Meryl Wilsner Books in Order: Every Book & Cleat Cute TV

Meryl Wilsner books in order is a short list, four novels so far with a fifth on the way, but it’s having a big year. Prime Video confirmed this spring that Cleat Cute is becoming a TV series called Playing the Field, with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe producing, and Wilsner’s fifth novel, Flour Girl, has a May 2027 date. Below is every Meryl Wilsner book in publication order, where to start, which ones are explicit, the full adaptation news and hotter picks for when you’ve read them all.

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Meryl Wilsner Books in Order: Where to Start

Start with Cleat Cute. It’s the book with the TV deal, it’s the most fun, and it shows everything Wilsner does best: two ambitious women on the same team, a rivalry that doesn’t stay professional, and heat that the book never apologizes for. If you want the forbidden age gap instead, start with Mistakes Were Made. If you want slow burn above all, start where Wilsner did, with Something to Talk About.

There is no series to worry about. Every Meryl Wilsner novel is a standalone with its own couple and its own happy ending, so you can read them in any order. Wilsner, who is nonbinary, writes romance for queer women, and My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is their first with a nonbinary lead.

Heat varies more than with most authors, so check before you pick. Something to Talk About is the slow, low-heat one. Mistakes Were Made, Cleat Cute and My Best Friend’s Honeymoon are open door and explicit, around 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️.

Every Meryl Wilsner Book in Order

Something to Talk About (Berkley, 2020): Wilsner’s debut, a slow-burn Hollywood workplace romance between a showrunner and her assistant after the tabloids decide they’re a couple. It was named one of the New York Public Library’s Best Books for Adults of 2020, and it’s the gentlest book on the list. Heat: 🌶️🌶️ mild.
Mistakes Were Made (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2022): college senior Cassie spends the night with a gorgeous older woman, then discovers the woman is her best friend’s mom, on campus for Family Weekend. An FF age-gap romance with real forbidden stakes and an older heroine written as a whole person rediscovering what she wants. It started life as fanfiction. Our list of books like Mistakes Were Made has the readalikes. Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ explicit.
Cleat Cute (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2023): Grace Henderson, a twenty-six-year-old veteran of the U.S. Women’s National Team, is sidelined by injury and loses her spot to Phoebe Matthews, a twenty-two-year-old newcomer. They start something casual, a miscommunication blows it up, and both have to decide whether the relationship or the World Cup roster matters more. Rivals to lovers on the pitch. Our books like Cleat Cute guide picks up from here. Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ explicit.
My Best Friend’s Honeymoon (St. Martin’s Griffin, May 2025): Elsie Hoffman has been engaged for a year and a half when she learns her fiancé has secretly planned the whole wedding, and she’s getting married in a week. She ends it and takes the nonrefundable Caribbean honeymoon anyway, with her best friend Ginny Holtz, who has loved her for years. Their deal: for one week, Elsie can have whatever she wants, as long as she asks for it. Friends to lovers with forced proximity and a lot of asking. Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ explicit.
Flour Girl (May 25, 2027): June sells flowers at a farmers’ market; Cora is a baker and a hopeless romantic. The former stall neighbors have a one-night stand that June insists is a one-time thing, then discover they’re working the same wedding. Their fling turns into a friendship, they help each other’s businesses, and the feelings keep growing. A slow-burn celebration of queer joy and community.

Which Meryl Wilsner Book Should You Read? Pick by Mood

You want sports and rivals: Cleat Cute. A veteran and a rookie fighting for the same spot is one of the best engines in sports romance, and the soccer is written by someone who cares about it.

You want a forbidden age gap: Mistakes Were Made. Parents’ weekend, group brunches and a friendship on the line keep the “we can’t” in play for the whole book.

You want best friends to lovers: My Best Friend’s Honeymoon. Years of quiet pining, one island and a rule that makes asking for things the whole point.

You want the slowest burn: Something to Talk About. The tension is the point, and the payoff is emotional more than physical.

You want something cozy: wait for Flour Girl, or preorder it now. Flowers, baked goods and a wedding they both have to work.

Cleat Cute TV Show: Playing the Field on Prime Video

In 2024, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe announced that their production company, A Touch More, would adapt Cleat Cute with Future Shack Entertainment as its first scripted series. In spring 2026, Amazon Prime Video confirmed the show under a new title, Playing the Field. Sarah Tapscott, a writer and producer on New Girl and The Sex Lives of College Girls, is showrunner, writer and executive producer, with Bird, Rapinoe and Wilsner also executive producing.

Grace and Phoebe stay at the center, but the show widens into an ensemble comedy following four players on the team, which is why the title changed. As of an August 2026 Marie Claire report, the series is in early development: no cast has been announced, casting hasn’t started and there is no release date. Wilsner described the timeline as vague, and the report suggested it may not arrive until 2028 or later. Read the book now and you’ll be well ahead of the show.

All Meryl Wilsner Books in Publication Order

Something to Talk About (2020)
Mistakes Were Made (2022)
Cleat Cute (2023)
My Best Friend’s Honeymoon (2025)
Flour Girl (May 25, 2027)

What’s Next for Meryl Wilsner

Flour Girl is next, out May 25, 2027 and open for preorder now. On screen, Playing the Field is the one to watch, though it’s a long way from airing. No 2026 novel was released; My Best Friend’s Honeymoon (May 2025) is still the newest book on shelves. If you need something to read between now and then, a reread of Cleat Cute before the casting news lands is the move, and the picks below will fill the gap with a lot more heat.

See Flour Girl on Amazon →

Rivals romance: two opposing team jerseys

Read Next: Hotter Picks From Fractal Enigma

Wilsner readers come for women’s soccer, the best friend’s mom, the honeymoon that wasn’t cancelled and the Hollywood boss. These Fractal Enigma reads match each one and run the heat to Inferno. All four are free with Kindle Unlimited.

Cleats, Sheets & Clean Slates — Aurora North

Cleats, Sheets & Clean Slates by Aurora North book cover

Six years ago, pro soccer players Zinnia Serrano and Maëlle Bellerose fell in love behind locked hotel doors. Maëlle was openly queer; Zinnia wasn’t, and she broke Maëlle’s heart in front of the whole soccer world. Now Zinnia has been traded to Maëlle’s team, and into the apartment next door. Cleat Cute’s teammates with the history Grace and Phoebe never had.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Teammates to Lovers, Second Chance, Forced Proximity, Secret Ex-Girlfriends, Angry Reunion Sex, Sports Romance

Start reading Cleats, Sheets & Clean Slates →

My Best Friend’s Mother Has Rules — Aurora North

My Best Friend's Mother Has Rules by Aurora North book cover

Illustrator Lark Bennett, twenty-nine, loses her girlfriend, her apartment and her biggest client in one humiliating week. Her closest friend, Phoebe Knox, offers the guesthouse at the family’s coastal estate and forgets to mention that her fifty-two-year-old mother will be spending the summer there too. Three rules. They break the important one first. Mistakes Were Made, with the forbidden older woman calling the shots.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Best Friend’s Mother, Age Gap, Forbidden Romance, Rules, Praise Kink, Ice Queen, Mature Heroine

Start reading My Best Friend’s Mother Has Rules →

The Bride’s Backup Woman — Aurora North

The Bride's Backup Woman by Aurora North book cover

When her groom vanishes forty-eight hours before their island wedding, beauty mogul Carys Bellweather is left with two hundred guests, a magazine exclusive and a twelve-foot orchid arch. The wedding is cancelled. The honeymoon is not, and the only person still standing beside her is the elegant older wedding planner. My Best Friend’s Honeymoon’s nonrefundable getaway, with an age gap and nothing held back.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Jilted Bride, Older Wedding Planner, Destination Wedding, Age Gap, Forced Proximity, Ice Queen Caretaker

Start reading The Bride’s Backup Woman →

Director’s Cut — Aurora North

Director's Cut by Aurora North book cover

Helena Shaw doesn’t do social media, interviews or red carpets. She makes raw, uncompromising films and the world can take them or leave them. Then her producer hires a twenty-seven-year-old social media manager to build her brand, and the new hire thinks Helena is an untapped lesbian thirst trap. Something to Talk About’s Hollywood boss and the younger woman at her side, with the slow burn taken all the way.

Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Age Gap, Ice Queen, Grumpy/Sunshine, Workplace Romance, Forbidden Romance, Slow Burn

Start reading Director’s Cut →

Want the whole shelf? Our sapphic sports romance list has more soccer, tennis and track.

FAQ: Meryl Wilsner Reading Order

Do you need to read Meryl Wilsner’s books in order?

No. Every Meryl Wilsner novel is a standalone with a different couple, so read them in whatever order your mood suggests.

Which Meryl Wilsner book should I read first?

Cleat Cute, especially with the TV series in development. Pick Mistakes Were Made for a forbidden age gap or Something to Talk About for the slowest burn.

How spicy are Meryl Wilsner’s books?

Mistakes Were Made, Cleat Cute and My Best Friend’s Honeymoon are explicit, around 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️; Something to Talk About is much milder. Our romance spice levels guide explains the scale; every Fractal Enigma pick above is Inferno.

Is Cleat Cute being made into a TV show?

Yes. Prime Video confirmed Playing the Field in spring 2026, produced by Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe with Sarah Tapscott as showrunner. It is in early development with no cast or release date yet.

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Meryl Wilsner Books in Order: Cleat Cute, Mistakes Were Made & What’s Next (2026)