Summer Romances Books in Order

The Summer Romances books are Sue Roberts's holiday-escape standalones, linked by mood more than by one continuing plot. You can read them in publication order if you like watching the settings shift from Greece to Italy and France, but each heroine gets her own complete story, with her own mess to sort out.

At the centre is usually a woman who has been pushed out of the life she thought she knew. Mandy in My Big Greek Summer is dealing with a broken marriage. Gina in My Very Italian Holiday is grieving and trying to keep a Lake District guesthouse going. Maisie in You, Me and Italy heads to Tuscany after a betrayal, while Liv in A Very French Affair returns to the French Riviera because her son needs answers about the past.

The settings do a lot of work.

Greece is the series's heartbeat. Roberts returns to Greek islands again and again, using beaches, village squares, family kitchens, boats, villas, and B&Bs as places where her characters can breathe. In As Greek as It Gets, Alice starts questioning the wedding everyone else seems to be planning for her. In Some Like it Greek, Anna follows a postcard and a map toward Kefalonia after losing her father and her job. In Greece Actually, shy Becky finds herself on Skiathos, where a Mamma Mia-style holiday pushes her far outside her comfort zone.

The later Greek-set books keep the same easygoing, sunny feel, but the problems are still real. Charlotte in What Happens in Greece is left with a crumbling Cretan farmhouse when her fiancé bolts. Orla in Take a Chance on Greece runs from family tension and meets writer Georgios. Claudia in The Greek Villa buys a fixer-upper on Corfu, and Mia in Not My Greek Wedding tries to focus on being a good bridesmaid in Santorini, not on falling for Christos.

There is one useful note for readers: Samantha's story appears in some places as Going Greek and in others as The Great Greek Escape. It is the same kind of Roberts setup, a public setback, a sister in Greece, a handsome local neighbour, and the pull between a polished old life and a simpler new one.

The pleasure of the series is its mix of travel, second chances, family, food, and gentle romantic chaos. The books are light on complicated continuity, so the best place to start is usually the setting that sounds most tempting. If you want the broadest introduction, start with My Big Greek Summer. It shows the pattern clearly: heartbreak first, sunshine next, and then the slow work of deciding what home should mean.