Reading the Bella Andre Sullivan Series
The Sullivan Series by Bella Andre is a contemporary romance saga centered on the Sullivan family in Seattle, with each book focusing on different siblings, cousins, and their partners. It spans two decades of publication and runs well past sixty titles if you count all the tie-ins. If you just want to start reading, here is the straightforward list and a few things I learned the hard way about how to actually approach it. The main run goes like this. I am listing by publication order, which for the most part tracks with the internal timeline. The early books had some chronological back-and-forth, but once you get past the first dozen, things line up pretty cleanly. Book 1: A Million Little Pieces (2007) – Maddy and Patrick Sullivan
Book 2: Something to Talk About (2008) – Fiona and Shane Sullivan Book 3: My One and Only (2008) – Cara and Cole Sullivan Book 4: One Perfect Moment (2008) – Sarah and Brian Callahan
Book 5: A Summer Affair (2009) – Lauren and Jack Book 6: The Girl Next Door (2009) – Emily and Tom O'Brien Book 7: A Love Like No Other (2010) – Heather and Derek
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Book 8: When You Have My Secret (2010) – Maddie and Liam Book 9: Everything She Wanted (2011) – Abigail and David Book 10: A Kiss from a Stranger (2011) – Chloe and Connor
Book 11: Something Blue (2012) – Katie and Nick Book 12: Almost Paradise (2012) – Kate and Sean Book 13: A Wedding to Remember (2013) – Tess and Owen
Book 14: The Truth About Love (2013) – Maggie and Josh Book 15: All You Need Is Love (2014) – Emma and Jake Book 16: My Almost Forever (2014) – Rachel and Ethan
Book 17: A Bride at Last (2015) – Lily and Graham Book 18: The Girl From New York (2015) – Stella and Finn Book 19: Her Own Happily Ever After (2016) – Sophie and Declan
Book 20: The Last First Time (2016) – Maeve and Cade Book 21: A Year of Holidays (2017) – holiday collection Book 22: A Million Pieces of You (2018) – Maddy's prequel story
Book 23: The Wedding Party (2019) – side characters Book 24: A Million Little Wishes (2020) – later Sullivan story Book 25: A Love Unfinished (2021) – final Sullivan book
There are also the Bridesberry Bay series and the Chicago and Colorado spinoffs, but those live in different towns and mostly just share names. You do not need them to follow the main Sullivan plot.
How It Actually Works in Practice
I picked this series up in 2016 around book 14 because a friend recommended it. I started reading from where I thought it might make sense rather than from the beginning. That was a mistake. The early books establish family dynamics, recurring locations, and running jokes that don't get revisited explicitly. If you jump in late, you will catch the romance just fine. The prose is simple enough that you do not need a roadmap. But the background flavor goes over your head, and you miss why certain characters act the way they do. One edge case that tripped me up: A Million Pieces of You is technically Book 22 by publication order, but it is a prequel to Book 1. I read it after finishing the main run and assumed it would feel like closure. It doesn't. It fills in backstory for Maddy and Patrick's relationship before the first book, which means I had already seen their adult lives play out. The emotional payoff was weaker than it should have been because the surprise was gone. I would slot it right before Book 1 if you want the full experience. Another thing nobody warns you about: the books get progressively longer. The early ones are around 300 pages. By the time you reach the later installments, you are looking at 400 to 450 pages with expanded secondary character arcs. If you are reading for the romance and you find yourself skimming the family drama sections, that is fine. The series never demands you care about every side character equally. But the pacing does slow down noticeably starting around Book 15, so don't abandon it thinking something is wrong. It's just settled into its rhythm.
Where to Find Them
All of these books are available through Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, and Kobo. Bella Andre also publishes some titles through her own imprint, so you may see slightly different formatting between platforms. The print editions from Grand Central Publishing or Kensington are the same text unless noted otherwise. If you want a complete Kindle collection, Amazon lists a "Sullivan Series Complete Collection" that bundles most of the main titles. It drops the holiday novellas and a few later standalone tie-ins, but for the core story it covers everything through roughly Book 21. I'd still grab A Million Pieces of You and A Wedding to Remember separately since those fill gaps the bundle leaves out. For audiobooks, Recorded Books has the full set narrated by multiple voice actors. The narration quality is consistent but not spectacular. The audiobook for My One and Only has a different narrator than Something to Talk About, which can be jarring if you are tracking by voice. I stopped paying attention to the narrators around Book 10 and just let the stories run.
Common Pitfalls
Beginners often think they can read these in family order rather than publication order. There are a couple of postscripts and epilogues in the early books that reference future events from later novels, and reading out of order makes those spoilers land awkwardly. There is also a minor timeline contradiction between Book 3 and Book 6 regarding how long certain relationships have been developing, but it is negligible. The books were not originally written as a tight continuous timeline, more as a web of connected stories. Don't stress over continuity errors. The series also slows down considerably between Books 17 and 20. Each book introduces new couple dynamics that don't always connect back to the earlier Sullivans. If you are reading for the original family (Maddy, Fiona, Cara, Sarah), you can skip ahead to the later books focused on the younger generation without losing much. The earlier books carry more weight for that initial cast. The final book, A Love Unfinished, wraps up several loose threads from the very first book but does not tie everything into a neat bow. The series ends on a note that feels more like a pause than a conclusion, which is typical for this type of multi-generational romance series. Some readers find that satisfying. Others want more closure than they get.
Short Answer
Start with A Million Little Pieces. Read through to A Love Unfinished in publication order. Put A Million Pieces of You right before Book 1 if you want the prequel content upfront. Everything else is optional depending on how much you care about the side characters. The series is long, the prose is comfortable, and the payoff comes from consistency rather than surprises. Just keep reading.
