Renee Carlino Books In Order

Publication Order of Sweet Thing Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of BookShots: Flames Books

Renee Carlino
Renee Carlino began writing creatively when she was a teen, first with short stories and poetry, and then finally to long prose when she was an adult. She is obsessed with love stories and the complexities and drama which exist within our intimate relationships.

She received a film degree in 2002 and believed that she would see the stories inside her head play out in film however something always brought her back to the written word. Her time as a seventh grade English teacher helped get her reacquainted with her love of writing and reading and pretty soon she was devoting a lot of her free time to it.

Music plays a major role in her life as a writer. She has often referred to music as her lifeblood so that is why she has included an ever changing playlist on her website to share a few of the songs that have inspired and evoked emotion in her, particularly in her writing. Music is the absolute best food for her creativity, so she loves getting new recommendations.

Renee has said that her first friends were the imaginary kind and in many ways they still are. She loves writing these stories and watching her characters grow and she’s grateful to be able to share them with her readers. Renee admits that she is a wildly hopeless romantic and blames 80s movies that star Molly Ringwald for that.

Even though she has lived in the small towns of Southern California her entire life, she’s had a long standing affair with the big city. Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City are some of her favorite places. She likes placing her characters in different settings where she can use the more unique qualities of the location to help tell the story.

When she’s not at the beach with her boys or working on the next book, she likes going to concerts, reading, and eating dark chocolate.

“Sweet Thing” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2013. Mia Kelly thinks she’s got it all figured out. She is a classically trained pianist, an Ivy League graduate, and the beloved daughter of an offbeat dad and a sensible mom. But Mia’s been stalling since graduation, torn between putting her business degree to good use and exploring her true love, music.

When her dad dies unexpectedly, she decides to pick up the threads of his life while figuring out her own. Uprooting herself from Ann Arbor to New York City, she takes over her dad’s cafe, this treasured neighborhood institution which plays host to undiscovered artists and musicians.

She has denied herself the unpredictable and thrilling life of a musician, however one chance encounter with a gorgeous, sweet, and charming guitarist named Will, offers her this glimpse of what could be.

And when Will becomes her friend, then her roommate, she does everything in her power to suppress her passions, for music and for him. However her dad’s legacy slowly opens up her heart to the possibility of something more.

“Nowhere but Here” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2014. One year ago, Kate Corbin had a budding career as a reporter at a popular Chicago newspaper and a handsome boyfriend. However after the death of the woman that raised her, she fell into this rut and never got out. Now she is stuck writing these fluff pieces about wine and lipstick and she feels trapped in a relationship that is going nowhere.

Kate’s boss hands her an intriguing assignment: spend one week interviewing R.J. Lawson, a modern day Howard Hughes who recently reemerged as the owner of this well-respected Napa winery. However when she alienates Lawson, her one saving grace is Jamie, this charming vineyard hand that shows her the beauty of wine country, and stirs her aching heart.

It doesn’t take them long to fall hard and for Kate to start rethinking her life in the city. However the week ends with this heartbreaking journey on back to Chicago which sends her reeling, wondering what went wrong during those four perfect days.

“Before We Were Strangers” is the fourth stand alone novel and was released in 2015. A love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post which gives two people another chance at love fifteen years after getting separated in New York City.

Matt and Grace met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when Matt moved his stuff into the NYU dorm room next to Grace’s at Senior House. She said they were fast friends, but he likes to think that it was more. They lived on nothing more but the excitement of finding themselves through good music (she was obsessed with Jeff Buckley) and photography (he couldn’t stop taking pictures of her), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all of the weird things they did to make money. Matt learned more about himself that year than any other.

But somehow, it all fell apart somehow. They lost touch the summer after they graduated when Matt went to South America to work for National Geographic. When he returned, she was gone. A part of him still wonders if he pushed her too hard after the wedding. He didn’t see her again until one month ago. It was a Wednesday. Grace was rocking back on her heels, balancing on that thick yellow line which runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. Matt didn’t even know it was her until it was much too late, and then Grace was gone. Again. Grace said his name; he could see it on her lips. He tried willing the train to stop, just so he could say hi.

After seeing her, all of those youthful memories and feelings came flooding on back to her, and now he has spent the better part of a month wondering about what her life is like now. Matt may be fully out of his mind, however he wonders if she would like to get a drink with him and catch up on the previous decade and a half.