Lucy Score Books in Order: Knockemout, Riley Thorn, Story Lake & Standalones (2026)

Lucy Score books in order is a bigger list than most Knockemout fans realize: more than forty novels across seven series and a run of standalones, written over a decade before Things We Never Got Over made her a BookTok name. The timing to catch up is good. Prime Video is filming a Things We Never Got Over series right now, the second Story Lake book came out in March, and a Riley Thorn Christmas mystery, The Heist Before Christmas, lands November 10, 2026. Below is every Lucy Score book in series order with a spoiler-free hook, where to start by mood, the full publication timeline, the TV news and hotter small-town picks for after.

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Lucy Score Books in Order: Where to Start

Start with Things We Never Got Over. It’s her biggest book, it’s the one becoming a TV show and it’s the purest version of what she does best: a grump with a foot-thick wall, a heroine everyone underestimates, a nosy small town and a crime plot running underneath the romance. From there, pick by mood:

• Want something brand new and lighter: Story of My Life, the first Story Lake book (2025).
• Want laughs and a murder: Riley Thorn and the Dead Guy Next Door, a psychic rom-com mystery series.
• Want a single book with no commitment: By a Thread (boss romance) or The Worst Best Man (enemies at a wedding).
• Want a long small-town binge: Blue Moon, eight books in one quirky town.

The Knockemout Series in Order

1. Things We Never Got Over (January 2022): Naomi Witt leaves her groom at the altar to help her estranged twin, Tina, in Knockemout, Virginia. Tina steals her car and her cash and leaves her with an eleven-year-old niece, Waylay, Naomi didn’t know existed. Knox Morgan, a bearded barber who wants nothing but quiet and his basset hound, agrees to help her out of the jam and plans to step back once she’s on her feet. Then the trouble becomes real danger. Our books like Things We Never Got Over list picks up from here.
2. Things We Hide From the Light (February 2023): Police chief Nash Morgan, Knox’s brother, is recovering from being shot and hiding panic attacks and nightmares from the whole town. His new neighbor Lina sees straight through him, wants nothing more than a fling and is in Knockemout for reasons she can’t tell him.
3. Things We Left Behind (September 2023): Lucian Rollins built an empire to erase his father’s name; librarian Sloane Walton wants to finish her own father’s fight for justice. They share an old secret and a mutual loathing, and one night together reignites everything, except Sloane wants a family and Lucian refuses to consider one.

Read Knockemout in order: the brothers, the friend group and the long-running crime threat carry from book to book. Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ explicit, with Things We Left Behind the steamiest of the three. No fourth Knockemout novel has been announced; the town’s next chapter is on screen.

The Story Lake Series in Order

Story Lake is Score’s current series: a small Pennsylvania town, three Bishop brothers and a run of titles that are all sarcastic sayings.

1. Story of My Life (March 11, 2025): Romance novelist Hazel Hart hasn’t written a believable happy ending since her divorce. Evicted by her ex and threatened by her publisher, she flees Manhattan with her agent and best friend Zoey, impulsively buys a falling-down historic house in Story Lake and casts the contractor who once worked on it, Campbell Bishop, as her new hero. Their first meeting goes badly. Friends with benefits follows.
2. Mistakes Were Made (March 10, 2026): Zoey, broke and planning her comeback to Manhattan publishing, wants a one-night stand. Gage Bishop, Cam’s brother, wants a wife. A Bishop family secret turns one night into his biggest mistake or his way out. Opposites attract with a fish out of water.
3. Just One More Chapter (March 2027): Levi Bishop is a contractor, a closet thriller writer and the town’s reluctant new police chief, elected by his siblings. Next door, single mom Grace Healey has moved to Story Lake with her daughters, a bookstore job and a secret that could cost her everything if he finds it.

The Riley Thorn Series in Order

Riley Thorn is Score’s romantic mystery series: one couple across every book, a psychic heroine who’d rather not be, and a body in every title.

1. Riley Thorn and the Dead Guy Next Door (2020): divorced Riley has unwanted psychic visions, and when private investigator Nick Santiago suspects her of murder, she has to use them to clear her name.
2. Riley Thorn and the Corpse in the Closet (2021): her grandmother pushes her to take the gift seriously just as a murdered man turns up, and Nick’s anxious parents add their own pressure.
3. Riley Thorn and the Blast from the Past (2022): Riley and Nick move into a fixer-upper while he works a cold case, and her unstable powers drag them into a new investigation.
4. The Body in the Backyard (2024): Riley’s news-anchor ex-husband claims someone wants him dead, and then a corpse appears.
5. The Heist Before Christmas (November 10, 2026): Riley is engaged, behind on invoices and close to losing her PI license, and she can’t see her own future with Nick. When he goes undercover at the East Shore Mall to catch a theft ring, they have five days to catch the thief before Christmas, with psychic guild parties, a feuding-families Christmas Eve dinner and a kitten in the mix. It’s on our spicy Christmas romance books 2026 list.

The Blue Moon Series in Order

Blue Moon Bend is the original Lucy Score small town, home to the Pierce family and a very opinionated community. Each book pairs a new couple.

1. No More Secrets (2016): farmer Carter Pierce resists the magazine feature journalist Summer Lentz came to town to write.
2. Fall Into Temptation (2016): single mom Gianna Decker opens a yoga studio, and her landlord is Mayor Beckett Pierce.
3. The Last Second Chance (2016): Joey Greer decides whether to forgive her first love, screenwriter Jackson Pierce.
4. Not Part of the Plan (2017): a brewery manager and a photographer start a casual fling that stops being casual.
5. Holding On to Chaos (2017): Eva arrives under a false identity, and Sheriff Donovan Cardona gets suspicious.
6. The Fine Art of Faking It (2018): Eden and mechanic Davis fake-date to satisfy feuding families and a meddling Beautification Committee.
7. Where It All Began (2017, prequel): the story of how Blue Moon Bend took shape, best read after the others.
8. The Mistletoe Kisser (2020): Ryan comes home to settle his great-uncle’s affairs and runs into Sammy Ames, his childhood first kiss.

Benevolence, Sinner and Saint, and Bootleg Springs

Benevolence is a small-town trilogy built on protective heroes:

1. Pretend You’re Mine (2015): National Guard soldier Luke Garrison hires runaway Harper Wilde as a fake girlfriend to hold off his matchmaking family.
2. Finally Mine (2018): Gloria comes home after ten years in a dangerous relationship, and Aldo Moretta has been waiting the whole time.
3. Protecting What’s Mine (2020): burned-out trauma surgeon Mackenzie O’Neil takes a temporary job in town, and fire chief Lincoln Reed pursues her as her past catches up.

Sinner and Saint is a romantic suspense duet with one couple: Crossing the Line (2016), where ex-military security expert Xavier Saint is hired to protect stalked heiress Waverly Sinner, and Breaking the Rules (2016), where Waverly, now undercover, needs him again.

Bootleg Springs, co-written with Claire Kingsley, is a six-book small-town series threaded with a cold case about a missing girl, so read it in order:

1. Whiskey Chaser (2018)
2. Sidecar Crush (2018)
3. Moonshine Kiss (2018)
4. Bourbon Bliss (2019)
5. Gin Fling (2019)
6. Highball Rush (2019)

Lucy Score Standalones

• Undercover Love (2015): after catching her fiancé cheating, Ashley teams up with security expert Jason Baine to expose a corporate scheme.
• Heart of Hope (2017): a grieving single mom runs Hope Falls, and an ex-pro hockey player offers to teach her to skate.
• Mr. Fixer Upper (2017): a TV contractor and his producer turn a fake on-screen relationship into a real one.
• The Christmas Fix (2017): an event planner and a grumpy innkeeper try to save a snowbound town’s holiday festival.
• The Worst Best Man (2018): maid of honor Frankie Baranski against billionaire best man Aiden Kilbourn at a chaotic destination wedding.
• Rock Bottom Girl (2019): Marley, 38 and broke, moves home, coaches girls’ soccer and lets Jake Weston play her fake boyfriend.
• The Price of Scandal (2019, Bluewater Billionaires): a biotech CEO’s reputation implodes and an image fixer moves in to manage the damage.
• By a Thread (2020): Ally Morales, caring for her ailing father, gets fired from a pizza job by an entitled stranger who turns out to be her new boss.
• Forever Never (2021): a guarded local and a woman running from her past are thrown together on a remote island.
• Maggie Moves On (2022): house-flipping YouTuber Maggie Nichols renovates a mansion in Kinship and falls for landscaper Silas Wright.

All Lucy Score Books in Publication Order

1. Pretend You’re Mine (2015)
2. Undercover Love (2015)
3. No More Secrets, Fall Into Temptation, The Last Second Chance (2016)
4. Crossing the Line, Breaking the Rules (2016)
5. Heart of Hope, Mr. Fixer Upper, The Christmas Fix (2017)
6. Not Part of the Plan, Holding On to Chaos, Where It All Began (2017)
7. Finally Mine, The Worst Best Man, The Fine Art of Faking It (2018)
8. Whiskey Chaser, Sidecar Crush, Moonshine Kiss (2018)
9. Bourbon Bliss, Gin Fling, Highball Rush, Rock Bottom Girl, The Price of Scandal (2019)
10. Riley Thorn and the Dead Guy Next Door, By a Thread, Protecting What’s Mine, The Mistletoe Kisser (2020)
11. Riley Thorn and the Corpse in the Closet, Forever Never (2021)
12. Things We Never Got Over, Riley Thorn and the Blast from the Past, Maggie Moves On (2022)
13. Things We Hide From the Light, Things We Left Behind (2023)
14. The Body in the Backyard (2024)
15. Story of My Life (2025)
16. Mistakes Were Made, The Heist Before Christmas (2026)
17. Just One More Chapter (2027)

Things We Never Got Over on Prime Video and What’s Next

Prime Video ordered a Things We Never Got Over series in June 2026, with Eric Charmelo and Nicole Snyder writing the pilot and running the show as executive producers, and Lucy Score involved. In September the cast was announced: Molly Griggs as Naomi Witt and her twin Tina, Matthew Noszka as Knox Morgan and Tommy Martinez as Nash. The series is in production and will stream in more than 240 countries and territories; no premiere date has been set.

On the page, the near-term calendar is The Heist Before Christmas on November 10, 2026, then Just One More Chapter, Levi’s Story Lake book, in March 2027. If you want the Knockemout mood in the meantime, our books like Lucy Score guide covers small-town romance with real heat.

See The Heist Before Christmas on Amazon →

Read Next: Hotter Picks From Fractal Enigma

Lucy Score readers come for the grump who refuses to get involved, the heroine who shows up with baggage, a kid who changes everything and a town that won’t mind its own business. These Fractal Enigma reads keep all of that and run the heat to Inferno.

Save a Horse, Ride the Grump — Isla Wilde

He communicates in monosyllables. She went viral for all the wrong reasons. Cade Walker is six-foot-four of silence and Hill Country stubbornness, and Piper is the neighbor on the other side of his fence line who refuses to be scared off. Knox Morgan with a Stetson: a grump who falls first, gets possessive and has to grovel. Book one of Bitter Creek, and free with Kindle Unlimited.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Grumpy/Sunshine, Enemies to Lovers, Small Town, He Falls First, Touch Her and Die, The Grovel

Start reading Save a Horse, Ride the Grump →

Wrong Cabin, Right Daddy — Isla Wilde

Emma Carter is a single mom running on fumes and frozen meals who books a remote mountain cabin for one desperate week of rest, and finds Hank “Bear” Morrison, a six-foot-four divorced woodworker, already living in it. A blizzard, a four-year-old and a grump who moved up the mountain to be alone. For readers who loved watching Knox fall for Naomi and Waylay at the same time.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Single Mom, Grumpy/Sunshine, Forced Proximity, Snowed In, Mountain Man, Found Family

Start reading Wrong Cabin, Right Daddy →

Bad Neighbor, Great Lay — Isla Wilde

Marcus Lane is a single dad with a seven-year-old, a labeled spice rack and a bedtime routine he could run blindfolded. His carefree new neighbor brings loud music, parking wars and thin walls, right up until a power outage traps them in the building’s elevator. Enemies to lovers next door for anyone who liked Nash and Lina’s shared hallway. Free with Kindle Unlimited.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Neighbors to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Single Dad, Grumpy/Sunshine, Praise Kink, Thin Walls

Start reading Bad Neighbor, Great Lay →

Bed & Breakfast & Benefits — Aurora North

Claire Donnelly is twenty-eight, burned out and one corporate meltdown from a permanent leave of absence when she inherits her late aunt’s struggling seaside bed and breakfast. The plan is three months, fresh paint, a realtor and a flight home. The plan doesn’t survive the handywoman. Story of My Life’s buy-a-wreck-and-fall-for-the-contractor setup, sapphic and small-town coastal. Free with Kindle Unlimited.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Grumpy/Sunshine, Small Town, Forced Proximity, Age Gap, Bi Awakening, One Bed

Start reading Bed & Breakfast & Benefits →

FAQ: Lucy Score Reading Order

Do you need to read Lucy Score’s books in order?

Within a series, yes. Knockemout and Bootleg Springs carry crime plots across books, and Riley Thorn follows one couple the whole way. The standalones can be read in any order.

Which Lucy Score book should I read first?

Things We Never Got Over. For something lighter, Story of My Life; for a one-off, By a Thread.

How spicy are Lucy Score’s books?

Open door and explicit, around 4 chilis for Knockemout, with Things We Left Behind the steamiest; Riley Thorn puts the mystery first. Our romance spice levels guide explains the scale; every Fractal Enigma pick above is Inferno.

When is the Things We Never Got Over show coming out?

Prime Video hasn’t set a date. The series was ordered in June 2026 and is in production with Molly Griggs, Matthew Noszka and Tommy Martinez as Naomi, Knox and Nash.

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