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Lynn Painter writes romantic comedies in two main lanes: teen/young adult and adult. Most books are standalones, but a few sit in the same world and will casually reveal earlier couples’ outcomes. If you like clean reveals, the safest approach is: finish each mini-set in order, then hop to whatever sounds fun next.
The fastest way to pick your first Lynn Painter book
- Teen rom-com with the strongest “movie moments” energy: Better Than the Movies
- Teen time-loop, one-day redo premise: The Do-Over
- Adult wrong-number, banter-forward rom-com: Mr. Wrong Number
- Adult fake-dating with big feelings: Happily Never After
Teen/Young Adult books in publication order
These are written for teen readers, with standalone couples and a few gentle call-backs. (Each line below is original.)
- Better Than the Movies (2021): A rom-com obsessed teen tries to engineer her own perfect love story, and learns real life won’t hit marks on cue.
- Better Than the Prom (2022, novella): Prom night turns into a high-stakes emotional sprint when expectations and feelings arrive at the same time.
- The Do-Over (2022): One terrible day resets, and the only way out is to face the truth she keeps dodging.
- Betting on You (2023): A rivalry turns into a slow, surprising connection as two teens keep landing in each other’s orbit.
- Nothing Like the Movies (2024): A sequel-style return where romance gets messier once the “happy ending” has to survive reality.
- Fake Skating (2025): Old friends fake a relationship in a hockey-obsessed town and discover the pretend part is the easiest piece.
- 13 Little Love Stories (2026, anthology contribution): A shared collection of teen romances where Lynn Painter contributes one story rather than a full novel.
Continuity note: Nothing Like the Movies is the only title above that strongly benefits from reading Better Than the Movies first.
Adult books in publication order
These are written for adult romance readers. A few connect, but you can still read most as standalones.
- Mr. Wrong Number (2022): A text-to-the-wrong-person mistake turns into an unexpected lifeline, and then into temptation.
- The Love Wager (2023): A “no feelings, no strings” plan collapses when two people keep choosing each other anyway.
- Happily Never After (2024): A wedding-day disaster becomes the beginning of a new romance shaped by honesty instead of optics.
- Maid for Each Other (2025): A house cleaner gets pulled into a fake-girlfriend situation with a millionaire, and the lie starts rearranging both their lives.
- Accidentally Amy (2025): A stolen coffee sparks a meet-cute that snowballs into a romance built on one small, very human impulse.
- First and Forever (2026, upcoming): A football star and a devoted fan get tangled in a public-facing setup where only one of them knows the full script.
Connection note: The Love Wager is commonly treated as the follow-up to Mr. Wrong Number and lands best after it.
Recommended reading orders (pick one and go)
Option A: “Keep every reveal intact”
- Better Than the Movies → Nothing Like the Movies
- Mr. Wrong Number → The Love Wager
- Then read the remaining standalones in any order.
Option B: “Start with the funniest entry point, then branch out”
- Begin with Mr. Wrong Number (adult) or The Do-Over (teen), then choose your next book by premise.
Option C: “Stay current”
- Adult: Accidentally Amy → First and Forever
- Teen: Fake Skating (and then backtrack if you want the earlier hits)
What’s truly “connected” (so you don’t accidentally double-spoil yourself)
- Most connected YA pair: Better Than the Movies → Nothing Like the Movies
- Most connected adult pair: Mr. Wrong Number → The Love Wager
- Everything else is best treated as standalone unless your edition includes extra bonus scenes.
Bottom line
If you want the cleanest, most satisfying path: read the two connected pairs in order (Better Than the Movies → Nothing Like the Movies, and Mr. Wrong Number → The Love Wager), then pick the rest by mood. Lynn Painter’s catalog is designed to be easy to jump into, order mainly matters when a book is clearly a return to an earlier couple.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.