Clifton Forge
romantic suspense
Series · contemporary romance
Dove Pond
The Dove Pond series by Karen Hawkins has 5 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Love in the Afternoon (2019).
- Books
- 5 books
- First published
- 2019
- Status
- ongoing
- Last checked
Start here: Love in the Afternoon (2019) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Love in the Afternoon
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Love in the Afternoon - Book 2:
The Book Charmer
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Book Charmer - Book 3:
A Cup of Silver Linings
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Cup of Silver Linings - Book 4:
The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove - Book 5:
The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams
About the Dove Pond series
Dove Pond is Karen Hawkins' contemporary small-town series set in a fictional North Carolina town touched by gentle, low-key magic, marking a genre shift from the Regency and Victorian historical romance that dominates her earlier career. Love in the Afternoon and The Book Charmer, both published in 2019, introduce the town and its found-family cast of women rebuilding their lives there. A Cup of Silver Linings (2021), The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove (2023) and The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams (2024) continued the series, each following a new resident of Dove Pond whose personal reinvention is nudged along by the town's quiet, magical-realist charm.
Where Hawkins' historical series lean on Highland curses and royal intrigue, Dove Pond trades that for cozy small-town women's fiction with a romantic thread and a light touch of magic -- closer in tone to contemporary book-club fiction than traditional Regency romance, reflecting a deliberate late-career pivot for Hawkins.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Dove Pond series?
Five: Love in the Afternoon (2019), The Book Charmer (2019), A Cup of Silver Linings (2021), The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove (2023), and The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams (2024).
Is Dove Pond a departure from Karen Hawkins' usual historical romance?
Yes -- it's a contemporary small-town series with light magical-realist elements, a genre shift from the Regency and Victorian historical romance that makes up most of her earlier bibliography.
Do the Dove Pond books need to be read in order?
Not strictly -- each follows a different woman settling in the town, but recurring characters and a shared sense of the town's development reward reading in publication order.
What is Dove Pond?
A fictional small town in North Carolina with a subtle, magical-realist quality that gently nudges its residents' lives in better directions -- the series' central setting.
Is a sixth Dove Pond book planned?
None has been announced as of August 2026, though the series has continued releasing new entries roughly every one to two years.
If you like the Dove Pond series
Reading order last verified .