Ella James Books in Order
Explore Ella James books in order, with series lists, short summaries, and where-to-start notes for her high-angst romance, MM, and YA stories.
Last updated: July 12, 2026
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Ella James books in publication order
30 books
Stained
by Ella James
2011
Julia's life changes when she meets Cayne, a mysterious boy tied to a larger supernatural conflict. Their attraction is immediate, but so are the secrets, and the romance quickly opens into a darker paranormal world.
Chosen
by Ella James
2012
As the truth about Julia, Cayne, and the celestial conflict keeps expanding, love is no longer the only thing on the line. Chosen pushes the series toward bigger betrayals, harder decisions, and a looming fight they cannot avoid.
Exalted
by Ella James
2012
Cayne and Julia are torn apart by betrayal and taken by powerful enemies as the struggle for control moves toward open war. The finale goes big, mixing sacrifice, supernatural conflict, and the question of whether love can survive it.
Here
by Ella James
2012
Milo Mitchell accidentally stuns a mysterious boy in a tux who has no memory of who he is or why he seems tied to her. As she helps Nick untangle the mystery, the story veers into sci-fi romance and danger.
Stolen
by Ella James
2012
Julia and Cayne's bond faces its next test as the paranormal secrets around them grow darker and more dangerous. This sequel raises the stakes with betrayal, captivity, and bigger questions about who, and what, they can trust.
Selling Scarlett
by Ella James
2013
To save someone she loves, Elizabeth agrees to auction her virginity at a Nevada brothel and steps into a world she barely understands. Hunter West should be a dangerous distraction, but their chemistry makes an already risky plan far more complicated.
Trapped
by Ella James
2013
Milo and Nick's strange connection deepens as the truth behind his identity grows harder to escape. This sequel widens the sci-fi stakes, pushing their romance into a chase shaped by secrets, memory, and forces far bigger than either of them.
Beast
by Ella James
2014
In this dark, erotic Beauty and the Beast retelling, a charged arrangement pulls Belle into the orbit of a man who feels more monster than prince. Desire comes first, but buried wounds and dangerous revelations follow fast.
Taming Cross
by Ella James
2014
After a devastating accident, privileged bad boy Cross Carlson heads to Mexico looking for absolution and finds Meredith, a woman hiding from a drug lord. Rescue, guilt, and fierce attraction tangle together in a dangerous second chance.
Sloth
by Ella James
2015
A thank-you note turns into a years-long anonymous bond between a deeply troubled man and the girl who calls herself Sloth. When their hidden lives finally collide, the comfort they built on words has to survive the truth.
Unmaking Marchant
by Ella James
2015
Marchant Radcliffe runs Love Inc. and keeps his darkest secrets locked down, until arson and old sins start closing in. Suri Dalton is the last woman he should want, but their attraction deepens just as his life begins to come apart.
Murder
by Ella James
2016
A damaged man looking for atonement finds unexpected calm with Gwen, a former model living quietly in the Smoky Mountains and healing injured bears. Their connection is immediate, but his past makes it feel doomed from the start.
Crown Jewels
by Ella James
2017
Former reality-star Lucy Rhodes knows Prince Liam as tabloid bait and a very bad idea. One night in the Hamptons should mean nothing, until a pregnancy turns their secret fling into a royal-sized mess.
Fractured Love
by Ella James
2017
Evie and Landon fell in love as teenagers when he arrived as her foster brother, and the fallout tore them apart. Ten years later they meet again as doctors, carrying the same pull and a lot more damage.
The Boy Next Door
by Ella James
2017
She grew up loving Dash Frasier, the boy next door who always felt like home, until one summer changed everything. Years later they reunite at her dream job, and his buried secrets threaten a second chance.
The Plan
by Ella James
2017
Marley comes back to her small hometown carrying grief and unfinished business, only to run straight into Gabe, the ex she never got over. Their truce has a purpose, but old hurt and fresh attraction make every step messy.
Covet
by Ella James
2019
Baseball star Homer Carnegie is used to fame, swagger, and scandal, until one disaster sends him off course. Bound for remote Tristan da Cunha, he stumbles toward the one place, and person, he cannot stop wanting.
Prelude
by Ella James
2019
A short, steamy introduction to the On My Knees story world, this novella offers an early glimpse of the secrecy, tension, and pull that drive Worship. It works best as a teaser before the main books.
Adore
by Ella James
2020
After the ending of Worship, Luke and Vance are forced to face the fallout of secrets, fear, and the world around them. It is a bruising, intimate continuation about choosing love when safety and certainty are both in short supply.
Dark Heart
by Ella James
2020
Elise once believed Luca was the boy who could save her. Years later, their first love has curdled into a dangerous reunion shaped by betrayal, bloodshed, and a man who now rules from the shadows.
Hate You Not
by Ella James
2020
After her sister's death, June becomes guardian to two grieving kids and takes them back to a struggling Georgia farm. Their wealthy uncle wants them elsewhere, and that clash turns grief into a tender, prickly romance.
Never Let Go
by Ella James
2020
This anthology collects four bestselling romances, including Kandi Steiner's A Love Letter to Whiskey. It is a good pick for readers who want big feelings, hard-won love, and several very different paths to a happy ending.
Twisted Fate
by Ella James
2020
With old betrayals exposed and violence closing in, Elise and Luca have to decide whether their love can survive the damage around them. This finale leans hard into obsession, loyalty, and the cost of choosing each other.
Worship
by Ella James
2020
A polished public figure with everything to lose pulls a stranger from the ocean and feels his carefully built walls start to crack. What follows is a forbidden MM romance tangled up with faith, secrecy, and desire.
Communion
by Ella James
2021
Luke and Vance are finally married, but a public life makes privacy almost impossible. As Luke faces the fallout of his past and the scrutiny around Evermore, they have to build a future strong enough to survive it.
Twin Flame
by Ella James
2021
At an elite Upper West Side school, a planned-out girl falls hard for Luca Galante, the bruised boy who feels like fate. Their first love burns bright, but lies and looming violence turn it into tragedy.
Vegas Royals
by Ella James
2021
This brisk prequel drops into a glittery, dangerous Vegas world where gamblers, playboys, good girls, and secrets are all tangled together. Fortunes, families, and several lives are already on the line.
Wrath
by Ella James
2021
A closeted, deeply troubled teen collides with his new stepbrother, the golden-boy soccer star he cannot stop fighting or wanting. Their chemistry is brutal from the start, and family secrets make every step toward each other dangerous.
Want
by Ella James
2022
A fight at the New York City Ballet sparks a forbidden age-gap romance between a powerful senator and Kolya, a brilliant young dancer. Their bond feels life-changing, but the cost of wanting each other may be enormous.
Watch For Me
by Ella James
2022
Set in the small mountain town of Smoke Summit, Wyoming, this emotional MM romance follows a connection that turns a fresh start into something riskier and more intimate.
Where to start with Ella James
If you want paranormal YA first: Stained → Stolen → Chosen → Exalted
If you want sci-fi-leaning YA romance: Here → Trapped
If you want darker contemporary romance: Sloth → Murder → Covet → Wrath
If you want emotional MM romance: Worship → Adore → Communion → Want
If you want taboo, high-angst standalones: Fractured Love → The Boy Next Door → Crown Jewels → The Plan
Ella James sub-series and character series
Dark Heart Duet books in order
Explore this seriesErotic Fairy Tales books in order
Explore this seriesHere books in order
Explore this seriesLove Inc. books in order
Explore this seriesOff-Limits Romance books in order
Explore this seriesOn My Knees books in order
Explore this seriesSinful Secrets books in order
Explore this seriesStained books in order
Explore this seriesWatch For Me books in order
Explore this seriesStandalone Ella James books
Author bio
Ella James is an Alabama native who writes romance with a lot of nerve. Her books move between contemporary romance, new adult, young adult, and MM, but the through line is easy to spot: big feelings, difficult choices, and people who usually fall in love at the worst possible moment.
She has said she’d been writing fiction since 2007. A few years later that private work turned into a publishing career, and in 2011 she released Stained, the YA paranormal novel that started one of her earliest series.
She didn’t stay in one lane for long.
Over the next several years, James moved from paranormal YA into darker contemporary romance, romantic suspense, taboo romance, and queer love stories. Books like Selling Scarlett, Fractured Love, and Crown Jewels show how often she returns to secrecy, class pressure, family damage, and relationships that feel risky from the start.
Readers who like the darker, heavier side of her work often end up at Sloth and Wrath. Those books are different in setup, but both lean into pain, longing, and the slow work of letting another person get close. Even when the plots get wild, the emotional center tends to stay personal.
Another major thread in her catalogue is MM romance. The On My Knees books, beginning with Worship, follow a forbidden relationship shaped by faith, public image, and shame. In interviews, James has talked openly about liking challenging emotional material, and that series is a good example of how far she’s willing to go into uncomfortable territory without losing sight of the love story.
She likes pressure-cooker emotion.
That shows up across her settings, too. One series might take readers to Las Vegas and private wealth, another to an elite school on the Upper West Side, another to a tiny town in Georgia, and another into paranormal territory with celestial danger hanging over everything. The scenery changes, but her characters are usually wrestling with the same basic questions: who they really are, what they owe their families, and whether love can survive the truth.
She has also published MM work under the name Ellis James, which helps explain why some readers first meet her through titles like Wrath or Want and only later circle back to the earlier Ella James books. However they arrive, they tend to find the same mix of ache, tension, and hard-won tenderness.
James lives in Colorado with her husband and three kids. Her author bios place her in the foothills when she is not writing, which feels about right for someone whose stories spend so much time at the edge of calm and chaos.
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