Where to Start Reading Christina Lauren
Christina Lauren—the collaborative pen name of best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings—has written over twenty New York Times bestsellers, spanning from ultra-steamy contemporary romance to lighthearted, modern romantic comedies. Because their catalog is diverse in both tone and structure, the best place to start depends entirely on your personal reading preferences.
- For the Ultimate Laugh-Out-Loud Rom-Com: Start with The Unhoneymooners (2019). This standalone enemies-to-lovers, fake-relationship romance set in tropical Hawaii is their most famous modern work and serves as a perfect introduction to their signature humor and banter.
- For Sizzling, High-Heat Office Romance: Start with Beautiful Bastard (2013). This is the book that launched their career. Originally a massive Twilight fanfiction sensation titled The Office, it is fast-paced, high-spice, and features a classic boss-and-intern dynamic.
- For High-Concept, Science-Meets-Love Romance: Start with The Soulmate Equation (2021). It blends a DNA-based matchmaking premise with a sweet, slow-burn single-mother romance.
- For Emotional Depth and Friends-to-Lovers: Start with Love and Other Words (2018). This book features a dual-timeline structure focusing on childhood sweethearts reconnecting after years apart, offering a more poignant, tear-jerking tone.
The Beautiful Series Reading Order
The Beautiful series is a collection of interconnected contemporary romance novels and novellas. While each full-length novel focuses on a different couple, the characters are close friends and coworkers who frequently cross over into each other's stories. To avoid spoilers and follow the natural progression of their relationships, it is highly recommended to read them in publication order, inserting the novellas (often numbered as fractional entries) chronologically:
- Beautiful Bastard (2013) – Introduces Chloe Mills and Bennett Ryan in their steamy office romance.
- Beautiful Bitch (2013, Novella #1.5) – A short follow-up focusing on Chloe and Bennett as they navigate their busy lives.
- Beautiful Stranger (2013) – Focuses on British playboy Max Stella and Chloe's friend Sara Dillon in New York City.
- Beautiful Bombshell (2013, Novella #2.5) – Brings the core cast together for a wild weekend in Las Vegas.
- Beautiful Player (2013) – Follows Bennett's younger sister, Hanna Bergstrom, and his best friend, Will Sumner.
- Beautiful Beginning (2013, Novella #3.5) – Serves as a direct sequel novella wrapped around a wedding ceremony.
- Beautiful Beloved (2015, Novella #3.6) – Follows Max and Sara as they adapt to parenthood.
- Beautiful Secret (2015) – Features Niall Stella (Max's brother) and his coworker Ruby Miller on a business trip to New York.
- Beautiful Boss (2016, Novella #4.5) – Focuses on Will and Hanna adjusting to domestic life.
- Beautiful (2016) – The final full-length novel, centering on Pippa Bay Cox and Jensen Bergstrom, wrapping up the series.
The Wild Seasons Series
The Wild Seasons series is another highly popular, high-heat contemporary series. It begins with three girls who head to Las Vegas to celebrate their college graduation, only to make the impulsive decision to marry three guys they just met. The series should be read in order of release to appreciate the character dynamics and continuity:
- Sweet Filthy Boy (2014) – Follows Mia Holland and Ansel Guillaume to Paris after their wild Vegas wedding.
- Sweet Filthy Morning After (2014, Novella #1.5) – A short follow-up detail on Mia and Ansel's early days together.
- Dirty Rowdy Thing (2014) – Centers on Harlow Yates and Canadian fisherman Finn Roberts.
- Dark Wild Night (2015) – Explores the friends-to-lovers romance between Lola Franklin and Oliver Perry.
- Wicked Sexy Liar (2016) – Follows London Hughes and Luke Sutter in a story about commitment and trust.
Connected Standalones and Shared Universes
While the authors are famous for their series, they have also built smaller, two-book micro-universes within their standalone collection. Reading these in order helps build the context around supporting characters and settings:
The GeneticAlly Duology (The Soulmate Equation Universe)
Although published as standalone novels, these two books share a central sci-fi-adjacent premise: a DNA-based matchmaking agency called GeneticAlly.
- The Soulmate Equation (2021) – Introduces Jess Davis, a single mother and statistician, who tests her compatibility with GeneticAlly's aloof founder, Dr. River Pena. This book establishes the company's technology.
- The True Love Experiment (2023) – Follows Jess's best friend, romance novelist Felicity "Fizzy" Chen, who agrees to star in a reality dating show produced by Connor Prince, using the GeneticAlly system to find her match. Reading The Soulmate Equation first is highly recommended to understand Fizzy's background and the GeneticAlly lore.
The Unhoneymooners Duology
The duo's most popular rom-com has expanded into a multi-format series focusing on members of the same family:
- The Unhoneymooners (2019) – Focuses on Olive Torres and Ethan Thomas as they go on a free Hawaiian honeymoon meant for Olive's twin sister, Ami.
- The Honeymoon Crashers (2023, Novella #1.5) – An audio-only sequel novella told from the perspective of Ami Torres as she travels to Maui for Olive and Ethan's wedding, only to team up with the best man, Brody. This was released exclusively as an audio production.
Multi-Author Collaborations and Anthologies
Christina Lauren has contributed to several notable multi-author projects and collections, representing their versatility in both contemporary romance and fairytale retellings:
- Meant To Be Series: Tangled Up In You (2024) – A modern, adult contemporary retelling of Disney's Tangled, following Ren (a young woman kept isolated in a forest cabin by her overprotective mother) and Fitz (a cynical college graduate). This book is part of the multi-author Disney-published Meant to Be series.
- The Improbable Meet-Cute Collections – The authors have contributed short stories to these Amazon Original multi-author novellas. Their contributions include The Exception to the Rule (2024) and Accidentally Yours (2026, part of the Second Chances collection).
- Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World (2013) – An anthology exploring the cultural rise of fanfiction. It is an insightful look into the authors' roots, given their start in the Twilight fanfiction community.
What to Know Before You Start: Tone and Steam Levels
If you are exploring Christina Lauren's work, it is important to know that their style has evolved significantly. Their early works (the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series) are characterized by extremely high steam, explicit scenes, and fast-paced relationship progressions. In contrast, their mid-to-late standalone novels (such as Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating, In a Holidaze, and The Paradise Problem) shift toward standard contemporary romantic comedy templates, featuring lower steam levels, slow-burn tension, and a greater emphasis on humor and family drama. They also have Young Adult and paranormal publications (like Autoboyography, Sublime, and The House) which feature sweet, emotional, and low-heat storylines.