Sarah MacLean Books in Order: The Complete Reading Guide
Sarah MacLean (born 17 December 1978 in Lincoln, Rhode Island) is an American author of Regency-set historical romance. She has a BA from Smith College and an MA in education from Harvard, and worked as a literary publicist in New York before publishing her first book, the young-adult historical The Season, in 2009. Her adult debut, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (2010), began a career of New York Times and USA Today bestsellers; she won back-to-back RITA Awards for Best Historical Romance for A Rogue by Any Other Name (2013) and No Good Duke Goes Unpunished (2014). From 2014 to 2018 she wrote a monthly romance review column for The Washington Post, and she co-hosts the Fated Mates podcast. Her historicals are almost all set in Regency and early-Victorian London, and she moved into contemporary fiction with These Summer Storms in 2025.
Do you have to read Sarah MacLean in order?
Every Sarah MacLean historical is written to work as a standalone, so you can begin with any series and any book inside it. Within a series, though, read in order: her later series in particular carry a running suspense thread and the couples from earlier books appear on the page. The Rules of Scoundrels is the strongest case for reading in sequence, because the identity of the Fallen Angel's fourth owner is the hook that runs across all four books and is spoiled by starting late. The Bareknuckle Bastards should also be read 1-2-3, since Daring and the Duke resolves a conflict set up in book 1.
Genres and eras: Regency and early-Victorian historical romance across all five series (1810s-1830s London). Two exceptions: The Season (2009) is a young-adult historical, and These Summer Storms (2025) is a contemporary family drama/romance set on a Rhode Island island. The novella A Duke Worth Falling For is also contemporary.
Love by Numbers (The St. John Family Trilogy) in order (2010-2011)
MacLean's adult debut trilogy, about the St. John siblings. Published by Avon.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake | 2010 |
| 2 | Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord | 2010 |
| 3 | Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart | 2011 |
The Rules of Scoundrels in order (2012-2014)
Set around the Fallen Angel, a London gaming hell run by four owners. Books 1 and 3 won RITA Awards.
More on the The Rules of Scoundrels series →
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Rogue by Any Other Name | 2012 |
| 2 | One Good Earl Deserves a Lover | 2013 |
| 3 | No Good Duke Goes Unpunished | 2013 |
| 4 | Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover | 2014 |
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Scandal & Scoundrel in order (2015-2017)
Each book is framed by scandal-sheet headlines. Book 1 is dated 29 December 2015 by the publisher but is catalogued by some sources as January 2016.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Rogue Not Taken | 2015 |
| 2 | A Scot in the Dark | 2016 |
| 3 | The Day of the Duchess | 2017 |
The Bareknuckle Bastards in order (2018-2020)
Three illegitimate children of a duke who run Covent Garden's smuggling trade.
More on the The Bareknuckle Bastards series →
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wicked and the Wallflower | 2018 |
| 2 | Brazen and the Beast | 2019 |
| 3 | Daring and the Duke | 2020 |
Hell's Belles in order (2021-2027)
A quartet about a group of women vigilantes in 1830s London. Book 4, Mastermind, is announced for 19 January 2027 and is not yet published as of this check.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bombshell | 2021 |
| 2 | Heartbreaker | 2022 |
| 3 | Knockout | 2023 |
| 4 | Mastermind forthcoming | 2027 |
Sarah MacLean: books outside the series
These sit outside the numbered series and can be read in any order.
| Title | First published | |
|---|---|---|
| — | The Season | 2009 |
| — | She, Doomed Girl anthology-contribution | 2014 |
| — | The Duke of Christmas Present novella | 2018 |
| — | A Duke Worth Falling For novella | 2020 |
| — | The Bladesmith Queen anthology-contribution | 2021 |
| — | Generation Wonder anthology-contribution | 2022 |
| — | These Summer Storms | 2025 |
| — | Ladies in Waiting: Jane Austen's Unsung Characters anthology-contribution | 2025 |
Where to start with Sarah MacLean
A Rogue by Any Other Name
The opening of her RITA-winning Rules of Scoundrels quartet and the book most often recommended as the entry point to her work.
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
Her adult debut and the first of the Love by Numbers trilogy, if you would rather start at the true beginning.
Wicked and the Wallflower
Begins the Bareknuckle Bastards, her grittier Covent Garden series, and needs no prior reading.
Bombshell
Opens the most recent historical series, Hell's Belles, and is the best sample of her current voice.
Frequently asked questions
Do Sarah MacLean's books need to be read in order?
No. Each novel is a complete romance with its own couple and happy ending, and MacLean writes them to be readable alone. Reading a series in order is still better, because The Rules of Scoundrels and The Bareknuckle Bastards each carry a mystery across the whole set.
What is Sarah MacLean's first book?
Her first published book is The Season (2009), a young-adult historical romance. Her first adult historical romance is Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (2010), which opens the Love by Numbers trilogy.
How many books has Sarah MacLean written?
As of September 2026 she has published 18 full-length books: 16 adult historical romances, one young-adult historical (The Season) and one contemporary novel (These Summer Storms). She has also written five novellas and short stories, most of them for anthologies.
What order should I read the Hell's Belles series?
Bombshell (2021), Heartbreaker (2022), Knockout (2023), then Mastermind, which is announced for January 2027. The four heroines are members of the same group and appear throughout, so the series rewards reading in order.
Is Sarah MacLean's Bareknuckle Bastards series connected to her other books?
The Bareknuckle Bastards (2018-2020) stands on its own, but it shares a world with Hell's Belles, which is set in the same 1830s London and brings back characters. Reading the Bastards trilogy first gives more context, though it is not required.
Has Sarah MacLean written any contemporary romance?
Yes, but very little. These Summer Storms (2025) is a contemporary novel set on a Rhode Island island, and the novella A Duke Worth Falling For (2020) is a contemporary romance. Everything else she has written is historical.
Which Sarah MacLean books won awards?
A Rogue by Any Other Name won the 2013 RITA Award for Best Historical Romance and No Good Duke Goes Unpunished won the same award in 2014. Both are part of The Rules of Scoundrels quartet.
How this list was counted
This guide lists 24 titles — 16 across 5 series and 8 outside them. 18 full-length books published under the name Sarah MacLean and released on or before 7 September 2026: 16 adult historical romance novels (across five series), 1 young-adult historical novel (The Season, 2009) and 1 contemporary novel (These Summer Storms, 2025). Excludes the 5 novellas and short-story/anthology contributions listed separately below, and excludes Mastermind (Hell's Belles #4), announced for 19 January 2027 and not yet published.
Sources broadly agree on MacLean's bibliography; the disagreements found were small. (1) The Rogue Not Taken: the publisher and the author's site date it 29 December 2015, but Wikipedia and several catalogues list it as January 2016. Recorded here as 2015. (2) Hell's Belles years: bookseriesinorder.com lists Bombshell as 2021, Heartbreaker 2022, Knockout 2023, which the Goodreads editions record and retailer listings confirm; a stray search snippet claiming Bombshell was August 2022 refers to the paperback reissue. (3) She, Doomed Girl: Wikipedia dates the Dark Duets anthology to March 2013, but the publisher (Harper Voyager) gives 7 January 2014; 2014 recorded here. (4) A Duke Worth Falling For first appeared in the multi-author collection Naughty Brits (2020) and was reissued as a standalone ebook in 2021; the first-publication year 2020 is recorded. (5) The Duke of Christmas Present is MacLean's novella inside the anthology How the Dukes Stole Christmas (2018) - it is one work, not two, although some lists count both. (6) The Bladesmith Queen is her story in the Arthurian anthology Sword Stone Table (2021); it is fantasy, not romance. Generation Wonder (2022) is a superhero anthology and Ladies in Waiting (2025) a Jane Austen anthology - MacLean contributed one story to each, but the individual story titles could not be verified from a source I trust, so they are recorded under the anthology name. (7) Mastermind (January 2027) is listed for completeness but is unpublished as of 7 September 2026 and is excluded from total_titles. No titles were omitted for lack of verification.