Carmen Reid Books In Order

Publication Order of Annie Valentine Books

Publication Order of Secrets at St Jude's Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Carmen Reid
Carmen Reid is a mom, journalist, and writer. She was born and raised in a windy and chilly corner of Scotland in the depths of the countryside. Which might just explain her lifelong phobia of cows and her abiding interest in books, department stores, the cinema, cities, and newspapers.

Carmen once did study English Literature at University College London, however (ignoring that everything she had learned) she spent much of her 20s working as a local, regional, and then national newspaper reporter.

Knowing that deep down that she was supposed to be an author and not a journo, she left her day job in order to have a baby and write her first novel. And just four penniless, sleepless years later it got published.

She typically writes about women that have jobs, families, and busy lives, sprinkled with the adventure of taking a trip abroad, a new opportunity, or some big event to get the drama flowing.

Reading one of her novels should feel like hanging out with your best friend. You will hear all about her daily struggles, her dreams, comedy disasters and disappointments. You just might shed a few tears, however hopefully you will laugh some too and have that warm and all-is-right-with-the-world feeling by the end, too.

Fortunately her hobbies are arguing over whose turn it is to walk the dog, cleaning, cooking, cleaning the fish tank out, take the garbage out, do the laundry, and so on.

With four kids, a second husband, a career in fashion, her life is filled with opportunities for comedy, fun, and adventure. As somebody that began reading Vogue at the age of 11, she loves writing fashion updates and tips.

“Three in a Bed” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2002. It is hard work being a Yummy Mummy!

Bella Browning is successful, ambitious, and attractive. She plays hard, works hard, and adores Don, her journalist husband, even if she doesn’t behave that way. But deep down she knows that there is something missing. A baby.

When she gets pregnant, Don’s horrified at the prospect, however Bella is a top Management Consultant, handling major corporations. She is able to handle this! Right?

In between raging hormones, a few indiscretions at the office, and morning sickness, she soon finds how incredibly hard it is to be the working, perfect, sexy, modern mom.

“Did the Earth Move?” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2003. Eve Gardiner is quite the cool urban single mother that lives in a tiny North London flat with her four children: Denny (22), Tom (20), Anna (9), and Robbie (2). She gardens and does yoga each day in order to keep herself sane, as she holds down a stressful job as a probation officer. She’s rather content and her life’s filled with her friends, kids, work, and some occasional casual sex.

Then Tom suddenly announces that Deepa (his 20 year old girlfriend) has gotten pregnant and they want to get married, but her parents deeply disapprove of this match. And things begin getting very complicated once Tom decides it’s time to track down his dad Dennis (who walked out of their lives after his business went belly up, leaving them penniless) and invite him to the wedding.

And if that is not enough to put the cat among the pigeons, Eve’s alarmingly attractive, and much younger ex-boyfriend Joseph (dad of Robbie and Anna) shows up on the scene again. They both start wondering whether or not they did the right thing when they broke up.

“The Personal Shopper” is the first novel in the “Annie Valentine” series and was released in 2007. Meet Annie Valentine: savvy, stylish, multitasker extraordinaire. As a personal shopper in a swanky London fashion emporium, she is able to reinvent and restyle her clients from head to foot. In fact, this super-skilled dresser can be relied on to solve everybody’s issues, except for her own.

Even though she is busy being a single mother to Lana (a stroppy teen) and Owen (painfully shy), there is a gap in her wardrobe, er, life, for a new man. However finding a perfect partner has turned out to be far more trickier than finding a perfect pair of shoes. Can she even source a genuine classic? A lifelong investment? Is she going to wind up somebody from the sale rail, who will just have to be returned? Or possibly there is going to be somebody new in this season who could actually be the one.

“Late Night Shopping” is the second novel in the “Annie Valentine” series and was released in 2008. Annie Valentine is quite an ambitious lady, however does she know when to quit?

Super busy Annie Valentine, mother of two demanding children and a personal shopper in the swanky London fashion store, has now become intent on setting up a business of her own. She has got ambitions for a handbag and shoe empire, and she will do anything in order to get there.

However what about her adorable new man? As somebody that wants nothing more than to have a quiet life, Ed’s stunned to learn that Annie is staking their home on her own success. And their relationship is now on the line.

Ed is not convinced that Annie’s surprise remedy, an extravagant family and friends vacation to Italy, is what they really need. Particularly when this dashing Italian businessman promises to fulfill every dream of Annie’s.

“New Girl” is the first novel in the “Secrets at St. Jude’s” series and was released in 2008. Gina’s mom has become fed up with her staying out so late, far too much time emailing her friends, and spending far too much money on clothes. So her solution is to ship Gina off to Scotland, to the same exact boarding school that she attended.

All of a sudden, being taken away from a world of mobile phones and malls, Gina is forced to navigate her way through hockey games, communal showers and meals, terrible public school boys, and stuffy housemistresses. How will she ever survive?