Wondering where to start with the Sabreverse?

I get asked A LOT about the reading order for my books... and I always say, "It depends." 

I don't have a simple answer for this – instead, I have a variety of answers... a choose your own adventure answer, if you will.

So, what kind of reader are you?

  • I'm strictly chronological, ma'am!

  • I'm a mood reader. Give me ✨vibes✨.

  • Clare's Chaotic But it Makes Sense in Her Mind Order

  • Spoiler & Crossover Guide for the Sabreverse

Please note:
The Counterfeit Contessa series is no longer available. It will be reworked and re-released as The Prince & the Thief series – TTG is a prequel novella. A Thief & a Gentlewoman was the first Sabreverse book.

Chronological Order

In World

Across Dark Seas (ADS)
The Thief's Gambit (TTG)
Stolen Threadwitch Bride (STB)
These Gentle Wolves (TGW)
Beneath Black Sails (BBS)
Hissing Hellcats (HHS – short story)
Against Dark Tides (ADT)
Under Black Skies (UBS)
Through Dark Storms (TDS)
A Kiss of Iron (KOI)
Slaying the Shifter Prince (SSP)
A Touch of Poison (TOP)

Chronological Order

Of Publication

Across Dark Seas – April 2020
Beneath Black Sails – April 2020
Hissing Hellcats – Sept 2020
Against Dark Tides – Sept 2020
Under Black Skies – May 2021
Stolen Threadwitch Bride – June 2021
The Thief's Gambit – Oct 2021
Through Dark Storms – April 2022
These Gentle Wolves – Oct 2022
A Kiss of Iron – Feb 2023
Slaying the Shifter Prince – May 2023
A Touch of Poison – Oct 2023

Moods ‘N’ Vibes

I’m looking for…

  • A cosy comfort read with a complete romance story and steamy scenes

    Stolen Threadwitch Bride (hate to love, "stolen," anxiety rep, and a heroine who finds her power). Follow it up with These Gentle Wolves, the second in the duet, featuring a creepy haunted house with grumpy x sunshine, marriage of convenience.

  • A dark and spicy standalone about revenge, obsession, and forging your own identity

    Slaying the Shifter Prince (always check the content warnings, but with this one especially – it's the darkest romance in the Sabreverse to date and is a bully romance with a villainous MMC). Think if The Cruel Prince had claws (literally).

  • A steamy trilogy that will help me rage against the patriarchy while I fall in love with a shadow daddy

    Shadows of the Tenebris Court trilogy (starting with A Kiss of Iron). Again, check the content warnings as this series includes characters recovering from trauma, as well as the usual banter and delicious tropes (enemies to lovers romance, forced proximity, "who did this to you?", and fake relationship to name a few!).

  • A longer series that's more light-hearted and fun but still has action, steam, and character development I can sink my teeth into

    The Beneath Black Sails series (a quartet + short prequel novel. Start with the prequel, Across Dark Seas). A swashbuckling adventure on the high seas with cocky pirate queen Lady Vice and cunning but tortured pirate hunter Captain Knighton Blackwood.

Clare's Chaotic But it Makes
Sense in Her Mind Order

This will give you a path that takes you through series by series in an order that's unorthodox but makes sense to me. This is the order I'd recommend. 

Start with Shadows of the Tenebris Court (SotTC). It's my best series to date. The spice is spicing, the tropes are troping, and the shadow daddy knows how to shadow daddy. Start with A Kiss of Iron.

In KOI, you'll meet Vice and Knigh and probably be curious about their story, so go back in time to their series, Beneath Black Sails. Start with the short prequel novel, Across Dark Seas, then venture into the quartet proper, starting with BBS. It's also a slightly more light-hearted read without the patriarchal BS Kat has to deal with in SotTC, so it's a great way to bring yourself down from the female rage while you put yourself in Vice's position, kicking arse and taking names.

After that long series, you'll probably be in the mood for something shorter. Here I'm going to give you the option of either reading a standalone (Slaying the Shifter Prince) or a duet (Bound by a Fae Bargain – BBaFB). Personally, I'd suggest BBaFB first, so you can get to know Ariadne, Lysander, Rose, and Faolán who you met back in TOP, and enjoy the cosy vibes of Stolen Threadwitch Bride, followed by the creepy haunted house of These Gentle Wolves.

After all that, you're ready to go out with a bang and read Slaying the Shifter Prince. I'm going to say it again – CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS! This is a dark romance and it isn't for everyone. You absolutely have my permission not to read it if it isn't your cup of tea. I'll even sign you a little permission slip to say you have completed the SabreverseLite read, despite not diving into the obsessive vengeance of SSP.

Bonus Chaos

Read the novella The Thief's Gambit whenever you like, as it isn't directly linked to any of the current Sabreverse books... or is it?

Seasonal Chaos – Re-read These Gentle Wolves at Halloween.

Alt Suggestion Chaos – Read SSP between KOI and TOP if you can stand to delay reading TOP after the ending of KOI. SSP sets you up nicely for events in TOP as it takes part concurrently with KOI.

 Crossover & Spoiler Guide

  • Short novel prequel to BBS series. Gives some backstory for the MCs of the BBS series and Kat from Shadows of the Tenebris Court.

  • Novella prequel to T&G/S&C. Hints at some info that doesn't come to light again until S&C.

  • No spoilers. MCs appear in TGW and TOP/POL.

  • Interconnected standalone linked to STB. You could read it before STB, but it does contain spoilers for STB. FMC appears in STB. MCs appear in KOI/TOP/POL.

  • Spoilers for ADS.

  • End overlaps with KOI, hints at events in KOI. MCs appear in KOI.

  • Overlaps with TDS; gives general spoilers for how the BBS series plays out. MCs appear in TDS.

  • MCs appear in TOP/POL.

  • General spoilers for STB and TGW. Slightly more detailed spoilers for events of SSP.