Dog and Duck Books in Order

The Dog and Duck series is a cosy village romance built around one pub, one heroine, and one very watchful small community. Set in the Buckinghamshire village of Little Leyton, the books follow Ellie Browne as she leaves a high-flying London job behind and tries to build a simpler life closer to home. Of course, village life turns out to be anything but simple.

In Winter at the Dog & Duck, Ellie is back in Little Leyton working shifts at the pub and running her own doggy-daycare business. She wants calm, familiarity, and a chance to reset. Instead she gets an ex-boyfriend who is not quite ready to stay in the past, rumours that the pub might be sold, and Max Golding, a developer whose arrival stirs up plenty of local feeling. That mix sets the tone for the whole series. These books are interested in what happens when home is comforting, complicated, and impossible to slip into unnoticed.

The pub is the heart of everything.

The Dog and Duck is where gossip travels, friendships are tested, plans are made, and people show up when things go wrong. That gives the series a very grounded feel. Even when Ellie’s life changes in big ways, the books keep circling back to the bar, the regulars, and the rhythms of village life. There are dogs, seasonal celebrations, family rows, and plenty of moments where Ellie has to decide whether she is building the life she actually wants or just reacting to everyone else’s needs.

The later books, Summer at the Dog & Duck, Wedding Bells at the Dog & Duck, and Happily Ever After at the Dog & Duck, follow Ellie and Max through the next stages of their relationship. Max’s sister Katy, his ex Sasha, work pressures, pregnancy, wedding plans, and upheaval at Braithwaite Manor all add fresh strain. What keeps the books moving is not just whether Ellie and Max will stay together, but how they manage the mess that comes with family, responsibility, and being tied to a place where everyone knows your business.

This is a series with emotional stakes rather than huge shocks. The tension usually comes from belonging, trust, jealousy, timing, and the quiet panic of wondering whether you are enough for the life in front of you. Steeples writes that kind of drama well. She gives the village warmth, but she also lets it be intrusive, inconvenient, and occasionally exhausting, which makes Little Leyton feel more real.

If you want a series with a strong through-line romance, lots of recurring faces, and the comforting feeling of returning to the same favourite corner of a pub, Dog and Duck does that very well. It works best in order, because Ellie’s world changes from book to book, and part of the charm is watching her grow into it.