Karen Rock Books in Order
Find Karen Rock books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, author background, and helpful tips on where to start reading.
Last updated: July 5, 2026
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Publication Order
18 books
Wish Me Tomorrow
by Karen Rock
2013
Grief counselor Christie Bates believes in hope, even when life hurts. Cancer survivor and single dad Eli Roberts has learned to expect loss, so loving Christie means risking a future he is not sure he can promise.
A League of Her Own
by Karen Rock
2014
Heather Gadway returns home to manage her family's struggling minor league baseball team and prove she can do the job. Falling for star pitcher Garrett Wolf, a recovering alcoholic and her employee, is the one risk she cannot afford.
His Hometown Girl
by Karen Rock
2014
Jodi Chapman returns home to secure money for her autistic son's care, even if it means convincing local farmers to sell. Her biggest obstacle is Daniel Gleason, the childhood rival who still knows exactly how to get under her skin.
Someone Like You
by Karen Rock
2014
Kayleigh Renshaw has a smart new matchmaking app idea, and only coder Niall Walsh can help build it. But Niall came home from Afghanistan carrying scars, and turning old friendship into love may be the hardest leap of all.
Recipes of Love
by Melinda Curtis
2015
This collaborative collection mixes romance-inspired recipes with short tastes of the authors' happily-ever-after worlds. It is part cookbook, part cozy reader treat, and made for anyone who likes love stories with something delicious on the side.
His Kind of Cowgirl
by Karen Rock
2016
Widowed Claire Shelton is fighting to save her family's ranch when bull rider Tanner Hayes crashes back into her life. Old wounds, new responsibilities, and a secret she has kept for years make their reunion anything but simple.
His to Protect
by Karen Rock
2016
Coast Guard pilot Mark Sampson is still tormented by a mission that ended in tragedy. Then he meets Cassie Rowe, the sister of the man who died, and a storm-relief assignment forces them to face grief, blame, and desire together.
Under An Adirondack Sky
by Karen Rock
2016
Aiden Walsh has spent years raising his siblings and running the family pub, leaving no room for himself. Then school psychologist Rebecca Day enters his world, and an Adirondack wilderness trip changes both of their lives.
A Cowboy to Keep
by Karen Rock
2017
Dani Crawford is hiding a dangerous secret while managing a dude ranch. When bounty hunter Jack Cade arrives chasing a criminal, she has no choice but to help him, even as falling for him threatens everything.
Christmas at Cade Ranch
by Karen Rock
2017
James Cade is determined to keep the family ranch steady after his brother's death. When his late brother's ex, Sofia, and her young son are stranded with him for Christmas, grief and loyalty turn into something much more complicated.
His Last Defense
by Karen Rock
2017
Rescue swimmer Dylan Holt thought he had left Nolee Arnauyq, and their messy history, behind. Then he saves the crab boat captain from disaster, and the dangerous waters off Alaska push them toward a second chance.
A Cowboy's Pride
by Karen Rock
2018
Celebrity journalist Katlynn Brennon comes back to Colorado hoping a story about the Cade-Loveland feud will save her career. Getting close to rancher Cole Loveland could cost her the scoop, and her heart.
Dangerous Moves
by Karen Rock
2018
Detective Blake Knight goes undercover inside a Dallas male strip club to break a steroid ring. But the closer he gets to guarded club manager Reese Landon, the messier the case, and the attraction, becomes.
Deadly Games
by Karen Rock
2018
Special Agent Katherine Bowden is hunting a killer stalking Dallas nightlife, and Nash Hawkins knows the scene better than most. Their uneasy alliance turns personal fast, even as the danger around them keeps closing in.
Falling for a Cowboy
by Karen Rock
2018
Champion barrel racer Amberley James is losing her sight, and with it the life she planned. Her best friend Jared Cade refuses to let her quit, but the more he helps her, the harder it is to deny what they really mean to each other.
Reckless Deceptions
by Karen Rock
2018
A rogue former CIA operative goes undercover at a Dallas club to stop a terrorist plot and clear her name. To finish the job, she has to work with the ex-lover who once helped destroy her career.
A Rancher To Remember
by Karen Rock
2019
After a tragic accident leaves journalist Cassidy Fulton with no memory of why she returned home, her former fiance, now her late sister's husband, helps her piece together the past. Love, grief, and old betrayal all come rushing back.
Winning The Cowboy's Heart
by Karen Rock
2019
Jewel Cade wants to prove she belongs in charge of the ranch, but first she has to help Heath Loveland on a Colorado cattle drive. Working beside her longtime crush, and a supposed enemy, makes keeping her guard up almost impossible.
Where should I start?
If you want wholesome small-town romance: Wish Me Tomorrow → His Hometown Girl → Someone Like You
If you want western family drama: Christmas at Cade Ranch → Falling for a Cowboy → Winning The Cowboy's Heart
If you want romantic suspense: Dangerous Moves → Deadly Games → Reckless Deceptions
If you want a sports romance: A League of Her Own
If you want steamy rescue stories: His to Protect → His Last Defense
Author bio
Karen Rock writes romance in a few different gears. Some of her books are warm, small-town stories. Some head out west to ranch country. Others lean into danger, secrets, and fast-moving suspense. Across all of them, she tends to come back to the same things: family strain, second chances, people carrying old hurt, and love that asks them to be braver than they expected.
She was born in Van Nuys, California, and she has also written fondly about spending Sundays and summer weeks on her grandparents' century dairy farm in Malone, New York.
That mix, city roots and country memory, fits her fiction pretty well.
Before writing full time, Rock worked as an English and Language Arts instructor. She has said that while looking for strong books for students, she read widely and kept feeling the pull to tell her own stories. Romance had been in the background even earlier than that. As a teenager, she was given bags of Harlequin Presents by her grandmother, and the genre stayed with her.
Her path into publishing was not just one lane. Alongside her sister-in-law Joanne Rock, she also wrote young adult fiction under the name J.K. Rock. Their Camp Boyfriend books brought that teen-romance energy of crushes, friendship drama, and figuring yourself out. Not long after, Karen Rock launched her adult romance career with Wish Me Tomorrow, a Harlequin Heartwarming novel about a grief counselor, a cancer survivor, and the risk of loving when the future feels uncertain.
She likes giving her characters hard problems and honest hearts.
That shows up all over her Heartwarming novels. In His Hometown Girl and Someone Like You, she writes about people pulled back toward home, old rivals, old friends, and the ways family responsibility can shape every choice. In A League of Her Own, she moved into the world of minor league baseball, pairing ambition, recovery, and forbidden attraction in a story that went on to win the National Excellence in Romance Fiction award. Readers who like emotional romance with solid real-world pressure points tend to do well with her books.
Rock also has a strong feel for setting. In Under an Adirondack Sky and other Adirondack-linked stories, the woods, lakes, and small communities are not just pretty backdrops. They affect how people live, work, hide, and heal. Her Rocky Mountain books, including Christmas at Cade Ranch, Falling for a Cowboy, and Winning The Cowboy's Heart, bring that same grounded approach to Colorado ranch country, where family feuds, grief, drought, rodeo dreams, and stubborn loyalty all have a say in the love story.
Then there is her spicier, higher-stakes side. Books like Dangerous Moves, Deadly Games, His to Protect, and His Last Defense push into undercover work, Coast Guard rescues, and romantic suspense. Even there, the appeal is not just the action. It is the emotional cleanup after fear, guilt, betrayal, and loss.
These days, she lives in the Adirondack region with her husband and daughter. She has been described as an avid reader and baker, and she has also shared her love of cooking family recipes. That homey streak sits right beside the suspense in her books, which may be why her stories can shift from danger to tenderness without feeling like two different authors are at work.
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