Carnivale Chronicles (Suzette Riddick) Books in Order

Carnivale Chronicles is a shared-world romance project, and Suzette Riddick's contribution fits neatly into that bigger idea while still feeling like one of her books. The focus here is Chasing After Love, a second-chance romance with strong family connections and a heroine who is ready to burn down the version of life that has stopped working.

Nancy Redmond is the center of the story. Professionally, she is capable and moving forward. Personally, things are shakier. After selling her business and deciding to leave the Midwest for the East Coast, she is determined to prove that she does not need a man to complete her life. That decision gives the book a nice starting tension, because Nancy is not looking to be rescued. She is looking for room to breathe.

Then Gabriel "Gabe" Saxton walks back into the picture.

Gabe is reeling from his own betrayal after catching the woman he planned to marry in a compromising situation. When he and Nancy unexpectedly reunite after ten years, the attraction is still there, but so is all the unfinished business. Riddick uses that reunion well. The story is less about whether sparks exist and more about whether either of them is emotionally ready to trust what those sparks mean.

One nice extra layer is the Redmond family thread. Readers who know Madeline Redmond from Fixer Upper Love will recognize how Riddick links her books together without making the crossover feel forced. That shared-world texture adds warmth. Nancy is not moving through empty space. She belongs to a larger network of mothers, friends, past loves, and people who remember who she used to be.

Because this is part of a multi-author project, the backdrop has a bigger-cast, event-friendly feel than some of Riddick's more contained series. But the heart of the book is still very much her territory: complicated adults, old wounds, real-life disappointment, and the possibility that love can come back around at exactly the wrong, and maybe right, time.

If you like reunion romances with family threads, emotional baggage, and a heroine choosing a new direction for herself, Carnivale Chronicles is worth a look. Riddick's entry stands on its own, but it also carries that pleasant sense of a wider world humming just beyond the page.