Knitting in the City Books in Order
Part ofPenny Reid Books in OrderThis page collects all Knitting in the City books by Penny Reid in order, with story summaries, series background, and tips on the best place to start reading.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
11 books
Friends Without Benefits
by Penny Reid
2013
Elizabeth Finney believes her one shot at true love died with her childhood sweetheart, so she keeps relationships safely casual until infamous comedian Nico Manganiello barrels back into her life and refuses to accept being kept at arm's length.
Neanderthal Seeks Human
by Penny Reid
2013
On the worst day of her life, trivia obsessed Janie Morris loses her job, home, and boyfriend, only to be repeatedly rescued by enigmatic security professional Quinn Sullivan, whose offer of help drags her into his secretive world and an unexpected romance.
Beauty and the Mustache
by Penny Reid
2014
When Chicago nurse Ashley Winston rushes home to rural Tennessee to care for her ailing mother, she clashes with gruff, poetry loving park ranger Drew Runous and must decide whether the life she built in the city can compete with family, grief, and unexpected mountain love.
Love Hacked
by Penny Reid
2014
Therapist Sandra Fielding has a knack for making first dates cry, but a spontaneous encounter with her mysterious favorite waiter, Alex, turns into secret late night adventures and a romance that will only work if she can love a man who refuses to be fixed.
Neanderthal Marries Human
by Penny Reid
2014
Now that Janie and Quinn are finally together, engagement and wedding plans prove far more complicated than any spreadsheet, forcing Janie to face family drama and old fears while Quinn fights to convince her that messy commitment is worth the risk.
Scenes from the City
by Penny Reid
2014
This companion collection gathers short stories and extra scenes from across the Knitting in the City series, offering glimpses of weddings, holidays, and everyday chaos for Janie, Elizabeth, Sandra, Ashley, Fiona, Marie, and Kat after their main novels end.
Ninja at First Sight
by Penny Reid
2015
Sheltered former Olympic hopeful Fiona just wants to focus on college, until she is thrown together in student housing with cynical ex Marine Greg, and a wary friendship between opposites slowly turns into the kind of first love that changes everything.
Happily Ever Ninja
by Penny Reid
2016
Fourteen years into marriage, ninja level problem solver Fiona Archer juggles kids in Chicago while her engineer husband Greg works dangerous jobs overseas, until a crisis drags her into the field and the couple must fight kidnappers, burnout, and old resentments to save their future.
Dating-ish
by Penny Reid
2017
Burned out on terrible online dates, journalist Marie Harris decides to investigate whether paid services and technology can replace romance, but her experiment entangles her with an awkwardly brilliant AI researcher whose proposed solution blurs the line between emotional study and real love.
Marriage of Inconvenience
by Penny Reid
2018
Runaway heiress Kat Tanner must marry immediately to keep her corrupt relatives from seizing her family's pharmaceutical empire, so she turns to gruff security guard Dan O'Malley, and their practical arrangement makes long buried attraction impossible to ignore.
Scenes from the Hallway
by Penny Reid
2018
Told from Dan O'Malley's perspective, this short prequel offers a glimpse of his years of pining for Kat Tanner, from their first chaotic meetings to that infamous trip to Las Vegas, setting the stage for the marriage of convenience chaos in Marriage of Inconvenience.
Series background & context
Knitting in the City follows seven friends in Chicago who meet regularly for yarn, wine, and blunt advice, even when half the group does not actually know how to knit. Each book focuses on a different woman in the circle as she navigates career trouble, family drama, and a love story that refuses to fit neatly into any pattern.
The series begins with Janie Morris in Neanderthal Seeks Human, a trivia obsessed data analyst who loses her job, home, and boyfriend on the same day. Her disaster of a week collides with Quinn Sullivan, a quiet security professional whose world is far more complicated than Janie guesses. From there we move to Elizabeth, Sandra, Ashley, Fiona, Marie, and Kat, watching each woman fall for a partner who sees past her defenses.
Although the romances are front and center, the heartbeat of these books is the Tuesday night knitting group. The friends show up in one another's stories with running jokes, group texts, and sometimes ill advised schemes. You see them juggling kids, research labs, bakeries, and security jobs while offering the kind of fierce, funny support that makes long series feel like time spent with actual friends.
Tone wise, Knitting in the City leans into banter and situational comedy, but it does not shy away from heavier topics. Characters deal with grief, anxiety, chronic illness, money stress, and complicated parents. Penny lets them be sharp, nerdy, awkward, or angry without ever turning them into a punchline, and she allows the relationships to grow slowly enough that trust feels earned.
The books also serve as a gateway into the wider Pennyverse. Beauty and the Mustache bridges Chicago and the small town of Green Valley, Tennessee, setting up the Winston Brothers series. Side characters like Nico Manganiello or Dan O'Malley reappear across titles, so long time readers are rewarded with little payoffs and cameos.
Most entries work as standalones, but reading in order lets you watch the knitting group evolve from reluctant acquaintances into an unshakable found family. By the time you reach Marriage of Inconvenience and the companion shorts like Scenes from the City, you have essentially watched a decade of these women's lives unfold, one happily ever after at a time.
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