Toni Aleo Books in Order (Updated August 4, 2026)

Toni Aleo is an American contemporary romance author best known for interconnected hockey romances involving the Nashville Assassins and the families surrounding the team. Her catalog also includes college sports romances, royal romance, small-town stories, emotional family dramas, and books written for multi-author series.

The central hockey universe contains several overlapping series. Most novels resolve one couple’s romance, but later installments reveal marriages, children, careers, and other outcomes from earlier books. Publication order is therefore the safest choice for preserving character introductions and family developments.

Toni Aleo Books in Order: The Quick Answer

Start with Taking Shots if you want the complete connected hockey experience.

The simplest overall route is:

1. Assassins and Nashville Assassins
2. Bellevue Bullies
3. Nashville Assassins: Next Generation
4. IceCats
5. Knoxville Bears
6. Beer League Belles
7. Bellevue Bullies: Next Generation

This is a practical series-by-series route rather than a strict timeline. Readers who want to follow every release exactly can alternate between the overlapping series by publication date, but that approach is less convenient.

The Taking Risks, Patchwork, Spring Grove, Misadventures, and Lock Story books belong to separate continuities.

Assassins Books in Publication Order

The original Assassins books establish Toni Aleo’s Nashville hockey world. They introduce the team, its central families, and several relationships that continue to matter in later series.

1. Taking Shots (2011): Photographer Elli Fisher meets Assassins captain Shea Adler, beginning the relationship and family network at the center of Aleo’s hockey universe.
2. Trying to Score (2012): A hockey player must confront the woman he left behind and the consequences of a past relationship that was never as finished as he believed.
3. Empty Net (2012): A troubled goaltender and a woman carrying her own emotional wounds are drawn together while both struggle with trust, family pressure, and self-worth.
4. Falling for the Backup (2013): An Assassins backup goaltender unexpectedly connects with a woman who makes him reconsider what he wants beyond his uncertain hockey career.
5. Blue Lines (2013): An unexpected pregnancy forces Piper Allen and Assassins player Erik Titov to face the consequences of a relationship neither had planned to continue.

Optional Assassins Companion Stories

1. Falling for the Backup Epilogue (2013): This brief follow-up revisits the couple from Falling for the Backup after the novella’s main romantic resolution.
2. 4 & Counting (2018): This short companion story returns to an established Assassins couple and offers a family-centered update rather than a new standalone romance.

The companion stories are optional. They add personal developments but are not required to understand the later full-length novels.

Nashville Assassins Books in Publication Order

Some catalogs treat Nashville Assassins as a continuation of the original Assassins series, while others present it as a separate sequence. For reading purposes, it is best understood as the next stage of the same shared world.

1. Breaking Away (2014): Assassins player Phillip Anderson becomes involved with Reese Allen, whose guarded approach to relationships is shaped by responsibilities beyond romance.
2. Laces and Lace (2014): Karson King and Lacey Martin receive a second chance after family interference and painful choices separated them years earlier.
3. A Very Merry Hockey Holiday (2014): Familiar Assassins couples gather during the holiday season, providing relationship and family updates across the established cast.
4. Overtime (2015): Jordie Thomas must rebuild both his life and his connection with Kacey King after addiction and past mistakes leave him with little room for another failure.
5. Wanting to Forget (2015): This shorter story explores Jordie’s troubled state before the main events of Overtime and gives additional context to his destructive decisions.
6. Rushing the Goal (2016): Assassins player Benji Paxton falls for Lucy Sinclair, a mother whose difficult former marriage makes trust and family stability especially important.
7. Pucks, Sticks, and Diapers (2016): This companion story revisits established Assassins couples as parenthood adds new complications to their relationships.
8. Face-Off at the Altar (2016): Mekena and Markus must decide whether their relationship can survive a painful history, unresolved betrayal, and the pressure surrounding their future.
9. Delayed Call (2017): Assassins captain Vaughn Johansson begins a relationship that forces him to look beyond his carefully controlled public image and emotional defenses.
10. Twenty-Two (2017): Lucas Brooks and Fallon Parker face another major stage in their family life, making this a continuation for readers already invested in the original couples.
11. In the Crease (2017): A marriage arrangement between a hockey player and a woman facing family complications begins as a practical decision but develops into something neither expected.
12. How We Fell in Love (2018): This companion story looks back at an established relationship and fills in emotional history that the main series previously referenced.
13. One Timer (2019): A hockey romance complicated by pregnancy, fear, and conflicting expectations brings another couple into the expanding Assassins family.
14. Pucks, Sticks, and a New Barn (2023): Established characters return for a family-centered story involving change, celebration, and the next stage of their shared lives.

Where Does Tangled in the Laces Belong?

Tangled in the Laces is commonly associated with Laces and Lace as supplementary material. Its availability and classification have varied, so it should be treated as an optional companion rather than a required numbered installment.

Read it immediately before or after Laces and Lace when it is included in the edition available to you.

Bellevue Bullies Books in Publication Order

Bellevue Bullies follows college athletes and young adults connected to families from the Assassins world. The series can be used as an alternative starting point, but readers of the earlier hockey books will recognize recurring names and relationships.

1. Boarded by Love (2014): Jude Sinclair, a Bellevue hockey player, falls for Claire Anderson while secrets and existing family connections complicate their college romance.
2. Clipped by Love (2015): Jayden Sinclair and Baylor Moore enter a competitive relationship shaped by hockey, ambition, and two strong personalities unwilling to surrender control.
3. Hooked by Love (2015): Jace Sinclair’s romance draws the Bellevue storyline further into the wider Assassins family network while testing his ideas about commitment.
4. End Game (2018): A younger couple connected to the established Bellevue cast must choose whether their relationship can survive pressure from family, sport, and uncertain plans.
5. Changing Lines (2019): A friendship and long-standing emotional connection begin to shift, forcing the central couple to reconsider boundaries that once appeared secure.
6. Spiked by Love (2020): College athletics, family expectations, and an evolving friendship create a romance whose consequences reach beyond the two people involved.
7. Saved by Love (2022): A familiar Bellevue family member faces an emotionally difficult romance involving recovery, vulnerability, and the need to accept help.
8. Chosen by Love (2024): The main Bellevue Bullies sequence closes another family-centered romance while continuing the generational links to the Assassins universe.

Bellevue Bullies Companion Stories

1. Her Choice (2023): This shorter story focuses on a personal decision within the Bellevue circle and adds context to relationships developed in the later books.
2. Pucks, Sticks, and a New Barn (2023): This family update connects characters from the Nashville and Bellevue branches and is best read after Saved by Love.

The companion stories are optional, but publication order preserves the family developments they reference.

Nashville Assassins: Next Generation Books in Publication Order

Nashville Assassins: Next Generation follows the children and younger relatives of couples introduced in earlier books. It contains unavoidable spoilers about which original relationships lasted and how those families developed.

New readers should complete at least the original Assassins books before starting this series.

1. Dump and Chase (2019): Shelli Adler pursues her ambitions and the man she has wanted for years, beginning the shift from the original Assassins couples to their adult children.
2. Power Play (2020): Posey Adler’s romance develops alongside questions of confidence, family expectations, and whether affection can survive unequal emotional timing.
3. Bring It Home (2020): A member of the younger Assassins generation faces a relationship that brings private insecurities into conflict with a closely connected family.
4. Blades of Glory (2020): Hockey, personal ambition, and a complicated attraction push the next generation further into adult relationships and independent choices.
5. The Chase Is Over (2020): A long emotional pursuit reaches its turning point as the central couple must decide whether persistence is enough to create a stable future.
6. Dirty Toe Drag (2021): A romance involving familiar hockey families is complicated by reputation, emotional defenses, and the weight of expectations inherited from the previous generation.
7. Heavy Shot (2023): A physically and emotionally imposing hockey player must lower his defenses when a relationship exposes vulnerabilities he would rather keep private.
8. Lost the Handle (2024): The next-generation storyline continues with a romance shaped by family history, personal uncertainty, and the fear of losing control.

Optional Holiday Story

A Smoky Mountain Hockey Holiday (2022): Members of the Assassins family gather for a holiday story that updates several relationships and celebrates the series’ expanding generations.

Read it after Dirty Toe Drag. It is optional for the main romantic sequence.

IceCats Books in Publication Order

IceCats follows another professional hockey organization within Toni Aleo’s broader sports romance world. Each novel centers on a different couple, although returning players and family connections make publication order preferable.

1. Juicy Rebound (2019): A woman recovering from a failed relationship becomes involved with an IceCats player, turning what appears to be a rebound into a more serious emotional risk.
2. Wild Tendy (2019): An unpredictable goaltender meets a woman who challenges his lifestyle, reputation, and reluctance to build something permanent.
3. Hard Hit (2021): A forceful hockey player encounters a relationship that tests the difference between protecting someone and controlling the outcome.
4. All the Sauce (2021): A confident public image conceals deeper insecurities as the central couple navigates attraction, family ties, and the pressures surrounding professional hockey.
5. Hat Trick (2023): A familiar IceCats player faces a romance in which career demands and personal history make a simple commitment difficult to achieve.
6. The Sweetest Chirp (2025): Sharp exchanges and an unexpected emotional connection drive a later IceCats romance involving characters already tied to Aleo’s hockey community.

The IceCats books can be read without completing Nashville Assassins, but earlier knowledge makes the crossover relationships easier to recognize.

Knoxville Bears Books in Publication Order

The Knoxville Bears series consists of four connected hockey romances released during 2024. The books form a compact branch of the larger sports romance catalog and should be read in order.

1. Pucks & Books (2024): A hockey-centered romance meets a bookish setting, bringing together characters whose interests and assumptions initially place them in different worlds.
2. Pucks & Coffee (2024): A relationship develops around everyday encounters and the contrast between professional hockey pressure and a more grounded personal routine.
3. Pucks & Likes (2024): Public attention and online perception complicate a romance in which appearances do not fully match either character’s private reality.
4. Pucks & Pups (2024): Hockey and a shared concern for animals create the foundation for the final Knoxville Bears romance, while returning characters bring the series together.

These books are interconnected standalones. Each couple receives a central resolution, but recurring friendships make the numbered sequence the best approach.

Beer League Belles Books in Publication Order

Beer League Belles shifts attention to women playing recreational hockey while retaining the community and relationship focus of Aleo’s other sports romances.

1. At the Edge with You (2025): A woman balancing hockey with personal uncertainty enters a relationship that challenges the boundaries she has built around her future.
2. Starting Over with You (2025): A romance shaped by second chances and emotional rebuilding continues the Beer League Belles community established in the first book.

The series should be read in publication order because the team relationships and supporting characters carry forward.

Bellevue Bullies: Next Generation Books in Publication Order

This series follows a younger generation connected to the original Bellevue Bullies characters. It should be treated as a continuation rather than a substitute for the earlier college series.

1. Tackled by Love (2025): A new generation enters the Bellevue sports world through a romance that carries established family history into a different athletic setting.

Reading the original Bellevue Bullies books first provides the clearest understanding of the family relationships. Starting here will reveal outcomes from the earlier generation.

Taking Risks Books in Publication Order

Taking Risks is a separate royal romance continuity. Unlike the interconnected standalone structure of the hockey books, this trilogy follows an ongoing central story and must be read in order.

1. Whiskey Prince (2014): Amberlyn Reilly’s move to Ireland brings her into the orbit of Prince Declan O’Callaghan, beginning a romance complicated by grief, status, and royal expectations.
2. Becoming the Whiskey Princess (2015): Amberlyn and Declan’s relationship continues as public responsibility, family demands, and preparations for a royal future increase the pressure on them.
3. Whiskey Rebellion (2018): The trilogy returns to the royal family for another major romantic and personal conflict, extending the consequences of the first two books.

Begin with Whiskey Prince. The later installments depend on relationships and circumstances established there.

Patchwork Books in Publication Order

The Patchwork novels form a separate emotional family drama. They tell a continuing story, so the order should not be reversed.

1. Pieces (2016): A woman dealing with loss and fractured family relationships begins assembling a new life while confronting painful truths about love and belonging.
2. Broken Pieces (2017): The consequences of Pieces continue as the characters face unresolved damage and determine whether their relationships can be repaired.

Both books are required for the complete story.

Spring Grove Books in Publication Order

Spring Grove is a small-town romance series separate from the Assassins hockey continuity.

1. Not the One (2018): A woman’s assumptions about the person she should love are challenged when another relationship forces her to reconsider the future she had planned.
2. Small-Town Sweetheart (2018): A romance rooted in community ties and personal history develops within Spring Grove, expanding the setting introduced in the first book.

The romances have separate central conflicts, but reading Not the One first provides the intended introduction to the community.

Misadventures Books by Toni Aleo

The Misadventures books belong to a multi-author collection. Each installment is designed as a separate romance, so readers do not need to follow the overall collection number.

1. Misadventures with a Rookie (2018): A hockey rookie and a woman determined to resist him enter a heated relationship complicated by reputation, competition, and conflicting expectations.
2. Misadventures with a Manny (2018): A single mother hires a male nanny and discovers that the arrangement is becoming far more personal than either of them anticipated.

These books are separate from one another and can be read in either order.

Night Shift Anthology Stories

The Night Shift books are multi-author romance collections rather than a dedicated Toni Aleo series.

1. Night Shift (2015): This anthology contains a Toni Aleo contribution alongside stories by other romance authors, with each entry standing independently.
2. Night Shift 2 (2016): The second collection adds another group of separate romance stories and does not continue a single shared plot.

These collections are optional for readers focused on Aleo’s main series. Availability and story packaging can vary by edition.

Standalone Toni Aleo Novels

Let It Be Me

Let It Be Me (2013): A woman trapped in a damaging marriage must decide whether she can reclaim her safety, identity, and chance at a healthier life.

This is a separate continuity and does not require any Assassins books.

Two-Man Advantage

Two-Man Advantage (2017): Two hockey players confront attraction, identity, and the risks of building a relationship in an environment where they do not feel equally free to be open.

The book is commonly treated as a standalone, although its hockey setting places it near Aleo’s sports romance catalog. It does not require the full Nashville Assassins sequence.

Love Locked In

Love Locked In (2026): A romance set within the multi-author Holiday Ridge Lock Stories world places Toni Aleo’s central couple in a shared themed setting built around love and commitment.

It can be read independently. The other Lock Stories books are written by different authors and are not required.

Toni Aleo Anthologies and Collections

Toni Aleo has also contributed to multi-author collections. These volumes should not be counted as new full-length installments in her principal series.

1. Seduced by the Game (2014): A collection of hockey-related romance stories that includes work from multiple authors rather than one continuing novel.
2. The Vault (2017): A multi-author collection containing separate contributions and no required connection to Aleo’s main series order.
3. Hockey Holidays (2018): A seasonal hockey romance anthology featuring independent stories by several authors.
4. Nightingale (2022): A charitable anthology assembled by multiple contributors, with Aleo providing one part of a broader collection.
5. Dissent: Volume 3 (2022): A multi-author volume containing independent material rather than a numbered Toni Aleo series installment.

Anthology contents and later republication arrangements can differ between editions. Readers should check whether a story has already been included elsewhere before buying a collection solely for Toni Aleo’s contribution.

Toni Aleo Books in Chronological Order

There is no reliably established chronological list covering every Assassins-related novel.

The shared hockey world includes overlapping seasons, college periods, marriages, births, and next-generation stories. Some events occur close together, while shorter works revisit established couples without clearly advancing the wider timeline.

Publication order is the better method because it:

1. Introduces couples and families before their later appearances
2. Protects marriage and parenthood reveals
3. Keeps companion stories near the books they support
4. Delays next-generation spoilers until the original relationships are established

A chronological rearrangement might move certain background stories earlier, but doing so can reveal personal history before the main novel intends it to be known.

Recommended Toni Aleo Reading Order

Readers do not need to combine every series into one enormous sequence. The following route offers the best balance between continuity and convenience.

First, Read the Original Hockey Foundation

Begin with:

1. Taking Shots
2. Trying to Score
3. Empty Net
4. Falling for the Backup
5. Blue Lines

Then continue through Nashville Assassins from Breaking Away to One Timer, adding the optional companion stories where listed.

Second, Read Bellevue Bullies

Move from Boarded by Love through Chosen by Love. This introduces younger relatives and college athletes before several of them or their families appear in later-generation books.

Third, Read Nashville Assassins: Next Generation

Begin with Dump and Chase only after you are comfortable learning the long-term outcomes of earlier couples.

Fourth, Explore the Other Hockey Teams

Read IceCats, Knoxville Bears, and Beer League Belles in their individual publication orders.

These branches are more accessible as independent starting points, but they still benefit from familiarity with Aleo’s wider character network.

Fifth, Continue with Bellevue Bullies: Next Generation

Read Tackled by Love after the original Bellevue sequence. This protects the earlier books’ family outcomes and makes the generational transition clearer.

Separate Reading Tracks

The following can be read independently from the hockey universe:

1. Taking Risks
2. Patchwork
3. Spring Grove
4. The Misadventures novels
5. Let It Be Me
6. Love Locked In

Which Toni Aleo Series Can Stand Alone?

IceCats, Knoxville Bears, and Beer League Belles can each be approached without reading the entire Nashville Assassins catalog. Readers may encounter familiar surnames or background characters, but the principal romance in each book remains understandable.

Bellevue Bullies is also a possible starting point, although its family connections become more meaningful after the original Assassins books.

Nashville Assassins: Next Generation and Bellevue Bullies: Next Generation are the least suitable entry points. Their characters descend from, or are closely connected to, earlier couples, so they naturally reveal previous romantic outcomes.

Taking Risks, Patchwork, Spring Grove, and the multi-author projects are separate continuities.

Latest Toni Aleo Book

As of August 4, 2026, the latest reliably confirmed Toni Aleo title is Love Locked In (2026), part of the multi-author Holiday Ridge Lock Stories setting.

Her latest confirmed book in the Bellevue and Assassins family continuity is Tackled by Love (2025), the opening installment of Bellevue Bullies: Next Generation.

No later forthcoming title with a firm release date could be confirmed reliably. Unannounced, retailer-only, or placeholder listings should not be treated as confirmed publications.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the First Toni Aleo Book?

Taking Shots was Toni Aleo’s first published novel and remains the best starting point for her connected hockey romances.

It introduces the Nashville Assassins world and establishes characters whose family connections continue through multiple later series.

Do the Assassins Books Need to Be Read in Order?

Yes, publication order is recommended.

Most books focus on a new central couple, but previous couples return as spouses, parents, friends, and relatives. Reading out of order can reveal relationship outcomes and family developments early.

Are Assassins and Nashville Assassins the Same Series?

They belong to the same continuity and are sometimes combined into one long Nashville Assassins sequence.

The division is mainly a matter of cataloging and branding. Readers should continue from Blue Lines to Breaking Away rather than treating them as unrelated worlds.

Is Bellevue Bullies Connected to Nashville Assassins?

Yes. Bellevue Bullies includes characters and families connected to the Nashville hockey books.

The college romances remain understandable on their own, but the family relationships carry more weight after reading Assassins.

When Should I Read Nashville Assassins: Next Generation?

Read it after the original Assassins and Nashville Assassins books.

The next-generation series reveals which earlier couples remained together, which characters became parents, and how their children developed.

Can the IceCats Books Be Read as Standalones?

Each IceCats novel has its own primary romance and resolution, so individual books can be understood separately.

Publication order is still preferable because players, friends, and family members recur throughout the series.

Are Toni Aleo’s Novellas Required?

No. The novellas and companion stories provide additional scenes, holiday gatherings, weddings, pregnancies, and family updates.

They enrich the shared world but are not normally required to follow the next full-length couple’s romance.

Where Should I Start if I Do Not Want a Long Series?

Start with Pucks & Books for the four-book Knoxville Bears sequence, At the Edge with You for Beer League Belles, or Whiskey Prince for the three-book Taking Risks story.

For a single independent novel, choose Let It Be Me, Two-Man Advantage, or Love Locked In.

What Is the Best Overall Toni Aleo Reading Order?

Start with Taking Shots and follow the Assassins and Nashville Assassins books in publication order. Continue with Bellevue Bullies before moving to the next-generation series.

That route provides the clearest introductions, protects major family reveals, and allows the hockey world to expand in a natural sequence.

Conclusion

The best starting point for Toni Aleo’s books is Taking Shots. From there, publication order carries readers through the original Nashville Assassins relationships before the universe expands into college teams, other professional organizations, and younger generations.

Readers interested in only one branch can begin with Boarded by Love, Juicy Rebound, Pucks & Books, or At the Edge with You. Those books open their respective series clearly, although reading the original Assassins novels first provides the fullest understanding of recurring families and long-term continuity.