Romance readers (and romance publishers) love series. There is nothing more satisfying than finding a book you love and realizing that the author has written more books set in the same fictional world. It’s easy to see the appeal on both sides of the reader/writer divide. Writers can invest time in building up their world of places and characters once, and reuse that work for multiple books. Readers likewise can enjoy a trip back to a fictional world they enjoyed, but with a new romance arc every book. The best part of series reading in the romance genre, in my mind, is that you get that fresh story each time, but you also get to see glimpses of the characters from previous books. It somehow makes my feelings about a book’s happy ending even more satisfying if, later in the series, we see our past book lovers still happily in love.
What ties a series together can be plot driven or setting driven, but a popular series structure in romance is the family setting where the series features a different family member (usually siblings) in each subsequent series entry. I personally love a sibling series, as there is something about the shared experience of growing up in the same family that creates unique bonds. That’s not to say that sibling bonds are all sunshine and butterflies. Sibling rivalries and estrangements can make excellent material for fiction, as can the sharing of family drama. But whether the siblings are best friends or reluctant survivors of the same childhood trauma, romance abounds with sibling series. While there is a seemingly endless supply of historical romance families, you can find the sibling romance in every romance subgenre. And because you have a fair number of books in most series, the authors often have fun exploring a different trope for each sibling.
As we head into the holiday season, the focus is often on families, so I thought I would share some of my favorite sibling romance series.
Winston Brothers by Penny Reid
Oh, those Winston brothers! About a tight-knit family who grew up in the mountains of Tennessee, the Winston Brothers series can actually be said to begin with the sole Winston sister, Ashley. Her story, Beauty and the Mustache, is part of Reid’s Knitting in the City series, which I’ll talk about in a future found family post. The core of the series focuses on the six Winston brothers who are, for the most part, charming hillbillies. The Winston series falls squarely in the camp of family series where the siblings are bonded by trauma. During Ashley’s book, we learn of their mother’s death, but that’s just scratching the surface of their dysfunction. The Winston patriarch, Darrell, is a true villain. He and the motorcycle gang he is involved with pops up as plot conflict throughout the series and his callousness and cruelty are the model the Winston brothers hold up as everything they don’t want to be as men and partners. Despite this shared sibling pain, the Winston brothers series is actually consistently hilarious, especially every time middle brother Cletus is on the page.
- Truth or Beard (Duane and Jessica)
- Grin and Beard It (Jethro and Sienna)
- Beard Science (Cletus and Jennifer)
- Beard in Mind (Beau and Shelly)
- Dr. Strangebeard (Roscoe and Simone)
- Beard with Me (Billy and Claire/Scarlet – origins)
- Beard Necessities (Billy and Claire – romance)
Miles Family by Claire Kingsley
Claire Kingsley might actually be addicted to sibling series. In addition to the Miles family, she has the Bailey Brothers and Haven Brothers series, both set in the small town of Tilikum, Washington. I have enjoyed them all, but started with the Miles family and their beautiful vineyard in rural Washington. This series continues the theme I seem to find in family series: terrible fathers. The Miles patriarch is a cheater and an embezzler and while he is off the page for most of the series, his actions certainly have affected all the siblings and their mother. I especially love that this series starts with a divorced couple. I’m not usually a huge fan of second chance romances, but this set up was really effective to me. Eldest son and workaholic Roland Miles is actually not living near the rest of his family at the beginning of book 1, Broken Miles, but his ex-wife, Zoe is still embedded in the Miles family and working at their winery. When a financial crisis draws Roland home, he and Zoe have to confront some unresolved feelings. It’s hard to pick a favorite among the Miles family but all I can say is wait until you meet Cooper Miles. He is – and I say this with love – an absolute lunatic.
- Broken Miles (Roland and Zoe)
- Forbidden Miles (Brynn and Chase)
- Reckless Miles (Cooper and Amelia)
- Hidden Miles (Leo and Hannah)
- Gaining Miles (Shannon (the mom) and Ben)
Stay a Spell by Juliette Cross
The sibling romance category is heavy in brothers, but one of my favorite sibling groups is the Savoie sisters of New Orleans. For some reason paranormal romance is less likely to have sibling series, maybe because found family bonds like packs are more prevalent. In this series about a family of witches, each of the sisters has a different magical gift and they find love with other supernaturals, including werewolves, vampires, and grim reapers. The parents in this series are pretty much absent, but not the source of any drama. Really, it’s just a charming setting with loving sisterly bonds and sexy heroes galore. I highly recommend them all for cozy fall evenings, but any time of year is a good time for a witchy romance. There’s even a holiday themed short story collection called Walking in a Witchy Wonderland.
- Wolf Gone Wild (Evie and Mateo)
- Don’t Hex and Drive (Isadora and Devraj)
- Witches Get Stitches (Violet and Nico)
- Always Practice Safe Hex (Livvy and Gareth)
- Resting Witch Face (Jules and Ruben)
- Grim and Bear It (Clara and Henry)
Bergman Brothers & Sisters by Chloe Liese
The Bergmans are a large Swedish-American family, many of whom face challenges of neurodivergence or disability. Bucking the trend in these sibling series of small town living, most of the series is set in Los Angeles, with a few set in the Pacific Northwest. Author Liese skillfully builds her series with the perfect amount of family time, showing how the siblings rely on each other and help each other while not intruding on the core romance. While the brothers and sisters may not always agree all the time, they are on the whole super sweet and supportive of their siblings as they look for love.
- Only When It’s Us (Ryder and Willa)
- Always Only You (Ren and Frankie)
- Ever After Always (Freya and Aiden)
- With You Forever (Rooney and Axel)
- Everything for You (Oliver and Gavin)
- If Only You (Ziggy and Sebastian)
- Only and Forever (Viggo and Tallulah)
Walsh Family by Kate Canterbary
The majority of the action in the Walsh family series centers on the Boston architecture firm run by the siblings. I personally love a series with a strong sense of place, and I have such a vivid mental picture of the Walsh Architecture offices and the historical restoration work their firm does. This is another series where shared pain creates a bond between siblings, as the Walsh brothers and sisters grew up with a truly horrible father. Dealing with him mostly drew the siblings tightly together as survivors, but the scars of that upbringing also create some conflict between the siblings, especially the two sisters. It sounds super heavy, and while it has its angsty moments it is also a lot of fun and has great banter.
- Underneath It All (Matthew and Lauren)
- The Space Between (Patrick and Andy)
- Necessary Restorations (Sam and Tiel)
- The Cornerstone (Shannon and Will)
- Restored (Sam and Tiel – marriage)
- The Spire (Erin and Nick)
- Preservation (Riley and Alexaandra)
- Thresholds (whole family at Christmas)
- Foundations (Matt and Lauren epilogue)
The Hathaways by Lisa Kleypas
There are some really great family series from Kleypas, especially the Ravenels (St. Vincent – swoon!) and her excellent contemporary Travis series, but I have a soft spot for the Hathaways. The series is set in the mid-1800s (so a little past the Regency era so popular in historical romance) and features a family suddenly elevated to the peerage. Their outsider status lets them be a little less conventional than your usual stuffy nobles and there is lovely teasing and banter between the siblings. We actually meet the hero of book 1, Cam, in the practically perfect Devil in Winter (part of her Wallflower series), but you don’t need to have read that one (although you should!) before diving in.
- Mine Till Midnight (Amelia and Cam)
- Seduce Me at Sunrise (Win and Kev)
- Tempt Me at Twilight (Poppy and Harry)
- Married by Morning (Leo and Catherine)
- Love in the Afternoon (Beatrix and Christopher)
Bridgertons by Julia Quinn
Who could talk about romance book families without giving a nod to the Bridgertons? Due to the TV adaptation, this series that started 25 years ago (!) got a new lease on life. The Bridgerton family are aristocrats in Regency England. The family is led by eldest sibling Anthony, who took over the family after the death of his father (off page, but referenced most heavily in Anthony’s book). While the loss of their beloved father deeply affected the family, this is a series with less dysfunction than most. In general I would also say that this is a series where each volume is pretty self-contained, although there are cameos and appearances of other family members, especially the awesome mother Violet.
- The Duke and I (Daphne and Simon)
- The Viscount Who Loved Me (Anthony and Kate)
- An Offer from a Gentleman (Benedict and Sophie)
- Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Colin and Penelope)
- To Sir Phillip, with Love (Eloise and Phillip)
- When He Was Wicked (Francesca and Michael)
- It’s In His Kiss (Hyacinth and Gareth)
- On the Way to the Wedding (Gregory and Lucy)
Brown Sisters by Talia Hibbert
After so many huge families, it’s nice to focus on a more manageable trilogy. The Brown Sisters series are contemporary romances with Black heroines set in the UK. I loved all the sisters and how the books focused on the struggles of both the hero and heroine to believe they are worthy of love. There’s also excellent disability, chronic illness, body diversity, and neurodiversity representation, not to mention seriously swoony heroes who are such a wonderful antidote to toxic alpha masculinity.
- Get a Life, Chloe Brown (Chloe and Red)
- Take a Hint, Dani Brown (Dani and Zafir)
- Act Your Age, Eve Brown (Eve and Jacob)
The Edens by Devney Perry
This series is set in Quincy, Montana, the kind of small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Because the Eden siblings are local royalty to some, each of the siblings have the push-pull of living up to the expectations and rebelling against the assumptions of people who think they know you because of who your family is. I liked the diversity of stories, and the fact that about half the books have a great mystery element alongside the love story. There is a prequel that gives you a taste of Quincy and a snapshot of some of the siblings called Christmas in Quincy. It’s not necessary to the series, but a cute bodyguard story if you’re in a holiday mood.
- Indigo Ridge (Griffin and Winslow)
- Juniper Ridge (Knox and Memphis
- Garnet Flats (Talia and Foster)
- Jasper Vale (Eloise and Jasper)
- Crimson River (Lyla and Vance)
- Sable Peak (Mateo and Vera)
BONUS QUICK TAKES
It was seriously hard to narrow down my favorite sibling series, so here are some bonus picks of sibling in romance that I love:
Contemporary Romance
The Harris Brothers by Amy Daws. I love this series set in the British football (soccer to us Yanks) world. I started with Challenge and then ran through the whole series (in duet audio!) as well as the spin-offs.
Bootleg Spring by Lucy Score and Claire Kingsley. A mystery is threaded through the six books of this series, which follows the Bodine siblings. My favorite is actually the only one that does NOT star a Bodine, June’s book Bourbon Bliss.
Cake Series by J. Bengtsson. Cake is a rock star romance with hero Jake McKallister that kicks off a series that continues with Jake’s siblings. The family is shaped by not only Jake’s fame, but a terrible crime that happened in his childhood.
The Westmorelands by Brenda Jackson. Jackson has well over 40 books about the Westmorelands and most of them were published in the old Silhouette category lines (which means they are short and trope-y). She is one of the all-time greats and this series has a high population of hot Black cowboys.
The Rajes by Sonali Dev. The successful Indian-American Raje family series is another favorite. Each book echoes one of Jane Austen’s works without being a slavish pastiche. My favorite was Recipe for Persuasion.
Rome, Kentucky by Sarah Adams. Sweet, low-steam, small-town romance series that proves that you don’t always need a ton of spice to have a swoony romance. I’m looking forward to book 4, as I always love a chef romance.
The Brodie Brothers by Kayley Loring. Why don’t more people talk about Kayley Loring? She is so damn funny. I own most of her books on audio as she has perfect casting, usually full duet. Listen for the hilarious group chats alone.
La Vie en Rose by Laura Florand. Some books transport you, and Florand’s romances set in France are great examples. I love this series set in the flower fields and perfume industry of Provence with the Rosier siblings. I’m super bummed this author seems to have stopped writing.
Romantic Suspense
Callaghan Brothers by Abbie Zanders. The first 7 books of the series focus on the tight-knit siblings of the Callaghan family. The men are all ex-military and super protective. Bingeable!
KGI by Maya Banks. The family-run private security business known as KGI has the Kelly family at its center. Book one, The Darkest Hour, was my fave, with a gripping story of a man who thought his wife was dead, only to be told she is still alive.
Norcross Security by Anna Hackett. Cheating a bit, as only half the books feature one of the Norcross siblings, but I love this series. You know how in a series there is always one book you can’t WAIT for? That was Vander’s The Powerbroker for me.
McIntyre Security Bodyguards by April Wilson. Several of the series entries focus on central couple Shane and Beth, but we also get books about Shane’s siblings. This series is suuuuper bingeable.
Historical Romance
Bedwyn Saga by Mary Balogh. I still remember the anticipation of reading this classic Regency series and how I loved all the Bedwyn siblings but was dying for Wulfric’s book, Slightly Dangerous. Balogh is one of the GOATs of historical romance, and also features siblings in her Westcotts series
MacKenzies by Jennifer Ashley. This Victorian series starts off with The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie and when you run out of Mackenzkies there is an interconnected series about the McBrides. Mostly set in Scotland.
Turners by Courtney Milan. The main three books are about the three Turner brothers in Regency England, there’s a novella with a character who (I think?) loosely connected to the family. Milan always brings great emotional depth to her historicals.
Paranormal Romance and SF Romance
Green Creek by TJ Klune. I had this early series from Klune (House in the Cerulean Sea) on my TBR forever and recently dove into these M/M paranormal romances about the Bennett family of shifters. Wolfsong just about wrecked me, in the best way.
Honey Badger Chronicles by Shelly Laurenston. Laurenston’s shifter books are a certain kind of over the top and even for her the half-sisters that are heroines of the initial trio of books in this series are extra zany. And violent. I haven’t kept up past book 3, but I assume the mayhem and hilarity continue.
Corsair Brothers by Ruby Dixon. Lots of locked down readers discovered Ruby Dixon a few years ago and tore through her Ice Planet Barbarians series. But I prefer my SF romance in space so my favorite of her books are actually the Corsair books. Same big blue aliens, but space pirates!
The Consortium Rebellion by Jessie Mihalik. The three sisters in this series are from a politically influential family in an interstellar empire, but they all react to their family pressures is wildly different ways. I love Mihalik’s SF romance as she never skimps on the worldbuilding but still delivers the emotion.
