Eileen Goudge Books in Order
This page lists Eileen Goudge books in order, with summaries, series notes, reading guidance, and background on her novels.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
57 books
Afraid to Love
by Eileen Goudge
1984
Love sounds exciting until it asks for trust. In this Seniors entry, one Glenwood girl has to face old fears before she can decide whether a new romance is safe.
Smart Enough to Know
by Eileen Goudge
1984
Elaine Gregory is shy and brainy until she hides inside the school mascot costume. Tutoring football star Bill Soper gives her a chance to be seen, but also to risk her heart.
Too Much Too Soon
by Eileen Goudge
1984
Kit McCoy falls for Justin Kennerly, but her bold image hides real fear and inexperience. Her friends worry that Justin may expect more than she is ready to give.
Winner All the Way
by Eileen Goudge
1984
At Glenwood High, winning can mean grades, sports, popularity, or love. One of the Seniors has to decide whether chasing first place is worth what it does to her friendships.
A Touch of Ginger
by Eileen Goudge
1985
In this Glenwood High romance, personality matters as much as looks. A new spark, a bruised ego, and the usual senior-year gossip leave the friends sorting truth from image.
Bad Girl
by Eileen Goudge
1985
A reputation can be hard to shake at Glenwood High. One of the Seniors faces judgment, gossip, and the need to decide whether being bold means losing herself.
Before It's Too Late
by Eileen Goudge
1985
Senior year is moving fast, and the Glenwood girls can feel time running out. A friendship or romance on the edge pushes them to speak up before regret takes over.
Don't Say Good-Bye
by Eileen Goudge
1985
Goodbyes loom over the Glenwood friends as senior year keeps changing everything. Love and friendship are tested when someone has to decide whether to hold on or let go.
Forbidden Kisses
by Eileen Goudge
1985
A romance that feels off-limits pulls one of the Glenwood friends into secrecy and risk. The group must face what happens when desire clashes with trust and common sense.
Hands Off, He's Mine
by Eileen Goudge
1985
Possessiveness and jealousy shake the Glenwood circle when a boy becomes the center of a fight. The girls learn that friendship can suffer when romance turns into a claim.
Kiss and Make Up
by Eileen Goudge
1985
After a fight or breakup, the Glenwood seniors learn that making up is never as simple as saying sorry. Pride, gossip, and real feelings all get in the way.
Presenting Superhunk
by Eileen Goudge
1985
The Seniors get swept up in the idea of the perfect guy, only to learn that charm can hide complications. Crushes, pride, and friendship collide at Glenwood High.
Too Hot to Handle
by Eileen Goudge
1985
The Seniors deal with attraction that feels exciting but hard to control. As feelings heat up, the girls must decide what is fun, what is pressure, and what matters.
Against the Rules
by Eileen Goudge
1986
The Glenwood girls are tempted to break the rules when school, parents, and romance all close in. Each choice tests how far they will go for love or freedom.
Gone with the Wish
by Eileen Goudge
1986
Ashley Calhoun's computer opens a door to the past, starting the Swept Away time-travel adventures. A wish for romance becomes a trip where history and high school emotions collide.
Hawaiian Christmas
by Eileen Goudge
1986
A holiday trip gives the Super Seniors sunshine, romance, and a break from Glenwood routines. But even in paradise, friendships and crushes need care.
Heart for Sale
by Eileen Goudge
1986
Love starts to feel like a bargain with hidden costs for the Glenwood friends. Between popularity, pride, and real feelings, the girls learn that romance is not a simple trade.
Life of the Party
by Eileen Goudge
1986
Parties, dates, and senior-year expectations push the Glenwood girls into choices that look fun from the outside. Under the sparkle, each friend has something more serious to face.
Looking for Love
by Eileen Goudge
1986
At Glenwood High, the Seniors keep trying to sort real affection from crushes, gossip, and wishful thinking. This entry follows the messy search for romance without losing your friends.
Night After Night
by Eileen Goudge
1986
As senior year moves toward its end, the Glenwood friends juggle late nights, romantic confusion, and fear of change. The fun is real, but so are the consequences.
Old Enough
by Eileen Goudge
1986
The Super Seniors are out of the usual high school groove and eager to be taken seriously. New independence brings romance, risk, and the uneasy question of what being old enough really means.
Sweet Talk
by Eileen Goudge
1986
The Glenwood seniors know words can charm, sting, and get a person into trouble. Flirtation and mixed signals force the girls to decide who is sincere and who is just talking.
Treat Me Right
by Eileen Goudge
1986
The Seniors confront the gap between being liked and being respected. Dates, arguments, and friendship drama remind the girls that love should not mean accepting less than they deserve.
Woodstock Magic
by Eileen Goudge
1986
With Ashley's computer, Louise Greenspan travels back to the Woodstock era and meets her parents as teens. The trip gives her a new view of family, music, and love.
All Shook Up
by Eileen Goudge
1987
Louise Greenspan loves rock and roll, and the Swept Away time machine drops her into a past full of music and surprises. The adventure tests what nostalgia can and cannot fix.
Once Upon a Kiss
by Eileen Goudge
1987
Miranda dreams of a knightly romance, then a computer mishap sends her and Ashley to Camelot. Surviving King Arthur's world makes modern high school look less disappointing.
Star Struck
by Eileen Goudge
1987
Kiki Wykowski wants Hollywood glamour, and Ashley's time-travel experiment gives her a closer look at fame. The trip turns wish fulfillment into a lesson about image, ambition, and reality.
Deep-Sea Summer
by Eileen Goudge
1988
A summer by the water gives the Super Seniors a new setting for old questions about love, independence, and loyalty. The girls learn that vacation drama can follow them anywhere.
Something Borrowed
by Eileen Goudge
1988
In the Super Seniors spinoff, Glenwood friends face romance and loyalty after graduation, when grown-up choices no longer feel theoretical. A wedding theme brings love, jealousy, and friendship pressure.
Garden of Lies
by Eileen Goudge
1989
During a hospital fire in 1943, Sylvie Rosenthal switches her newborn with another baby. The decision follows two girls, Rachel and Rose, through class divides, love, ambition, and a devastating truth.
Golden Lilies
by Eileen Goudge
1990
This epistolary historical work presents the letters of Kwei-Li, a Chinese woman writing across love, family, and social change. Goudge frames the letters with context for modern readers.
Cross Your Heart, Hope to Die
by Eileen Goudge
1991
Hope Hubbard investigates the murder of Miss Peggy Sue and finds suspects everywhere, including the remaining contestants and the boy she is falling for. In Paradiso, secrets are almost a local sport.
Dying to Win
by Eileen Goudge
1991
Four girls compete to become Paradiso's Peach Blossom Queen, a title that promises a scholarship and a screen test. The contest turns deadly, and every candidate has something to hide.
If Looks Could Kill
by Eileen Goudge
1991
The Peach Blossom Queen's killer is still loose, and Hope Hubbard's boyfriend has been cleared. New evidence points toward other students, but proving the truth may put Hope in danger.
Such Devoted Sisters
by Eileen Goudge
1991
Old Hollywood rivalry ruins sisters Eve and Dolly, then echoes through the lives of Eve's daughters, Annie and Laurel. Chocolate, ambition, and tangled love shape this sweeping family story.
Jailbird
by Eileen Goudge
1992
With a suspect behind bars for the Peach Blossom Queen's murder, Paradiso wants the case closed. Hope Hubbard and Kiki De Santis fear the wrong person confessed, and a new trap may catch them instead.
Blessing in Disguise
by Eileen Goudge
1994
Grace Truscott begins writing a biography of her late senator father and reveals a secret from the civil rights era. The truth shakes her Georgia family and exposes wounds the town never healed.
Trail of Secrets
by Eileen Goudge
1996
Ellie Porter Nightingale never stops grieving the baby stolen from her in 1972. Years later, a young pregnant woman named Skyler unknowingly carries the secret that could reunite, or destroy, two families.
Thorns of Truth
by Eileen Goudge
1998
Decades after the baby switch in Garden of Lies, Sylvie's secret still threatens two families. Rachel and Rose face the truth just as their children's future pulls the past into the present.
One Last Dance
by Eileen Goudge
1999
The Seagrave sisters are planning their parents' anniversary when their mother shoots their father and refuses to explain. Daphne, Kitty, and Alex must sift through family history to find the truth.
The Second Silence
by Eileen Goudge
2000
Noelle Van Doren leaves a wealthy, ruthless husband, but Robert retaliates by fighting for custody of their daughter. Her battle for freedom uncovers older secrets and growing danger.
Stranger in Paradise
by Eileen Goudge
2001
In Carson Springs, Samantha Kiley watches her daughter make a risky marriage while a runaway teen named Finch arrives with dangerous knowledge. Romance, family ties, and suspense soon collide.
Taste of Honey
by Eileen Goudge
2002
Gerry Fitzgerald gave up a daughter after leaving the convent pregnant and ashamed. Decades later, Claire's return to Carson Springs forces mother and daughter to face faith, anger, and the cost of silence.
Wish Come True
by Eileen Goudge
2003
Anna Vincenzi has spent years serving her movie-star sister Monica and caring for their mother. When Monica is found dead, Anna becomes the prime suspect and must uncover the truth to save herself.
Otherwise Engaged
by Eileen Goudge
2005
Old friends Jessie and Erin once took very different roads. When love and ambition stall, they trade coasts and second-guess the choices that shaped their adult lives.
Something Warm from the Oven
by Eileen Goudge
2005
This baking memoir gathers recipes tied to Goudge's novels, family memories, and readers' kitchens. It is part cookbook, part comfort read for anyone who connects food with story.
Immediate Family
by Eileen Goudge
2006
A Princeton reunion brings Jay, Franny, Emerson, and Stevie back together after fifteen years. Each is wrestling with love, family, and parenthood, and their old friendship becomes a lifeline.
Woman in Red
by Eileen Goudge
2007
After prison for avenging her son's death, Alice Kessler returns to Grays Island to rebuild her life. When her surviving son is accused of a crime, she joins Colin McGinty to uncover buried secrets.
Domestic Affairs / Woman in Black
by Eileen Goudge
2008
Abigail and Lila grew up on opposite sides of privilege after a false accusation shattered their childhood bond. Years later, money, marriage, and old resentments force them back into each other's lives.
Once in a Blue Moon / Woman in Blue
by Eileen Goudge
2009
Separated as children, Lindsay and Kerrie Ann grow into very different women, one a bookstore owner, the other fighting addiction and trying to regain her daughter. Their reunion tests what sisterhood can survive.
The Diary
by Eileen Goudge
2009
As their mother lies dying, sisters Sarah and Emily find Elizabeth Marshall's diary from 1951. The entries reveal a lost love story and raise uncomfortable questions about the parents they thought they knew.
The Replacement Wife
by Eileen Goudge
2012
Matchmaker Camille Harte learns her cancer has returned and decides her family will need someone after she is gone. Her plan to find her husband's next wife tests love, control, and hope.
Welcome to Carson Springs
by Eileen Goudge
2012
Carson Springs looks peaceful until a Hollywood film crew arrives and turns local routines upside down. This prequel-style entry introduces the town's tangled friendships, romances, and secrets.
Bones and Roses
by Eileen Goudge
2014
Recovering alcoholic property manager Tish Ballard finds bones and roses in an old trunk left to her by a stranger. The discovery pulls her into a cold murder case tied to her own past.
Swimsuit Body
by Eileen Goudge
2015
Tish Ballard's first celebrity tenant, actress Delilah Ward, turns up dead beside a rental home pool. When suspicion touches someone close to her, Tish digs into the movie crew's secrets before the killer notices her.
All They Need to Know
by Eileen Goudge
2024
Kyra Smith flees her abusive husband with a rescued dog and lands in Gold Creek. With help from the Tattooed Ladies Club, she builds a new life until her past finds her.
The House on Mountain Laurel Lane
by Eileen Goudge
2025
Widowed Jo Myers receives a final video from her husband urging her to live again. Buying their dream house in Gold Creek brings new memories, an elderly lodger, and a risky chance at love.
Where should I start?
For the big family-secret sagas: Garden of Lies → Thorns of Truth → Trail of Secrets
For small-town women's fiction: Stranger in Paradise → Taste of Honey → Wish Come True
For cozy mystery with romance: Bones and Roses → Swimsuit Body
For a newer entry point: All They Need to Know → The House on Mountain Laurel Lane
For standalone emotional drama: Woman in Red → The Diary → The Replacement Wife
Author bio
Eileen Goudge was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in Woodside, near San Francisco. She was the second of six children, which helps explain why families in her books so often feel noisy, loving, competitive, and full of secrets.
She started writing when she was eight. As a kid, she read widely, loved Nancy Drew, and had an English teacher who encouraged her work after one of her poems received national recognition. That early push mattered.
Her path to a writing career was not tidy. She left college young, married, spent time in Canada, divorced, and returned to California with a small child. For a while she lived on welfare and tried to build a life that would let her support her family and still write.
Then came the work.
Goudge wrote magazine pieces from a kitchen-table setup, took a free adult education writing class, and began writing young adult fiction in the early 1980s. She worked on teen series fiction, including early Sweet Valley High books, and then created the Seniors series about four girls at Glenwood High. Those books taught her pace, hooks, and how to keep readers turning pages.
Her adult breakthrough was Garden of Lies, a long family saga about babies switched during a hospital fire in 1943. It became a New York Times bestseller and set the pattern for much of her later fiction: one secret, two or three generations, and women trying to make a life after someone else has rewritten the rules.
She kept returning to that territory in books like Thorns of Truth, Trail of Secrets, One Last Dance, The Diary, and Woman in Red. Readers who like her work tend to respond to the mix of romance, family drama, suspense, and moral messiness. Her characters are often mothers, daughters, sisters, widows, runaways, or women starting over after grief, bad marriages, public shame, or private betrayal.
She also likes a strong setting. Carson Springs draws on small-town California, the Cypress Bay mysteries use a seaside rental community, and the newer Gold Creek books move into a mountain town where friendship is as important as romance.
Goudge has also written nonfiction, including the baking memoir and cookbook Something Warm from the Oven. Baking shows up in her fiction too, which feels right for a writer so interested in memory, home, and the stories families tell around kitchen tables.
She is married to former entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon and has two grown children. In recent years she has lived in Sacramento, California, where she has continued writing, remodeling, and turning real-life experience into fiction, which has been her habit from the start.
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