S.J. Sylvis Books in Order (Updated August 4, 2026)

S.J. Sylvis writes angsty new adult romance, hockey romance, dark boarding-school romance, romantic suspense, and contemporary romantic comedy. Her bibliography begins with independent contemporary novels before moving into several connected series, including English Prep, St. Mary’s, Bexley U, Blue Devils Hockey, Shadow Valley U, and Vanstone Racing.

There is no single continuity containing every S.J. Sylvis book. Readers should choose a series, begin with its first installment, and follow publication order within that group.

The most important continuity boundary is between English Prep and St. Mary’s. These series occupy related dark academic territory and contain character connections, so English Prep is the safer first stop. Bexley U and Blue Devils Hockey are also separate hockey series rather than one numbered sequence.

Where New Readers Should Enter

The best starting book depends on the kind of romance you want.

1. For college hockey romance: Start with Weak Side.
2. For professional hockey romance: Start with Play the Game.
3. For dark high-school romance: Start with All the Little Lies.
4. For boarding-school romance: Read English Prep first, then begin St. Mary’s with Good Girls Never Rise.
5. For Formula One romance: Start with Overtake.
6. For an early contemporary romance: Start with Chasing Ivy or choose one of the independent novels.

Readers completing the entire bibliography can follow publication order, but that is not necessary for understanding the separate series.

The Continuity Checkpoints

S.J. Sylvis’s catalog becomes easier to follow when four rules are established before opening the first book.

First, English Prep should come before St. Mary’s. The later boarding-school series contains its own couples, but it is connected to the earlier world.

Second, Bexley U and Blue Devils Hockey are both hockey romance series, but they follow different teams and stages of the sport. One does not function as book four of the other.

Third, Shadow Valley U is co-written with S. Massery. It is a separate college sports world and should remain distinct from Sylvis’s solo hockey series.

Fourth, Vanstone Racing begins a Formula One continuity. It does not connect to the hockey or dark-academia books.

Oak Hill Books in Order

Oak Hill is S.J. Sylvis’s first numbered series. It contains two connected contemporary romances and should be read in publication order.

1. Chasing Ivy (2018): A former friendship is reopened after years of separation, forcing the central couple to confront why they lost each other and whether the damage can be repaired.
2. Falling for Fallon (2019): Fallon’s carefully managed life changes after an unexpected encounter draws her into a relationship that challenges her expectations and expands the Oak Hill circle.

The two books focus on different central relationships, but the shared setting and character connections make Chasing Ivy the correct starting point.

Status: Included.

Best order: Chasing Ivy, then Falling for Fallon.

English Prep Books in Order

English Prep is a dark high-school romance series built around wealthy students, buried secrets, social control, and relationships shaped by mistrust.

Each book follows a different central pairing, but the mysteries and character histories overlap. Publication order preserves revelations and prevents later books from exposing earlier outcomes.

1. All the Little Lies (2020): Hayley returns to a hostile school environment and collides with Christian, whose anger, influence, and connection to her past make their relationship part romance and part unresolved mystery.
2. All the Little Secrets (2020): The focus moves to another couple inside English Prep, where concealed motives and dangerous loyalties show that the school’s problems extend beyond the first book.
3. All the Little Truths (2021): The final English Prep romance brings hidden history into the open, resolving another central relationship while closing the series’ broader cycle of lies and consequences.

These are interconnected standalone romances, not one couple’s continuous trilogy. However, the surrounding plot and returning characters make the order important.

Status: Included.

Recommended starting point: All the Little Lies.

St. Mary’s Books in Order

St. Mary’s is a dark boarding-school romance series connected to the world established in English Prep. Each full-length book centers on a new couple, but characters, family ties, threats, and institutional secrets carry forward.

Read English Prep first for the fullest continuity.

1. Good Girls Never Rise (2021): Gemma enters the dangerous social structure surrounding St. Mary’s and becomes involved with Isaiah, beginning the series through a romance shaped by survival, power, and secrets.
2. Bad Boys Never Fall (2021): The second book follows a new central pair while deepening the connections among St. Mary’s students and the troubled histories surrounding them.
3. Dead Girls Never Talk (2022): A relationship develops against a darker mystery involving silence, reputation, and the consequences of what St. Mary’s students know about one another.
4. Heartless Boys Never Kiss (2022): Sloane becomes tutor to Tobias, her best friend’s volatile brother, and their hostile dynamic turns increasingly personal as both conceal damaging truths.
5. Pretty Girls Never Lie (2024): This shorter installment returns to St. Mary’s during the summer and gives another connected character a focused romance after the four main novels.

Pretty Girls Never Lie is commonly treated as book 4.5 because it follows the completed four-book main sequence and is shorter than the core novels.

Status: The four main novels are included. Pretty Girls Never Lie is optional but correctly placed after Heartless Boys Never Kiss.

The Best English Prep and St. Mary’s Order

Readers following the complete dark-school continuity should use this sequence:

1. All the Little Lies (2020): Introduces English Prep and the first major cycle of secrets.
2. All the Little Secrets (2020): Expands the school’s connected relationships and concealed conflicts.
3. All the Little Truths (2021): Completes the English Prep sequence and establishes the clearest foundation for later connections.
4. Good Girls Never Rise (2021): Opens the St. Mary’s boarding-school branch.
5. Bad Boys Never Fall (2021): Continues the connected St. Mary’s cast.
6. Dead Girls Never Talk (2022): Moves the series into a darker mystery-centered romance.
7. Heartless Boys Never Kiss (2022): Completes the main St. Mary’s novel sequence.
8. Pretty Girls Never Lie (2024): Adds an optional later novella within the same world.

Publication order is preferable because these books depend on character recognition and gradual disclosure more than Sylvis’s sports romances do.

Bexley U Books in Order

Bexley U is a college hockey romance series composed of interconnected standalones. Each book follows a different player and couple, while teammates and previous relationships return in the background.

1. Weak Side (2023): College hockey star Theo Brooks and his new roommate enter a fake relationship, opening Bexley U through a romance built around close quarters, public appearances, and feelings neither planned to acknowledge.
2. Ice Bet (2023): The coach’s daughter becomes involved with a player caught in an intense hockey rivalry, increasing the professional and family consequences surrounding the relationship.
3. Puck Block (2024): Ford Collins, the heroine’s brother’s best friend, becomes the one person she should avoid, closing the trilogy with a secretive romance inside the established Bexley hockey circle.

The books resolve their individual romances, but previous couples reappear and team relationships develop in order.

Status: Included.

Best starting point: Weak Side.

Blue Devils Hockey Books in Order

Blue Devils Hockey follows professional players rather than the college athletes of Bexley U. It is a separate series with its own cast and should begin with Play the Game.

1. Play the Game (2024): A professional hockey player enters a marriage-of-convenience arrangement with a woman he clashes with, establishing the Blue Devils through an enemies-to-lovers relationship with public and private stakes.
2. Skate the Line (2025): Single father Rhodes Volkova hires a nanny who has no interest in his fame, but their grumpy and optimistic personalities create a relationship that threatens the boundaries of her job.
3. Rush the Edge (2025): Kane Barlow is reunited with his best friend’s sister, with whom he once shared a secret fling, and their new proximity turns old resentment into renewed attraction.
4. Test the Ice (2025): Hockey star Malaki Young offers a fake engagement to a single mother facing pressure from her vindictive ex, turning a protective arrangement into a relationship neither can keep entirely false.

Each novel has a complete central romance. Publication order is still recommended because team members and previous couples remain part of the same professional hockey community.

Status: Included.

Best order: Play the Game, Skate the Line, Rush the Edge, then Test the Ice.

Bexley U or Blue Devils Hockey First?

Neither series is a required prequel to the other.

Bexley U begins with college hockey and younger characters navigating campus relationships. Blue Devils Hockey moves into the professional game and focuses on players facing careers, children, publicity, and more established adult responsibilities.

Readers who want to follow Sylvis’s hockey writing by publication should read Bexley U first:

1. Weak Side
2. Ice Bet
3. Puck Block
4. Play the Game
5. Skate the Line
6. Rush the Edge
7. Test the Ice

This is a publication-based genre route, not one confirmed numbered continuity.

Shadow Valley U Books in Order

Shadow Valley U is co-written by S.J. Sylvis and S. Massery. The series combines college sports romance with enemies-to-lovers tension and a darker shared campus setting.

1. Sticks and Stones (2023): Hockey player Stone blames Wren Davis for jeopardizing his future, only to discover that they must share space at Shadow Valley University and confront the attraction beneath their hostility.
2. Heart of Thorns (2024): Briar and Thorne take over the central story in a football romance where rivalry, reputation, and emotional conflict broaden the sports world beyond hockey.
3. The Christmas Playbook (2025): A double-booked cabin places childhood neighbors and former friends together for a holiday week, leading them into fake dating and forced proximity between the second and third main novels.
4. Cross the Line (2025): The final main novel follows a fighter and the new stepsister he sees as an enemy, closing the series with a forbidden relationship shaped by family conflict and close proximity.

The Christmas Playbook is a companion novella rather than main book three. Its most useful placement is after Heart of Thorns and before Cross the Line.

Status: The three numbered novels are included. The holiday novella is optional but belongs in publication position.

Wilder U Books in Order

Wilder U is currently represented by one published book.

1. Call Me Teach (2025): A college athlete becomes involved with a teacher in a romance built around forbidden attraction, authority boundaries, and the risks created by their positions.

The book can be read on its own. A future Wilder U title has appeared in preliminary listings, but its final title and publication details are not stable enough to include as a confirmed numbered release.

Status: One confirmed published installment.

Vanstone Racing Books in Order

Vanstone Racing moves S.J. Sylvis into Formula One romance. The series follows different people within the same racing organization and should be read in publication order.

1. Overtake (2026): Formula One star Rome Pierce is forced to work with a rival he does not trust, beginning the series through professional competition, forced proximity, and a relationship that threatens both control and reputation.
2. Idle Hands (2027): Formula One race engineer and single father Van Halston hires a nanny after her life falls apart, creating an age-gap romance between a man defined by control and a woman trying to rebuild.

Idle Hands is the second confirmed Vanstone Racing novel. Its scheduled publication is April 13, 2027.

Status: Overtake is published. Idle Hands is upcoming.

Best starting point: Overtake.

S.J. Sylvis Standalone Novels

The following books do not belong to a confirmed numbered series. They can be read in any order.

Yours Truly, Cammie

Yours Truly, Cammie (2018): Cammie’s romantic story is shaped by written words, emotional distance, and the difficulty of deciding whether a meaningful connection can survive real-life complications.

This early novel is separate from Oak Hill and Sylvis’s later school and sports series.

Continuity status: Standalone.

Three Summers

Three Summers (2018): A young couple’s relationship unfolds across three summers after their lives separate for college, turning the changing seasons into stages of a second-chance romance.

The novel does not require any other S.J. Sylvis book.

Continuity status: Standalone.

Truth

Truth (2019): A blocked and emotionally withdrawn writer meets a woman who challenges his isolation, creating a romance centered on honesty, grief, and the stories people avoid telling.

The title is not part of the English Prep sequence despite its thematic similarity to All the Little Truths.

Continuity status: Standalone.

Ground Rules

Ground Rules (2024): A woman confronts the unresolved aftermath of an assault while a romance and the search for answers force her to examine what happened and whom she can trust.

This is a shorter work and deals with heavier subject matter than Sylvis’s lighter sports romances.

Continuity status: Separate novella.

Collaborations, Collections, and Boxed Sets

Collaborative titles should be separated from Sylvis’s solo series so that authorship and continuity remain clear.

Shadow Valley U Collaborations

Sticks and Stones (2023): Co-written with S. Massery, this opens the Shadow Valley U college sports series through an enemies-to-lovers hockey romance.

Heart of Thorns (2024): Co-written with S. Massery, this continues the shared campus through a football-centered relationship.

The Christmas Playbook (2025): Co-written with S. Massery, this optional holiday novella fits between the second and third main books.

Cross the Line (2025): Co-written with S. Massery, this closes the numbered Shadow Valley U sequence.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Hit Me With Your Best Shot (2024): This multi-author collection contains romance material from several writers and should be treated as an optional anthology rather than part of a core S.J. Sylvis series.

Dissent: Volume 3

Dissent: Volume 3 (2022): This multi-author collection includes work connected to its anthology project, but it is not required for English Prep, St. Mary’s, or any sports-romance sequence.

The Saint Mary’s Duet Box Set

The Saint Mary’s Duet Box Set: This collection packages existing St. Mary’s stories and does not represent a new installment.

Boxed sets should always be read according to the order of the novels they contain. They should not be counted as separate books in the main bibliography.

Complete Publication Order

Readers who prefer to follow S.J. Sylvis’s development from her earliest books to her latest release can use this sequence.

1. Yours Truly, Cammie (2018): An early standalone romance shaped by emotional distance and written communication.
2. Three Summers (2018): A second-chance relationship develops over three defining summers.
3. Chasing Ivy (2018): Former friends reconnect and reopen the history that separated them.
4. Truth (2019): A withdrawn writer’s creative and emotional isolation is challenged by a new relationship.
5. Falling for Fallon (2019): The second Oak Hill romance expands the shared community.
6. All the Little Lies (2020): English Prep begins with bullying, secrets, and a hostile central relationship.
7. All the Little Secrets (2020): A new couple reveals more of the danger beneath English Prep’s polished appearance.
8. All the Little Truths (2021): The English Prep sequence closes by bringing hidden histories into the open.
9. Good Girls Never Rise (2021): St. Mary’s begins its darker boarding-school continuity.
10. Bad Boys Never Fall (2021): The second St. Mary’s couple faces another relationship shaped by secrecy and danger.
11. Dead Girls Never Talk (2022): A darker mystery complicates the next St. Mary’s romance.
12. Heartless Boys Never Kiss (2022): A tutor and her best friend’s volatile brother lead the fourth main St. Mary’s book.
13. Sticks and Stones (2023): The co-written Shadow Valley U series begins with college hockey enemies.
14. Weak Side (2023): Bexley U opens through a fake relationship between roommates.
15. Ice Bet (2023): The coach’s daughter becomes caught between attraction and hockey rivalry.
16. Pretty Girls Never Lie (2024): A shorter St. Mary’s story returns to the boarding school after the main sequence.
17. Puck Block (2024): A brother’s-best-friend romance closes Bexley U.
18. Ground Rules (2024): A standalone novella combines romance with the search for answers after trauma.
19. Heart of Thorns (2024): Shadow Valley U expands through a football romance.
20. Play the Game (2024): Blue Devils Hockey begins with a marriage of convenience.
21. Skate the Line (2025): A professional player and his daughter’s nanny cross carefully established boundaries.
22. Call Me Teach (2025): A forbidden teacher and student romance introduces Wilder U.
23. Rush the Edge (2025): Former secret lovers reunite as neighbors within the Blue Devils circle.
24. Test the Ice (2025): A hockey star and single mother enter a fake engagement.
25. The Christmas Playbook (2025): Shadow Valley U pauses for a forced-proximity holiday novella.
26. Cross the Line (2025): A fighter and his stepsister close the numbered Shadow Valley U sequence.
27. Overtake (2026): Formula One rivals are forced to work together in the first Vanstone Racing romance.

Publication order is useful for completionists, but it should not be mistaken for a single chronological storyline.

Is There a Chronological Reading Order?

A universal chronological order is not available because most S.J. Sylvis series occupy separate continuities.

Within English Prep, St. Mary’s, Bexley U, Blue Devils Hockey, Shadow Valley U, and Vanstone Racing, publication order already provides the clearest timeline.

The only placement that may cause confusion is The Christmas Playbook. It is a Shadow Valley U companion novella and belongs after Heart of Thorns, even though it is not numbered as the third main novel.

Pretty Girls Never Lie should likewise remain after Heartless Boys Never Kiss. Its shorter length does not make it a prequel.

Recommended Reading Plans

For Dark Academic Romance

1. All the Little Lies
2. All the Little Secrets
3. All the Little Truths
4. Good Girls Never Rise
5. Bad Boys Never Fall
6. Dead Girls Never Talk
7. Heartless Boys Never Kiss
8. Pretty Girls Never Lie

This route preserves the most meaningful continuity and reduces the risk of encountering later character outcomes too early.

For College Hockey Romance

1. Weak Side
2. Ice Bet
3. Puck Block

These books are interconnected standalones and form the complete Bexley U trilogy.

For Professional Hockey Romance

1. Play the Game
2. Skate the Line
3. Rush the Edge
4. Test the Ice

This sequence follows the Blue Devils organization and its recurring players.

For the Co-Written College Sports Series

1. Sticks and Stones
2. Heart of Thorns
3. The Christmas Playbook
4. Cross the Line

Readers interested only in the main novels may skip the holiday novella and move directly from Heart of Thorns to Cross the Line.

For Formula One Romance

1. Overtake
2. Idle Hands

Overtake is the current starting point. Idle Hands follows in 2027 with a different central couple inside the Vanstone Racing world.

Latest and Upcoming S.J. Sylvis Books

The latest published S.J. Sylvis novel as of August 4, 2026, is Overtake.

Overtake (2026): Formula One star Rome Pierce is forced into close professional contact with a rival, launching Vanstone Racing through competition, distrust, and attraction.

The next confirmed Vanstone Racing book is Idle Hands.

Idle Hands (2027): Race engineer and single father Van Halston becomes involved with his nanny, continuing the series with an age-gap, workplace, and close-proximity romance.

Idle Hands is scheduled for April 13, 2027.

A separate co-written romance, The Fake Date Playbook, is also listed for June 8, 2027.

The Fake Date Playbook (2027): Co-written with Cali Melle, this planned fake-dating romance is separate from the confirmed S.J. Sylvis series unless later publication information assigns it to a specific continuity.

Future placeholder titles should not be added to numbered series lists until their final names, dates, and series positions are confirmed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was S.J. Sylvis’s first book?

Yours Truly, Cammie and Three Summers were both published in 2018 among her earliest releases.

Readers looking for her first numbered series should begin Oak Hill with Chasing Ivy.

What is S.J. Sylvis best known for?

Her most prominent recent books are angsty college and sports romances, particularly Bexley U, Blue Devils Hockey, English Prep, and St. Mary’s.

Weak Side is the safest entry for readers primarily interested in her hockey romances.

Do the English Prep books need to be read in order?

Yes. Each novel has a different central romance, but the characters, secrets, and consequences overlap.

Begin with All the Little Lies and continue through All the Little Truths.

Is St. Mary’s connected to English Prep?

Yes. The series belong to a related dark-school world.

English Prep should be read first because it establishes characters and background that improve the St. Mary’s sequence.

Is Pretty Girls Never Lie a full St. Mary’s novel?

It is a shorter connected installment commonly positioned after the fourth main novel.

Read it after Heartless Boys Never Kiss.

Are Bexley U and Blue Devils Hockey connected?

They are separate hockey series.

Bexley U focuses on college players, while Blue Devils Hockey follows a professional team. Readers may start either series independently.

What order should the Bexley U books be read in?

Read Weak Side, Ice Bet, then Puck Block.

The couples change, but teammates and previous relationships continue across the trilogy.

What order should the Blue Devils Hockey books be read in?

Read Play the Game, Skate the Line, Rush the Edge, then Test the Ice.

Publication order preserves team introductions and appearances by earlier couples.

Is Shadow Valley U written only by S.J. Sylvis?

No. Shadow Valley U is co-written with S. Massery.

The sequence includes Sticks and Stones, Heart of Thorns, the companion novella The Christmas Playbook, and Cross the Line.

Where does The Christmas Playbook belong?

Read it after Heart of Thorns and before Cross the Line.

It can stand alone, but that placement preserves the Shadow Valley U publication sequence.

Is Call Me Teach part of a series?

It is associated with Wilder U and currently serves as the first confirmed published entry.

No later Wilder U book should be added under a final title until its publication details are stable.

Is Overtake a standalone?

It is the first Vanstone Racing novel.

Its central romance is complete, but the racing organization continues in Idle Hands.

What is the next S.J. Sylvis book?

The next firmly scheduled Vanstone Racing title is Idle Hands, planned for April 13, 2027.

It follows a Formula One race engineer, his nanny, and the complications created by their age gap and household relationship.

Conclusion

S.J. Sylvis’s books are best approached as several distinct reading lanes rather than one continuous bibliography.

For dark academic romance, begin with All the Little Lies and continue into St. Mary’s only after completing English Prep. For college hockey, begin with Weak Side. For professional hockey, begin with Play the Game. For Formula One romance, begin with Overtake.

The most reliable general rule is simple: publication order within each series, with English Prep before St. Mary’s and optional novellas kept in their original release positions.