Jodi Oliver writes queer romance, with her current catalog centered on hockey stories and connected team dynamics. For reading order purposes, the key distinction is simple: Chicago Thunder is the main series, Barn Burner is a standalone in a shared world, and the newer projects sit outside the original run.
If you want the safest entry point, start with Trade Deadline. It opens the Chicago Thunder world and gives you the cleanest progression through the series’ found-family and team continuity.
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Quick answer
- Best starting point: Trade Deadline
- Best order for most readers: Read Chicago Thunder in publication order, then decide whether you want the shared-world standalone and newer side branches.
Does order matter? Yes for Chicago Thunder. Less so outside it.
Separate continuity note: Barn Burner, Rookie Moves, and the Toronto Typhoons material should not be folded into Chicago Thunder as if they are one uninterrupted series.
The main line: Chicago Thunder in order
- Trade Deadline (2023): Starts the Chicago Thunder series and introduces the team-centered world that the later books keep building on.
- Off Season (2024): Continues the team continuity with an ex-fiancé and fake-dating setup, making it a stronger read after book one has already established the circle around the team.
- Defensive Zone (2024): Shifts into a friends-to-lovers story with pining and bi-awakening elements, while still deepening the Thunder’s found-family feel.
- Power Forward (2025): Brings in a hockey player and sports agent pairing with second-chance and single-dad threads, widening the emotional range of the series without leaving its core cast energy behind.
- Rebound Control (2026): Pairs a hockey player with a firefighter and leans into hurt-comfort, reading like a later-stage payoff once the team world already feels familiar.
This is the sequence that matters most. Even when individual romances can stand on their own, the team atmosphere and recurring connections work best in order.
Shared-world and side material
Love The Game
Barn Burner (2025): A hockey-meets-cowboy romance set in the multi-author Love The Game world, best treated as a standalone rather than as Chicago Thunder book six.
Anthology novella
Scoring a Sweet Thing (2025): A novella that appears in Heart2Heart: A Charity Anthology, Volume 8, so it belongs in the “optional extras” category rather than the main reading path.
Patreon or bonus content
- Reignite (date not firmly verified): A Patreon-exclusive novella, so it is not part of the standard retail reading order.
- Chicago Thunder: Down Under (date not firmly verified): Another Patreon-exclusive extra tied to the Chicago Thunder world, best viewed as bonus content after the main novels.
These titles may matter to completists, but they should not interrupt a first read through the core novels.
Forthcoming and separate branches
The Rookie Diaries
Rookie Moves (listed for 2026, date described as placeholder): Begins a planned duology and is clearly presented as a new branch rather than part of the original Chicago Thunder numbering.
Toronto Typhoons Hockey
- Grumpy Player (0.5, re-release mentioned but not fully verified): Mentioned by the author as a prequel-style entry that is expected to return in expanded form.
- Dirty Player (currently listed for 2027 on some databases; author site says coming soon): Starts the Toronto Typhoons Hockey series and should be treated as a separate series line.
Because these projects are still in rollout, they are better kept separate from the stable Chicago Thunder order.
Recommended reading order for new readers
For most readers, the clearest path is:
- Trade Deadline
- Off Season
- Defensive Zone
- Power Forward
- Rebound Control
- Barn Burner
- Scoring a Sweet Thing
- Bonus material only if you want more of the world
- Rookie Moves once released with a firm date
- Toronto Typhoons books once that series is properly underway
That order keeps the strongest continuity first and avoids mixing in extras before the core series is complete.
Where should you start?
There are really two sensible entry points.
- Start with Trade Deadline if you want the proper beginning and plan to read more than one Jodi Oliver book.
- Start with Barn Burner only if you want a one-book sample and prefer a standalone in a shared sports-romance setting.
For almost everyone else, Trade Deadline remains the best answer.
Do you need a chronological order?
Not really. Publication order already works as the practical reading order here.
The only place things get messy is with bonus content, anthology material, and upcoming spin-offs. For a first pass, those are better treated as optional and separate, not woven into a strict timeline.
Latest release status
As of March 27, 2026, Rebound Control is the latest confirmed Chicago Thunder novel. Rookie Moves is listed as the first book in The Rookie Diaries, but at least one source notes that its listed release date is only a placeholder. The author also presents Dirty Player as an upcoming Toronto Typhoons Hockey launch, though third-party databases differ on the exact timing.
That means the most stable, fully verified reading order is still the five-book Chicago Thunder run, with the newer branches best marked as forthcoming rather than fixed.
FAQ
How many Jodi Oliver Chicago Thunder books are there?
There are currently five confirmed Chicago Thunder novels: Trade Deadline, Off Season, Defensive Zone, Power Forward, and Rebound Control.
Is Barn Burner part of Chicago Thunder?
No. It is best treated as a standalone in the Love The Game shared world, not as Chicago Thunder book six.
What is Jodi Oliver’s newest published book?
The newest confirmed main-series release is Rebound Control (2026).
What should completists read after Chicago Thunder?
After the five Thunder novels, read Barn Burner, then the anthology novella Scoring a Sweet Thing, and only then move to Patreon extras or the newer series branches.
Final recommendation
Keep this one simple. Read the five Chicago Thunder novels in order, then treat everything else as optional, bonus, or separate continuity. Jodi Oliver’s catalog is expanding, but the core answer is still very clean: start with Trade Deadline and stay with Chicago Thunder until Rebound Control.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.