C.E. Ricci writes adult queer romance, including college sports romance, high-angst contemporary stories, romantic suspense, enemies-to-lovers relationships, and romances built around complicated friendships.
Her books occupy one loosely shared universe. Characters may appear outside their original series, but most crossovers function as brief rewards rather than essential plot connections.
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The distinction that matters is structural. River of Rain is a continuing duet, Leighton U contains five interconnected standalones, and Reckless Games follows different couples linked by friendship and college life.
For a first C.E. Ricci book, choose Iced Out for college hockey romance, Don’t You Dare for friends-to-lovers, or Follow the River for a darker continuing story.
What Must Be Read in Order?
C.E. Ricci’s books fall into three categories.
Continuing Romance
The River of Rain books follow River and Rain through one relationship. Begin with Follow the River, continue immediately to After Rain Falls, and save Rivain for afterward.
Interconnected Standalones
Leighton U and Reckless Games change couples from book to book. Each romance reaches its own conclusion, but publication order preserves character introductions and cameos.
Separate Standalones
Head Above Water and Want You Still tell independent stories. These Vile Secrets was published as an Enclave series opener, but no second Enclave novel has been confirmed.
River of Rain Books in Order
River of Rain is C.E. Ricci’s debut series. It follows college football player River Lennox and Ciaráin “Rain” Grady through an intense enemies-to-lovers relationship involving trauma, addiction, family conflict, sexuality, and romantic suspense.
The two principal novels tell one continuous story. They should not be read as standalones.
1. Follow the River
Follow the River (2020): Openly bisexual college quarterback River Lennox meets hostile and secretive Ciaráin Grady, whose immediate hatred gradually develops into a consuming attraction.
River initially views Rain as another challenge he can overcome. Forced proximity and dangerous circumstances expose the trauma beneath Rain’s anger, but their increasingly toxic bond leaves both men vulnerable.
This book contains the beginning of their relationship and ends before their complete story is resolved.
2. After Rain Falls
After Rain Falls (2021): River and Rain attempt to survive the consequences of the first book while an old betrayal and a revenge-driven threat place their relationship and future in danger.
Rain must confront the person he once trusted most, while both men struggle with choices involving love, hate, loyalty, and survival.
Read it directly after Follow the River. It completes the main duet.
2.5. Rivain
Rivain (2022): River and Rain return several years into their happy ending for a Christmas novella involving marriage, professional football, jealousy, and miscommunication.
The title combines their names and serves as a later relationship update rather than a third full-length novel.
Status: Optional sequel novella
Read it only after After Rain Falls.
River of Rain Complete Edition
River of Rain: The Complete Duet: This collected edition contains Follow the River and After Rain Falls in one volume.
Some special editions may contain redesigned covers, interior artwork, or bonus material. They do not create additional positions in the order.
Rivain may still need to be obtained separately, depending on the edition.
Leighton U Books in Order
Leighton U is a five-book college sports romance series set primarily at Leighton University in Chicago.
The series includes hockey, football, baseball, roommates, rivals, stepbrothers, fake dating, and friendships that become romantic. Every book follows a different couple and can be understood alone.
Publication order is recommended because roommates, teammates, friends, and previous couples continue appearing throughout the series.
1. Iced Out
Iced Out (2022): Hockey rivals Oakley Reed and Quinton de Haas become teammates, then begin sleeping together after noticing that their encounters appear to coincide with victories.
Oakley is the team’s golden boy, while Quinton is treated as its black sheep. Their arrangement is supposed to serve the team, but rivalry and superstition gradually give way to a relationship neither expected.
This is the best introduction to Leighton University and its connected athletes.
2. Caught Stealing
Caught Stealing (2023): Phoenix tries to stop campus playboy Holden Sykes from pursuing his best friend, only for their escalating prank war to expose Phoenix’s own unresolved attraction to Holden.
Holden is known for one-time encounters and avoiding attachment. Phoenix has personal reasons to distrust him, making the choice between loyalty and love especially difficult.
The book includes returning Leighton U characters but resolves Phoenix and Holden’s romance.
3. Fair Catch
Fair Catch (2024): Hayes Lancaster reluctantly takes football player Kason Fuller as a roommate and attempts to solve their constant friction by helping the inexperienced athlete find dates.
Kason’s presence initially disrupts Hayes’s food, sleep, and privacy. Their ceasefire develops into intimacy once Hayes recognizes that he no longer wants Kason spending his time with anyone else.
This is a roommates-to-lovers romance involving football, forced proximity, and an inexperienced hero.
4. Playing Dirty
Playing Dirty (2025): Baseball rivals Theo Greyson and Madden Hastings become stepbrothers, placing their long-running hostility inside the same newly blended family.
A competitive game of capture the flag pushes their rivalry into increasingly personal territory. Their attraction creates both family complications and consequences for their athletic lives.
Read it after Fair Catch for the intended Leighton U social context.
5. Fake Shot
Fake Shot (2026): NHL-bound goaltender Camden Steele needs academic help and an improvement to his playboy reputation, while his roommate Logan has reasons to need a pretend boyfriend.
They create a fake-dating arrangement with rules intended to protect them. Tutoring sessions and shared secrets reveal that the apparent opposites understand each other more deeply than expected.
This is the fifth and final Leighton U romance.
The Best Leighton U Reading Order
Read:
- Iced Out
- Caught Stealing
- Fair Catch
- Playing Dirty
- Fake Shot
The central romances stand alone, but order preserves friendships, team changes, and earlier couples’ appearances.
Readers beginning with a later book should expect minor confirmation that previous couples remained together.
Leighton University Collections
Leighton University: Volume One
Leighton University: Volume One: This special collected edition packages part of the Leighton U series rather than adding a new couple.
Check the contents of the specific edition before buying it alongside individual paperbacks.
Special and Alternate Editions
Alternate covers, website exclusives, signed editions, and illustrated editions contain the same central novels.
They should not be counted as separate books.
Reckless Games Books in Order
Reckless Games follows college-aged men whose friendships and rivalries turn romantic through dares, games, secrets, and challenges.
The books share one universe but feature different couples.
1. Don’t You Dare
Don’t You Dare (2022): Best friends Keene and Aspen share a kiss during a party dare, causing both men to reconsider the straight identities and platonic boundaries they previously accepted.
Keene begins creating increasingly intimate dares because he cannot stop thinking about Aspen. Each new challenge risks the friendship while bringing them closer to admitting what has changed.
This is a friends-to-lovers college baseball romance with a double bisexual awakening.
2. Never Will I Ever
Never Will I Ever (2025): Two men with a difficult shared history are pushed into another emotionally reckless game, forcing one of them toward the person he once promised himself he would never love.
The romance follows a new couple and builds on connections established around Don’t You Dare.
Read the series in order for the clearest understanding of the friendships and returning characters.
Is Reckless Games Connected to Leighton U?
Yes, but the connection is loose rather than mandatory.
Don’t You Dare takes place at Foltyn College in Portland, while Leighton U is based in Chicago. The author has described the books as occupying the same wider universe, allowing characters to cross between stories.
The series can still be read separately:
- Complete Reckless Games in its own order
- Complete Leighton U in its own order
- Treat crossover appearances as bonuses
There is no confirmed chronological arrangement requiring the two series to be interwoven.
Enclave Books in Order
Enclave was introduced as a darker romantic suspense series involving wealth, corruption, secret societies, and inherited power.
Only one published book has been confirmed.
1. These Vile Secrets
These Vile Secrets (2021): An heir connected to the secretive Enclave joins the organization to uncover the truth behind the lies and corruption that shaped his life.
His search brings him into conflict with a cold, wealthy man who appears to despise him but may be hiding secrets of his own.
The romance combines enemies-to-lovers tension, workplace proximity, substance abuse themes, and an investigation into a powerful brotherhood.
Status: Standalone series opener
No second Enclave novel had been announced with a confirmed title and publication date as of August 5, 2026.
Standalone C.E. Ricci Novels
Head Above Water
Head Above Water (2021): Easton returns home after a devastating loss and is reunited with his estranged stepbrother Cannon, the man he has desired despite believing he can never have him.
Cannon is engaged and appears to have built a perfect life elsewhere. Grief forces the stepbrothers into close proximity, allowing them to repair their broken connection while creating a new relationship that could hurt everyone involved.
The book is a high-angst stepbrother romance involving grief, addiction, forbidden attraction, and emotional recovery.
Status: Separate continuity
Want You Still
Want You Still (2024): Two men whose love has survived separation, mistakes, and unfinished emotional history are forced to decide whether wanting each other is enough to rebuild what they lost.
C.E. Ricci coauthored the novel with Marley Valentine.
It is an adult queer romance centered on enduring attachment, vulnerability, and the possibility of reclaiming a relationship after significant pain.
Status: Coauthored standalone
Anthologies and Shorter Contributions
Heartless Heroes
Heartless Heroes (2022): This multi-author collection contains dark or morally complicated romance stories by several writers.
C.E. Ricci’s contribution does not create a new numbered series.
Status: Optional anthology
Anti-Valentine
Anti-Valentine (2023): This multi-author collection brings together romances that resist conventional Valentine’s Day expectations.
The stories are separate, and no other C.E. Ricci novel is required.
Status: Optional anthology
Anthology contributions may later appear in another format. Readers should check the table of contents before purchasing multiple editions.
C.E. Ricci Books in Publication Order
This list counts original novels and individually available novellas, not alternate covers or combined editions.
2020
- Follow the River (2020): River and Rain move from hostility into a dangerous and emotionally consuming college relationship.
2021
- After Rain Falls (2021): River and Rain face the revenge, secrets, and consequences threatening their future.
- These Vile Secrets (2021): An Enclave heir investigates the corruption hidden inside a powerful secret society.
- Head Above Water (2021): Grief reunites estranged stepbrothers whose forbidden feelings have never disappeared.
2022
- Rivain (2022): River and Rain return as a married couple during a tense Christmas and football season.
- Iced Out (2022): Hockey rivals become teammates and then secret lovers when their encounters appear to improve the team’s results.
- Don’t You Dare (2022): One party kiss turns two male best friends into increasingly daring romantic partners.
2023
- Caught Stealing (2023): Phoenix’s attempt to protect his best friend from Holden becomes a prank-filled path toward his own romance.
2024
- Fair Catch (2024): Hayes reluctantly houses inexperienced football player Kason and develops feelings while arranging dates for him.
- Want You Still (2024): Two men confront the enduring love and pain left by an unfinished relationship.
2025
- Playing Dirty (2025): Baseball rivals become stepbrothers and discover that their hostility conceals attraction.
- Never Will I Ever (2025): Another reckless game forces a new couple to confront feelings they intended to avoid.
2026
- Fake Shot (2026): Camden and Logan exchange tutoring and reputation help through a fake relationship that becomes real.
Series Order Versus Career Publication Order
Reading every book by publication year is not necessary.
A career-wide order would interrupt River and Rain’s duet with unrelated suspense and standalone romances. It would also separate books that share campuses and friendship groups.
Series order works better because it:
- Keeps River and Rain’s continuing story together
- Introduces Leighton U athletes before their later appearances
- Preserves the Reckless Games friendships
- Separates standalones from books with continuing continuity
- Prevents collections and special editions from being counted twice
Recommended Reading Plans
For College Hockey Romance
Read all five Leighton U books in order.
Begin with Iced Out and finish with Fake Shot. This is C.E. Ricci’s longest completed series of interconnected standalones.
For High Angst
Read:
- Follow the River
- After Rain Falls
- Rivain
- Head Above Water
River of Rain and Head Above Water are separate continuities, but both contain heavier emotional and trauma-related material.
For Friendship and Games
Read:
- Don’t You Dare
- Never Will I Ever
This is the shortest completed series route.
For Darker Suspense
Read These Vile Secrets.
It stands alone as the only published Enclave novel, so readers should not expect a second installment before beginning it.
For a Single Independent Romance
Choose Head Above Water for forbidden stepbrother romance or Want You Still for a coauthored story about lasting love and reconciliation.
Latest C.E. Ricci Book
As of August 5, 2026, C.E. Ricci’s latest published novel is Fake Shot, released on April 4, 2026.
It is the fifth and final Leighton U book. The novel follows roommates Camden Steele and Logan through tutoring, reputation management, and a fake-dating arrangement.
The next publicly listed book is:
Switch It Up (Expected March 2027): The opening Campus Rivals novel will begin a new college sports romance series.
The title, series placement, and broad 2027 release window are listed, but final publication details may change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Was C.E. Ricci’s First Book?
Follow the River was published in 2020.
It begins the River of Rain duet and should be followed by After Rain Falls.
What Is the Best C.E. Ricci Book to Start With?
Start with Iced Out for interconnected college sports romance.
Choose Don’t You Dare for best friends discovering a new attraction, or Follow the River for a darker continuing duet.
Do the River of Rain Books Need to Be Read in Order?
Yes.
Follow the River and After Rain Falls tell one continuing romance and should be read consecutively.
Is Rivain a Third Full-Length River of Rain Book?
No.
It is a shorter Christmas sequel set after River and Rain’s main duet.
Are the Leighton U Books Standalones?
Each novel follows a different couple and resolves its central romance.
Publication order is still recommended because teammates, friends, roommates, and previous couples return.
Is Fake Shot the Final Leighton U Book?
Yes.
The official series contains five books, ending with Fake Shot.
Are Don’t You Dare and Never Will I Ever Connected?
Yes.
They form the Reckless Games series and follow different couples within the same wider college and friendship world.
Is Reckless Games Part of Leighton U?
The books occupy the same broader author universe, but they use different colleges and do not form one numbered sequence.
Read each series separately.
Do All C.E. Ricci Books Share a Universe?
The author allows characters to cross between stories, but not every book has a meaningful plot connection.
A cameo does not make an earlier novel required reading.
Is These Vile Secrets Part of a Complete Series?
It was published as Enclave book one.
No second Enclave book has been confirmed, so it should currently be approached as a standalone series opener.
Is Head Above Water Connected to River of Rain?
No confirmed continuing plot links the two stories.
Both are high-angst queer romances, but they follow different couples and circumstances.
Who Wrote Want You Still?
C.E. Ricci coauthored Want You Still with Marley Valentine.
It is separate from Leighton U and River of Rain.
Are the Alternate Covers Different Books?
No.
Original covers, alternate covers, website exclusives, signed editions, and special editions contain the same main stories.
What Is C.E. Ricci’s Next Book?
Switch It Up is listed as the first Campus Rivals book and is expected in March 2027.
Its date should remain provisional until publication.
Final Reading Order
For the most balanced introduction to C.E. Ricci, begin with Iced Out and complete all five Leighton U romances in publication order. The books change couples while maintaining a recognizable college sports community.
For a continuing emotional story, begin with Follow the River, continue immediately to After Rain Falls, and read Rivain as an optional later update.
Readers seeking a shorter route should begin with Don’t You Dare and follow it with Never Will I Ever. The Reckless Games books share a universe with the author’s other college romances, but they remain their own two-book sequence.
The central rule is simple: keep the River of Rain duet together, read Leighton U and Reckless Games by publication order, and treat standalones, collections, and alternate covers separately.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.