Which Mary Balogh Series Should I Start With And In What Order?

He needed a bride. I was never meant to be the one walking down the aisle. When the Marazona family came to claim a debt, my stepmother offered her precious daughter to the ruthless and dying Vincenzo Marazona. But on the wedding day, she sent me instead. Broken. Replaceable. Unwanted. Vincenzo Marazona made one thing clear the moment his ring touched my finger— this marriage was a business transaction, not a love story. He was cold, cruel, and running out of time. I was only a substitute bride trapped in the empire of a man who did not believe in mercy… or love. But the longer I lived under his roof, the more dangerous he became. Because the dying king who never wanted a wife was beginning to look at me like I was the only thing he had left to lose. And in the Marazona family— love is the deadliest mistake of all.

Reborn from a desolate post-apocalyptic world into the marginalized middle daughter of Solstice City’s powerful Laurent family, Helene wishes for only one thing: peace. But that simple wish is threatened when her younger sister refuses to marry her now-disabled fiancé—the very engagement she once stole from Helene—and Helene is pressured to take her place. Determined to sever ties with the family she'd never quite fitted into, Helene agrees to the marriage. On one condition. The day she marries into the Blackthorne family is the day she ceases to be part of the Laurent family. ★ ★ ★ To Lucien Blackthorne, marriage is nothing more than a transaction. It doesn’t matter who stands beside him at the altar. Until he meets her. A woman who looks at him without pity. Who accepts him without hesitation. Who walks into his life with quiet defiance, and begins dismantling the walls he built around himself. What begins as a calculated exchange soon spirals into something neither of them anticipated. And when emotions become the most dangerous variable of all… Who will be the first to fall?

"The Prince I Love to Hate is an absolute must read! This romcom will have you rooting for Niamh and Olivier right from their hilarious first meeting. - Harlequin Junkie Blog top pick This prince? He’s anything but charming. I’ve never been the girl who’s dreamt of a prince rescuing me from a fire-breathing dragon before whisking me away to his castle. So when I fly all the way to Ireland to find my long-lost dad, I have no intention of playing the damsel in distress to some dude. But the night I encounter—and accidentally wallop upside the head—Prince Olivier of Salasia, my plans are completely upended. This prince is the opposite of charming, though. After thirty seconds in his presence, I want to feed him to a dragon. But fate is a fickle b*tch. Before I know it, I agree to team up with Olivier in the search for my dad. As I travel across Europe with this actual honest-to-god prince, I wonder, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like I’ll be stupid enough to fall in love with Prince Charming."

Disclaimer: Book one of the series, titled The Girl Who Loved Two Princes, is also available on Goodnovel. Read in order for best enjoyment❤️❤️❤️ Book TWO (The Her Before You) Aria Maine is a new queen in need of a king consort to claim her throne. All three of her suitors come with... complications Her brother's best friend… is engaged The bad boy prince she fell for long ago… broke her heart. Prince charming, her ally in war… his brother slaughtered her entire family. Three suitors. A ticking clock. Boy oh boy, (oh boy) how does a girl choose? *** Book THREE (You, Me, Her and Him) A one night stand. That was all Keira Dormer should have been. Six months later, Aaron Condor is hopelessly in love. Life robs the young lovers of their moment when Keira's mother, The Queen of Assassins, is murdered. Now it's six months later. Aaron is on the precipice of giving Emily Maine her shot when Keira crashes their first date to save his life from Kate, her vengeful twin assassin. In a desperate move to keep Aaron safe, she kidnaps and forces him into a fake engagement. One week together to put her mother's murder to bed. Then they would part ways forever. This was the deal. Keira isn't the only one who has a past with Aaron though. Lady Emily Maine has loved him for years. She's so smitten she plans to get him back from his fake fiancée. But will her crusade be successful when she keeps clashing with her former flame, notorious playboy assassin, Duke Nathan Dormer? A murder to solve. A second chance to claim a lost love. But which woman is Aaron's HEA? The assassin with one foot out the door or the CEO with one too many secrets?

“Pray tell, Emily, what is it you plan to gain from this marriage?” The vehemence of that word—the way it rolled out harshly from his lips—implied she had tricked him, that she had wanted something from him. A belief Emily hadn’t known he held. Her eyes widened in realization, and she sought to correct it at once. Good Lord, was she married to a man who despised her? *** When the earl of Tonfield, Cole Fletcher decided to drop his newly wedded wife at the steps of Blakewood Manor with as much respect as would be given a sack of potatoes, the last thing he expected was for her to move into his ancestral home and do the one thing he rather her not do. As if that wasn't enough, news of his wife's exploits was beginning to circulate around the ton, while Cole wants to keep an eye on his wife and put her firmly in her place. Emily wants her husband to understand she exists. As a wife, as a countess, as a woman! It's a clash of wills!

Learning who the countess is may be one thing. But falling in love with her brings so much more. With people begging to be part of the harem, it is only a matter of time before Wyatt discovers what is behind the enchantress known as the Countess, and why people are dying, literally, to be part of her world.