Inglath Cooper Books in Order (Updated: July 18, 2026)

Inglath Cooper is an American author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Her stories frequently combine romance with family conflict, second chances, music, small-town life, travel, and characters rebuilding after loss.

Her bibliography has several distinct reading paths. The Nashville books form her longest continuing story, while Second Chance, Take Me There, and Smith Mountain Lake are shorter connected series. She has also written numerous standalone novels and contributed books to publisher-created collections.

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Reading order matters most for Nashville. The other series generally shift to a new central couple, but publication order still provides the clearest introductions and preserves recurring-character developments.

Where Should You Start?

The safest starting point is Ready to Reach, the first Nashville book. It introduces CeCe Mackenzie, Holden Ashford, Thomas Franklin, and the country-music world that supports Inglath Cooper’s largest series.

Readers looking for a shorter commitment have three strong alternatives:

Truths and Roses begins the three-book Second Chance series.
That Month in Tuscany begins the travel-centered Take Me There series.
Blue Wide Sky opens the Smith Mountain Lake novels.

For a completely independent story, And Then You Loved Me or Swerve can be read without preparation.

Nashville Books in Order

Continuity: Strongly connected series
Recommended order: Numbered order
Why order matters: Careers, romances, friendships, family relationships, and the history of the band Barefoot Outlook continue across multiple books.

The Nashville sequence follows young musicians trying to build careers in country music while managing love, ambition, fame, danger, and the personal costs of success.

Ready to Reach (2012): Nineteen-year-old CeCe Mackenzie heads toward Nashville with her guitar, her dog, and an unreliable car, only to meet aspiring musicians Holden Ashford and Thomas Franklin when her journey goes wrong.
Hammer and a Song (2013): CeCe, Holden, and Thomas continue chasing their music careers as outside hostility threatens both their growing professional hopes and the relationships forming among them.
What We Feel (2013): The members of Barefoot Outlook face the emotional consequences of their increasingly complicated friendships, forcing them to decide what they feel and what they are willing to risk.
Pleasure in the Rain (2013): Success does not remove the group’s personal problems, and the developing Nashville story turns toward recovery, commitment, and finding moments of happiness after upheaval.
Amazed (2014): Country star Thomas Franklin meets Lila Bellamy and begins to consider a lasting relationship after watching his closest friends build a life together.
Sweet Tea and Me (2014): The Nashville circle expands through another romance shaped by Southern roots, music-industry pressures, and the difficulty of balancing private relationships with public careers.
Commit (2014): Thomas prepares to build a future with Lila and her daughter, but commitment requires him to prove that fame and touring will not come before the family he wants.
R U Serious (2013): A romance develops within the wider Nashville world as questions of trust and sincerity test whether an unexpected relationship has a genuine future.
You, Me and a Palm Tree (2015): The series temporarily leaves Nashville for a warmer setting, using time away from ordinary pressures to examine love, choices, and the futures of familiar characters.
Not Without You (2015): CeCe and Holden confront the possibility of losing the life they have built, making this an important continuation of the original couple’s story rather than an isolated romance.
The Tour (2026): CeCe returns to life on the road for a four-week concert tour with Holden and the Nashville family, where travel, difficult choices, and reminders of life’s uncertainty reshape the group.
Second Verse (2026): Struggling musician Tucker Hayes saves rising singer Emory Caldwell during a crisis, bringing him into Holden’s new record-label plans and into a slow-building romance marked by grief, secrets, and second chances.

The Correct Nashville Reading Order

Read the series exactly as numbered, even though some original publication dates appear out of sequence in retailer records.

R U Serious, for example, may display an earlier publication year than several books placed before it. Its official position is still Book 8, so moving it forward based only on date would disrupt the intended sequence.

Can The Tour Be Read Alone?

The Tour depends heavily on the established Nashville cast. It revisits CeCe, Holden, and their extended music family after the events of the earlier books.

New readers should begin with Ready to Reach. Those returning after Book 10 can continue directly into The Tour.

Can Second Verse Be a Starting Point?

Second Verse introduces a new central couple and has been presented as accessible to readers who are new to Nashville. Tucker and Emory’s romance can therefore serve as an alternative entry point.

However, Holden, CeCe, Thomas, and the existing Nashville history remain important. Reading Books 1-11 first provides fuller context for the record-label storyline and returning characters.

Second Chance Books in Order

Continuity: Loosely interconnected small-town romances
Recommended order: Publication order
Series length: Three books

The Second Chance series is built around people returning to places, relationships, or futures they once believed were closed to them.

Truths and Roses (2012): Former professional football player Will Kincaid returns to a life he did not expect after his career ends, where first love and long-held secrets force him to reconsider his past.
Good Guys Love Dogs (2013): Single father Ian McKinley moves his troubled teenage son from New York City to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, where a new community and an unexpected romance offer both of them another chance.
Down a Country Road (2013): Image consultant Grier McAllister reluctantly returns to Timbell Creek for a professional assignment and finds herself reassessing her mother, her hometown, and her attraction to an old boyfriend’s brother.

Jane Austen Girl and Down a Country Road

Jane Austen Girl is an alternate title for Down a Country Road. They are not separate novels and should not be read twice when completing the series.

Some catalogs associate the book with Timbell Creek because that is its setting. For practical reading purposes, it occupies the third position in the Second Chance sequence.

Do the Second Chance Books Need to Be Read in Order?

The romances are sufficiently self-contained for selective reading. Each book centers on a different relationship and reaches its own resolution.

Publication order remains preferable because it keeps the small-town context and any returning characters in their intended sequence.

Take Me There Books in Order

Continuity: Thematically connected travel romances
Recommended order: Publication order
Series length: Three books

Take Me There places characters at personal crossroads in destination settings. The books share an interest in travel, reinvention, and relationships that become possible away from ordinary routines.

That Month in Tuscany (2014): Neglected wife Lizzy Harper travels to Italy without her husband and unexpectedly connects with burned-out rock star Ren Sawyer, forcing her to reconsider the life she has accepted.
That Birthday in Barbados (2019): Divorced businesswoman Catherine Camilleri escapes to Barbados for her fortieth birthday, where former Wall Street professional Anders Walker challenges her assumptions about rejection, work, and starting again.
That Weekend in Paris (2020): Songwriter Dillon Blake travels to Paris hoping to sign country star Klein Matthews away from her unfaithful husband’s company, only to confront the attraction she once refused to act upon.

Is Rock Her a Separate Book?

No. Rock Her is an alternate title associated with That Month in Tuscany.

Readers should treat the two names as the same story rather than as Books 1 and 2.

Must Take Me There Be Read in Order?

Not strictly. Each novel follows a different central relationship and destination.

Publication order is still the cleanest arrangement because it reflects the official series numbering. Readers interested in a particular location may choose that book without becoming lost.

Smith Mountain Lake Books in Order

Continuity: Connected lake-community romances
Recommended order: Publication order
Series status: Four novels

The Smith Mountain Lake books follow relationships rooted in a Virginia lake community. The setting, families, old history, and returning characters create more continuity than the individual book premises may initially suggest.

Blue Wide Sky (2015): Gabby Hayden remembers the summer she fell for Sam Tatum at Smith Mountain Lake, beginning a story about first love, separation, and feelings that survive the passage of time.
Dragonfly Summer (2015): Another relationship develops around the lake as characters face family responsibilities, emotional wounds, and the possibility of building a different future.
Fences (2017): The community’s story continues through characters whose emotional defenses have become barriers, making trust and forgiveness central to the romance.
The Strawberry Field (2025): Dr. Sawyer Berkley retreats from New York to the lake house left by her parents after a devastating medical crisis destroys her confidence in her work and her sense of purpose.

What Is Back to Smith Mountain Lake?

Back to Smith Mountain Lake is a collected edition rather than an additional novel. It gathers previously published books from the series.

A collection does not create a new reading position. Readers should follow the individual sequence from Blue Wide Sky onward.

Where Does The Strawberry Field Belong?

The Strawberry Field is Smith Mountain Lake Book 4. It was published years after the first three novels but returns to the same series setting.

Readers can understand its central story independently, though completing the earlier lake books first gives better familiarity with the community.

Inglath Cooper Standalone Novels

These books do not belong to the four main series. They can be read in any order unless an alternate title or publisher-collection note says otherwise.

The Last Good Man

The Last Good Man (1997): A relationship develops around a man whose character and responsibilities place him at the center of a family-focused contemporary romance.

This novel was published as part of the multi-author Family Man line. Its series placement reflects the publisher’s collection, not an ongoing Inglath Cooper continuity.

A Woman Like Annie

A Woman Like Annie (2003): A woman carrying difficult personal history confronts the possibility of trust, belonging, and a relationship that challenges the life she has built.

The book was issued within the multi-author Hometown U.S.A. collection. Other books in that collection are not required.

John Riley’s Girl

John Riley’s Girl (2004): A past relationship and an emotionally complicated return force the central characters to decide whether an old love deserves a new future.

The novel won the RITA Award for Best Long Contemporary Romance. It also appeared within the multi-author Going Back line, but it functions as a complete story.

Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business (2004): Returning obligations and unresolved personal history bring two people together in a small-town romance about parenthood, responsibility, and unfinished emotional ties.

It was published as Book 7 in the multi-author Single Father collection. The number does not make six earlier Inglath Cooper books required reading.

The Lost Daughter of Pigeon Hollow

The Lost Daughter of Pigeon Hollow (2005): Willa Addison runs her late mother’s diner and cares for her younger sister until a stranger arrives with information about the father she believed was dead.

Family secrets drive the plot, while the new arrival forces Willa to reconsider both her history and the future she has accepted.

A Year and a Day

A Year and a Day (2005): Audrey Colby’s privileged life conceals danger and confinement, drawing former prosecutor Nicholas Wakefield into a protective relationship shaped by escape and survival.

The novel stands alone and leans more heavily into danger and emotional suspense than Cooper’s travel romances.

A Man to Believe In

A Man to Believe In (2006): A woman whose trust has been damaged meets a man who may offer stability, but belief in another person requires her to confront the experiences that made trust difficult.

Some catalogs connect this title with The Lost Daughter of Pigeon Hollow. Because the relationship is inconsistently presented, it is safest to treat it as a separate novel rather than an essential sequel.

A Gift of Grace

A Gift of Grace (2006): Caleb Tucker encounters Sophie Owens and a child whose appearance connects them to a painful decision he made after his wife’s death.

The romance is built around grief, parenthood, forgiveness, and a secret capable of changing more than one family.

A Woman with Secrets

A Woman with Secrets (2006): A woman attempting to protect the life she has built must decide whether revealing her past will destroy her chance at love or finally allow her to move forward.

The book has also been marketed with a Caribbean second-chance-romance subtitle, but it remains the same core novel.

Mayor of Macon’s Point

Mayor of Macon’s Point (2013): A small-town leader faces a romance complicated by civic responsibilities, community expectations, and personal choices that cannot remain private.

This is a standalone community romance rather than part of the Second Chance or Smith Mountain Lake series.

And Then You Loved Me

And Then You Loved Me (2014): Becca Miller gave up the boy she loved to protect her sister, but Matt Griffith’s return to Ballard County eighteen years later forces her to revisit that sacrifice.

The novel is a second-chance romance shaped by family loyalty, old decisions, and the question of whether love can survive years of separation.

Crossing Tinker’s Knob

Crossing Tinker’s Knob is an alternate title for And Then You Loved Me. It should not be placed elsewhere in the reading order as a separate book.

Some catalogs shorten the alternate wording to Tinker’s Knob. These entries generally refer to the same novel.

The Heart That Breaks

The Heart That Breaks (2017): High-school student Ann-Elizabeth tries to hold her difficult life together until graduation and an escape to Nashville, but a connection with aspiring songwriter Nathan Hanson complicates her plans.

The Nashville destination creates a thematic connection with Cooper’s music-centered fiction, but the novel is not officially numbered within the main Nashville series.

Swerve

Swerve (2018): Psychiatrist Emory Benson searches for her missing teenage sister with the help of former Navy SEAL and detective Knox Helmer after a music festival ends in an abduction.

This is a romantic-suspense novel with a darker criminal plot. It is independent of Cooper’s small-town and destination-romance series.

A Dog Named Nate

A Dog Named Nate (2020): A dog becomes the point of connection in a relationship shaped by rescue, companionship, and the ways animals can redirect damaged or isolated lives.

The novel reflects Cooper’s recurring interest in animal rescue but does not continue Good Guys Love Dogs.

Inglath Cooper Novellas and Shorter Works

My Italian Lover

My Italian Lover (2015): An Italy-set romance follows an intimate relationship formed away from ordinary life, using travel and temporary escape as the setting for emotional change.

The novella is separate from That Month in Tuscany. Similar locations do not make it a numbered Take Me There installment.

Alternate Titles You Should Not Count Twice

Several Inglath Cooper books appear under more than one name. These duplicate listings can make the bibliography look larger than it is.

Down a Country Road is also known as Jane Austen Girl.
That Month in Tuscany has also been listed as Rock Her.
And Then You Loved Me has also been published as Crossing Tinker’s Knob.
Crossing Tinker’s Knob may be shortened in some listings to Tinker’s Knob.

Choose the edition you prefer, but count each pair as one novel.

Boxed Sets, Omnibuses, and Collections

Collected editions contain previously published material and should not be inserted as new stories.

Nashville Collections

Nashville Books 1-4: Collects the opening portion of CeCe, Holden, Thomas, and Barefoot Outlook’s story.

Nashville: Boxed Set: Packages multiple Nashville installments without changing their internal order.

Nashville: Books 1-10: Collects the original ten-book run that ended with Not Without You.

These editions are useful for convenience, but readers should still follow the numbered sequence inside each set.

Back to Smith Mountain Lake

Back to Smith Mountain Lake (2019): A collection of earlier Smith Mountain Lake romances rather than a new chapter in the series.

Big Love in a Small Town

Big Love in a Small Town (2017): An omnibus bringing together previously released small-town romance material.

A Woman’s Best Friend

A Woman’s Best Friend (2020): A dog-centered multi-book collection that includes previously published fiction rather than a new standalone novel.

From Here to Maternity

From Here to Maternity (2006): A multi-author omnibus featuring stories by Inglath Cooper, Tara Taylor Quinn, and Karen Rose Smith.

Only Cooper’s included work belongs to her bibliography. The volume as a whole is not a connected Inglath Cooper series.

Inglath Cooper Books in Publication Order

The following list gives a practical publication chronology for the principal individual works. Dates can vary between original editions, reissues, and independently published versions.

The Last Good Man (1997): A family-centered romance about responsibility, character, and the possibility of lasting love.
A Woman Like Annie (2003): A guarded woman confronts the risks of trust and belonging in a complete small-town romance.
John Riley’s Girl (2004): An old relationship returns, forcing two people to reconsider the past and the future they might still share.
Unfinished Business (2004): Family obligations and unresolved history shape a second-chance small-town romance.
The Lost Daughter of Pigeon Hollow (2005): A diner owner receives information that overturns what she believed about her absent father.
A Year and a Day (2005): A woman trying to escape a dangerous life becomes connected to a former prosecutor who recognizes the threat around her.
A Man to Believe In (2006): Trust becomes the central obstacle in a romance involving a woman whose past has made belief difficult.
A Gift of Grace (2006): A widower’s painful decision resurfaces when he meets a woman and child linked to his family history.
A Woman with Secrets (2006): Hidden history threatens a woman’s chance to build a secure relationship and a different life.
Ready to Reach (2012): CeCe Mackenzie meets Holden and Thomas while traveling to Nashville to pursue music.
Truths and Roses (2012): An injured former football player returns to unfinished love and life-changing secrets.
Hammer and a Song (2013): The Nashville musicians’ dreams face new personal and professional threats.
What We Feel (2013): Barefoot Outlook’s developing relationships become harder to separate from the group’s ambitions.
Pleasure in the Rain (2013): The Nashville cast searches for stability after setbacks complicate their progress.
R U Serious (2013): Trust and emotional sincerity drive another romance within the Nashville world.
Good Guys Love Dogs (2013): A father relocates with his troubled son and discovers the possibility of love in a Virginia town.
Down a Country Road (2013): Grier returns reluctantly to her hometown and reconnects with family, place, and unexpected love.
Mayor of Macon’s Point (2013): Public responsibility and private emotion collide in a community-centered romance.
Amazed (2014): Thomas Franklin falls for Lila and begins imagining a family beyond the band.
Sweet Tea and Me (2014): Southern identity and music-industry life shape another relationship in the Nashville circle.
Commit (2014): Thomas must demonstrate that his commitment to Lila and her daughter can survive fame.
That Month in Tuscany (2014): An overlooked wife meets a weary rock star while traveling through Italy without her husband.
And Then You Loved Me (2014): Former lovers meet again eighteen years after a family sacrifice separated them.
My Italian Lover (2015): A shorter Italy-set romance uses travel as the setting for intimacy and personal change.
Blue Wide Sky (2015): A youthful Smith Mountain Lake love becomes the foundation for a story about lasting attachment.
Dragonfly Summer (2015): Another lake romance develops amid family responsibility and emotional recovery.
You, Me and a Palm Tree (2015): Familiar Nashville characters face romantic choices away from their usual surroundings.
Not Without You (2015): CeCe and Holden’s established life is tested by the prospect of serious loss.
Fences (2017): Emotional barriers and old wounds complicate another relationship at Smith Mountain Lake.
The Heart That Breaks (2017): A teenager planning to escape to Nashville connects with a classmate who shares her interest in songwriting.
Swerve (2018): A psychiatrist and former Navy SEAL search for two abducted teenagers.
That Birthday in Barbados (2019): A divorced executive marks her fortieth birthday with a trip that becomes a personal turning point.
That Weekend in Paris (2020): A songwriter’s business plan is complicated by her attraction to the country star she hopes to sign.
A Dog Named Nate (2020): An animal-centered story explores rescue, connection, and lives redirected by companionship.
The Strawberry Field (2025): A physician retreats to Smith Mountain Lake after professional trauma destroys her confidence.
The Tour (2026): CeCe joins Holden and the Nashville family for four weeks on the road.
Second Verse (2026): A struggling songwriter and a rising singer find connection through a rescue, a shared song, and Holden’s new record label.

Latest Inglath Cooper Book

As of July 18, 2026, the newest released Inglath Cooper title is The Tour, Nashville Book 11.

The Tour (2026): CeCe returns to touring with Holden and their extended Nashville family, finding that the most important changes occur between concerts rather than onstage.

The book was released during the week of July 13-17, 2026. It marks the author’s return to the Nashville series after the original ten-book sequence concluded in 2015.

Next Inglath Cooper Book

Second Verse is listed for August 2026 as Nashville Book 12.

Second Verse (2026): Homeless aspiring musician Tucker Hayes saves singer Emory Caldwell during a medical crisis and is drawn into both her life and Holden Ashford’s developing record label.

Because the release is still upcoming as of July 18, 2026, publication details may change. It should remain after The Tour in the Nashville reading order.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Nashville books has Inglath Cooper written?

Twelve Nashville books are currently identified, including The Tour and Second Verse.

As of July 18, 2026, The Tour has been released and Second Verse is scheduled for August 2026.

Do the Nashville books need to be read in order?

Yes. Nashville is a continuing character and relationship saga rather than a collection of unrelated romances.

Beginning in the middle can reveal couples, career achievements, family developments, and major events from earlier books.

What is the first Inglath Cooper book?

The Last Good Man, published in 1997, is the earliest novel consistently listed in her bibliography.

For modern readers looking for her main continuing series, Ready to Reach is the more useful starting point.

What is Inglath Cooper’s most popular starting point?

That Month in Tuscany is one of her most widely recognized standalone-friendly books.

However, readers who intend to explore her complete connected work should begin Nashville with Ready to Reach.

Is That Month in Tuscany a standalone?

Its central story can be read independently, but it is officially the first book in the Take Me There series.

The later books follow different couples, so there is no cliffhanger requiring immediate continuation.

Is Down a Country Road the same as Jane Austen Girl?

Yes. They are alternate titles for the same novel.

It belongs in the third position of the Second Chance series and should only be counted once.

Is Crossing Tinker’s Knob a separate book?

No. It is an alternate title for And Then You Loved Me.

Is Rock Her a separate book?

No. It is an alternate title associated with That Month in Tuscany.

Are the Smith Mountain Lake books standalones?

They follow different central stories but share a setting and series continuity.

Reading them in order provides the clearest understanding of the lake community and recurring connections.

Are Inglath Cooper’s publisher-series books connected?

Books such as The Last Good Man, A Woman Like Annie, John Riley’s Girl, and Unfinished Business were placed in multi-author publishing lines.

Those lines do not create a single Inglath Cooper universe. Each of her contributions can be read independently.

What is the best Inglath Cooper series for new readers?

Choose Nashville for a long-running country-music saga, Second Chance for small-town romance, Take Me There for destination stories, or Smith Mountain Lake for a connected Virginia setting.

The most complete introduction to her recurring characters is Ready to Reach.

Final Reading Recommendation

Begin with Ready to Reach and follow Nashville in numbered order through The Tour. Continue with Second Verse after its scheduled August 2026 publication.

For a shorter route, read the three Second Chance books beginning with Truths and Roses, or the four Smith Mountain Lake books beginning with Blue Wide Sky.

Readers who prefer independent stories should start with That Month in Tuscany, And Then You Loved Me, or Swerve. Whichever route you choose, treat alternate titles as duplicate editions and keep boxed sets outside the main count.

Frank

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Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.

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