Jill Santopolo Books in Order
Explore Jill Santopolo books in order, with summaries, series background, reading-order notes, and where to start with her novels and kids' series.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
19 books
The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure
by Jill Santopolo
2008
Fourth-grade sleuth Alec Flint gets his first big case when the Christopher Columbus exhibit disappears from the local museum. With new classmate Gina, he follows clues the grown-ups may have missed.
The Ransom Note Blues
by Jill Santopolo
2009
Alec Flint and Gina tackle a strange ransom note sent to Gina's reporter mom. Something belonging to the whole town has vanished, but the young detectives must first figure out what is missing.
All That Glitters
by Jill Santopolo
2013
Sisters Aly and Brooke love their mom's busy nail salon, True Colors. When kids keep asking for manicures and pedicures, they hatch a plan for a mini salon of their own.
Purple Nails and Puppy Tails
by Jill Santopolo
2013
Sparkle Spa goes to the dogs when Aly and Brooke try pet-icures for Sadie, a canine poster star. The plan grows into shelter makeovers, but dogs are not easy salon customers.
Makeover Magic
by Jill Santopolo
2014
Aly and Brooke are booked for Fall Ball manicures when a flashy rival salon opens across the street. To keep Sparkle Spa alive, they must handle competition without losing their sparkle.
Summer Love
by Jill Santopolo
2014
A beachside summer turns interactive as the reader chooses each next move toward friendship, fun, or romance. With many possible endings and eleven potential crushes, every path gives the weekend a different shape.
True Colors
by Jill Santopolo
2014
Sparkle Spa is busier than ever when Brooke breaks her arm and can't do nails. Aly brings in Sophie to help, but the fix may hurt Brooke more than the broken arm.
A Picture-Perfect Mess
by Jill Santopolo
2015
Picture day is coming at Auden Elementary, and Sparkle Spa is ready to help classmates shine. Then Suzy Davis starts her own bathroom beauty setup, turning school photos into a messy competition.
Bad News Nails
by Jill Santopolo
2015
Aly's longtime rival Suzy Davis joins Sparkle Spa and starts acting like she runs the place. Aly and Brooke must find a way to protect their business without turning the salon into a battle zone.
Bling It On!
by Jill Santopolo
2015
Aly and Brooke take Sparkle Spa to Auden Elementary's carnival, hoping their booth will help raise money and beat the boys' team. When things go wrong, they have to save the day fast.
Love on the Lifts
by Jill Santopolo
2015
On a snowy ski vacation, the reader chooses which paths to take and which people to meet. Ski instructors, lodge twins, quiet fireside moments, and friendship routes make this a playful pick-your-ending romance.
Fashion Disaster
by Jill Santopolo
2016
After Suzy Davis gives Brooke a disastrous haircut, Brooke wants to hide from everyone. The Sparkle Spa crew has to rally around her and prove that one bad hair day doesn't define her.
Wedding Bell Blues
by Jill Santopolo
2016
Joan, the Tanners' favorite manicurist, is getting married, and Aly and Brooke want to help with every sparkling detail. But when only one sister becomes flower girl, the celebration starts to hurt.
Glam Opening!
by Jill Santopolo
2017
As Sparkle Spa outgrows its little space, Aly and Brooke face a bigger surprise: their mom may join forces with Suzy Davis's mom. A new salon could mean new customers, but also working with a nemesis.
The Light We Lost
by Jill Santopolo
2017
Lucy and Gabe meet at Columbia on September 11, 2001, and their connection shapes the next thirteen years. Careers, distance, marriage, and longing test whether love is fate, choice, or both.
More Than Words
by Jill Santopolo
2019
After her father dies, hotel heiress Nina Gregory discovers a family secret that shakes her carefully planned life. Torn between loyal Tim and magnetic Rafael, she has to decide what legacy, love, and truth really mean.
Everything After
by Jill Santopolo
2021
Emily Gold has built a steady life with her doctor husband, Ezra, after losing music and Rob years earlier. Then a tragedy and a familiar song drag her past back into the present, forcing painful choices.
Stars in an Italian Sky
by Jill Santopolo
2023
In 1946 Genoa, Vincenzo and Giovanna cross class lines and fall in love, only to be pulled apart by politics and family duty. Decades later, Cassandra and Luca's engagement uncovers a secret linking both generations.
The Love We Found
by Jill Santopolo
2025
Nearly ten years after Gabe's death, Lucy finds an address in Rome among his photos and follows it to Italy. What she learns may change how she handles love, grief, and her son Samuel's truth.
Where should I start?
For an emotional first-love arc: The Light We Lost → The Love We Found
For stand-alone adult romance and drama: More Than Words → Everything After → Stars in an Italian Sky
For younger mystery readers: The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure → The Ransom Note Blues
For early chapter-book readers: All That Glitters → Purple Nails and Puppy Tails → Makeover Magic
For interactive teen romance: Summer Love → Love on the Lifts
Author bio
Jill Santopolo grew up in Hewlett, New York, not far from the beach, with two sisters, pets, and a lot of books within reach. Long before she wrote about adult love stories and kid detectives, she was the kind of child who made her own books from stapled paper and asked friends to draw the pictures.
She started early.
One of her first stories, written when she was around three, involved a magical cat. By elementary school she was already pulled toward mysteries, the kind with clues, secret codes, and kids smart enough to solve the case before the grown-ups did. That love of reading stayed with her through middle school and high school, alongside school newspapers, plays, poems, and plenty of other creative projects.
At Columbia University, Santopolo studied English literature and began working in publishing while she was still a student. The editorial side of the business grabbed her attention. After college, she built a career editing books for young readers, then kept studying the craft herself, earning an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a certificate in intellectual property law from NYU.
Her own books arrived while she was deep inside that publishing world. The Alec Flint mysteries gave young readers a fourth-grade detective with a police officer father, a sharp eye for clues, and a new partner named Gina. The Sparkle Spa books followed sisters Aly and Brooke as they run a kids-only mini salon inside their mother's nail salon. The Follow Your Heart books let teen readers choose their way through light romance.
Books became the day job and the night job.
Her first adult novel, The Light We Lost, changed the scale of her readership. The story of Lucy and Gabe, who meet at Columbia on September 11, 2001, became a Reese's Book Club pick and reached readers in more than thirty-five languages. Santopolo kept returning to people at crossroads in More Than Words, Everything After, and Stars in an Italian Sky, writing about family secrets, old loves, work, grief, and the question that sits under many of her plots: what if one different choice changed everything?
In The Love We Found, she returned to Lucy years later, this time sending her toward Rome and toward a life that has to make room for loss, motherhood, and new love. Even when the books move from New York to Italy or from adult drama to chapter-book comedy, Santopolo tends to write about people trying to understand what they owe to their families, their pasts, and themselves.
She has also kept a full editorial life. After years working with children's books, she became publisher of Philomel Books in 2023. She lives in New York City with her family and continues to write, edit, and speak about storytelling.
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