Holly Smale Books in Order
See Holly Smale's books in order, with reading guides and brief summaries for Geek Girl, The Valentines and her adult novels to help you choose where to start.
Last updated: December 24, 2025
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Publication Order
13 books
I Know How This Ends
by Holly Smale
2025
Meteorologist Margot Wayward is in self destruct mode after catching her long term fiancé cheating, sabotaging her career and swiping through disastrous dates. Then she starts seeing visions of a future with single dad Henry and realises she knows exactly how their story will unfold, even as she struggles to work out how to live in the present.
Cassandra in Reverse
by Holly Smale
2023
Socially awkward Londoner Cassandra Penelope Dankworth likes routines, Greek myths and her small life exactly as it is, until she is dumped, fired and humiliated all in one day. When she discovers she can rewind time and redo moments, Cassie becomes obsessed with fixing every mistake, only to realise the real work is learning to understand and accept herself.
Love Me Not
by Holly Smale
2021
Seventeen year old actress Mercy Valentine has turned herself into the fierce, party loving face of her famous family so no one can see how much she hurts. As a major stage role and a string of bad decisions collide, she risks losing her career, siblings and the boy who sees past her armour.
Far From Perfect
by Holly Smale
2020
Faith Valentine looks like the perfect celebrity daughter, always camera ready, always agreeable. Inside she is exhausted by constant scrutiny and a family brand that leaves no room for her own dreams, so when a scandal and new relationship shake that image, Faith has to decide who she is without the script.
Happy Girl Lucky
by Holly Smale
2019
Hope Valentine has grown up hidden behind the gates of her movie star family, rehearsing imaginary meet cutes and waiting for the day she can join the spotlight. When she finally falls headlong for a mysterious boy, real life refuses to match her film script, forcing her to face messy truths about love and family.
Forever Geek
by Holly Smale
2017
On a once in a lifetime trip across Australia with best friend Nat, Harriet thinks she has left lists and plans behind. When she unexpectedly runs into supermodel ex Nick while nearly boyfriend Jasper waits at home, she is finally forced to choose her own future.
Sunny Side Up
by Holly Smale
2016
Fresh from another modelling break, Harriet heads to Paris for Fashion Week, armed with facts but not much social grace. Runways, rival models and the pressure to find her elusive je ne sais quoi push her to decide who she wants to be on and off camera.
Head Over Heels
by Holly Smale
2016
Harriet believes she finally has a plan to make everything in her life work, from family finances to friends' love lives. But when her careful schemes collide with real people, she faces spectacular mishaps, an impulsive trip abroad and some painful truths about control.
All Wrapped Up
by Holly Smale
2015
Christmas is coming and Harriet is still replaying her very first kiss, convinced there must be rules for what happens next. A school Christmas party, tangled signals and her own overthinking turn a simple crush into a charming, chaotic holiday drama.
All That Glitters
by Holly Smale
2015
Now in sixth form and supposedly a supermodel success, Harriet is desperate to reinvent herself as popular and glamorous. When new classmates, old friends and the fashion world all pull her in different directions, she has to learn what truly counts as shining.
Picture Perfect
by Holly Smale
2014
Harriet imagines moving to New York will mean museums, skyscrapers and swoony dates with her model boyfriend. Instead she finds herself stuck in a sleepy town upstate, clinging to fashion work in the city as her friendships, romance and confidence start to fray.
Model Misfit
by Holly Smale
2013
With her family distracted by a new baby and home feeling crowded, Harriet leaps at a modelling job in Tokyo. Between culture shock, competitive roommates and unexpected run ins with ex boyfriend Nick, she has to decide where she really belongs.
Geek Girl
by Holly Smale
2013
Fifteen year old fact obsessed Harriet Manners is used to being the class geek, not the center of attention. When a fashion scout plucks her from a school trip to front a major campaign, she must juggle sudden fame, jealous friends and a ruthless bully.
Where should I start?
If you want a fun introduction to Geek Girl: Geek Girl → Model Misfit → Picture Perfect
If you want the complete Harriet Manners arc: Geek Girl → Model Misfit → Picture Perfect → All That Glitters → Head Over Heels → Forever Geek (with seasonal extras All Wrapped Up and Sunny Side Up whenever you like)
If you like glamorous family drama and romance: Happy Girl Lucky → Far From Perfect → Love Me Not
If you want her adult, time bending stories: Cassandra in Reverse → I Know How This Ends
Author bio
Holly Smale was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1981 and grew up as an avid reader who always had a book in her bag. From an early age she loved playing with words, filling notebooks with stories and observations about the world.
As a child and teenager she often felt out of step with the people around her. She has spoken openly about being bullied at school and about how those lonely, confusing years later fed into the characters she writes, especially the awkward, fact obsessed Harriet Manners in Geek Girl.
At fifteen, on a school trip, Smale was unexpectedly scouted by a London modeling agency. For two years she walked catwalks and posed for photos, mostly feeling clumsy, anxious and out of place. The strange mix of glamour, pressure and invisibility became raw material she would eventually turn into fiction.
After leaving fashion behind she studied English literature at the University of Bristol, staying on to complete a master's degree in Shakespeare. At Bristol she wrote for the student newspaper and began to think seriously about making a life from words. In between, she worked a string of jobs, including teaching English in Japan and travelling widely.
Before publication she spent years drafting and redrafting manuscripts that did not quite land. What kept her going was the sense that the awkward, overthinking girls she imagined were missing from the books she saw on shelves, and that they deserved center stage.
Those experiences came together when she started writing Geek Girl, the story of a bullied teenage geek who is accidentally pulled into the world of high fashion. The book was published in 2013, became a number one debut in UK teen fiction, and won prizes for young readers. A six book series followed, along with extra seasonal novellas that let readers follow Harriet through school, work and first love, and later a television adaptation that brought the character to screen.
Smale then moved from geekdom to Hollywood style fame with The Valentines, a trilogy about four siblings growing up inside a celebrity family, and later into adult fiction with The Cassandra Complex in the UK and Cassandra in Reverse in the US. That novel, about a rigid, lonely woman who can rewind time and slowly learns to accept herself, was picked for major book clubs and brought her work to a new audience.
In 2021 Smale publicly shared that she had been diagnosed as autistic at the age of thirty nine, with dyspraxia and other neurodivergent traits confirmed soon after. The diagnosis reframed much of her past and the kinds of characters she had always written, particularly Harriet and Cassandra, whose social struggles and intense inner worlds mirror parts of her own.
Today she continues to write stories about girls and women who feel too much, think too hard and never quite fit the mould they are handed. Her books lean on humour, sharp detail and big feelings rather than easy wish fulfilment. Away from the page she talks about neurodiversity, gender and representation, and keeps building fictional worlds where awkward, anxious outsiders get to be at the center of the story.
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