the support system created around the inn.
5. Bring It on Home (2019): Maggie and Porter bring the Reynolds sisters’ central sequence toward completion through homecoming, family commitment, and a relationship tied to the inn’s future.

Misfit Inn Companion Story

Come Away with Me (2023): This short return to the Misfit Inn continuity offers additional time with the established family and should be read after the main five romances.

It is Optional and does not replace a numbered novel.

Men of the Misfit Inn Books in Order

This continuation follows men and women connected to the inn, its family, and the wider Eden’s Ridge community.

1. Let It Be Me (2020): Emerson and Caleb’s romance opens the spin-off through professional responsibility, trust, and the possibility of creating a family outside conventional expectations.
2. Our Kind of Love (2021): Abbey and Kyle receive a second-chance story that tests whether the people they have become can build the relationship they could not manage earlier.
3. Don’t You Wanna Stay (2021): Deanna and Wyatt move from contrasting lives toward a relationship grounded in mutual support and the choice to remain.

3.5. Until We Meet Again (2022): Samantha and Griffin’s prequel establishes the history behind their later full-length romance.

4. Come a Little Closer (2022): Samantha and Griffin confront the consequences of their earlier connection and decide whether reunion can become permanence.
5. Just Wanted You to Know (2023): Livia and Declan enter a romance shaped by personal history, family links, and emotions that have remained unspoken.
6. A Love Like You (2024): Juliette and Mick continue the Eden’s Ridge found-family tradition through a relationship that asks both of them to reconsider what lasting love should look like.

Read Until We Meet Again immediately before Come a Little Closer. It is the only essential prequel placement in this sequence.

Rescue My Heart Books in Order

Rescue My Heart follows former Army Rangers and women connected to Eden’s Ridge.

1. Baby, It’s Cold Outside (2019): Ivy and guarded veteran Harrison are pushed together during winter, where his protective instincts and her warmth begin breaking through his isolation.
2. What I Like About You (2020): Laurel and Sebastian move from clashing personalities toward a relationship that balances humor, vulnerability, and the effects of military service.

2.5. Bad Case of Loving You (2021): Paisley and Ty’s shorter prequel establishes the history and emotional complications behind their later romance.

3. Made for Loving You (2022): Paisley and Ty receive their full second-chance story, with old hurt and military loyalty shaping whether they can rebuild trust.

The series crosses into the Misfit Inn world. Reading it after the original inn books gives returning characters stronger context.

Bad Boy Bakers Books in Order

Bad Boy Bakers combines a family bakery, military heroes, technology, and the continuing Eden’s Ridge network.

0.5. Rescued by a Bad Boy (2021): Mia and Brax’s prequel establishes the rescue and earlier relationship that lead into the first full novel.

1. Mixed Up with a Marine (2022): Mia and Marine veteran Brax navigate their deeper relationship while the bakery and their linked families establish the series.
2. Wrapped Up with a Ranger (2022): Cayla and Holt’s holiday romance brings another former Ranger into the bakery-centered family.
3. Stirred Up by a SEAL (2022): Rachel and Jonah combine attraction with military history and the daily pressures surrounding the bakery.
4. Hung Up on the Hacker (2023): Hadley and hacker Cash move into a romance involving technology, hidden vulnerability, and opposites who understand one another better than expected.
5. Caught Up with the Captain (2023): Rebecca and Grey close the main sequence through a second-chance connection involving military command, family responsibilities, and unfinished love.

The prequel is optional, but it belongs before Mixed Up with a Marine.

The Scotland Reading Order

Nolan’s Scottish romances are separated into two series.

Kilted Hearts focuses on the people and families around a Highland community. Special Ops Scots follows former military men adapting to civilian life.

No strict crossover order between the two series is required.

Kilted Hearts Books in Order

0.5. Jilting the Kilt (2022): Afton leaves Hamish at a critical moment, establishing the broken relationship and family circumstances behind their later reunion.

1. Cowboy in a Kilt (2023): American cowboy Raleigh arrives in Scotland and falls for Kyla, creating a cross-cultural romance tied to land, family, and the future of the Highland community.
2. Grump in a Kilt (2023): Charlotte and Malcolm’s opposites-attract romance pairs an outsider with a guarded Highlander whose resistance gradually gives way to commitment.
3. Playboy in a Kilt (2023): Sophie and Connor turn flirtation and reputation into a more serious connection that challenges his carefully maintained image.
4. Protector in a Kilt (2023): Isobel and Ewan’s romance centers on protection, hidden identity, and the danger of becoming emotionally involved with the person one is meant to guard.
5. Single Dad in a Kilt (2023): Afton and Hamish finally receive their full second-chance romance, returning to the relationship introduced in Jilting the Kilt while including the responsibilities of single parenthood.

Kilted Hearts Companion Stories

Kilty Pleasures (2023): Skye and Jason receive a shorter romance connected to the Highland cast.

Kilted All the Way (2024): This later holiday or celebratory return revisits the Kilted Hearts community after the principal couples have been established.

Both are Optional. Read them after Single Dad in a Kilt for the least disruptive placement.

Special Ops Scots Books in Order

0.5. One Fine Night (2024): A former Royal Marine faces civilian life and an unexpected romantic encounter that introduces the men behind the Special Ops Scots series.

1. Before Highland Sunset (2024): A former commando becomes involved with his best friend’s younger sister, placing long-standing loyalty against a relationship neither can safely treat as casual.
2. Beyond Highland Sunrise (2025): An outdoor-adventure businessman meets a woman whose presence disrupts both his company plans and the distance he has kept from serious commitment.
3. Beneath Highland Stars (2025): The last single member of the group falls for a brilliant doctor who appears immune to his charm, completing the current team sequence through rivalry and reluctant attraction.

Read One Fine Night first when completing the series. It is optional for readers who prefer to begin with the first full-length novel.

Gibson Hollow Books in Order

Gibson Hollow is Nolan’s newest series under her main name. The town is recovering from a flood, and the romances follow members of the Gibson family and the heroes and heroines helping rebuild the community.

0.5. Hero After Midnight (2025): Alia attends a masquerade and unknowingly encounters her twin brother’s best friend, setting up an off-limits romance built on secret recognition and long-suppressed attraction.

1. Hero Ever After (2025): Acting mayor and secret romantasy author Delaney becomes involved with her brother’s best friend while leading Gibson Hollow through recovery.
2. Hero, Unexpected (2025): A fiercely independent heroine and the town’s stoic police chief are thrown together through danger, forced proximity, and an unexpected rescue dog.
3. Hero Next Door (2026): A disgraced social-media figure starts over beside a single father and firefighter, finding new purpose after scandal and a house fire destroy the life she knew.
4. Hero She Hates (2026): A veterinarian and Dean Gibson turn years of mutual irritation into an enemies-to-lovers romance within the recovering town.

Hero She Hates is scheduled for November 20, 2026. It remains Upcoming as of July 24, 2026.

Summer Fling Books in Order

The Summer Fling books take place around Camp Firefly Falls and should be read as a compact trilogy.

1. Second Chance Summer (2017): Audrey returns to camp and reconnects with Hudson, giving an old relationship one summer to become something more permanent.
2. Summer Camp Secret (2024): A hidden relationship or long-kept truth disrupts the apparent simplicity of a camp romance and expands the Firefly Falls community.
3. The Summer Camp Swap (2024): A mistaken or exchanged camp arrangement places the central couple in unexpected proximity and completes the current trilogy.

Some catalogs place Once Upon a Campfire as the third Summer Fling story. Nolan’s current three-book box set instead contains Second Chance Summer, Summer Camp Secret, and The Summer Camp Swap. Treat Once Upon a Campfire as a connected Meet Cute crossover rather than replacing the third current trilogy title.

Meet Cute Romance Books in Order

Meet Cute Romance contains short, self-contained stories united by unexpected first meetings.

1. Once Upon a Snow Day (2017): Brandon and Isabelle are brought together by winter conditions, turning inconvenience and enforced closeness into a quick romance.
2. Once Upon a New Year’s Eve (2017): Aaron and Gemma meet during a holiday transition, where one night creates the possibility of a relationship lasting beyond midnight.
3. Once Upon an Heirloom (2017): Everett and Sylvie become connected through an inherited or meaningful object that carries secrets beyond its material value.
4. Once Upon a Coffee (2014): Avery mistakes Dillon for her online date, linking this Meet Cute entry directly to Wishful.
5. Once Upon a Campfire (2017): Beckett and Sarah’s ill-advised camp encounter becomes a romance connected to Camp Firefly Falls.
6. Once Upon a Rescue (2018): Hayden helps Brooke save her shelter animals during a winter emergency, creating another direct Wishful crossover.

These stories may be read independently. Place the crossover entries within their parent worlds when following deeper continuity.

Separate Pen Name: Kait Flynn

Kait Nolan also publishes some lower-heat small-town romance as Kait Flynn.

These books should be marked as Separate pen name, even when author catalogs occasionally group them with Nolan’s work.

Heroes of Huckleberry Creek Books in Order

1. The Grumpy Roommate Gamble (2024): A practical roommate arrangement pairs a cheerful heroine with a guarded local hero whose resistance becomes difficult to maintain.
2. The Not So Fake Wedding Date (2024): Clint agrees to pretend to be Austen’s date, despite already carrying feelings that make the performance dangerously convincing.
3. The Mock Engagement Mishap (2025): A fake engagement creates public expectations and private feelings that outgrow the original arrangement.
4. The Second Chance Bachelor (2025): A former couple receives another opportunity when returning history and small-town proximity make avoidance impossible.

Read these in order for recurring Huckleberry Creek characters. They are not part of Wishful or Eden’s Ridge.

Hot Shots of Huckleberry Creek Books

Hot Shots of Huckleberry Creek is another Kait Flynn line centered on firefighters and the same wider town.

Current catalogs include titles such as Mistlefoe Match, a holiday enemies-to-lovers firefighter romance.

Because current series listings are still being consolidated across editions, readers should follow the book numbers printed on the Kait Flynn editions rather than merging the Hot Shots books into Heroes of Huckleberry Creek.

Harper Jackson Books

Kait Nolan writes darker romantic suspense under the name Harper Jackson.

The Wayward Sons series belongs to that pen name, even though it is sold through Nolan’s store and sometimes appears in combined author feeds.

The current sequence includes:

1. Smoke on the Water: A woman targeted because of her disgraced family enters a fake relationship with a protective firefighter while an arson threat escalates.
2. Won’t Back Down: A survivor carrying the effects of an earlier tragedy becomes involved in a suspense romance tied to the Wayward Sons.
3. Against the Wind: Another member of the group receives a romance shaped by danger, recovery, and loyalty.
4. All Along the Watchtower: Former lovers reconnect while a continuing threat gives their second chance immediate consequences.
5. On the Other Side: The fifth romantic suspense story expands the series’ missing-person and danger threads.
6. Carry On Wayward Son: The final book follows a search specialist confronting a disappearance with deeply personal implications.

Carry On Wayward Son is scheduled for August 14, 2026. The Wayward Sons books are Separate pen-name continuity and do not belong inside the Kait Nolan small-town romance order.

Kait Nolan Standalone Fiction

Red

Red (2011): Elodie expects a family curse to transform her into a violent wolf, while Sawyer tries to protect her from the person determined to destroy her bloodline.

This young adult paranormal retelling of Little Red Riding Hood is a Separate continuity from Nolan’s contemporary romances.

Kait Nolan Nonfiction

HELP! Food Allergies Coming to Dinner

HELP! Food Allergies Coming to Dinner (2013): A practical collection of gluten-free and dairy-free recipes designed for cooks who need straightforward substitutions and familiar ingredients.

This book is Separate nonfiction and does not belong in any romance reading order.

Boxed Sets and Collections

Kait Nolan has released numerous complete-series and multi-book collections.

Important examples include:

1. Wishful Romance collections: These volumes package the twelve main Wishful novels in smaller groups without adding new stories.
2. The Misfit Inn: The Complete Collection: This set contains the principal Misfit Inn romances and is an alternative to buying them separately.
3. Rescue My Heart: The Complete Series: This collection combines the three full-length former-Army-Ranger romances.
4. Bad Boy Bakers complete series: This bundle gathers the main bakery romances and may also include the prequel, depending on the edition.
5. The Summer Fling Trilogy: This current box set includes Second Chance Summer, Summer Camp Secret, and The Summer Camp Swap.
6. Kilted Hearts complete series: This collection bundles the central Highland romances.

A boxed set is Optional format, not an additional installment. Check its contents before buying individual books to avoid duplication.

Chronological Order Versus Publication Order

Kait Nolan’s official reading lists favor chronological couple order within each series.

This occasionally differs from first publication order. Be Careful, It’s My Heart, for example, appeared before some books that precede it in the preferred Wishful continuity. Prequels such as Jilting the Kilt, Hero After Midnight, and One Fine Night also belong before later-published full-length novels.

For new readers, chronological series order provides the smoothest experience. Publication order is useful mainly for tracking Nolan’s career.

Recommended Complete Reading Route

A manageable career-spanning route is:

1. Read Wishful Romance from To Get Me to You through Dancing Away with My Heart.
2. Add Wishful Moments and Wishing for a Hero.
3. Read The Misfit Inn.
4. Continue through Men of the Misfit Inn.
5. Add Rescue My Heart and Bad Boy Bakers.
6. Move to Scotland with Kilted Hearts.
7. Continue with Special Ops Scots.
8. Read the Summer Fling trilogy.
9. Finish with Gibson Hollow.

This route keeps the largest connected communities together and leaves the newest active series until last.

Latest Kait Nolan Book

Kait Nolan’s latest published novel under her main name is Hero Next Door, Gibson Hollow book three.

Hero Next Door (2026): A woman whose online reputation has collapsed starts over beside a single father and firefighter, finding a new community after another fire strips away what she has left.

The multi-author collection He’s So Into Her was released on July 17, 2026 and includes a he-falls-first romance contribution. It is a collection rather than the next numbered Kait Nolan novel.

The next announced Kait Nolan novel is Hero She Hates, scheduled for November 20, 2026.

Hero She Hates (2026): A veterinarian and Dean Gibson turn an established pattern of conflict into an enemies-to-lovers relationship within the continuing Gibson Hollow community.

Under the Harper Jackson name, Carry On Wayward Son is scheduled for August 14, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Kait Nolan’s first book?

Her earliest fiction includes paranormal and romantic suspense work published before Wishful, including Red.

For her modern small-town romance catalog, To Get Me to You is the most useful starting point.

What is Kait Nolan’s most popular series?

Wishful is her longest and most established small-town series.

The Misfit Inn is another major entry point, particularly for readers who prefer sister relationships, homecoming, and found family.

Do Kait Nolan’s books need to be read in order?

The central romances generally stand alone.

Read each series in order when recurring couples, family changes, town development, and crossover appearances matter to you.

Are all Kait Nolan’s series connected?

No.

Wishful has its own connected universe. The Misfit Inn, Men of the Misfit Inn, Rescue My Heart, and Bad Boy Bakers belong to the Eden’s Ridge network.

Kilted Hearts, Special Ops Scots, Gibson Hollow, and the Kait Flynn books should be treated as separate continuities unless an individual story establishes a crossover.

What is the correct first Wishful book?

Begin the full-length series with To Get Me to You.

Once Upon a Coffee occurs earlier and may be read as an optional prequel.

Where does The Matchmaker Maneuver go?

Read it immediately before Just for This Moment.

Both stories involve Piper and Myles, with the shorter prequel setting up the full romance.

Should I read The Misfit Inn before Men of the Misfit Inn?

Yes.

The second series grows out of the family and community established at the inn, so beginning with When You Got a Good Thing provides better context.

Are Rescue My Heart and Bad Boy Bakers connected to The Misfit Inn?

Yes.

They belong to the broader Eden’s Ridge universe and include characters or relationships connected to the inn’s extended found family.

Is Jilting the Kilt required?

No, but it explains Afton and Hamish’s earlier breakup.

Read it before Cowboy in a Kilt, or at least before Single Dad in a Kilt.

What is the correct Summer Fling trilogy?

The current trilogy is:

1. Second Chance Summer
2. Summer Camp Secret
3. The Summer Camp Swap

Once Upon a Campfire is a connected shorter crossover, not a replacement for the current third book.

Is Hero After Midnight the first Gibson Hollow book?

It is the prequel, numbered book 0.5 or book zero in current catalogs.

Begin there for full chronology, then continue with Hero Ever After.

What book comes after Hero Next Door?

Hero She Hates is the next Gibson Hollow novel.

It is book four and is scheduled for November 20, 2026.

Does Kait Nolan write under other names?

Yes.

Kait Flynn is used for another small-town romance line, including Heroes of Huckleberry Creek.

Harper Jackson is used for darker romantic suspense, including Wayward Sons.

Are the Wayward Sons books Kait Nolan books?

They are written by the same author but published as Harper Jackson.

Keep them separate from a main-name Kait Nolan reading order unless the goal is to complete every pen name.

Which Kait Nolan series is complete?

Wishful Romance, Wishing for a Hero, The Misfit Inn, Rescue My Heart, Bad Boy Bakers, Kilted Hearts, Special Ops Scots, and the Summer Fling trilogy all have complete current sequences.

Gibson Hollow remains active as of July 2026.

Where should a new reader begin?

Begin with To Get Me to You for Wishful, When You Got a Good Thing for Eden’s Ridge, Cowboy in a Kilt for Scotland, or Hero After Midnight for Nolan’s newest town.

The Best Kait Nolan Reading Order

The strongest overall entry is To Get Me to You. It introduces the community-centered romance style that defines much of Kait Nolan’s work and opens the largest connected town in her catalog.

Readers who want the most emotionally connected family sequence should begin with When You Got a Good Thing and remain in the Eden’s Ridge books through Men of the Misfit Inn, Rescue My Heart, and Bad Boy Bakers.

For the newest releases, begin Gibson Hollow with Hero After Midnight, continue through Hero Ever After, Hero, Unexpected, and Hero Next Door, then place Hero She Hates next when it is released.