Renée Carlino Books in Order (Updated February 15, 2026)

This is for Renée Carlino the contemporary romance novelist and screenwriter (best known for emotionally driven, character-first love stories).

Most of her books are standalones, with one clear exception: the Sweet Thing duo, which is best read in order.

What to read first

• Safest “start anywhere” pick: Before We Were Strangers
• If you want her only direct series lane: Sweet Thing → Sweet Little Thing
• If you want her newest adult-relationship focus: This Used to Be Us

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The clean list in publication order (with a one-line hook for every book)

Sweet Thing books (read in order)

1. Sweet Thing (2013): A music-soaked New York romance where grief, art, and attraction pull two people into an uneven but real connection.
2. Sweet Little Thing (2014): A companion novella that returns to the Sweet Thing world for extra emotional context and closure.

Standalone novels (order is optional, but this preserves her publishing journey)

3. Nowhere But Here (2014): A reporter’s assignment in wine country turns into a slow, destabilizing love story with secrets in the background.
4. After the Rain (2014): A marriage in crisis meets a stranger at the wrong moment, and redemption starts in the aftermath.
5. Before We Were Strangers (2015): A missed-connection second chance forces two former loves to face what happened, and what still remains.
6. Swear on This Life (2016): A bestselling author is confronted by a story from her past, and the lines between fiction and first love start bleeding.
7. Lucian Divine (2017): A romantic mystery with a surreal edge where love feels inevitable, even when the rules feel bent.
8. Wish You Were Here (2017): A perfect night becomes a life detour when loss, truth, and timing rewrite what “meant to be” looks like.
9. Shopping for Love (2018): A fast, stylish contemporary romance where a personal reinvention collides with attraction to the wrong person.
10. Blind Kiss (2018): A marriage-on-the-brink romance where an unexpected connection forces hard honesty about love and identity.
11. The Last Post (2019): A grieving widow and an unexpected new love navigate what it means to move forward without erasing the past.
12. This Used to Be Us (2024): A long marriage unravels into divorce, and two people try to co-parent, start over, and make sense of what they became.

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Does chronological order matter here?

Not really. Outside the Sweet Thing duo, these are standalone continuities, so “chronological order” doesn’t add clarity. If you prefer a smoother author-voice progression, stick to publication order.

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A reader-tested “3-book sampler” path

If you want range without committing to the whole list:

1. Before We Were Strangers: Second-chance emotional centerpiece with a clean entry point.
2. Swear on This Life: Past-and-present structure with a stronger meta-fiction feel.
3. This Used to Be Us: Mature relationship realism with a newer, sharpened voice.

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Quick continuity warnings

• Sweet Little Thing is not a substitute for Sweet Thing. Read it after.
• Shopping for Love is a shorter, faster-format release; it reads differently from the full-length novels.
• The rest are separate stories, shared themes, not shared plots.

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Latest release status

• Latest confirmed novel: This Used to Be Us (2024).
• No reliably confirmed new title with a stable publication date showed up during this audit, so I’m not listing “upcoming” entries here.

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FAQs

Are any of these part of a larger connected universe?
Not in a way that affects comprehension. Think “standalones with similar emotional DNA,” not a shared-world order.

If I only want one book, which is the safest pick?
Before We Were Strangers: it’s a clean entry point and represents her style well.

Which one is best if I want something shorter?
Shopping for Love: it’s designed as a quicker read than the full-length novels.

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Bottom line

Start with Before We Were Strangers: A missed-connection second chance forces two former loves to face what happened, and what still remains. If you’d rather follow the one true sequence, read Sweet Thing first and then Sweet Little Thing.