Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Stuff That Never Happened | 2010 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 2 | The Opposite of Maybe | 2014 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 3 | The Survivor’s Guide to Family Happiness | 2016 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 4 | Kissing Games of the World | 2017 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 5 | A Piece of Normal | 2017 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 6 | Matchmaking for Beginners | 2018 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 7 | A Happy Catastrophe | 2020 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 8 | The Magic of Found Objects | 2021 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 9 | Snap Out of It | 2023 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
| 10 | Let’s Pretend This Will Work | 2024 | Maddie Dawson | Buy |
Maddie Dawson writes women’s fiction with a warm, funny voice and a knack for characters who feel like people you already know. Her standalone novels explore love in all its messy forms, from marriages unraveling to friendships forming in the least likely places. Whether it’s a woman confronting the secrets of her past in The Stuff That Never Happened or a reluctant matchmaker in Matchmaking for Beginners, Dawson’s stories are about people figuring out what matters to them.
Her later novels, including A Happy Catastrophe and Snap Out of It, lean into the chaos of modern life with humor and heart. The women in her books tend to be at turning points, dealing with loss, surprise, or the slow realization that the life they planned isn’t the one they’re living. Dawson keeps things grounded even when the situations are improbable, and her writing has a conversational quality that makes her books easy to pick up and hard to put down.
Readers who enjoy authors like Liane Moriarty or Katherine Center will find a lot to like in Dawson’s work. Her ten standalone novels can be read in any order, though fans often recommend starting with Matchmaking for Beginners or The Magic of Found Objects.