Maxine Morrey is a British romantic comedy author whose books focus on fresh starts, friendship, work, grief, self-confidence, and relationships that develop when carefully arranged lives begin to change. She lives in Dorset and won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Comedy Award in 2024 for You’ve Got This.
Her bibliography is easier to navigate than its length suggests. Nearly all her novels are standalones, and only two books form a clearly identified series.
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That means publication order is useful for a complete read, but it is rarely required for understanding the stories.
The Only Series You Need to Keep Together
The Wishington Bay books share a coastal setting and recurring community. Each novel has its own central romance, but the second book returns to the same town and may reveal developments from the first.
Read them in this order:
- Coming Home to Wishington Bay (2019): Holly returns to Wishington Bay after the death of her mother and begins rebuilding her life with help from Gabe, the attractive local doctor who becomes more than a supportive neighbour.
- Winter at Wishington Bay (2020): Sophia leaves a controlling marriage and seeks refuge in Wishington Bay, where friendship, community, and a new romantic possibility help her recover her independence.
The series can be sampled individually, but beginning with Coming Home to Wishington Bay gives the clearest introduction to the town.
Maxine Morrey Standalone Books in Publication Order
The remaining novels tell independent stories. They do not share a continuing plot, so readers may choose according to premise, setting, or romantic trope.
- No Place Like Home (2011): A woman confronting changes in her personal life must reconsider what home means and whether the future she needs can be found where she least expected it.
- Winter’s Fairytale (2015): Izzy’s determination to avoid seasonal romance is tested when Christmas plans, family complications, and an inconvenient attraction disrupt her carefully controlled holiday.
- The Christmas Project (2016): A woman assigned the task of creating the perfect Christmas finds herself working closely with a man who complicates both the project and her assumptions about love.
- Around the World with My Ex (2017): A dream international trip becomes considerably less straightforward when the traveller must share the experience with the former partner she has not completely left behind.
- The Best Little Christmas Shop (2017): A struggling seasonal shop and the people gathered around it create an unexpected route toward friendship, renewed purpose, and Christmas romance.
- Second Chance at the Ranch (2018): A return to ranch life places a woman near the man and memories she once left behind, giving an old relationship an opportunity to develop differently.
- #No Filter (2019): Lifestyle blogger Libby faces public criticism over the perfection she presents online while her friendship with shy businessman Charlie begins moving toward romance.
- My Year of Saying No (2020): After spending a year accepting every challenge, Lottie decides to protect her time by saying no, although her feelings for former soldier and client Seb prove difficult to refuse.
- Things Are Looking Up (2021): Career-driven Milly is forced to reassess her ambitions after a serious accident, while the return of her ex, Jed, raises questions about the life she sacrificed for work.
- Living Your Best Life (2022): Bee and her charismatic best friend Luca try online dating at the suggestion of a friend, only for Bee to question whether the right relationship has been beside her all along.
- You Only Live Once (2022): Widowed Lily has built a quiet life designed to prevent further heartbreak, but the arrival of her brother’s friend Jack encourages her to take emotional risks again.
- Just Say Yes (2022): Wedding planner Maddie travels to an Irish castle with infuriating best man Lorcan, where organising someone else’s celebration forces her to reconsider her own guarded approach to love.
- You’ve Got This (2023): Fleur begins recognising how often she changes herself to satisfy other people and gradually learns that a healthy relationship must leave room for her real personality and ambitions.
- Just Do It (2024): Museum employee and Egyptology enthusiast Lizzie steps outside her work-focused routine after an unexpected night with Finn, beginning a relationship that challenges her cautious habits.
- Be Your Best Self (2024): Willow asks the universe to send her an ideal partner, but conflict with her scientific and minimalist new neighbour Henry makes her question whether she has misunderstood the answer.
- Reach for the Stars (2024): After a disastrous reaction to her former fiancé’s wedding costs her a job, Fliss acquires a neglected farmhouse and reluctantly accepts help from dependable local handyman Jesse.
- Never Too Late (2025): Fifty-year-old divorcée Kitty returns to Paris with her daughter and confronts the city, lost ambitions, and former love that shaped the direction of her adult life.
- Where Happy Begins (2026): A woman facing an unsettled stage of life searches for a new beginning, discovering that happiness may depend less on following a fixed plan and more on accepting unexpected connections.
- Write Your Own Story (2026): The upcoming novel centres on personal reinvention and the decision to stop allowing past expectations or other people to determine the next chapter of life.
Publication Order at a Glance
For readers who want the complete bibliography without separating the Wishington Bay books, the order is:
- No Place Like Home (2011)
- Winter’s Fairytale (2015)
- The Christmas Project (2016)
- Around the World with My Ex (2017)
- The Best Little Christmas Shop (2017)
- Second Chance at the Ranch (2018)
- Coming Home to Wishington Bay (2019)
- #No Filter (2019)
- My Year of Saying No (2020)
- Winter at Wishington Bay (2020)
- Things Are Looking Up (2021)
- Living Your Best Life (2022)
- You Only Live Once (2022)
- Just Say Yes (2022)
- You’ve Got This (2023)
- Just Do It (2024)
- Be Your Best Self (2024)
- Reach for the Stars (2024)
- Never Too Late (2025)
- Where Happy Begins (2026)
- Write Your Own Story (2026)
Write Your Own Story is scheduled for December 2026 and remains upcoming as of July 24, 2026.
A Note About Around the World with My Ex
Around the World with My Ex (2017): A former couple must navigate an international journey together, turning a supposedly once-in-a-lifetime trip into a test of whether their relationship is truly over.
The novel has also appeared under the title The Christmas Holiday.
These are alternate titles for the same story. They should be counted once, not listed as two separate novels.
No Place Like Home and Maxine Morrey’s Early Work
No Place Like Home (2011): Morrey’s first novel uses personal upheaval and questions of belonging to explore whether returning, remaining, or beginning elsewhere offers the strongest path forward.
The book predates her later romantic comedies by several years. Readers beginning here will see an earlier stage of her career, while readers seeking the style associated with her Boldwood novels may prefer to start with #No Filter or Things Are Looking Up.
Morrey also wrote a local history title about Brighton. That nonfiction work is separate from her romantic fiction and does not belong in the novel reading order.
Christmas Books in Order
Maxine Morrey has written several winter or Christmas romances, but they do not form one continuing holiday series.
A seasonal reading route is:
- Winter’s Fairytale (2015): Christmas disrupts Izzy’s resistance to romance and places her among people determined to change her view of the season.
- The Christmas Project (2016): A festive assignment requires the heroine to create an ideal Christmas while navigating a relationship that was not part of the plan.
- Around the World with My Ex (2017): A global journey with a former partner mixes travel complications with unresolved romantic history.
- The Best Little Christmas Shop (2017): The future of a small Christmas business becomes tied to new friendships and a developing romance.
- Winter at Wishington Bay (2020): A woman escaping an unhealthy marriage finds security and renewed hope within a close coastal community.
This order follows original publication, but continuity does not require it. Only Winter at Wishington Bay belongs to a named series.
Best Starting Points by Reading Mood
For a Friends-to-Lovers Romance
Living Your Best Life (2022): Bee and Luca try to find love through online dating while overlooking how much emotional importance their existing friendship already carries.
For a Second-Chance Story
Never Too Late (2025): Kitty returns to Paris decades after heartbreak changed her plans, allowing the novel to explore romance, identity, and reinvention in midlife.
For a Village Romance
Be Your Best Self (2024): Willow’s peaceful country life is unsettled by Henry, a neighbour whose personality appears entirely incompatible with hers.
For a Coastal Setting
Coming Home to Wishington Bay (2019): Holly begins again in a seaside community where grief, family responsibility, and her growing connection with Gabe become closely linked.
For a Workplace and Career Reset
Things Are Looking Up (2021): Milly’s accident forces her away from the relentless career path she believed would deliver the life she wanted.
For a Home-Renovation Romance
Reach for the Stars (2024): Fliss’s impulsive purchase of a damaged farmhouse places her in close contact with Jesse, whose practical help becomes emotional support.
For a Grief and Healing Story
You Only Live Once (2022): Lily’s carefully protected life begins expanding when Jack moves into her home and encourages her to engage with the world again.
Are Maxine Morrey’s Standalones Connected?
No broad shared continuity has been confirmed across Morrey’s standalone novels.
Similar themes recur, including village life, professional uncertainty, damaged confidence, fresh starts, and relationships that begin when a protagonist’s original plan falls apart. Those similarities reflect the author’s preferred subjects rather than one continuous fictional world.
Only Coming Home to Wishington Bay and Winter at Wishington Bay require placement within the same identified setting.
Readers can otherwise move freely between publication years.
Recommended Maxine Morrey Reading Order
The most useful route is not a strict twenty-one-book sequence. It is a progression through different parts of Morrey’s romantic comedy catalog.
- #No Filter (2019): Begin with a modern romance about online presentation, personal authenticity, and friendship becoming love.
- Coming Home to Wishington Bay (2019): Move into her only clearly established series and meet the coastal community.
- Winter at Wishington Bay (2020): Remain in the town for the second connected romance.
- Things Are Looking Up (2021): Continue with a career-focused story about slowing down and reconsidering success.
- Living Your Best Life (2022): Read a friends-to-lovers romance shaped by online dating and self-worth.
- You Only Live Once (2022): Shift to a quieter story about widowhood, courage, and opening a protected life to another person.
- You’ve Got This (2023): Continue with the award-winning novel about self-acceptance and healthier love.
- Be Your Best Self (2024): Follow with a village romance built around contrasting personalities and competing ideas about compatibility.
- Reach for the Stars (2024): Read the farmhouse renovation story for another fresh-start romance.
- Never Too Late (2025): Finish with a later-life return to Paris and the possibility of reclaiming abandoned dreams.
This order is designed to introduce Morrey’s range. It is not a chronology or connected storyline.
Chronological Order
A separate chronological order is unnecessary.
The standalone novels occupy independent settings and follow different protagonists. Their internal events cannot be combined into one meaningful timeline.
For Wishington Bay, publication order also supplies the correct chronological sequence:
- Coming Home to Wishington Bay
- Winter at Wishington Bay
Short Stories, Novellas, and Bonus Material
No essential Maxine Morrey novella, prequel, bridge story, or independently published short story needs to be inserted into the novel order.
Some collections include Winter’s Fairytale alongside Christmas stories by other authors. These editions repackage the existing novel or story and do not create another Maxine Morrey installment.
Readers interested only in her fiction can follow the twenty published novels without searching for supplementary material.
Omnibus and Multi-Author Collections
Love at Christmas, Actually
Love at Christmas, Actually (2015): This multi-author Christmas collection combines festive fiction by Maxine Morrey, A. L. Michael, and Jenny Oliver.
Morrey’s included work is not a new connected sequel. The collection is Optional for readers who already own the individual story.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2015): This seasonal omnibus pairs work by Maxine Morrey and Jenny Oliver in one festive volume.
It should be treated as an alternative collection format, not as an additional novel in Morrey’s bibliography.
Collections sometimes receive their own publication records, which explains why book databases may show more editions or works than the primary novel count.
Latest Maxine Morrey Book
Maxine Morrey’s latest published novel is Where Happy Begins, released in May 2026.
Where Happy Begins (2026): A woman searching for direction discovers that building a happier future may require changing how she defines success, security, and belonging.
The next announced novel is Write Your Own Story, scheduled for December 2026.
Write Your Own Story (2026): The forthcoming book turns toward personal agency and reinvention, following a protagonist who must decide how much of her future will be shaped by her own choices.
Because Write Your Own Story had not been released by July 24, 2026, it should be labelled Upcoming, not included among the completed reads.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Maxine Morrey’s first novel?
Her first novel was No Place Like Home, originally published in 2011.
What is Maxine Morrey’s newest published book?
Her newest published book is Where Happy Begins, released in May 2026.
What is Maxine Morrey’s next book?
Write Your Own Story is scheduled for December 2026.
Do Maxine Morrey’s books need to be read in order?
Most do not. Nearly all are standalone romantic comedies with separate protagonists and settings.
Read the two Wishington Bay novels in order because they share a community and recurring characters.
What is the correct Wishington Bay order?
- Coming Home to Wishington Bay
- Winter at Wishington Bay
Is Winter at Wishington Bay a standalone?
Its principal romance can be understood independently, but it is Wishington Bay book two.
Reading Coming Home to Wishington Bay first provides stronger context and avoids updates about the earlier story appearing without introduction.
Are Around the World with My Ex and The Christmas Holiday different books?
No. The Christmas Holiday is an alternate title for Around the World with My Ex.
Count the story once.
Which Maxine Morrey book won an RNA award?
You’ve Got This won the Romantic Comedy Award at the 2024 Romantic Novel Awards.
What is Maxine Morrey’s most popular book?
You Only Live Once is among her most widely read novels. It follows widowed Lily as the arrival of Jack encourages her to risk rebuilding a fuller personal life.
Does Maxine Morrey write only Christmas books?
No. Although several early novels use Christmas or winter settings, most of her later work is contemporary romantic comedy without a seasonal focus.
Which book should a new reader start with?
Start with You Only Live Once for a widely read story about grief and second chances.
Choose #No Filter for social media and friends-to-lovers themes, Coming Home to Wishington Bay for a coastal community, or Never Too Late for midlife reinvention.
Are her books connected through recurring characters?
Only the two Wishington Bay books have a firmly established series connection.
The other novels should be treated as separate continuities.
Final Reading Guidance
Maxine Morrey’s catalog does not require a complicated master sequence. Most readers can select a book by premise without losing continuity.
The single firm ordering rule is to read Coming Home to Wishington Bay before Winter at Wishington Bay. Everything else can be approached as a standalone.
For a first read, You Only Live Once offers a clear introduction to Morrey’s blend of romance, recovery, and personal change. Readers who prefer to begin with her newest work can safely start with Where Happy Begins, since it does not depend on an earlier novel.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.