Ashes & Embers Books in Order
Part ofCarian Cole Books in OrderSee the Ashes & Embers books in order by Carian Cole, with quick summaries, series background, crossover notes, and tips on where to start.
Last updated: June 10, 2026
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Publication Order
6 books
Storm
by Carian Cole
2014
A blizzard leaves Evie stranded in a pickup truck with a tattooed stranger for forty-eight hours. By the time she learns he is rock star Storm Valentine, the slow burn between them is already impossible to ignore.
Lukas
by Carian Cole
2015
After catching her husband cheating, thirty-six-year-old Ivy heads to a tattoo shop for a distraction and meets Lukas Valentine. He is younger, romantic, and all in, but trusting him means believing her life is not over after divorce.
Talon
by Carian Cole
2015
Asia signs up for a serious marriage experiment hoping experts will match her with a safe, family-minded husband. Instead she gets Talon Valentine, a tattooed rock star, and six months to figure out whether opposites can build something real.
Vandal
by Carian Cole
2015
Vandal is drowning in grief and guilt when he becomes obsessed with a woman whose pain mirrors his own. Their connection is intense and messy, but he is hiding the one truth that could destroy any chance at love.
Loving Storm
by Carian Cole
2017
This sequel returns to Storm and Evie, now telling their love story with Storm's perspective and a glimpse of what comes after the blizzard. The chemistry is still there, but fame, jealous exes, and old wounds complicate the future.
Asher
by Carian Cole
2020
After a long coma, a woman wakes to a husband who still loves her and a life she no longer remembers. As she relearns her past with rock star Asher Valentine, both must decide whether love can survive such a devastating reset.
Series background & context
At the center of Ashes & Embers is a rock band, but the series is really about the lives waiting behind the stage lights. Each book follows a different man in the band's orbit as he falls hard, usually at the worst possible moment, and has to figure out whether love can survive fame, grief, baggage, and bad timing.
The setup is familiar in the best way. There are musicians, tattoos, long hair, late nights, fans, and the chaos that comes with being watched. But these books keep pulling the story back to private spaces: a snowed-in truck, a tattoo shop, a hurried wedding, a quiet home after tragedy. That is where the emotional work gets done.
The setting shifts constantly between public and private worlds, and that contrast matters. One minute a character is dealing with fans, touring, or the pressure of being recognized everywhere. The next, they are in a kitchen, a workshop, or a borrowed room trying to have one honest conversation. That push and pull gives the series its shape.
Each romance has its own hook. Storm starts with forced proximity during a blizzard. Vandal leans darker, with guilt, grief, and a hero who knows he may ruin the one good thing in front of him. Lukas brings in a reverse age-gap romance between a newly divorced mother and an unexpectedly tender younger man. Talon uses a marriage experiment to throw two opposites together. Loving Storm circles back to the first couple, and Asher pushes the series into deeper family history and memory loss.
Fame is only half the story.
What links these books is the balance between swagger and softness. The men in this world may be rock stars, tattoo artists, or obvious trouble from a distance, but the series keeps asking what sits underneath the image. Usually it is loneliness, old hurt, loyalty, or the simple wish to be known for who they are when the music stops. The women are not just there to admire the band. They bring steadiness, humor, stubbornness, and their own scars.
The books are interconnected standalones, so each couple gets a full arc and a happy ending, but returning characters matter. Reading in order lets you watch friendships, family ties, and old wounds carry forward from book to book. The Valentine family becomes a real anchor over time, and later stories hit harder when you already know the people circling in the background.
Expect angsty contemporary romance with a big heart. The tone can be sexy, messy, funny, and very emotional, sometimes all in the same chapter. If you like rock star romance but want more than backstage glamour, Ashes & Embers keeps one boot onstage and the other planted firmly in real life.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.




















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