RJ Lewis Books in Order
Explore all RJ Lewis books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and where to start with her dark, angsty contemporary romances.
Last updated: July 10, 2026
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RJ Lewis books in publication order
20 books
Ignite
by RJ Lewis
2013
Sara Nolan and Jaxon Barlow grew up as best friends, then became each other's whole world. When Sara returns home after everything falls apart, she finds Jaxon harder, darker, and impossible to forget.
Perilous Passage
by RJ Lewis
2013
A danger-heavy standalone that puts love under strain when the journey itself turns risky. It leans into romantic suspense, survival pressure, and the kind of hard choices that can change a relationship for good.
Burn
by RJ Lewis
2014
The fallout between Sara and Jaxon does not stay private for long. As guilt, violence, and Remy's dangerous presence tighten around them, love starts to look less like refuge and more like a fire that can ruin everyone.
Kiss a Stranger
by RJ Lewis
2014
She falls for a man she does not fully trust, and that uncertainty is the point. Attraction, resentment, and his hidden darkness keep this romance tense as the mystery around him refuses to stay buried.
Loving Lawson
by RJ Lewis
2014
Pregnant and with nowhere to go, Allison turns to Heath Lawson, her ex's older brother, for help. What begins as shelter turns into something far riskier as loyalty, family ties, and buried feelings collide.
Borden
by RJ Lewis
2015
Marcus Borden is rich, violent, and feared, the kind of man everyone warns Emma about. When she steps into his world, desire and danger tangle fast, and staying close to him may cost her everything.
Borden 2
by RJ Lewis
2015
Emma knows exactly what kind of man Marcus Borden is, and loving him does not make his world any safer. As old enemies close in, she must decide how much darkness she can survive for the man she cannot leave.
Carter
by RJ Lewis
2015
Leah has loved Carter Matheson since childhood, even when he only let her close as a friend. As music, poverty, and growing ambition pull them forward, their bond turns messy, intimate, and heartbreakingly uneven.
Leah
by RJ Lewis
2015
After Carter leaves, Leah forces herself to build a life without him while he becomes a rock star. When he comes back, old love and old damage rise with him, and moving on suddenly feels impossible.
Saving Lawson
by RJ Lewis
2015
Heath finally has Allison and the baby in his life, but keeping them safe drags him deeper into violence and lies. As the town turns chaotic, love has to fight against the man he is becoming.
Hawke
by RJ Lewis
2016
Hawke Navarro is supposed to stay dead and far away from the motorcycle club life he left behind. Tyler Wilson makes that impossible, and when fresh danger hits, his promise to protect her pulls him right back into the fire.
Obsessed
by RJ Lewis
2016
When Elise's father takes in Aston after a family tragedy, the two grow up as more than siblings in every way but blood. Their bond turns into a forbidden obsession that becomes harder, and more dangerous, to deny.
Sex, Lies and Nikolai
by RJ Lewis
2016
What starts as a money-driven arrangement with Nikolai quickly turns personal. Beneath the heat and power games is a surprisingly tender mafia romance about secrets, need, and two people who do not expect honesty from each other.
Ashes
by RJ Lewis
2018
Olivia is meant to marry for business, not love, until she is kidnapped on her wedding day before she can walk down the aisle. Her captor offers a different kind of danger, and escape is only the first problem.
Conor Thames
by RJ Lewis
2019
Charlotte Miles wants out of Blackwater, but a chance collision with Conor Thames, the town's most dangerous man, changes everything. Their brutal, obsessive connection pulls her into a fight for his freedom and his future.
Captive
by RJ Lewis
2020
She is his prisoner, but their history makes nothing simple. Vixen fights to escape while Nixon grows more determined to keep her, turning their standoff into a dark battle of memory, obsession, and control.
Conor Thames 2
by RJ Lewis
2020
Charlotte waits eight long years for Conor Thames to come home, only to find prison has changed him. Their reunion is full of love, damage, and the hard work of pulling a broken man back from the dark.
Locke
by RJ Lewis
2022
Max Locke has no interest in being gentle, and Kali Arden learns that fast when he decides she belongs with him. It is a dark, claustrophobic romance about control, captivity, and the damage old trauma leaves behind.
Stolen
by RJ Lewis
2022
Eman and Lyra are bound together by lies, trafficking, and a connection neither of them can shake. In this darker follow-up, betrayal cuts deep and survival means choosing whether to surrender together or go down alone.
Unbroken
by RJ Lewis
2022
Skye, Hunter, and Leo have loved each other since childhood, but their bond is tested when crime and violence swallow their world. What begins as a fierce friends-to-lovers story turns into a dark fight for survival.
Where to start with RJ Lewis
If you want a dark first stop: Ignite → Burn → Ashes
If you want music and maximum angst: Carter → Leah
If you want family drama with a dangerous edge: Loving Lawson → Saving Lawson
If you want obsessive antiheroes: Borden → Borden 2 → Hawke
If you want captivity and criminal worlds: Captive → Stolen → Conor Thames → Conor Thames 2
RJ Lewis sub-series and character series
Blackwater Boys books in order
Explore this seriesBorden books in order
Explore this seriesCaptive (RJ Lewis) books in order
Explore this seriesCarter books in order
Explore this seriesIgnite books in order
Explore this seriesLoving Lawson books in order
Explore this seriesUnbroken books in order
Explore this seriesStandalone RJ Lewis books
Author bio
R.J. Lewis writes romance that runs hot, messy, and a little dangerous. She is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, and her books have built a loyal following among readers who like damaged characters, hard choices, and love stories that do not stay tidy for long.
According to her author bio, Lewis has been writing all her life. That long stretch of practice shows in the way her stories move. Even when the setup is dark, the emotional line is usually clear. Two people want each other. The world around them makes that difficult. Then Lewis keeps pushing until want turns into obsession, loyalty, guilt, or something harder to name.
Nothing stays simple for long.
A lot of readers first find her through Ignite, the series that helped define her early work. It begins with Sara Nolan and Jaxon Barlow, childhood friends turned lovers, then grows into something rougher and more dangerous as old wounds, violence, and shifting loyalties take over. Burn deepens that fallout, and Ashes opens the door even wider. Readers who like angst, obsession, and a dark contemporary edge tend to start there for a reason.
She also has a softer, more openly emotional lane, even when the stories still hurt. Carter and Leah follow two kids bound by poverty, music, and years of complicated love. Loving Lawson and Saving Lawson turn family loyalty into a pressure cooker, with pregnancy, gang trouble, and divided trust sitting right in the middle of the romance. These books still have heat and darkness, but they lean harder into longing and emotional history.
Then there is the part of her catalog that goes all in on danger. Borden, Captive, Conor Thames, Locke, and Unbroken all circle criminal worlds, captivity, biker ties, trafficking, or antiheroes who do not even try to look harmless. Lewis tends to write men who are possessive, violent, or badly broken, but the books do not treat that damage like decoration. The aftermath matters. The fear matters. The pull between love and survival matters, too.
That balance is a big part of her appeal.
Readers often talk about the same things when they talk about an R.J. Lewis book. The chemistry is immediate. The emotional stakes are high. The characters usually carry years of history, class tension, family damage, or buried trauma before the central relationship even begins. She returns again and again to favorite themes, childhood bonds turning romantic, men trying and failing to outrun themselves, women forced into impossible situations, and love that arrives with a cost attached.
Her bibliography is also easy to explore by mood. If you want friends-to-lovers pain, there is Carter. If you want dark captor energy, there is Captive. If you want crime and obsession, there is Borden or Conor Thames. If you want something more unconventional, Unbroken pushes into trio romance while still keeping the danger close. Even standalones like Obsessed, Kiss a Stranger, and Sex, Lies and Nikolai fit that same larger pattern, emotional intensity first, safety second.
Across all of it, Lewis writes for readers who want romance with sharp edges. Her books are not built around perfect people making good decisions. They are built around pressure, longing, and the question of whether love can survive the worst parts of a person. That has been the through line in her work from the beginning, and it is the reason readers keep coming back.
Edited by
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