Alexandria House writes contemporary Black romance featuring musicians, professional athletes, professors, artists, business owners, close families, and characters rebuilding their lives after difficult relationships.
Most of her books belong to an interconnected setting commonly called the HOUSEverse. A couple normally receives a complete romantic conclusion within one book, but characters regularly reappear in later series as friends, relatives, colleagues, teammates, and members of the same social circles.
Affiliate Disclosure
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This article may contain affiliate links. If you click one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
The Three Kings books occupy a darker continuity with captivity, obsession, violence, and romantic suspense. They should not be used as an introduction to the lighter family and sports romances.
The Reading Order That Preserves the Most Connections
Readers seeking the complete HOUSEverse experience should use this route:
- Love After
- Strickland Sisters
- McClain Family
- Them Boys
- Selected holiday shorts
- Romey University
- St. Louis Cyclones
- Additional HOUSEverse shorts and mixtapes
- St. Louis Sires
- Three Kings
This sequence preserves character introductions and makes later appearances easier to recognize.
Readers who prefer to stay with one family or team may complete each series independently. The romances remain understandable, but some supporting-character history will be missing.
Where New Readers Should Begin
- Best overall starting point: Higher Love
- Best family-series starting point: Let Me Love You
- Best sister-centered series: Stay with Me
- Best college setting: Teach Me
- Best basketball romance: Flagrant
- Best hockey romance: Goal
- Best shorter series: Set
- Best dark-romance starting point: Lilith
- Best current standalone: 5 Dates
Love After Books in Order
Love After introduces several characters whose friendships and family connections help form the wider HOUSEverse. The trilogy follows women discovering that failed or damaging relationships do not have to determine what comes next.
1. Higher Love
Higher Love (201 she made after her breakup.
3. Real Love
Real Love (2017): Loan officer Denise Buhari has rebuilt her life after a damaging marriage, only to face another destabilizing problem just as tattoo artist Hasaan Peterson enters her world.
Their contentious beginning becomes friendship and then romance, giving confident spoken-word artist Nyles Adams enters her life and challenges her belief that desire and emotional safety cannot exist together.
Nyles becomes important beyond this romance through his poetry and appearances elsewhere in the HOUSEverse.
3. Real Love
Real Love (2017): Loan officer Denise Buhari rebuilds after a destructive marriage and forms an initially contentious friendship with tattoo artist Hasaan Peterson.
The friendship gradually becomes a romance while Denise faces another upheaval that threatens the stability she worked to regain.
Love After Reading Verdict
Read all three books in publication order.
The novels have separate couples, but friendships and later appearances reward starting with Higher Love. The trilogy also introduces the emotional tone of House’s wider contemporary universe.
Strickland Sisters Books in Order
The Strickland Sisters trilogy follows Angela, Renee, and Nicole. Their romances are individually complete, but the sisters remain closely involved in one another’s lives.
1. Stay with Me
Stay with Me (2017): Natural-hair vlogger Angela Strickland has sworn off relationships after repeated heartbreak, while corporate womanizer Ryan Boyé is equally convinced that love is foolish.
Their attraction forces both characters to reconsider the protective rules they built around themselves.
2. Believe in Me
Believe in Me (2017): Renee Mattison attempts to move beyond an unfaithful husband who refuses to release her, then meets magnetic Lorenzo Higgs and must decide whether his difficult past makes another broken next book. Starting with Nicole’s story would reveal earlier relationships before their development.
McClain Family Books in Order
The McClain books follow a famous and closely involved family that includes musicians, professional athletes, ambitious professionals, and one highly protected sister.
The family’s jokes, arguments, and loyalty continue through every installment.
1. Let Me Love You
Let Me Love You (2018): Divorced mother Jo Walker is raising her daughter, pursuing a new career, and trying to create a peaceful life after a failed marriage.
Rap legend Everett “Big South” McClain has also been divorced and has restricted his love life to casual connections until Jo makes him want something permanent.
2. Let Me Hold You
Let Me Hold You (2018): NBA player Leland McClain is talented, attractive, spoiled, and accustomed to receiving whatever he wants.
Community-center director Kimberly Hampton has a painful history and no interest in becoming involved with him, despite the attraction neither can deny.
3. Let Me Show You
Let Me Show You (2018): Careful and ambitious Nolan McClain believes he has planned every part of his future until he meets equally driven Bridgette Turner.
When Bridgette’s past threatens her career and stability, Nolan must prove that his feelings are genuine and not another complication she should avoid.
3.5. Let Me Please You
Let Me Please You (2019): Kat McClain is recovering from the failure of a marriage that began when she was young and deeply in love.
Tommy Kirby has protected her brother and remained close to the McClain family for years, but his desire for a family of his own draws him toward the one McClain sibling he was never supposed to want.
This novella takes place during Let Me Show You. Read it immediately afterward.
4. Let Me Free You
Let Me Free You (2018): Neil McClain is viewed as the family failure and struggles to believe he can become the man his late mother wanted him to be.
Sage Moniba faces the possible loss of the only life she has known, creating a relationship in which both characters may offer the freedom the other needs.
Correct McClain Family Sequence
The correct story order is:
- Let Me Love You
- Let Me Hold You
- Let Me Show You
- Let Me Please You
- Let Me Free You
Although Let Me Please You was published after the four main novels, its events overlap with Book 3.
Why the McClain Books Matter Later
Polo and Kendra from the St. Louis Cyclones series are introduced in Let Me Hold You.
Ella McClain becomes the heroine of Personal, the third Cyclones novel.
The McClain books therefore provide more than optional family background. They establish characters who later lead their own sports romances.
Them Boys Books in Order
Them Boys follows three men known as Set, Jah, and Shu. The stories are shorter than many of Alexandria House’s family novels but still form an interconnected trilogy.
1. Set
Set (2019): A chance meeting and one night of passion create a mutually useful arrangement between two people from very different worlds.
Their agreement becomes unstable when love enters a connection neither expected to make emotional.
2. Jah
Jah (2020): Two people who were not searching for each other fall into a relationship neither wants to release.
The story expands the group introduced in Set and shows another side of the men at the center of the series.
3. Shu
Shu (2020): A man who has felt invisible and broken finds himself seen, nurtured, and loved.
The final novella completes the trilogy’s emotional movement from guarded arrangements toward belonging and found family.
Them Boys Reading Decision
Read Set, Jah, and Shu in order.
The stories are concise, but the relationships among the three men and their wider circle develop across the trilogy.
Holiday Shorts Before Romey University
The author’s recommended HOUSEverse order places three holiday stories after Them Boys and before Romey University.
Always My Baby
Always My Baby (2018): Melanie sees an unexpected Christmas Eve situation as an inconvenience, while Luke recognizes the reunion as an opportunity he has wanted for years.
Their converging plans create a short second-chance holiday romance.
Merry Christmas, Baby
Merry Christmas, Baby (2017): Sunday Marks is working a graveyard shift on Christmas Eve while her personal life feels increasingly unmanageable.
One telephone call offers the possibility that her holiday may end very differently from how it began.
Baby, Be Mine
Baby, Be Mine (2018): Pia Harris expects to spend another Valentine’s Day alone and wonders what lonely people are supposed to do with a holiday devoted to couples.
A meeting with another lonely heart offers the possibility of a new relationship.
Romey University Books in Order
Romey University is set around a prestigious historically Black university in Tennessee. The series follows professors, artists, alumni, parents, and people rebuilding their lives through second chances.
1. Teach Me
Teach Me (2020): Psychology professor Nadia Day has created a safe and predictable life to distance herself from an unstable upbringing.
Retired football player and single father Nathan Moore enters her classroom and disrupts both her professional routine and the controlled identity she has built.
2. Touch Me
Touch Me (2021): Professor Sharla London begins dreaming about a mysterious man shortly before photographer Jovani Higgs arrives as Romey University’s artist in residence.
Their immediate connection feels too familiar to dismiss, raising questions about desire, fate, and whether Sharla is hiding a more passionate self beneath her professional exterior.
3. Temper Me
Temper Me (2022): Divorced single mother Brooklyn Dembélé is rebuilding her life while working at Romey University and confronting mistakes from her past.
Vann London returns to his alma mater after a health crisis and reconnects with Brooklyn, his sister’s friend and the former lover neither has been able to forget.
4. Trust Me
Trust Me (2026): R&B legend Joel “Messiah” Bell retreats to Romey after being left at the altar and becoming the subject of public ridicule.
Free-spirited Ginger Day has ended another relationship with someone who could not accept her authenticity and planned to rediscover herself alone. Too much wine and an unexpected connection with Messiah instead send them toward an impulsive trip to Las Vegas.
The book is scheduled for August 6, 2026.
Romey University Reading Decision
Read the four books in publication order.
The first three romances are published and complete. Trust Me is forthcoming as of August 5, 2026 and should be read after Temper Me.
St. Louis Cyclones Books in Order
St. Louis Cyclones is a professional basketball trilogy. It has strong links to the McClain family books, so readers following the complete HOUSEverse should not begin here.
1. Flagrant
Flagrant (2021): NBA star Paul “Polo” Logan is known for his talent and repeated infidelity, but he is finally ready to commit fully to Kendra Doll.
Their shared past binds them together while also threatening to destroy their future.
Polo and Kendra are first introduced in Let Me Hold You.
2. Technical
Technical (2021): Championship-winning basketball player Drayveon Walker appears to have everything he could need until Stevie October unexpectedly enters his life.
Their immediate connection develops so quickly that both must decide whether a relationship can be real even when it has not followed a cautious timeline.
3. Personal
Personal (2022): Armand Daniels is a talented but volatile NBA player whose temper repeatedly threatens his career.
Model Ella McClain is protected by her famous family but carries private struggles beneath her public image. Their intense relationship directly connects the Cyclones trilogy to the McClain family.
St. Louis Cyclones Reading Decision
Read Flagrant, Technical, and Personal in order.
For the fullest context, complete the McClain family books first. This preserves Polo and Kendra’s introduction and gives Ella’s family relationships their intended meaning.
HOUSEverse Shorts After the Cyclones
Several shorts and collections appear after the Cyclones trilogy in the author’s recommended universe order.
New Year, New Boo?
New Year, New Boo? (2019): Langston O’Neal attends a company New Year’s party he would rather avoid and discovers that it may be the ideal place to find an unexpected romantic connection.
The story is a short workplace holiday romance.
Should’ve Been
Should’ve Been (2020): Two people first meet while both belong to someone else.
When circumstances change, the hero becomes determined to make the woman the partner he believes she should have been all along.
The HOUSE Mixtapes in Order
The HOUSE Mixtapes revisit characters from across the shared universe through erotic scenes and short stories. They should be read only after the principal family and sports books.
1. The Love Deluxe Mixtape
The Love Deluxe Mixtape (2020): A collection of erotic scenes and short fiction revisits desire, intimacy, and established relationships within the HOUSEverse.
Some material was previously available online.
2. The Love Galore Mixtape
The Love Galore Mixtape (2020): Familiar HOUSEverse characters return for another collection centered on progressive love, passion, and pleasure.
The book contains at least one story previously released online.
3. The Love Infinite Mixtape
The Love Infinite Mixtape (2021): A third short collection explores enduring relationships and the physical connections shared by familiar characters.
It includes erotic scenes and previously available short fiction.
Mixtape Reading Decision
Read the three collections in publication order.
They are supplemental rather than introductions. Their purpose is to revisit characters whose main romances have already been completed.
All I Want
All I Want (2019): Two people reunite at Christmas and must decide whether the holiday will revive their old relationship or confirm that they should separate permanently.
The story is a concise second-chance romance.
Sanctuary
Sanctuary (2020): Two hearts remain suspended after young love is lost, but an enduring bond offers a romance capable of surviving beyond an ordinary lifetime.
This paranormal love story belongs to the Noire Immortals world and is separate in tone from Alexandria House’s contemporary family books.
The Book of Nyles
The Book of Nyles: Spoken-word artist Nyles Adams receives a poetry collection drawn from his work and appearances across Alexandria House’s fiction.
This is poetry rather than another romance novel. Read Made to Love first because it introduces Nyles as a central character.
The Exhibition
The Exhibition: A woman visits a private environment created to fulfill her deepest and most uninhibited desires.
This is an extremely short erotic work rather than a full romance novel.
Jingle Mingle
Jingle Mingle: A holiday business-networking event creates a connection that becomes far more personal than either participant expects.
This is an erotic Christmas short.
Village Shorts in Recommended Order
The Village shorts are shop-exclusive stories set around a recurring community. They are brief, interconnected additions to the wider HOUSEverse.
Joon-teenth
Joon-teenth: Joon and Sire have love, but their relationship has not survived its existing problems.
After months apart, a reunion may offer the chance to repair what love alone could not save.
F*cking on the 4th
Fcking on the 4th*: Loss brings two people together during a holiday associated with celebration, creating an unexpected path toward love.
The story is short and erotic.
Schoolhouse THOT
Schoolhouse THOT: A visit to the Village’s Red, White, and Blues Festival gives Rashida Gray a romantic and erotic experience she did not anticipate.
The story expands the Village community through another independent encounter.
Two Hearts
Two Hearts: Two coworkers explore whether the connection developing at an annual party is love, lust, or something that refuses to fit either simple category.
This story belongs at the end of the original Village short sequence.
Four
Four: A woman returns to the Exhibition environment for another extremely short and highly erotic experience.
Read it after The Exhibition.
24/7
24/7: Two people have an established arrangement, but the woman wants a relationship that offers more than the terms they originally accepted.
The central question is whether the man is willing to give her the deeper commitment she wants.
St. Louis Sires Books in Order
St. Louis Sires follows a professional hockey team. The books change couples, but teammates and team life connect the trilogy.
1. Goal
Goal (2022): Maleek Jones has always treated hockey as his primary commitment and every relationship as secondary.
Unexpected responsibilities disrupt his controlled life just as trauma leaves Nuri Knox in need of the one thing Maleek can provide. Their connection gives both characters a form of love neither expected.
2
Goal (2022): Hockey has always been Maleek Jones’s primary commitment until unexpected responsibilities disrupt his carefully balanced, and enemies again.
Their separation mayuri Knox is recovering from trauma and needs the particular help Maleek can provide, leading both characters toward a love neither anticipated.
2. Holding
Holding (2023): Sires right wing Terrence Ford and his ex-wife Krystle have moved through childhood friendship, love, marriage, and hostility.
Their separation may become the beginning of a healthier relationship if they can understand why the first version of their marriage failed.
3. Assist
Assist (2024): The Sires’ center has achieved professional success but still longs for a family, while a famous rapper wants a genuine connection rather than another admirer.
A random phone call begins a friendship that helps both characters face the past and reconsider what they want from the future.
St. Louis Sires Reading Verdict
Read the trilogy in order.
Holding is especially dependent on the emotional history of its established couple, while Assist benefits from the team environment created by the first two books.
Three Kings Books in Order
Three Kings is darker than Alexandria House’s other principal series. The books contain obsession, captivity, violence, explicit sexual content, and suspense.
They should be kept separate from the lighter HOUSEverse romances.
1. Lilith
Lilith (2024): Lilith is held captive by Ray, a dangerously possessive man who believes she must belong to him and may kill her if she does not.
The novel is a dark erotic romance and begins the Three Kings continuity.
2. Memphis
Memphis (2025): Memphis has spent her life fighting and refusing to surrender, but Bo’s touch dismantles the resolve she normally relies on.
Bo is ruthless toward everyone except Memphis and is prepared to do anything necessary to make her his again.
Three Kings Reading Verdict
Read Lilith before Memphis.
The books focus on different King Queens, but they share a dark criminal and romantic-suspense environment. Readers should expect a substantially different tone from the McClain, Romey University, and sports romances.
Collections
The Holiday Shorts
The Holiday Shorts (2020): This collection packages Baby, Be Mine, Merry Christmas, Baby, Always My Baby, All I Want, and New Year, New Boo?
The stories are also available individually. Readers do not need both formats.
The Village Shorts
The Village Shorts: This audio collection contains Joon-teenth, Fcking on the Fourth*, Schoolhouse THOT, and Two Hearts.
It is a collected edition rather than a fifth Village story.
The Exhibition Shorts
The Exhibition Shorts: This audio collection packages The Exhibition and Four together.
The collection does not add a third principal Exhibition story.
Recommended HOUSEverse Reading Order
For readers who want the fullest continuity, this is the most stable route:
- Higher Love
- Made to Love
- Real Love
- Stay with Me
- Believe in Me
- Be with Me
- Let Me Love You
- Let Me Hold You
- Let Me Show You
- Let Me Please You
- Let Me Free You
- Set
- Jah
- Shu
- Always My Baby
- Merry Christmas, Baby
- Baby, Be Mine
- Teach Me
- Touch Me
- Temper Me
- Trust Me
- Flagrant
- Technical
- Personal
- New Year, New Boo?
- Should’ve Been
- The Love Deluxe Mixtape
- The Love Galore Mixtape
- The Love Infinite Mixtape
- All I Want
- Sanctuary
- The Book of Nyles
- The Exhibition
- Jingle Mingle
- Joon-teenth
- Fcking on the Fourth*
- Schoolhouse THOT
- Two Hearts
- Four
- 24/7
- Goal
- Holding
- Assist
- Lilith
- Memphis
- 5 Dates
This route updates the author’s earlier published guide by adding the newer Memphis, 5 Dates, and Trust Me releases.
Is Publication Order the Same as Recommended Order?
Not exactly.
Publication order works within the individual series, but the recommended HOUSEverse route groups connected families and character appearances more deliberately.
The most important special placement is Let Me Please You. Although published later, it occurs during Let Me Show You and belongs immediately after that novel.
The Three Kings books should remain together rather than being inserted among the lighter contemporary romances according to publication date.
Latest Alexandria House Book
5 Dates (2025): A hesitant woman agrees to five dates with a man who is already captivated by her, giving their unexpected connection a limited period in which to become something lasting.
The novella was published on October 5, 2025 and is Alexandria House’s latest released book as of August 5, 2026.
Upcoming Alexandria House Book
Trust Me (2026): R&B icon Messiah Bell and free-spirited Ginger Day make an impulsive decision after an intimate conversation in Romey, Tennessee, then must decide whether their immediate connection can survive everyday commitment.
It is Romey University Book 4 and is scheduled for August 6, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Alexandria House’s First Book?
Higher Love (2017): Travel blogger Greer Kennedy discovers the truth about her engagement and begins an initially anonymous relationship with Derek Hill.
It opens the Love After trilogy and is the strongest starting point for the complete HOUSEverse.
Are Alexandria House’s Series Connected?
Most of the contemporary series are interconnected.
Characters from Love After, the McClain books, Romey University, the St. Louis Cyclones, and the St. Louis Sires may appear or be referenced elsewhere.
Do I Have to Read Every Series in HOUSEverse Order?
No. Each principal romance has its own conclusion.
The combined order is recommended for readers who enjoy recognizing supporting characters, family relationships, and later developments.
Should Love After Be Read Before the Strickland Sisters?
Yes, for the official complete route.
The two trilogies remain understandable separately, but Love After provides the earliest introduction to House’s interconnected contemporary setting.
How Many McClain Books Are There?
There are four main novels and one novella:
- Let Me Love You
- Let Me Hold You
- Let Me Show You
- Let Me Please You
- Let Me Free You
The novella belongs after Let Me Show You.
Is Let Me Please You Book 3.5?
Yes.
It follows Kat McClain and Tommy Kirby and occurs during the events of Let Me Show You.
Is Flagrant Connected to the McClain Books?
Yes.
Polo and Kendra are introduced in Let Me Hold You. Readers should complete the McClain series before beginning St. Louis Cyclones when continuity matters.
Is Personal Connected to the McClain Family?
Yes.
Its heroine is Ella McClain, whose family background gives the romance a direct connection to the earlier books.
How Many Romey University Books Are There?
Three books are published as of August 5, 2026:
- Teach Me
- Touch Me
- Temper Me
Trust Me is scheduled as Book 4 on August 6, 2026.
Is Trust Me Published Yet?
No, not as of August 5, 2026.
Its announced release date is August 6, 2026.
Are the Cyclones and Sires the Same Team?
No.
The St. Louis Cyclones are a professional basketball team. The St. Louis Sires are a professional hockey team.
Should Goal Be Read Before Holding?
Yes.
The couples change, but the Sires organization and supporting relationships develop across the trilogy.
Are Lilith and Memphis Standalones?
They focus on different central relationships but belong to the same Three Kings dark-romance world.
Read Lilith first.
Are the HOUSE Mixtapes Full Novels?
No.
They are brief collections of erotic scenes and short fiction involving established HOUSEverse characters.
Is The Book of Nyles a Romance Novel?
No.
It is a poetry collection attributed to Nyles Adams from Made to Love.
Is 5 Dates Part of a Series?
No.
It is a standalone novella and can be read without any earlier Alexandria House book.
What Is Alexandria House’s Latest Book?
5 Dates is her latest published work as of August 5, 2026.
Trust Me is scheduled for release the following day, August 6, 2026.
Conclusion
Begin with Higher Love when you want the complete Alexandria House experience. Continue through Love After, the Strickland Sisters, the McClain Family, Them Boys, Romey University, and the two St. Louis sports series.
Readers interested mainly in family romance can begin with Let Me Love You. Basketball readers should complete the McClain books before Flagrant, while hockey readers can enter the St. Louis Sires series with Goal.
Keep Three Kings separate when tone matters. Lilith and Memphis are dark erotic suspense romances and contain much heavier material than the main HOUSEverse books.
For a short independent introduction, 5 Dates requires no prior reading. For the newest connected release, continue Romey University with Trust Me after its scheduled publication on August 6, 2026.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.