Rebecca Rathe writes queer romance across two main areas: dark MM contemporary romance and polyamorous why-choose romance. Her catalog includes college sports, professional football, rock musicians, paranormal bonds, science-fiction elements, forbidden age gaps, foster-family relationships, and emotionally intense standalones.
The books do not form one shared universe. Forbidden Goals is a collection of separate sports romances, while The Progeny Duet, The Binding Trilogy, and Lest Is Moore each have their own continuity.
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That distinction determines the reading order. Forbidden Goals can be sampled selectively, but the Progeny and Binding books should be followed from beginning to end. Lest Is Moore uses a different couple in each novel while retaining the same band, public conflict, and supporting cast.
Decide Your Rebecca Rathe Reading Route
- Choose Head in the Game when you want dark MM sports romance and an intentionally forbidden coach-player relationship.
- Choose Progeny when you want a completed contemporary polyamorous romance with a science-fiction element.
- Choose The Binding for a completed paranormal why-choose trilogy with cliffhangers and a continuing group relationship.
- Choose Remember My Name for rock-star romance, professional football, second chances, and an ongoing connected series.
- Choose Nothing to Lose when you want one complete MM hurt-comfort romance without a series commitment.
Books That Must Be Read in Order
Three parts of Rathe’s catalog require particular care.
The Progeny Duet
Read the prequel if desired, then complete the two main novels before the companion novella:
- Spark
- Progeny
- Retribution
- Ignite
The two full-length novels follow one continuing polyamorous relationship. Spark and Ignite expand the story but do not replace either main book.
The Binding Trilogy
Read all three novels in order:
- The Binding
- Fractured Bonds
- Eternally Bound
The first two books end without resolving the larger relationship or paranormal conflict.
Lest Is Moore
Read the novels in their numbered order:
- Remember My Name
- Say It Again
- Never Forget – announced continuation; not yet confirmed as released
Each novel centers on a different relationship, but the band, career pressures, addiction history, public controversy, and returning characters continue.
Books That Can Be Read Selectively
The nine Forbidden Goals books are interconnected sports-romance standalones. They share a broad genre and recurring social environment, but each follows a different couple and provides its own ending.
The following books are also independent:
- Nothing to Lose
- Light Me Up
- Concussion Protocol
- Always Magnolia
- Brush Strokes
- Revelations
Reading them in publication order is optional.
Forbidden Goals Books in Order
Forbidden Goals consists of dark MM sports romances involving coaches, players, rivals, teammates, step-relatives, family enemies, age gaps, religious trauma, secret relationships, and uneven power dynamics.
The author describes the books as standalones. Earlier couples may appear or be mentioned, but there is no single romance or unresolved mystery running through all nine novels.
1. Head in the Game
Head in the Game (2023): Groveton College football coach Bryant Nicks becomes involved with one of his players while using an intensely unequal reward-and-punishment dynamic to push the team toward a championship.
The relationship includes a substantial age difference, coach-player authority, coercive behavior, blackmail, addiction history, and a deliberate imbalance of power.
This is the official first Forbidden Goals novel and the best introduction to Rathe’s darker sports romances. It is also connected to the multi-author Groveton College setting, although other authors’ books are not required.
2. Man On
Man On (2024): College-age stepbrothers who might have become friends instead become fierce rivals, with their competitive hostility concealing an attraction neither man wants to acknowledge.
The story examines internalized homophobia, religious trauma, family pressure, mental-health struggles, and a relationship that frequently crosses unhealthy boundaries.
It follows a completely different couple from Head in the Game. Readers can begin here, although publication order provides better familiarity with the style of the series.
3. Choke Up
Choke Up (2024): First-year baseball player Ellis Hope arrives at college focused on earning his place in the sport, only for an off-limits relationship to complicate his athletic future.
The romance uses baseball pressure and a deliberately toxic dynamic to explore obsession, control, and the cost of hiding a relationship inside a competitive program.
The book reaches its own conclusion and does not continue the couple from Man On.
4. The Try Line
The Try Line (2024): Jason Reinier has loved Mik Sanders since they first met, but the rugby players’ connection develops through years of longing, damaged trust, and behavior that prevents affection from becoming a healthy relationship.
The novel is built around rugby, persistent attachment, emotional dependence, and two men who repeatedly hurt one another while remaining unable to let go.
It can be read alone, though readers should expect a darker interpretation of long-term devotion rather than a conventional friends-to-lovers romance.
5. Off Balance
Off Balance (2025): An older man becomes involved with his much younger step-nephew, creating a secret sports romance complicated by marriage, family boundaries, a large age gap, and the risk of discovery.
Both central characters are adults, but the family-by-marriage connection is the central forbidden element. The story also addresses manipulation and abuse occurring outside the primary relationship.
This is one of the most taboo entries in Forbidden Goals and does not need to be read before or after a particular couple’s story.
6. Off the Rim
Off the Rim (2025): Two basketball players from families that despise one another must confront attraction, grief, class differences, and the consequences of a rivalry neither family is willing to abandon.
The book combines basketball romance with fraternity abuse, hazing, mental-health struggles, bereavement, forced exposure, and the pressure of choosing a partner over inherited loyalty.
Its complete couple-focused story makes it suitable for selective reading.
7. Wrap Around
Wrap Around (2025): Former best friends are brought back into each other’s lives after secrets and betrayal destroyed their relationship, giving them an opportunity to rebuild what religious fear and dishonesty took from them.
The sports romance centers on a damaged friendship, unresolved desire, perceived infidelity, internalized homophobia, and a reunion that cannot succeed without confronting the past.
Although it is numbered seventh, it does not require detailed knowledge of Books 1–6.
8. Full Split
Full Split (2025): Elite gymnast Niles becomes involved with a considerably older man who has known him since childhood, placing ambition, family familiarity, and a secret age-gap relationship in direct conflict.
No romantic or sexual relationship begins while Niles is a child. The adult romance nevertheless uses the earlier family connection to create its central forbidden boundary.
The book also addresses elite athletic pressure, harassment, transphobia, homophobia, and the risks of hiding a relationship.
9. Pinned Down
Pinned Down (2026): Two adult athletes become trapped in a hostile relationship shaped by hazing, class differences, internalized homophobia, coercion, addiction history, and the need to conceal their attraction from teammates and family.
The romance intentionally presents toxic behavior rather than portraying the couple’s early dynamic as healthy. Recovery, family loss, and social humiliation complicate the sports storyline.
This is the ninth and currently latest Forbidden Goals novel.
Do the Forbidden Goals Books Need to Be Read in Order?
No. Each book follows a different couple and reaches an independent romantic conclusion.
Publication order remains useful because it provides a natural progression through the series and may preserve minor returning-character appearances. Readers who are interested in one particular sport or forbidden dynamic can select that book without becoming lost.
A practical trope-based choice is:
- Head in the Game for coach and player
- Man On for stepbrother rivals
- Choke Up for college baseball
- The Try Line for rugby and long-term pining
- Off Balance for a large age gap and step-family taboo
- Off the Rim for basketball and rival families
- Wrap Around for estranged best friends
- Full Split for gymnastics and an older family acquaintance
- Pinned Down for hazing, class conflict, and toxic teammates
The Progeny Duet Books in Order
The Progeny books form a contemporary MMFMMM polyamorous romance with a science-fiction element. The main story follows one woman and the men connected to her rather than changing couples between novels.
The two central books must be read in order. The shorter stories add background and follow-up material.
Spark
Spark (2022): This prequel introduces the circumstances and relationships that set the Progeny story in motion before the main group is fully formed.
It provides additional context but is not required to understand Progeny. Readers who prefer to enter the story without advance background may begin with the first full-length novel.
1. Progeny
Progeny (2022): A woman discovers that her life, body, and developing connection with several men are tied to a larger plan with a science-fiction dimension.
The novel establishes the MMFMMM relationship and the questions surrounding why the group has been brought together. Its story continues directly into Retribution.
Readers should expect a true group romance rather than a heroine maintaining separate, isolated relationships with each man.
2. Retribution
Retribution (2022): The group confronts the people and system responsible for manipulating their lives as the relationships formed in Progeny deepen into a permanent family.
This book resolves the principal conspiracy and the central polyamorous romance. Starting here would reveal the identities, bonds, and discoveries developed throughout Book 1.
Ignite
Ignite: Tony’s Story: A companion novella gives Tony additional focus and expands his emotional place within the completed Progeny relationship.
Read it after Retribution. Its purpose is to revisit and deepen an established group rather than begin a new romantic storyline.
The Best Progeny Reading Order
For maximum context:
- Spark
- Progeny
- Retribution
- Ignite
For the essential plot only:
- Progeny
- Retribution
The Binding Trilogy Books in Order
The Binding is a dark paranormal MMFM why-choose trilogy. The same central characters and relationship continue through all three novels.
The story includes supernatural bonds, religious control, family loss, questions of bodily autonomy, pregnancy, violence, and a group whose members are not asked to choose one exclusive partner.
1. The Binding
The Binding (2023): A supernatural bond draws several people into a relationship controlled by old rules, religious expectations, and forces that view their bodies and futures as property.
The book establishes the paranormal system and the MMFM group at the center of the trilogy. It ends on a cliffhanger rather than completing the romance.
Readers should have Fractured Bonds available before beginning.
2. Fractured Bonds
Fractured Bonds (2023): The central group struggles with the damage inflicted on their supernatural connection while enemies exploit the fractures developing between them.
The second book expands the mythology, reveals more about the forces controlling the bond, and pushes the relationship through further violence and loss.
It also ends before the main conflict is settled.
3. Eternally Bound
Eternally Bound (2024): The group confronts the religious and supernatural powers attempting to determine their fate, bringing the trilogy’s bond, family conflict, and polyamorous relationship to a final resolution.
This is the completed ending and the only appropriate place to finish the series. Reading it first would disclose nearly every important relationship and paranormal revelation.
Is The Binding Trilogy Complete?
Yes. The trilogy is complete at three books.
The first two installments end on cliffhangers, but Eternally Bound delivers the final ending for the central group.
Lest Is Moore Books in Order
Lest Is Moore is an ongoing MM rock-star romance series. The books change central couples but remain connected through the same band, careers, political pressure, public scrutiny, addiction history, and foster-family relationships.
This series is more interconnected than Forbidden Goals. New readers should begin with Remember My Name.
1. Remember My Name
Remember My Name (2025): Future rock star Jesse Moore and football player Luc Martín share one anonymous night before either becomes famous, then meet again years later as Jesse’s band approaches a major performance and Luc’s team pursues a championship.
Because they never exchanged names during their first encounter, recognition and reconnection become central to the second-chance romance.
Jesse’s addiction recovery, mental health, activism, and position as the band’s frontman continue to affect the broader series.
2. Say It Again
Say It Again (2026): Bandmates and foster brothers Will and Ari confront a relationship shaped by childhood abuse, family instability, addiction, unspoken dependence, and the fear that revealing their feelings could destroy the only family they trust.
The novel overlaps with events and public conflicts established in Remember My Name. It changes the central couple but does not reset the band’s larger story.
Reading Book 1 first provides important context for Jesse, the group’s activism, and the outside forces applying pressure to the musicians.
3. Never Forget
Never Forget: The announced third Lest Is Moore novel is expected to continue the connected band storyline through another central relationship.
As of July 18, 2026, a completed release and stable publication date could not be confirmed. It should remain after Say It Again and should not be counted among the released books until publication is verified.
Can the Lest Is Moore Books Stand Alone?
Each installment concentrates on a different couple and is expected to provide that relationship with an ending.
However, the musicians’ history, public controversies, personal recovery, and supporting relationships continue. Publication order is strongly recommended even when a later couple is the main attraction.
MM Contemporary Standalones
These stories are not numbered parts of Forbidden Goals or Lest Is Moore.
Nothing to Lose
Nothing to Lose (2025): A man recovering from a brutal attack becomes the target of continuing threats, while the person who loves him is prepared to sacrifice his own future to provide safety and support.
The novel is an MM hurt-comfort romance involving trauma, grief, mental-health struggles, class prejudice, and stalking behavior from outside the central couple.
It offers a complete ending and is one of the clearest starting points for readers who want Rathe’s emotional contemporary work without a series.
Some print listings use a 2026 edition date. That reflects a later format rather than a separate novel.
Light Me Up
Light Me Up (2025): A single father is irritated by his son’s best friend until hostility gives way to attraction, forcing him to confront an unexpected queer awakening and a relationship with a much younger man.
The short romance uses a best-friend’s-father setup, a substantial age difference, forced proximity, and grumpy-sunshine personalities.
It is a standalone novella and can be read in one sitting without preparation.
Concussion Protocol
Concussion Protocol (2025): An MM sports romance develops around an athlete dealing with the physical vulnerability and personal consequences created by a concussion.
The shorter story uses injury and enforced care to bring two men into closer contact. Its title describes the sports setting rather than placing it inside Forbidden Goals.
It can be read independently.
Why-Choose Standalone Books
These novels contain polyamorous relationships but do not belong to the Progeny or Binding continuities.
Always Magnolia
Always Magnolia (2023): Magnolia attempts to build a future with several men while confronting a history marked by family abuse, sexual violence, domestic control, pregnancy loss, depression, and grief.
The MMFM relationship is the emotional center of the novel. Harm occurs outside the central group rather than being presented as the foundation of their romance.
The story delivers a hard-won complete ending and requires no sequel.
Brush Strokes
Brush Strokes (2024): Beth Heaton becomes part of an MFM relationship in a contemporary romance connecting artistic expression with emotional and sexual discovery.
The story was originally available in shorter anthology form before being expanded into a full-length novel. Readers only need the expanded edition.
It is independent of Always Magnolia, even though both books contain multi-partner contemporary relationships.
Revelations
Revelations (2024): A succubus assassin becomes entangled with several dangerous demons in a dark paranormal MMMFM romance involving captivity, torture, war, manipulation, and competing supernatural loyalties.
The group relationship develops within a far darker fantasy conflict than the Binding books. Although both use paranormal why-choose romance, they belong to separate worlds.
Revelations is presented as a complete standalone rather than the first volume of another trilogy.
Anthology Contributions
F*ck the Patriarchy: Getting Smutty for a Cause
F*ck the Patriarchy: Getting Smutty for a Cause (2022): A multi-author charity anthology contains a shorter contribution from Rebecca Rathe alongside stories by other romance writers.
The collection is optional and does not provide necessary background for Progeny, The Binding, Forbidden Goals, or any later book.
Bad for Me
Bad for Me (2024): A multi-author anthology includes romance stories from several writers, with Rathe contributing shorter fiction rather than a numbered series novel.
The anthology should not be counted as a full Rebecca Rathe standalone. Special editions contain the same collection rather than an additional story.
Rebecca Rathe Books in Publication Order
The following chronology lists the principal released fiction. Dates can vary slightly between digital, print, revised, and expanded editions.
- Spark (2022): A short Progeny prequel introduces the circumstances behind the later polyamorous science-fiction romance.
- Progeny (2022): A woman and several men discover that their connection is part of a larger experiment or plan.
- Retribution (2022): The Progeny group fights back against the forces that controlled their lives and relationship.
- F*ck the Patriarchy: Getting Smutty for a Cause (2022): A charity anthology includes a shorter contribution from Rathe.
- Always Magnolia (2023): Magnolia builds an MMFM family while recovering from severe trauma and loss.
- The Binding (2023): A supernatural MMFM bond draws a group into a dark struggle over religion, control, and bodily autonomy.
- Fractured Bonds (2023): Damage to the group’s paranormal connection threatens both the relationship and their survival.
- Head in the Game (2023): A college football coach begins a forbidden and unequal relationship with one of his players.
- Eternally Bound (2024): The Binding group confronts the forces controlling them and completes the trilogy.
- Brush Strokes (2024): An expanded MFM romance connects art, intimacy, and emotional discovery.
- Man On (2024): Competitive stepbrothers turn rivalry and concealed attraction into a dark college sports romance.
- Choke Up (2024): A college baseball player’s athletic plans are disrupted by an off-limits and toxic relationship.
- The Try Line (2024): Rugby players caught in a damaging long-term attachment struggle to turn obsession into a future.
- Revelations (2024): A succubus assassin becomes bound to several demons during a violent paranormal conflict.
- Bad for Me (2024): A multi-author anthology includes shorter romance fiction.
- Light Me Up (2025): A father develops feelings for his son’s best friend in a short age-gap queer-awakening romance.
- Concussion Protocol (2025): A sports injury creates vulnerability and enforced care in a short MM romance.
- Off Balance (2025): An older man secretly becomes involved with his adult step-nephew.
- Off the Rim (2025): Basketball players from hostile families confront grief, class conflict, and forbidden attraction.
- Nothing to Lose (2025): A survivor of a brutal attack is protected by the man willing to risk everything for him.
- Wrap Around (2025): Estranged best friends reunite after secrecy, betrayal, and religious trauma destroyed their earlier bond.
- Full Split (2025): An adult gymnast becomes involved with an older man who has known him since childhood.
- Remember My Name (2025): A rock star and NFL player reconnect years after an anonymous night together.
- Pinned Down (2026): Two athletes enter a toxic relationship shaped by hazing, class inequality, addiction history, and hidden desire.
- Say It Again (2026): Foster brothers and bandmates confront the love and dependence they have never been able to name openly.
Ignite is companion reading connected to the Progeny Duet. Its displayed release date varies across editions, so its position after Retribution is more important than assigning it a single year.
Recommended Rebecca Rathe Reading Order
There is no reason to combine every book into one strict sequence. A better plan is to complete one continuity before choosing another.
Route One: Start with Sports Romance
- Head in the Game
- Man On
- Choke Up
- The Try Line
- Off Balance
- Off the Rim
- Wrap Around
- Full Split
- Pinned Down
This preserves publication order, but each title remains independently readable.
Route Two: Read the Completed Polyamorous Series
First complete Progeny:
- Spark – optional
- Progeny
- Retribution
- Ignite – optional follow-up
Then complete The Binding:
- The Binding
- Fractured Bonds
- Eternally Bound
The two series are not connected and may be reversed.
Route Three: Follow the Rock Band
- Remember My Name
- Say It Again
- Never Forget after publication is confirmed
This is the most important current publication-order route because Lest Is Moore remains ongoing.
Route Four: Read Only Standalones
- Nothing to Lose
- Light Me Up
- Concussion Protocol
- Always Magnolia
- Brush Strokes
- Revelations
These can be rearranged according to preferred relationship structure and genre.
Latest Rebecca Rathe Book
As of July 18, 2026, the latest confirmed Rebecca Rathe release is Say It Again, the second Lest Is Moore novel.
Say It Again (2026): Foster brothers and bandmates Will and Ari face the childhood trauma, family dependence, secrecy, and public danger that have kept them from acknowledging their relationship.
It follows Remember My Name and should not be treated as a completely isolated rock-star romance. Returning characters and ongoing conflicts make Book 1 valuable preparation.
The latest Forbidden Goals release is Pinned Down, published in January 2026.
Upcoming Rebecca Rathe Books
Never Forget
Never Forget: The title is listed as the third Lest Is Moore novel and is expected to continue the connected rock-band series with a new central relationship.
No stable publication date or completed release could be verified as of July 18, 2026. Details should therefore be treated as provisional.
No tenth Forbidden Goals book has been confirmed clearly enough to add to the official order.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Rebecca Rathe’s first book?
Progeny (2022): A contemporary MMFMMM romance with a science-fiction twist, following a woman and several men whose developing relationship is linked to a wider plan.
Spark is a shorter prequel, but Progeny is the main full-length starting point.
What is Rebecca Rathe’s most popular series?
Forbidden Goals is her largest current series and begins with Head in the Game.
The books are known for MM sports romances involving deliberately forbidden or toxic relationship dynamics.
Do the Forbidden Goals books need to be read in order?
No. Each novel follows a different couple and delivers its own ending.
Publication order is recommended for minor connections, but readers may select a book based on sport or trope.
Is Head in the Game part of Groveton College?
Yes. It participates in the multi-author Groveton College setting while also serving as Forbidden Goals Book 1.
Other Groveton College novels are not required to understand Bryant and his player’s relationship.
Is Pinned Down the final Forbidden Goals book?
It is the ninth and latest confirmed book as of July 18, 2026.
The series consists of standalones, so it does not function as a finale to one continuing plot.
Is the Progeny series complete?
Yes. The main duet consists of Progeny and Retribution.
Spark is an optional prequel, while Ignite is companion reading focused on Tony.
Is The Binding complete?
Yes. Read The Binding, Fractured Bonds, and Eternally Bound.
Books 1 and 2 end on cliffhangers, while Book 3 completes the paranormal conflict and group relationship.
Are The Binding and Progeny connected?
No. Both feature polyamorous relationships, but they use different characters, worlds, and story rules.
Progeny is contemporary with a science-fiction element. The Binding is explicitly paranormal.
Is Lest Is Moore connected to Forbidden Goals?
No direct shared continuity has been confirmed.
Remember My Name includes a professional football player, but that sports element does not make it a Forbidden Goals installment.
Can Say It Again be read first?
The central relationship can be followed, but beginning with Remember My Name is recommended.
The band, Jesse’s history, public controversy, and several returning relationships are established in Book 1.
Is Nothing to Lose a standalone?
Yes. It is a complete MM hurt-comfort romance.
Later print dates do not turn it into a sequel or a new edition that must be read separately.
Is Light Me Up part of Forbidden Goals?
No. It is a short independent MM age-gap romance involving a father and his son’s best friend.
Is Concussion Protocol part of Forbidden Goals?
It is a sports romance, but it is not officially numbered among the nine Forbidden Goals novels.
Treat it as a separate short story.
Are Always Magnolia and Brush Strokes connected?
No confirmed continuity connects them.
Both are contemporary multi-partner romances, but each follows a different group and complete story.
Is Revelations part of The Binding Trilogy?
No. Revelations is a standalone dark paranormal MMMFM romance about a succubus assassin and demons.
The Binding Trilogy uses a different world and central group.
Where should a new reader begin?
Start with Head in the Game for Rathe’s dark MM sports romances.
Start with Progeny for contemporary polyamorous romance, The Binding for paranormal why-choose, or Nothing to Lose for one self-contained emotional MM romance.
Final Reading Recommendation
The best broad introduction is Head in the Game. It establishes the forbidden sports-romance style that defines the largest part of Rebecca Rathe’s catalog while allowing readers to stop after one complete couple.
For an uninterrupted continuing story, begin with The Binding and read through Eternally Bound. Readers who prefer contemporary polyamorous romance should instead begin with Progeny and continue directly into Retribution.
For Rathe’s current connected series, read Remember My Name before Say It Again. Save Never Forget for after its release is formally confirmed.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.