Academic Affairs Books in Order

Academic Affairs is Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone’s foray into college-town romance for adults, swapping snow-dusted Vermont for the leafy streets and faculty lounges of Astra University. Where Christmas Notch leans on holiday movie tropes, this series plays with light academia, single dad chaos, and the thrill of realizing your one-night stand now signs your paychecks.

The first book, Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl, follows Maddie Kowalczk, a freshly minted law school graduate starting over after a bad breakup. She arrives in Mount Astra ready to reinvent herself as a “bad girl” and blow off steam before settling into her new adjunct job. A birthday night out leads to a scorching encounter with Bram Loe, a reserved stranger who turns out, in the unforgiving light of morning, to be both her new boss at the university and the single father who hired her as his kids’ nanny.

From there, the book leans into forced proximity and forbidden-workplace tension. Maddie needs the job and the housing, Bram needs help keeping his household afloat, and both of them are absolutely terrible at pretending their chemistry was a one-time mistake. The setup leaves plenty of room for Murphy’s humor - think chaotic group texts, meddling friends, and running jokes about campus life - and Simone’s sensuality, especially around kink that blurs the lines between lecture, lesson, and punishment.

Future installments will continue to explore different corners of Astra University and Mount Astra, likely giving side characters their own arcs and digging into tropes like rivals-to-lovers faculty, messy friend groups, and more single parents trying to juggle tenure tracks and bedtime routines. The tone is big-hearted and sex-positive, with a focus on adults at transitional moments in their lives rather than traditional “new adult” stories.

On this page, you will find release information, suggested reading order, and notes on how Academic Affairs ties back to the Christmas Notch books through shared humor and cameos. If you like the idea of small-town academia with just as much raunch as romance, this is the series to watch.