Lucy Diamond Books in Order (Updated February 27, 2026)

Lucy Diamond is the pen name of English author Sue Mongredien. Under “Lucy Diamond,” her books are primarily standalone, feel-good contemporary novels with strong friendship and family threads.

The good news: there’s very little “you must read this next.” The one exception is The Beach Café, which has follow-up short stories that are easiest in order.

---

A simple way to choose your first book

Pick the mood first, not the year:

• Coastal reset + new beginnings: The Beach Café
• Big cast, big life shake-ups: The Year of Taking Chances
• Found-family healing in a shared house: The House of New Beginnings
• Recent-era escapism with travel: I Remember Paris or The Island Getaway

If you think you’ll read several, go publication order so the tone progression feels natural.

---

The Beach Café continuity

This is a small “mini-world”: one main novel, then short follow-ups. The shorts can be read without the novel, but they land better once you know the café and its people.

1. The Beach Café (2011): Evie inherits a Cornish beach café and has to rebuild a life she didn’t plan, establishing the setting the follow-ups revisit.
2. Christmas at the Beach Café (2013): A seasonal return that checks in on the café and relationships once the “new life” has had time to settle.
3. Christmas Gifts at the Beach Café (2014): Another holiday revisit, designed as a warmer continuation rather than a standalone Christmas romance.
4. A Baby at the Beach Café (2016): A later check-in that moves the café story into the next life-stage without turning it into a full new series.

---

Standalone novels in publication order

These are separate stories. Any recurring themes are tonal rather than continuity-based.

1. Any Way You Want Me (2007): Three friends reunite and test whether the person you were at twenty can still fit the life you’re living now.
2. Over You (2008): A friendship reunion weekend cracks open old resentments, forcing a reckoning that none of them came prepared for.
3. Hens Reunited (2009): Former friends circle back after marriages unravel, and the story runs on complicated loyalties more than romance.
4. Sweet Temptation (2010): A life-and-body-confidence turning point novel where new friendships become the real support system.
5. Summer With My Sister (2012): Two sisters collide under one roof again, and the real plot is repairing what pride and history broke.
6. Me and Mr Jones (2013): Three women attached to three brothers face a shared crisis that turns a relationship story into a “family pressure test.”
7. One Night in Italy (2014): An evening class, an Italian connection, and a widening circle of secrets that follows the characters past the classroom.
8. The Year of Taking Chances (2014): A multi-POV “what if we changed everything?” book where the turning points stack up fast and keep escalating.
9. Summer at Shell Cottage (2015): A family summer tradition fractures after loss, and a discovery forces everyone to reframe what they thought they knew.
10. The Secrets of Happiness (2016): A disappearance detonates the illusion of a perfect life, pulling an estranged stepsister into the mess.
11. The House of New Beginnings (2017): Three women share a Brighton house and quietly become each other’s safety net while rebuilding from separate crises.
12. On a Beautiful Day (2018): A single shocking event changes the trajectory of four friends, and the novel tracks the aftershocks rather than the headline moment.
13. Something to Tell You (2018): A letter from the past forces a woman into a family she doesn’t fully understand, where secrets don’t stay politely buried.
14. An Almost Perfect Holiday (2019): A Cornwall holiday framework that keeps going “off-script,” using three getaways to expose three different fault lines.
15. The Promise (2021): Grief, responsibility, and a long-kept secret collide when one man tries to keep a promise that becomes harder than he expected.
16. Anything Could Happen (2021): A mother-and-daughter road trip grows into a truth hunt that keeps expanding the moment they think it’s finished.
    (Note: first released as an ebook in 2021, then hardback in 2022.)
17. The Best Days of Our Lives (2023): A fresh-start story that leans into “later-life reinvention,” with friendship as the engine rather than romance alone.
18. I Remember Paris (2023): A summer job in Paris becomes a two-women, two-generations collision where the past starts dictating the present.
    (Note: widely listed as 2023, with hardback publication in early 2024.)
19. The Island Getaway (2025): A Greek island hotel brings together guests who all arrived needing escape, and the “holiday” becomes a second-chance crossroads.

---

Recommended reading orders that actually feel different

If you want one-book proof of concept

• The Year of Taking Chances (2014)

If you want the coastal thread (with optional extras)

• The Beach Café (2011) → then the three follow-up shorts in order

If you want the recent era first (then backfill)

• I Remember Paris (2023) → The Island Getaway (2025) → then jump anywhere

---

Latest release status and what’s next

• Latest novel (as of February 27, 2026): The Island Getaway (2025).
• Upcoming title listed by major bibliography trackers: The Storytellers (listed for February 2027).

---

FAQs

Do Lucy Diamond’s books need to be read in order?
Not usually. Treat them as standalones, except for The Beach Café and its follow-up shorts.

Are the “holiday” books a series?
No. Similar settings and themes recur, but the casts and plots are built to stand alone.

What should I read first if I’m here for friendship more than romance?
On a Beautiful Day and The House of New Beginnings are the most friendship-forward starting points.

---

Bottom line

If you want the cleanest path with zero guesswork, read in publication order. If you just want one confident entry point, start with The Year of Taking Chances, and you’ll know immediately whether Lucy Diamond’s style fits what you’re after.