Rootbound Bride Reading Order
Three hundred years, twelve brides, one house that keeps its accounts. This page lists every Rootbound Bride book in order, and tells you where to start depending on what you want from it.
What is the reading order for the Rootbound Bride series?
In publication and chronology both, the order is:
- The Fifth Bride — prequel novella (free)
- The Archivist's Curse — Book One
- The First Covenant — Book Two
- The Botanist's Sleep — Book Three
- The Unchosen Sister — companion, standalone
The trilogy is also available as a single volume: The Rootbound Bride: Complete Trilogy.
Where should I start?
Start with The Archivist's Curse if you want the story proper. It is Book One, it assumes nothing, and everything the prequel establishes is re-established inside it.
Start with The Fifth Bride if you would rather arrive at Aldermere the way the brides do — knowing there were others, not yet knowing what happened to them. It is free, it is short, and it makes the opening of Book One land differently.
Start with the box set if you already know you want all three. It collects the complete trilogy in one file.
Do I have to read the companions?
No. The companions sit alongside the trilogy rather than continuing it. The Unchosen Sister follows Clarissa Hargrove — the sister who was not chosen — and can be read at any point after Book One without spoiling the trilogy's ending.
The prequel
The Fifth Bride
Rootbound Bride 0.5 · free to newsletter readers
Annabel Hargrove arrives at Aldermere Hall to marry a man she has come to love, and finds a house that has been waiting for her. Eleven portraits. The same dress. A twelfth hook, polished and empty for three hundred years.
The trilogy
The Archivist's Curse
Book One
An archivist reads what documents try to hide. Elisabeth Hargrove arrives at Aldermere with a plan, a predecessor's sketchbook, and no intention of making the same mistakes as the women who came before her.
The First Covenant
Book Two
The covenant beneath Aldermere is older than the house. Some bargains cannot be broken. Some can only be rewritten.
The Botanist's Sleep
Book Three
The roses are generating heat, the roots are moving with purpose, and the botanist who has spent years measuring Aldermere is running out of instruments that will hold.
The companions
The Unchosen Sister
Companion · standalone
A historical gothic about the people a house leaves behind.
Where to read
Every Rootbound Bride ebook is in Kindle Unlimited. Print and audio editions are available from all retailers. The full catalogue, with buy links for each edition, is on the books page.