Stolen Moments Books in Order
Part ofCatharina Maura Books in OrderSee the Stolen Moments series by Catharina Maura in order, with book summaries and guidance for following Emilia and Carter’s romance as it grows from teens into adulthood.
Last updated: December 24, 2025
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Publication Order
3 books
The Ruins Of Us
by Catharina Maura
2021
Emilia never planned to return to Woodstock or face Carter Clarke, the man she once loved and lost. Back in their hometown, she keeps colliding with him, and both must decide whether to keep running from the past or rebuild what they helped ruin.
Illicit Promises
by Catharina Maura
2021
Years after their explosive teen rivalry, Carter tells himself he is finally over Emilia Parker. When she returns, old wounds and magnetic chemistry pull them back into each other’s orbit, forcing them to confront a tangle of unfinished business and illicit promises.
Stolen Moments
by Catharina Maura
2020
Emilia Parker and her best friend’s older brother Carter have spent years locked in a small-town feud no one remembers starting. One impulsive kiss shatters their fragile truce, turning old rivalry into a fierce, slow-burning attraction neither of them knows how to handle.
Series background & context
The Stolen Moments series is a single, sweeping love story told over three books. It follows Emilia Parker and Carter Clarke from their teenage years into adulthood, tracing how a petty feud turns into first love, heartbreak and, eventually, a second chance.
In Stolen Moments, Emilia and Carter are lifelong rivals in their small hometown. No one really remembers how their war started, only that every day seems to add new fuel to it. Slamming doors, sharp words and constant pranks are the norm. Then one unexpected kiss changes everything, blurring the line between hate and desire and leaving them both unsteady.
Illicit Promises picks up later, when time and distance were supposed to have cured their obsession with each other. Carter tells himself he is over Emilia, right up until she walks back into his life. Old patterns reappear, but so does the pull they have never quite shaken. They circle each other through late-night confessions and bad decisions, trying and failing to keep things casual.
By The Ruins Of Us, years have passed and their lives have gone in painful directions. Emilia never planned to return to Woodstock, and she certainly did not want to face Carter again. Circumstances drag her home anyway, forcing both of them to confront what went wrong, what they are still afraid of and whether there is anything left to salvage. The tone here is heavier, with chronic illness, addiction and family obligations all woven into the story.
Across all three books, the focus stays close on Emilia and Carter, but the supporting cast and town add texture. Friends and relatives become important in their own right, and some go on to appear in later standalones like The Tie That Binds, Serendipity and Forever After All. If you like the feeling of living with one couple through every messy phase of their relationship, this trilogy is built for that.
The Stolen Moments series leans hard into angst and emotional payoff. Expect longing, bad timing, missed chances and, eventually, characters who have to grow up before they can really choose each other.
You can technically read the books out of order, but they are designed to be experienced as a continuous arc, from first spark to final resolution.
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