Jackie Fraser Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Jackie Fraser
Jackie Fraser is a freelance writer and editor. She has worked for the Good Food Guide, AA Publishing, Watkins, and various self-published writers of fiction, food and travel guides, and self help books. Jackie reads a lot (no, really) in multiple genres, and is quite fascinated by the Bronze Age.

She can be found climbing over gates to look at stone circles, poking around in antique shops, or taking photographs of rusty things.

Thea Mottram’s story was inspired by Jackie wanting to write about somebody a bit older. She was Thea’s age when she began writing the novel, and after finishing is older than Edward. Jackie thought it would be interesting to consider how it may feel to begin again after a long relationship breaks down. It is easy to believe that nothing nice is ever going to happen again after things go horribly wrong, however you never know what is around the corner, and this is one of the things that she wants people to take away from the novel. Meeting people can be hard, however it is typically worth it.

Jackie reads a lot in pretty much every genre. She does find a nice romantic novel to be very comforting, and even though there are a lot of people that have read a ton more romances than she has, the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer have been an inspiration and comfort for pretty much her entire life.

Jackie’s mom had this lovely set of the 1960s Pan editions, which she was often reading and re-reading as Jackie was growing up, and she has been reading them herself since she was about twelve years old. After she left home, she began collecting vintage copies of her own, if you wondered why she made Edward and Charles ‘landed gentry’, the answer is Georgette Heyer.

“The Bookshop of Second Chances” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2020. A woman that is desperate to turn a new page heads out to the Scottish coast and finds herself getting locked in a battle of wills with an infuriatingly aloof bookseller.

Thea Mottram is having a pretty bad month. She has just been let go from her office job without notice, and making things worse is that her husband of almost twenty years has just decided to leave her for one of her friends. Thea, completely lost and bewildered, does not know what to do. However once she learns that this distant great uncle in Scotland has just passed away, leaving her a home and a hefty antique book collection, she decides to leave Sussex for just a few weeks. Escaping to this small coastal town where nobody knows her seems to be just what the doctor ordered.

Almost immediately, she becomes enamored with the quaint little cottage, being comforted by its cozy rooms and lovely yet neglected garden. The locals close by in Baldochrie are just as inviting, warm, and quirky. The only person that she cannot quite seem to win over is Edward Maltravers (a bookshop owner) to whom she hopes to sell her uncle’s book collection. His gruff attitude, which is fueled by an infamous and long standing feud with his brother, who is a local lord, tests Thea’s patience.

However bickering with Edward proves to be oddly refreshing and exciting, which leads Thea to develop feelings that she has not experienced in a long time. While she follows a thrilling but horrifying impulse to remain in Scotland indefinitely, she realizes that her new life might rapidly become just as complicated as the one that she was running away from.

This is a clever, funny, well written, joyful, and comforting read, and is an escapist romance which glows with such warmth. Jackie delivers a true winner with a relatable heroine and so much heart.

“The Beginning of Everything” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2023. An irresistible friends-to-lovers book of hope, resilience, and new beginnings.

Jess Cavendish, after escaping a terrible relationship, is running and leaving everything behind, carrying only a few treasured belongings with her in her knapsack. She needs to begin anew, however that means sleeping where she can and making the most of her tight savings. Luckily, she comes upon this recently sold, unoccupied house. It couldn’t hurt to stay there as she saves up just enough to get a place of her own, right?

Gethin Thomas is looking to move on after his long term relationship ended as well. He has returned to his hometown, anxious to renovate the fixer-upper that he bought and move out of his sister’s cramped guest room. When he walks through the door this one morning, he discovers Jess, who is ready to run again, and surprises them both by offering to allow her to stay. It feels like it’s the right thing to do, however Jess does not want some handout. They strike up a bargain: Jess is also going to help with the furnishing, restoration, and decorating in exchange for her room and board.

As they shop for new furniture and peel wallpaper, this unexpected friendship develops while they bond over food and music, and slowly but surely open up to each other about their pasts. When it is time for Gethin to actually move in, he convinces Jess to be his official housemate, which she agrees to, just so long as he allows her to pay rent. The connection between them both quickly shifts to an attraction which seems overwhelming and inevitable, and Jess has to figure out what it is that she wants. With so much hurt in her past, can she even risk loving again? She was brave enough to reach for a new life, and now a future that she had not even dreamed was possible could be right inside her grasp.

Jackie delivers a heartbreaking, beautiful, often incredibly very funny and entirely unforgettable. Readers found this to be highly relatable, real, and raw, and is a keen observation on humanity and the tenuous nature of modern life.