The Boys of Tommen Reading Order (2026) — Every Chloe Walsh Book, Explained
The Boys of Tommen series is the emotional-damage capital of BookTok — six long Irish coming-of-age romances from Chloe Walsh, set around a Cork rugby school, famous for making grown adults cry on camera. It’s also a series where reading order genuinely matters and genuinely confuses people: two of the books are a duet about one couple, two more are a duet about another couple set partly in the past, and the newest release (Releasing 10, 2025) is the reason older guides are incomplete. Here’s the full, current order and what you’re walking into with each book.
One thing to know up front: Walsh writes hard topics on the page — domestic abuse, addiction, trauma, self-harm, and suicide all appear across the series. Each book carries its own content warnings; take them seriously, especially for Saving 6, Redeeming 6, and Releasing 10.
The Quick Answer: Boys of Tommen in Order
- Binding 13 — Johnny & Shannon, part one
- Keeping 13 — Johnny & Shannon, conclusion
- Saving 6 — Joey & Aoife, part one
- Redeeming 6 — Joey & Aoife, conclusion
- Taming 7 — Gibsie & Claire
- Releasing 10 — Hugh & Lizzie (newest, 2025)
Publication order is the right order. The couples change, but the Lynch family saga, the friend group, and several long-running reveals thread through all six books — skipping around spoils earlier arcs and defuses later ones.
The Books, One by One
1. Binding 13
Where everyone starts and where the obsession begins. Johnny Kavanagh is Tommen College’s rugby prodigy — number 13 jersey, pro trajectory, hidden injury — and Shannon Lynch is the quiet transfer student carrying a home life nobody at her shiny new school can imagine. Walsh takes six hundred pages to build a first love with the patience of a series that knows exactly how long it’s going to run, and the “who did that to you” protective-boy energy that made the series viral lives here. Part one of a duet — do not read without Keeping 13 on hand. Get Binding 13 on Amazon →
2. Keeping 13
The conclusion of Johnny and Shannon’s story, picking up in the aftermath of the Dublin match and the secrets Binding 13 spent its whole length holding back. This is the volume where the series shows its real shape: the romance is the anchor, but the Lynch family storyline detonates here, and the fallout powers the next two books. Bring tissues; the fandom isn’t exaggerating. Get Keeping 13 on Amazon →
3. Saving 6 — The Timeline Jump
Here’s the part that confuses new readers: Saving 6 is Joey Lynch’s book — Shannon’s older brother, the fan-favorite protector — and much of it rewinds to before and during the events of the first duet, telling his story with Aoife Molloy from their first collision onward. Joey’s book is the series’ heaviest: addiction, family violence, and a boy holding an entire household together at an age when nobody should have to. It reads completely differently (and lands much harder) after you’ve watched him from Shannon’s POV for two books — which is exactly why publication order wins. Get Saving 6 on Amazon →
4. Redeeming 6
Joey and Aoife’s conclusion, and for a large share of the fandom the best book Walsh has written — the addiction arc at full weight, the second-chance and surprise-pregnancy turns, and a redemption that’s earned page by page rather than granted. Heaviest content warnings in the series to this point; also its biggest emotional payoff. Get Redeeming 6 on Amazon →
5. Taming 7
The breather the series owes you — sort of. Gerard “Gibsie” Gibson has been the comic relief for four books; Taming 7 is where the clown mask comes off and the sunshine girl, Claire, is the one who sees underneath it. Friends-to-lovers, the funniest banter in the series, and — because this is still Chloe Walsh — a buried grief arc that hits harder for arriving inside the lightest book. Get Taming 7 on Amazon →
6. Releasing 10 — New in the Series
The newest entry (May 2025) and the reason to double-check any reading-order guide’s date. Hugh Biggs — the old soul of the friend group — and Lizzie Young, whose bipolar disorder Walsh writes with the same unflinching honesty she brought to Joey’s addiction. It begins with a kind boy on a school bus and becomes the series’ rawest portrait of loving someone through something that can’t be fixed by loving them. Standalone-friendly on paper; devastating in context. Note the content warnings on this one — they’re substantial. Get Releasing 10 on Amazon →
What to Read After Tommen Wrecks You
Tommen readers finish the series with two distinct itches: the sports-romance itch and the emotional-devastation itch. For the sports side at the adult register, the hockey shelf is the natural next stop — our complete hockey romance reading guide maps the whole territory from Heated Rivalry onward, and the Chase Power catalog guide covers the indie KU side where competition-becomes-obsession runs at full adult heat. Fair warning on the transition: Tommen is a coming-of-age series; the recommendations at those links are adult high-heat romance — a different register entirely, clearly labeled on every book page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I read Boys of Tommen out of order?
Not really. Each couple’s arc resolves within their own book or duet, but the Lynch family storyline runs through the entire series and the big reveals of Keeping 13 are foundational to everything after. Publication order — Binding 13 through Releasing 10 — is the intended experience.
Is Saving 6 a prequel?
Partly — it follows Joey and Aoife from years before the first duet and runs its timeline up alongside the events readers already know from Shannon’s POV. It’s designed to be read third, after the Johnny/Shannon duet, so the dual-timeline reveals land as intended.
How many Boys of Tommen books are there?
Six as of 2026: Binding 13, Keeping 13, Saving 6, Redeeming 6, Taming 7, and Releasing 10 (published May 2025). The books are long — several top 600 pages — so the series is a bigger commitment than the count suggests.
How spicy is Boys of Tommen?
Mild-to-moderate — roughly 🌶️🌶️ (2/5), growing somewhat as the characters age across the series. This is an angst-and-emotions series first; readers come for the crying, not the heat. The intensity here is emotional: the content warnings (abuse, addiction, self-harm, suicide, trauma) are the thing to check before each book, not the spice level.
Is Boys of Tommen on Kindle Unlimited?
Availability has shifted since the series moved to traditional publishing — check each book’s current listing. When titles are enrolled, a Kindle Unlimited free trial is the cheapest way through a series this long, and several entries offer discounted audiobook add-ons from the Kindle page — the Irish-narrated audio is a fan favorite.
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