M Leighton Books in Order
Explore M Leighton books in order, with series lists, short summaries, series background, and quick tips on where to start reading.
Last updated: July 9, 2026
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Publication Order
32 books
Destined for a Vampire
by M Leighton
2011
Ridley wants Bo back badly enough to pay a price she doesn't yet understand. As his survival uncovers shocking truths about who he really is, love turns into a choice with consequences far beyond one small town.
For the Love of a Vampire
by M Leighton
2011
Seventeen-year-old Ridley Heller wants out of tiny Harker, not a life-changing romance with a mysterious stranger. But Bo is a vampire with a revenge obsession, and loving him means stepping straight into danger.
Madly
by M Leighton
2011
Madly James seems almost ordinary, if you ignore the mermaid-princess part, until a prison break in Atlas unleashes eight escaped Lore. To save her people and humanity, she must master her powers while fighting feelings for Jackson.
Madly & Wolfhardt
by M Leighton
2011
Madly James, mermaid princess of Atlas, heads to Slumber to stop Wolfhardt, one of the escaped Lore, before his curse spreads. Saving the world would be hard enough without Jackson beside her, and just as impossible to resist.
The Reaping
by M Leighton
2011
Carson Porter's ordinary life shatters when strange changes, the flesh-eating dead, and a dangerous boy named Derek Hrolf enter the picture. Add a shadowy twin and a collector of souls, and growing up gets very dark very fast.
The Reckoning
by M Leighton
2011
Carson Porter survived becoming a reaper, but the real fight starts when her powers, her sister, and Derek's changes all close in at once. An angel reveals her destiny is larger, and deadlier, than she ever imagined.
To Kill an Angel
by M Leighton
2011
Ridley and Bo finally know what stands between them and a future, but every option comes with a brutal cost. To stop Sebastian, they may have to trade love, mortality, and everything they thought they wanted.
Fragile
by M Leighton
2012
Hardy Bradford looks like the golden boy of his town, but meeting Miracle St. James changes the course of his carefully mapped life. As their love grows, illness, faith, and sacrifice turn a tender romance into something much bigger.
Gravity
by M Leighton
2012
Peyton Giles discovers that an eclipse has awakened powers and enemies she never knew existed. Bound to her brother's best friend, Trace, in ways that go beyond romance, she has to survive a fight between darkness and light.
Madly and the Jackal
by M Leighton
2012
After returning one escaped Lore to its prison, Madly and Jackson learn the danger to Atlas is far from over. New enemies rise, deeper magic surfaces, and Madly's feelings for her sworn protector only make the stakes harder.
The Wild Ones
by M Leighton
2012
Cami Hines thinks she knows her future until she falls for Trick, the ranch hand who makes rules and expectations feel suddenly thin. Then family secrets come to light and threaten everything they have started to build.
All the Pretty Lies
by M Leighton
2013
On her twenty-first birthday, sheltered Sloane Locke decides to stop living like she's breakable and walks straight into Hemi Spencer's tattoo shop. Their chemistry is instant, but Hemi has his own agenda, and honesty is in short supply.
Down to You
by M Leighton
2013
College student Olivia Townsend meets Cash and Nash Davenport, twin brothers who complicate everything she thought she knew about love. What begins as intense attraction turns into a knot of secrets, danger, and impossible choices.
Everything for Us
by M Leighton
2013
Marissa's privileged life collapses after a mistaken identity lands her in the orbit of a dangerously magnetic man. Drawn into a darker world of freedom, secrets, and obsession, she has to figure out what is real before it destroys her.
Up to Me
by M Leighton
2013
Olivia has chosen Cash, but happiness doesn't stay simple for long. People from his past come looking for something only he can give, and Olivia has to decide whether loving him is worth the danger closing in around them.
Wild Child
by M Leighton
2013
Jenna Theopolis always planned to leave Greenfield behind, until Rusty Catron makes a summer fling feel like something deeper. Then tragedy forces them to face the wounds they have been hiding and choose what love is worth.
All the Pretty Poses
by M Leighton
2014
Years after Reese Spencer broke her heart, Kennedy Moore gets an offer she can't ignore: work on his yacht and he'll help her land a dream dance audition. Second chances, old wounds, and buried secrets make the deal far from simple.
All Things Pretty
by M Leighton
2014
Cop Sig Locke knows Tommi is trouble the moment he realizes she's tied to a drug dealer, but he can't stay away. Their attraction burns hot, yet both are hiding truths that could destroy whatever is growing between them.
Some Like It Wild
by M Leighton
2014
After betrayal wrecks the future she thought she wanted, preacher's daughter Laney Holt meets daredevil Jake Theopolis and discovers a wilder version of herself. He lives for the next thrill, but falling for her may be the biggest risk.
There's Wild, Then There's You
by M Leighton
2014
Shy Violet Wilson crosses paths with rocker Jet Blevins and gets pulled into a world far louder and messier than her own. Jet is battling addiction and lies, and what starts between them may not survive the truth.
Always with You: Part One
by M Leighton
2015
Cash and Olivia's hard-won marriage is shaken when a woman from Cash's past appears with a little girl she says is his daughter. The first installment sets up a deeply personal fight over trust, truth, and the future they planned together.
Always with You: Part Three
by M Leighton
2015
With Sophie still threatening the life they built, Cash and Olivia are pushed toward the answers they have been dreading. The final installment brings the emotional fallout, the truth, and one more test of whether their marriage can hold.
Always with You: Part Two
by M Leighton
2015
Cash and Olivia are still reeling from Sophie's claim, and the pressure only grows as old wounds and new doubts crowd in. This middle installment digs deeper into jealousy, loyalty, and the cost of loving someone through uncertainty.
Pocketful of Sand
by M Leighton
2015
Eden Taylor arrives in Millers Pond, Maine, with her daughter and more pain than she's ready to name. There she meets Cole Danzer, a broken recluse whose own past is just as raw, and their fragile connection changes all three lives.
Strong Enough
by M Leighton
2015
When Muse Harper's father disappears, she hires bounty hunter Jasper King to help find him. Their search turns into a dangerous pull between two damaged people, especially when Muse learns Jasper had reasons for meeting her from the start.
Tough Enough
by M Leighton
2015
Katie Rydale hides her scars behind a quiet life as a makeup artist, until Kiefer Rogan barrels into it. The MMA champion turned actor is impossible to ignore, but getting close to him means risking secrets from both their pasts.
Brave Enough
by M Leighton
2016
Weatherly O'Neal agrees to a fake engagement with charismatic Tag Barton, thinking he might solve one problem in her life. Instead she gets pulled toward a man with secrets, danger at his heels, and the power to leave her world scorched.
Levi's Blue
by M Leighton
2016
Blind artist Evie agrees to give Levi Michaelson four dates, even though trusting charming men has never ended well for her. Their connection is immediate, but his past and her doubts threaten to turn something bright into heartbreak.
The Empty Jar
by M Leighton
2016
Nate and Lena Grant set out on a three-month trip through Europe to hold tight to the life they've built together. What follows is an intimate, devastating love story about time, sacrifice, and choosing beauty even when the future hurts.
The Beautiful Now
by M Leighton
2017
A woman looks back on a lifetime of forbidden love with Dane James, the farmhand who was always off-limits and always impossible to forget. Fate keeps tearing them apart, but the moments they share still feel bigger than everything around them.
Tequila High
by M Leighton
2018
Haley Brandt's tequila-fueled one-night stand gets complicated fast when the stranger turns out to be Nixon Holt, a ranch hand who works for her father. Back home and facing old scars, she has to decide whether one broken rule is worth everything it could cost.
The Way We Burn
by M Leighton
2018
When a waitress falls hard for haunted stranger Noah Williamson, attraction turns dangerous faster than she expects. His past, his work, and the shadow of his dead wife pull her into a love story with real fire at the edges.
Where should I start?
If you want an addictive romance series: Down to You → Up to Me → Everything for Us
If you like Southern settings and ranch-town chemistry: The Wild Ones → Some Like It Wild → There's Wild, Then There's You
If you want darker romantic suspense: Strong Enough → Tough Enough → Brave Enough
If you prefer emotional standalones: The Empty Jar → The Beautiful Now → Levi's Blue
If you want YA paranormal first: For the Love of a Vampire → Destined for a Vampire → To Kill an Angel
Author bio
M Leighton is the pen name of Michelle Leighton, a romance and young adult writer who grew up in Ohio and later moved to the South. That mix of Midwestern roots and Southern heat shows up all through her books, especially the ones filled with small towns, messy family ties, and men who look like trouble long before they admit they're in love.
She has described herself as a former nurse, a lifelong daydreamer, and someone who spent years trying on different jobs before writing finally made sense.
Before publishing fiction, she worked in places as different as a law office, IT, and nursing. In 2009, during a two-week break between jobs, she sat down to write the story that had been living in her head and finished her first novel in about fourteen days. That fast, all-in start became the turning point. Writing was no longer just an outlet for an overactive imagination. It was the thing that fit.
After that, she kept going.
Her early books leaned into paranormal YA. For the Love of a Vampire introduced Ridley and Bo in the Blood Like Poison trilogy, while Madly opened a world of mermaid royalty, magical lore, and fairy tale echoes. Even in those fantasy stories, you can see the traits that would carry through the rest of her work: intense chemistry, high emotional stakes, and characters forced to choose between safety and desire.
Then came the contemporary romances that brought her to a much bigger audience. Books like Down to You, Up to Me, and Everything for Us from the Bad Boys series helped put her on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. For many readers, those novels defined the M Leighton feel: immediate pull, lots of tension, real heat, and just enough danger to keep everything humming.
That same energy runs through The Wild Ones, Strong Enough, and Levi's Blue, though each one takes a slightly different path. Sometimes she writes ranch-set Southern romance. Sometimes she goes darker, with damaged people circling each other inside a suspense plot. Sometimes she slows down and lets a love story breathe. The Empty Jar is a good example of that softer, more emotional side, while still feeling unmistakably hers.
Across her catalog, a few things come up again and again. Protective men with rough edges. Women carrying old hurt. Family trouble that will not stay buried. Attraction that lands first and asks questions later. Readers who come for the steam usually stay for the emotional payoff, because even when the setup is wild, the feelings underneath tend to be direct and sincere.
These days, Leighton has said you are most likely to find her writing in her cave or outside enjoying quiet time with her husband. She has also shared a few favorites that seem very on brand for her books too: laughter, chocolate, the color red, and love stories that leave room for both passion and tenderness.
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