Rachel John Books in Order (Updated May 10, 2026)

Rachel John writes clean contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Her books are usually light, closed-door romances built around mistaken matches, workplace friction, Austen-inspired setups, reality TV chaos, and enemies-to-lovers tension.

Do not confuse her with Rachael Johns, the Australian author. This page is for Rachel John, author of I Hated You First, Engaging Mr. Darcy, and The Stand-in Christmas Date.

The Best Way Through Rachel John’s Books

Rachel John’s books are easiest to read by series. Most of her romances stand alone, but the recurring settings and connected characters make each series smoother in order.

A new reader should begin with one of these:

1. I Hated You First: best starting point for her workplace/enemies-to-lovers romcoms.
2. Engaging Mr. Darcy: best starting point for her modern Austen retellings.
3. The Stand-in Christmas Date: best starting point for her Christmas romcoms.
4. An Unlikely Alliance: best starting point for her earlier connected contemporary romances.

Sworn to Loathe You Books in Order

The Sworn to Loathe You books are connected clean romcoms with enemies-to-lovers, workplace, family, and friendship complications. Read the prequel first if you want the full setup, or begin with Book 1 if you prefer the main series.

1. Worst Neighbor Ever (2021): A prequel novella about neighborly friction turning into romantic tension, setting the tone for the series’ dislike-to-love energy.
2. I Hated You First (2021): Lauren and Clay clash through family loyalty, workplace proximity, and old attraction that neither of them wants to admit.
3. Carpool Crush (2021): A forced-proximity romance where shared rides and mixed signals make it harder for the couple to keep emotional distance.
4. Not Friends (2022): A romance built around the refusal to admit friendship, where banter, history, and inconvenient attraction keep pulling the pair together.
5. Keep It Together (2023): A later series romance about trying to maintain control while feelings, family pressure, and romantic complications refuse to stay tidy.
6. Freelance Flirt (2024): A single-mom romance where a business consultant’s charm and practical help become harder to separate from real emotional risk.

Austen Inspired Romantic Comedy Books in Order

These are modern romantic comedies inspired by Jane Austen novels. They are not Regency retellings, and they do not require strict continuity, but publication order is the cleanest route.

1. Engaging Mr. Darcy (2018): A modern Pride and Prejudice romcom where Elsie Bennet and Will Darcy begin with a sharp clash and keep colliding through family, friendship, and attraction.
2. Emma the Matchmaker (2019): A modern Emma retelling where Emma Woodhouse is confident about everyone else’s love life but much less clear about her own feelings for George Knightley.
3. Persuading the Captain (2020): A modern Persuasion retelling where Anne and Eric Wentworth are forced back into each other’s lives years after a broken engagement.
4. Dashing into Disaster (2021): A modern Sense and Sensibility-inspired romance where Elinor Dashwood’s new job and her complicated boss create a workplace romance problem she cannot neatly solve.

Matched by Mistake Books in Order

The Matched by Mistake books are Christmas romances built around wrong dates, mistaken pairings, accidental setups, and holiday matchmaking. Some listings show different original digital and paperback publication years for the early books, but the series order below is the safest reading order.

1. The Stand-in Christmas Date (2018): Alyssa agrees to impersonate her cousin for a date, only for Wes to realize something is off and start enjoying the wrong match.
2. The Christmas Bachelor Auction (2019): Cara accidentally wins her best friend’s brother at a charity bachelor auction, turning an old crush and mutual embarrassment into a holiday romance.
3. The Christmas Wedding Planners (2018): Rebecca can organize a wedding, but the emotional side of the holiday event becomes much harder to plan.
4. The Accidental Christmas Match Up (2020): A mistaken or accidental pairing creates a Christmas romance where good intentions and holiday timing push the couple together.
5. The Backup Christmas Crush (2024): Callan tries to distract Gemma from his best friend, but his backup plan turns into his own unexpected Christmas romance.

Reality TV Romance Books in Order

The Reality TV Romance books are clean romcoms built around dating shows, celebrity setups, and public-facing romance. Read them in order if you like seeing the reality-TV world develop.

1. Bethany’s New Reality (2016): Bethany enters a strange dating show with exes, awkward wardrobe choices, and emotional traps she did not expect.
2. Matchmaker for Hire (2017): A professional matchmaker setup turns complicated when the person arranging romance has motives and feelings of his own.
3. Gorgeous and the Geek (2019): A celebrity-style relationship pact brings image, attraction, and authenticity into conflict.

A Change in Plans Books in Order

The Change in Plans series follows connected contemporary romances where life interrupts the plan the characters thought they had. Read these in order because the books share a connected emotional world.

1. An Unlikely Alliance (2017): Corrie and Preston are thrown together by a little girl who needs them both, turning practical cooperation into something more complicated.
2. Her Charming Distraction (2018): Paige’s house-flipping plans collide with Shaun, whose charm, secrets, and emotional caution make romance both tempting and risky.
3. Protector of Her Heart (2018): A protective romance where danger, trust, and emotional vulnerability test whether safety can turn into love.
4. Pretending He’s Mine (2020): A fake-relationship setup begins as a practical solution, but the pretending becomes harder to control once real attachment appears.

Standalone Rachel John Book

• The Truth About Running (2013): Sara tries to escape the fallout from a public proposal, but college, running, and a new neighbor keep forcing her to face what she really wants.

Short Stories and Extra Pieces

These are supplemental reads rather than core series entries. Read them after the main books if you want to be complete.

1. Sydney & Oliver: A Short Story (date not firmly confirmed): A brief romance extra focused on a single couple rather than a full series arc.
2. A Zombie Love Story (date not firmly confirmed): A short offbeat romance piece outside Rachel John’s main clean contemporary-romance series.
3. Picked: A Short Story (date not firmly confirmed): A short standalone story best treated as extra material rather than a required reading-order title.

Collections and Box Sets

Collections are useful, but they are not new installments. Check the included titles before buying so you do not duplicate books you already own.

1. The Reality TV Rom-Com Collection (2019): Collects the three Reality TV Romance books in one volume.
2. The Coming Home to You Collection (2020): Collects the four A Change in Plans books.
3. The Reality TV Sweet Romance Collection: Books 1-3: Another collection listing for the Reality TV Romance books.
4. Love, Laughter & Happily Ever After: A collection-style listing associated with Rachel John’s clean romance catalogue, best checked by contents before purchase.

Rachel John Publication Order

Use this order if you want to follow Rachel John’s career from her earliest listed novel through her newest confirmed release.

1. The Truth About Running (2013): A college-age clean romance about leaving behind a public proposal and figuring out whether to stop running from love.
2. Bethany’s New Reality (2016): A reality-TV dating romance where the show’s setup is much messier than the heroine expects.
3. An Unlikely Alliance (2017): A guardianship and found-family romance where two adults must cooperate for the sake of a child.
4. Matchmaker for Hire (2017): A matchmaker romance where arranging love for others becomes personally complicated.
5. Engaging Mr. Darcy (2018): A modern Pride and Prejudice romcom built on a bad first impression and unwanted attraction.
6. Her Charming Distraction (2018): A house-flipping romance where business sense and romantic instinct do not agree.
7. Protector of Her Heart (2018): A protective contemporary romance about danger, care, and growing trust.
8. The Stand-in Christmas Date (2018): A mistaken-date Christmas romance involving a lookalike cousin and a man who decides to play along.
9. The Christmas Wedding Planners (2018): A holiday romance where wedding planning cannot protect the heroine from unexpected feelings.
10. Emma the Matchmaker (2019): A modern Emma romcom about a heroine who understands everyone’s heart except her own.
11. Gorgeous and the Geek (2019): A reality-TV/celebrity-adjacent romance where a relationship pact tests image and sincerity.
12. The Christmas Bachelor Auction (2019): A Christmas romance where an accidental auction win revives an old crush.
13. Persuading the Captain (2020): A modern Persuasion retelling about broken engagement, second chances, and unresolved love.
14. Pretending He’s Mine (2020): A fake-dating romance where a pretend arrangement grows into something real.
15. The Accidental Christmas Match Up (2020): A Christmas novella-length romance where a mistaken match turns into a genuine connection.
16. Dashing into Disaster (2021): A modern Sense and Sensibility-inspired workplace romance with a fake-engagement complication.
17. Worst Neighbor Ever (2021): A prequel to Sworn to Loathe You about neighbor conflict and romantic sparks.
18. I Hated You First (2021): A workplace and family-loyalty romance where old dislike hides stronger feelings.
19. Carpool Crush (2021): A shared-ride romance where proximity turns misunderstanding into attraction.
20. Not Friends (2022): A not-quite-friends romance built on banter, denial, and emotional friction.
21. Keep It Together (2023): A clean romcom about trying to manage life while romance keeps refusing to behave.
22. Freelance Flirt (2024): A single-mom romance where professional help and personal charm become emotionally entangled.
23. The Backup Christmas Crush (2024): A Christmas rivals-to-romance story about good intentions, jealousy, and an unexpected holiday match.

Recommended Reading Order

The best Rachel John order depends on what kind of romcom you want first.

For the strongest modern-romcom route, read:

1. I Hated You First (2021): Start here for Rachel John’s most visible enemies-to-lovers setup.
2. Carpool Crush (2021): Continue with another high-proximity romance in the same series world.
3. Not Friends (2022): Stay with the banter and denial pattern.
4. Keep It Together (2023): Read next as the later series stakes settle around control, emotion, and family pressure.
5. Freelance Flirt (2024): Finish the current Sworn to Loathe You run with the single-mom romance.

For the Austen-inspired route, read:

1. Engaging Mr. Darcy (2018): Begin with the Pride and Prejudice retelling.
2. Emma the Matchmaker (2019): Move to the Emma retelling.
3. Persuading the Captain (2020): Continue with the Persuasion second-chance story.
4. Dashing into Disaster (2021): Finish with the Sense and Sensibility-inspired workplace romance.

For the Christmas route, read:

1. The Stand-in Christmas Date (2018): Start with the wrong-date premise.
2. The Christmas Bachelor Auction (2019): Continue with the charity-auction mistake.
3. The Christmas Wedding Planners (2018): Read third because it is listed as Book 3 in the series despite year-listing differences.
4. The Accidental Christmas Match Up (2020): Follow with the fourth mistaken-match Christmas romance.
5. The Backup Christmas Crush (2024): Finish with the later series return.

Are Rachel John’s Books Connected?

Yes, but only inside their series.

• Sworn to Loathe You has connected romcom energy and recurring relationship dynamics.
• A Change in Plans follows connected contemporary-romance characters.
• Matched by Mistake is a Christmas-romance series connected by mistaken matches and holiday setups.
• Austen Inspired Romantic Comedy is connected by Austen influence, not by one shared plot.
• Reality TV Romance is its own reality-show and public-romance lane.

Do You Need to Read the Series in Order?

• For Sworn to Loathe You, A Change in Plans, and Reality TV Romance, order is helpful.
• For Austen Inspired Romantic Comedy, each book stands on its own because each retells a different Austen source.
• For Matched by Mistake, order helps with series completeness, but the books can be read as individual Christmas romances.

Latest Rachel John Book

As of this update, the latest confirmed Rachel John book I found is The Backup Christmas Crush, published in December 2024.

I did not find a confirmed new Rachel John novel scheduled for 2025 or 2026. Recent public author material continues to point to The Backup Christmas Crush as her latest release.

Where to Start

1. Start with I Hated You First if you want Rachel John’s most direct enemies-to-lovers romcom path.
2. Start with Engaging Mr. Darcy if you want Austen-inspired contemporary romance.
3. Start with The Stand-in Christmas Date if you want a short Christmas romance.
4. Start with An Unlikely Alliance if you want the earlier connected contemporary-romance series.

Final Order Advice

Rachel John’s catalogue is not difficult once the series are separated. Read each series in order, but do not force all of them into one continuity.

For most readers, the best path is Sworn to Loathe You first, Austen Inspired Romantic Comedy second, and Matched by Mistake whenever you want Christmas romance.