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Series · romantic comedy

Fortuna Beach

by Marissa Meyer

The Fortuna Beach series by Marissa Meyer has 2 known books (2 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Instant Karma (2020). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is With a Little Luck.

Books
2 known books (2 novels)
Published
2
First published
2020
Status
ongoing
Shelved under
Romance, Humour
Last checked

Start here: Instant Karma (2020) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of Instant Karma

Instant Karma (2020)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. Instant Karma

    Novel

    Marissa Meyer's first contemporary romance, Instant Karma (November 2020), runs 400 pages and follows righteous local-news intern Prudence Daniels as a wave of exaggerated karmic payback hits her small California beach town, forcing her to team up with slacker classmate Quint Erickson to investigate.

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  2. With a Little Luck

    Novel

    With a Little Luck followed roughly three years later, in February 2024, at a shorter 330 pages, shifting focus to a side character from Instant Karma for a second romance set in the same beach town.

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About the Fortuna Beach series

Prudence Daniels is a righteous local-news intern with a habit of publicly shaming people she catches breaking the rules -- littering, parking in disabled spots, cutting in line -- through an anonymous online alter ego. When her small California beach town starts experiencing a wave of instant, exaggerated karmic payback that seems to be targeting the very people she's called out, Prudence has to team up with Quint Erickson, the slacker classmate she's clashed with for years, to figure out who -- or what -- is behind it, all while an inconvenient attraction complicates her sense of moral certainty.

Marissa Meyer's first contemporary romance swaps her usual fantasy and fairy-tale machinery for a sun-soaked small-town rom-com, though a light touch of magical-realism mystery (is karma actually real, or is someone engineering it?) keeps a hook of genre intrigue running under the will-they-won't-they plot. A second book set in the same town follows a side character from the first, in the same easygoing, romantic-comedy register.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in the Fortuna Beach series?

Two: Instant Karma (2020) and With a Little Luck (2024), both standalone romances sharing the same small-town setting.

Do I need to read Instant Karma before With a Little Luck?

No -- With a Little Luck follows a different couple, though it's narrated by a side character from Instant Karma, so reading in order adds a little extra context without being required.

Is Fortuna Beach connected to The Lunar Chronicles or Marissa Meyer's fantasy books?

No. It's a contemporary romantic-comedy series, a departure from her fantasy and fairy-tale-retelling work.

Reading order last verified .