J. Sterling is the pen name of Jenn Sterling, a contemporary romance author best known for baseball players, close-knit brothers, celebrities, holiday encounters, and couples whose relationships continue beyond the first happy ending.
Her bibliography is divided into several independent worlds. The Perfect Game is the only series that follows one central couple through multiple full-length novels and must be read in order. The Boys of Baseball, Fisher Brothers, Celebrity, Sugar Mountain, and Fun for the Holidays books change couples and are more flexible.
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The simplest entry point is The Perfect Game for sports romance, No Bad Days for a family series, Seeing Stars for celebrity romance, or Worth the Fall for small-town romance.
A Fast Tour of J. Sterling’s Books
J. Sterling’s main reading shelves are:
- The Perfect Game: One continuing baseball relationship, followed by a companion novel.
- The Boys of Baseball: Three connected baseball romances with different couples.
- Fisher Brothers: Three brothers, their romances, and a family follow-up.
- Celebrity: Actors, public attention, and relationships complicated by fame.
- Sugar Mountain: A completed small-town trilogy centered on the O’Grady family and their mountain resort.
- Fun for the Holidays: Twelve independent romances, one for each month of the year.
- The Playboy Serial: One story originally released in three parts and now available as a complete edition.
Her remaining novels are standalones and can be read in any order.
Where Should New Readers Start?
Start with The Perfect Game when you want J. Sterling’s best-known baseball story and do not mind following the same couple through several books.
Start with The Ninth Inning when you want baseball romance with a new couple in every installment.
Start with No Bad Days for beach-town romance and three closely connected brothers.
Start with Seeing Stars for an ordinary woman falling for a famous actor.
Start with Worth the Fall for a modern small-town series with family and resort connections.
Start with Kissing My Co-Worker for a brief workplace romance that requires no larger commitment.
The Perfect Game Books in Order
The Perfect Game follows college baseball star Jack Carter and photography student Cassie Andrews. Their relationship develops through attraction, betrayal, professional baseball, marriage, and the lasting consequences of choices made early in the series.
These books are not interchangeable standalones. The author specifically identifies the series as one that must be read in order.
1. The Perfect Game
The Perfect Game (2012): College baseball star Jack Carter pursues Cassie Andrews, a photography student who has strong reasons to distrust charming athletes and the promises they make.
Jack is accustomed to winning both games and attention. Cassie forces him to earn her trust, establishing a relationship whose weaknesses become as important as its intense beginning.
2. The Game Changer
The Game Changer (2013): Jack and Cassie attempt to rebuild their relationship after betrayal and professional baseball expose how little love can accomplish without honesty and accountability.
The second novel directly continues the consequences of The Perfect Game. Reading it first would reveal the opening book’s major conflict and romantic outcome.
3. The Sweetest Game
The Sweetest Game (2013): Jack and Cassie move toward marriage and a shared future while baseball, public attention, and the damage from their past continue to affect their relationship.
This book completes the principal Jack and Cassie trilogy. It focuses on what happens after reconciliation, when a couple must prove that lasting commitment is different from simply choosing each other again.
4. The Other Game
The Other Game (2020): Dean Carter receives his own story, revealing another perspective on the Carter family and the relationships surrounding Jack and Cassie.
The novel works as a companion to the original trilogy rather than a fourth stage of Jack and Cassie’s romance. Read it last because it assumes familiarity with the family and earlier outcomes.
The Correct Perfect Game Order
- The Perfect Game
- The Game Changer
- The Sweetest Game
- The Other Game
Publication order and recommended order are the same.
The first three books form one continuous romantic arc. The Other Game changes focus, but it belongs after the trilogy because of its family connections.
Do The Perfect Game Books End with the Same Couple?
The first three books follow Jack and Cassie.
Their relationship does not reset between novels. Mistakes, reconciliations, career decisions, and family developments carry directly forward.
The Other Game shifts attention to Dean Carter while remaining inside the same family continuity.
The Boys of Baseball Books in Order
The Boys of Baseball is a separate sports-romance trilogy. It follows different players and couples, allowing each book to reach its own romantic conclusion.
The baseball setting and recurring character network connect the novels. Publication order gives the cleanest introduction to the players and their relationships.
1. The Ninth Inning
The Ninth Inning (2021): A professional baseball player faces a relationship that becomes most important when his career and personal life reach a decisive final stretch.
The novel introduces the players and friendship circle supporting the trilogy. It is the safest starting point even though each romance is structurally complete.
2. Behind the Plate
Behind the Plate (2021): A catcher or team-connected hero enters a romance shaped by the private pressures hidden behind professional baseball’s public image.
The second book widens the team circle and includes updates on the opening couple, making publication order more rewarding than choosing the books at random.
3. Safe at First
Safe at First (2022): A baseball romance develops around trust, emotional safety, and the difficult decision to risk an established life for a relationship that may become permanent.
This final installment completes the published Boys of Baseball trilogy and revisits the wider player group created in the first two novels.
Is Boys of Baseball Connected to The Perfect Game?
Both series feature baseball, but they are presented as separate reading groups.
Readers do not need to complete Jack and Cassie’s story before beginning The Ninth Inning. The shared sport reflects J. Sterling’s recurring interests rather than creating one mandatory baseball chronology.
The Fisher Brothers Books in Order
The Fisher Brothers series follows a close family of brothers whose romantic lives repeatedly overlap. The books combine beach-town settings, sibling loyalty, workplace connections, and men whose reputations are not always reliable guides to their private behavior.
The first three books focus on individual brothers. Happy Ending returns to the established family.
1. No Bad Days
No Bad Days (2016): A woman trying to enjoy a new beginning becomes involved with a Fisher brother whose relaxed exterior hides a more complicated approach to love and commitment.
The book introduces the brothers, their family dynamic, and the coastal lifestyle that carries through the series.
2. Guy Hater
Guy Hater (2017): A woman tired of disappointing men becomes attracted to another Fisher brother, forcing her to decide whether his family reputation makes him another mistake or an exception.
Earlier characters remain active around the central romance, so the second book has more context after No Bad Days.
3. Adios Pantalones
Adios Pantalones (2017): The third Fisher brother’s romance combines humor, attraction, and the emotional consequences of a man whose playful image makes serious intentions difficult to believe.
The novel completes the three principal brother romances and openly reflects changes created by the earlier books.
4. Happy Ending
Happy Ending (2018): The Fisher family returns for a follow-up that revisits the brothers, their partners, and the futures built after their individual romances.
This is a reunion and continuation, not the recommended series introduction. Read it after Adios Pantalones to avoid learning every earlier outcome in advance.
Fisher Brothers Reading Rule
Use this order:
- No Bad Days
- Guy Hater
- Adios Pantalones
- Happy Ending
The individual romances can be understood separately, but Happy Ending should always remain last.
The Celebrity Books in Order
The Celebrity series follows relationships complicated by actors, entertainment careers, intrusive media, and the divide between public images and private behavior.
Each novel follows a different central couple. Recurring characters and the entertainment-world setting make publication order preferable.
1. Seeing Stars
Seeing Stars (2014): An ordinary woman meets a famous actor and discovers that dating the person behind a carefully managed celebrity image brings attention and complications she never wanted.
The book establishes the entertainment circle and the tension between genuine intimacy and public ownership of a celebrity’s life.
2. Breaking Stars
Breaking Stars (2015): A celebrity relationship begins under pressure from fame, reputation, and the kind of public scrutiny capable of breaking trust before a couple can build it.
The second book expands the series beyond the opening couple while retaining familiar entertainment-world connections.
3. Losing Stars
Losing Stars (2018): A character whose life has been shaped by celebrity faces personal or professional loss and must determine what remains when fame can no longer protect the future.
The final novel completes the Celebrity trilogy through another self-contained romance while revisiting the world established in the first two books.
Celebrity Series Reading Verdict
Read Seeing Stars, Breaking Stars, and Losing Stars in order.
The plots do not form one continuing mystery or cliffhanger-driven storyline. Order matters mainly for supporting appearances and the natural expansion of the celebrity circle.
Sugar Mountain Books in Order
Sugar Mountain is a completed small-town trilogy set around the O’Grady family and its mountain resort.
The books combine family loyalty, returning home, old attraction, parenthood, and relationships developing inside a community where personal decisions quickly become family business.
1. Worth the Fall
Worth the Fall (2024): A romance at Sugar Mountain brings together two people carrying complicated histories, family responsibilities, and reasons to be cautious about trusting a new future.
The novel introduces the O’Grady family, the resort, and the small-town community that supports the next two romances.
2. Worth the Wait
Worth the Wait (2024): A long-delayed relationship finally receives a chance when two people must decide whether timing, grief, and family obligations have kept them apart long enough.
The second book continues the O’Grady family sequence and includes established characters from Worth the Fall.
3. Worth the Chase
Worth the Chase (2025): Former NHL player Matthew O’Grady returns to Sugar Mountain and pursues Bella Sanchez, his best friend’s sister and the woman who once hid a painful teenage crush on him.
Matthew wants to leave his playboy reputation behind and remain at his family’s resort. Bella refuses to believe that a man who once left town and never noticed her can now offer the lasting relationship she wants.
Sugar Mountain Reading Verdict
Read the trilogy in publication order:
- Worth the Fall
- Worth the Wait
- Worth the Chase
The romances follow different couples, but family developments continue across the series.
Worth the Chase is the third and final Sugar Mountain novel. It is also J. Sterling’s latest newly published full-length novel that could be reliably confirmed as of August 5, 2026.
Fun for the Holidays Books in Calendar Order
Fun for the Holidays contains twelve brief contemporary romances, with one story assigned to each month.
These books are true standalones. They do not create one continuous family, workplace, or town storyline, so readers can select any holiday or romantic premise without completing the previous months.
The official suggested order follows the calendar.
January: Kissing My Co-Worker
Kissing My Co-Worker (2021): Lily has secretly wanted her Rockline Studios colleague Declan for two years, but a strict workplace rule has kept her from acting until the company’s New Year’s Eve party changes their relationship.
This workplace romance opens the calendar with a long-standing crush finally moving beyond office fantasies.
February: Dumped for Valentine’s
Dumped for Valentine’s (2022): A Valentine’s breakup leaves the heroine facing the year’s most romantic holiday alone, only for the disaster to create room for a more promising connection.
The story uses public romantic expectations to show why losing the wrong relationship can become an unexpected advantage.
March: My Week with the Prince
My Week with the Prince (2022): A temporary encounter places an ordinary woman beside a prince, giving them one week to explore a relationship that may not fit either person’s permanent life.
Royal responsibilities and a fixed deadline make the romance emotionally riskier than its brief arrangement suggests.
April: Fools in Love
Fools in Love (2023): An April romance begins through a joke, misunderstanding, or plan that stops feeling foolish once genuine attraction becomes involved.
The story asks whether people who have been careless with love can recognize a real opportunity when it appears.
May: Spring’s Second Chance
Spring’s Second Chance (2023): Spring brings former partners or people with unfinished history together again, forcing them to decide whether personal change has made a renewed relationship possible.
The novella centers on rebuilding rather than pretending the first relationship never failed.
June: Don’t Marry Him
Don’t Marry Him (2023): A threatened wedding forces the heroine to confront whether she is about to marry the wrong man and whether the person objecting understands her future better than she does.
Manipulation, threats, and romantic urgency give this holiday-style standalone a more suspenseful edge than several lighter installments.
July: Summer Lovin’
Summer Lovin’ (2022): A summer relationship begins with temporary expectations but becomes difficult to leave behind when the central couple’s connection extends beyond the season.
The story uses vacation energy and limited time to test whether a warm-weather romance can survive ordinary life.
August: Flirting with Sunshine
Flirting with Sunshine (2023): Two people carrying grief and painful relationship histories meet under summer sunshine and discover that moving forward does not require forgetting the people or lives they lost.
The romance balances a bright seasonal setting with heavier themes involving bereavement, a fatal accident, and fear of loving again.
September: Falling for the Boss
Falling for the Boss (2022): Workplace conflict turns into attraction when a woman becomes involved with the boss she should avoid.
A difficult professional relationship, personal loss, and a hero carrying physical and emotional scars give the romance more depth than a simple forbidden-office setup.
October: Tricked by My Ex
Tricked by My Ex (2023): An ex-partner’s interference or deception creates an October romantic problem, forcing the heroine to separate unfinished history from the relationship she wants now.
The title’s seasonal trick becomes a test of trust rather than a reason to return automatically to the past.
November: The Thanksgiving Hookup
The Thanksgiving Hookup (2023): A holiday encounter begins as a limited physical connection but becomes harder to dismiss once family gatherings and emotional expectations enter the situation.
The novella places casual intentions beside a season centered on gratitude, home, and belonging.
December: Christmas with Saint
Christmas with Saint (2022): A Christmas romance brings the heroine together with a man known as Saint, whose name and behavior may not reveal the whole truth about what he wants.
Holiday obligations and an emotionally significant reunion or connection make the final calendar story suitable for readers seeking a brief festive romance.
Do Fun for the Holidays Books Need to Be Read in Order?
No.
The calendar order gives the collection a satisfying January-to-December progression, but the books do not depend on one another.
A reader interested only in summer romance can begin with Summer Lovin’ or Flirting with Sunshine. Readers wanting workplace stories can choose Kissing My Co-Worker or Falling for the Boss.
Current 2026 promotions have presented the full twelve-book set as a book-a-month experience. That is a renewed reading campaign for already published stories, not twelve newly written 2026 novels.
The Playboy Serial in Order
The Playboy was originally released as three short installments.
Current editions combine the complete serial into one volume, which is the simplest format for new readers.
Part One
The Playboy, Part One: A woman becomes involved with a man whose reputation suggests that exclusivity and emotional commitment are unlikely.
The opening installment establishes the attraction and the uncertainty surrounding his intentions.
Part Two
The Playboy, Part Two: The relationship deepens as the central characters confront jealousy, expectations, and the difference between casual behavior and genuine attachment.
This installment should not be read independently because it continues the same couple and unresolved conflict.
Part Three
The Playboy, Part Three: The couple reaches the final decision about whether the playboy identity can be abandoned and whether their relationship can survive what happened in the earlier installments.
The third part completes the serial.
Best Way to Read The Playboy
Read the complete combined edition whenever available.
It contains all three installments in their intended order and prevents the story from being mistaken for three separate romances.
J. Sterling Standalone Books
These novels do not require one of the author’s series.
Chance Encounters
Chance Encounters (2011): A chance meeting alters two lives and creates a relationship neither person could have planned through ordinary choices.
This is J. Sterling’s first published romance and can be read without any later series.
In Dreams
In Dreams (2011): Dreams, attraction, and a connection that feels larger than ordinary coincidence draw the central characters toward one another.
The novel has a more unusual or speculative romantic premise than Sterling’s later sports and family books.
10 Years Later
10 Years Later (2015): Former classmates reconnect a decade after high school and discover that adulthood has changed both the people they were and the feelings they once avoided.
The reunion forces them to compare old expectations with the lives they actually built.
Dear Heart, I Hate You
Dear Heart, I Hate You (2016): A woman becomes involved with a man despite recognizing that her own heart is leading her toward the kind of emotional risk she would prefer to avoid.
The novel focuses on the conflict between practical judgment and attachment that refuses to remain casual.
Bitter Rivals
Bitter Rivals (2018): Long-standing competition turns personal when two rivals discover that hostility and attraction have been developing beside each other.
The standalone uses conflict and history without requiring a larger family or sports continuity.
Standalone Reading Advice
The standalones can be read in any order.
Choose 10 Years Later for a reunion romance, Bitter Rivals for enemies-to-lovers tension, or Dear Heart, I Hate You for a relationship built around emotional resistance.
Chance Encounters is the best choice for readers interested in the beginning of J. Sterling’s publishing career.
Original Covers, Special Editions, and Bundles
J. Sterling sells alternate-cover and special editions of several books.
These editions contain stories already listed and should not be counted as separate novels.
Perfect Game Collections
The Perfect Game box set or bundle packages Jack and Cassie’s trilogy and may include The Other Game, depending on the edition.
Check the contents before purchasing it alongside individual books.
Boys of Baseball Original Covers
Original-cover editions of The Ninth Inning, Behind the Plate, and Safe at First contain the same novels as the current-cover editions.
They are collector formats, not additional baseball stories.
Celebrity Series Sets
Celebrity bundles and hardcover sets collect Seeing Stars, Breaking Stars, and Losing Stars.
No fourth Celebrity romance is added.
Sugar Mountain Bundle
The Sugar Mountain bundle contains Worth the Fall, Worth the Wait, and Worth the Chase.
It is the complete trilogy.
Fun for the Holidays Bundle
The holiday bundle contains all twelve calendar romances from Kissing My Co-Worker through Christmas with Saint.
Readers who own the individual books do not need the bundle for extra stories.
Is There One Chronological Order for Every J. Sterling Book?
No.
The Perfect Game, Boys of Baseball, Fisher Brothers, Celebrity, Sugar Mountain, and Fun for the Holidays books belong to different reading groups.
A single overall chronology would mix unrelated baseball teams, actors, brothers, mountain-resort families, and holiday couples.
Publication order matters most within The Perfect Game because Jack and Cassie’s story continues directly. The other series work best in their official listed order but do not require cross-series placement.
Recommended J. Sterling Reading Paths
For Baseball Romance
- The Perfect Game
- The Game Changer
- The Sweetest Game
- The Other Game
- The Ninth Inning
- Behind the Plate
- Safe at First
This is a genre route, not one confirmed shared timeline.
For Family and Small-Town Romance
- No Bad Days
- Guy Hater
- Adios Pantalones
- Happy Ending
- Worth the Fall
- Worth the Wait
- Worth the Chase
The Fisher and O’Grady families occupy separate continuities.
For Short Romance
Begin anywhere in Fun for the Holidays.
Follow the calendar from January through December for the full themed experience, or select a month and trope that appeal to you.
The complete edition of The Playboy is another suitable choice when you want one relationship told in shorter parts.
Latest J. Sterling Book
Worth the Chase (2025): Former NHL player Matthew O’Grady returns permanently to Sugar Mountain and tries to convince Bella Sanchez that he wants commitment rather than another temporary relationship.
It was published in April 2025 and completes the Sugar Mountain trilogy.
As of August 5, 2026, no later newly written J. Sterling novel with a reliably confirmed publication date could be verified. The author has been actively promoting and repackaging the twelve Fun for the Holidays books as a 2026 month-by-month reading experience, but those stories were originally published earlier.
Upcoming J. Sterling Books
No forthcoming J. Sterling title with a confirmed name and publication date could be verified as of August 5, 2026.
Placeholders, promotional rereleases, new cover editions, and seasonal campaigns should not be counted as new novels unless the author confirms that the story itself is new.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is J. Sterling’s First Book?
Chance Encounters (2011): A chance meeting changes the direction of two lives and creates an unexpected romance.
It is a standalone and does not begin one of Sterling’s later series.
What Is J. Sterling’s Most Popular Series?
The Perfect Game is her best-known series.
It follows Jack Carter and Cassie Andrews through college attraction, professional baseball, betrayal, reconciliation, and marriage.
Do The Perfect Game Books Need to Be Read in Order?
Yes.
The first three novels follow the same couple and carry unresolved relationship developments from one book into the next.
Can The Other Game Be Read Alone?
It changes focus to Dean Carter, but earlier family relationships remain important.
Read it after The Sweetest Game.
Are Boys of Baseball and The Perfect Game Connected?
They are separate series.
Both use baseball settings, but readers can begin The Ninth Inning without knowing Jack and Cassie.
How Many Boys of Baseball Books Are There?
There are three:
- The Ninth Inning
- Behind the Plate
- Safe at First
How Many Fisher Brothers Books Are There?
There are three principal brother romances and one follow-up:
- No Bad Days
- Guy Hater
- Adios Pantalones
- Happy Ending
Is Happy Ending a Standalone?
No.
It returns to the established Fisher brothers and their partners. Read it last.
How Many Celebrity Books Are There?
There are three:
- Seeing Stars
- Breaking Stars
- Losing Stars
How Many Sugar Mountain Books Are There?
There are three:
- Worth the Fall
- Worth the Wait
- Worth the Chase
The trilogy is complete.
Is Worth the Chase a Hockey Romance?
Its hero is a former NHL player, but the story is primarily a small-town and family romance set at Sugar Mountain.
No other hockey series needs to be read first.
How Many Fun for the Holidays Books Are There?
There are twelve, one for every month from January through December.
They are independent romances rather than one continuing story.
Can I Read Flirting with Sunshine First?
Yes.
It is an August-themed standalone and does not reveal the endings of the previous holiday books.
Were the Fun for the Holidays Books Published in 2026?
The stories were originally published before 2026.
The author has promoted them as a twelve-month reading experience during 2026, which may make them appear like a new monthly series release.
Is The Playboy One Book or Three?
It was originally a three-part serial.
The current combined edition contains the complete story and is the easiest format to read.
Are Original Cover Editions New Books?
No.
They contain the same stories with different packaging.
What Is J. Sterling’s Latest Book?
Worth the Chase is the latest newly published full-length novel that could be reliably confirmed.
It was released in April 2025 and is Sugar Mountain Book 3.
Conclusion
The safest J. Sterling starting point is The Perfect Game. Continue through The Game Changer and The Sweetest Game without skipping, then read The Other Game for the Carter family companion story.
Readers wanting a different baseball cast can begin Boys of Baseball with The Ninth Inning. For family romance, begin the Fisher Brothers with No Bad Days or Sugar Mountain with Worth the Fall.
The Fun for the Holidays books can be read in any order. Following January through December creates a satisfying themed year, but every installment introduces a separate couple and complete romance.
For the author’s newest completed series, read Worth the Fall, Worth the Wait, and Worth the Chase in order.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.