Nicola Kraus Books in Order (Updated March 5, 2026)

Nicola Kraus is a New York–based author best known for books she co-wrote with Emma McLaughlin.

Most of their novels are standalones, but there is one clear continuity line: the Nanny books follow the same core characters and should be read in order to avoid relationship and “where are they now?” spoilers.

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The only time order truly matters

If you’re here for the famous satire, do this:

1. The Nanny Diaries → 2) Nanny Returns

Everything else below can be read in any order without breaking plot continuity.

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The Nanny books (read in order)

1. The Nanny Diaries (2002): A sharp Upper East Side nanny job becomes an inside-out look at privilege, parenting, and what caretaking costs when you’re treated as invisible.
2. Nanny Returns (2009): Years later, Nan is pulled back into the orbit she escaped, and unfinished emotional business with the X family resurfaces in a much messier, adult phase of life.

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Adult standalones (pick by premise)

3. Citizen Girl (2004): A young woman’s entry-level New York grind turns into workplace satire, where ambition keeps colliding with absurd office power structures.
4. Dedication (2007): Two women on opposite sides of class and family expectation spiral into reinvention, with friendship and betrayal driving the turns.
5. Between You and Me (2012): A “dream job” in celebrity-adjacent orbit becomes a psychological pressure cooker, where attention is constant but care is conditional.
6. The First Affair (2013): A married mother’s private choices collide with public consequence, and the story leans into secrecy, status, and the costs of wanting more.
7. How to Be a Grown-Up (2015): A forty-something woman shoved back into the workforce navigates a second-act identity crisis, with modern office culture as the stress test.
8. So Close (2016): A teen girl’s escape plan runs into hard realities, and the plot keeps tightening around trust, survival, and what “home” can realistically mean.

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Young adult novels (separate continuity)

These are not connected to the adult books or to each other in a way that requires an order.

9. The Real Real (2009): A teen thrown into reality-TV machinery learns how quickly “story” replaces truth, and how addictive that spotlight can be.
10. Over You (2012): After heartbreak, a girl turns recovery into a mission, and the book tracks friendship, pride, and the messy relapse of feelings you thought were gone.

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Short fiction (optional)

11. Cinderella Gets a Brazilian (2011): A quick, punchy e-short built for fast reading, playing with makeover expectations and the gap between fantasy and real life.

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Collections and omnibuses (optional)

Some editions bundle multiple Kraus/McLaughlin titles together. These don’t create new continuity, they’re just repackaged books, so you can ignore them when figuring out reading order.

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A “starter” path (if you want direction, not a spreadsheet)

• Start with: The Nanny Diaries (2002) – it’s the cultural reference point and the beginning of the only true series thread.
• Then: Nanny Returns (2009) – only if you want to stay with those characters.
• After that: choose any standalone based on what you want most:
  • workplace satire → Citizen Girl
  • marriage/secrecy drama → The First Affair
  • career reboot → How to Be a Grown-Up
  • higher-stakes coming-of-age → So Close

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FAQs

Are Nicola Kraus’s books mostly co-written?

Yes, her best-known bibliography is co-authored with Emma McLaughlin, and most public listings group their novels together under both names.

Is Nanny Returns a direct sequel?

Yes. It follows the same main character(s) from The Nanny Diaries, later in life, and it assumes you know the earlier relationships.

Do the YA books connect to the Nanny books?

No. The Real Real and Over You are separate YA stories and don’t tie into the Nanny continuity.

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Bottom line

If you only remember one rule: read the Nanny books in order, and treat the rest as standalones you can pick up whenever the premise fits your mood.