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Series · young adult

Ruby Oliver Quartet

by E. Lockhart

The Ruby Oliver Quartet series by E. Lockhart has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Boyfriend List (2005).

Books
4 known books (4 novels)
Published
4
First published
2005
Status
completed
Shelved under
Young Adult
Last checked

Start here: The Boyfriend List (2005) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of The Boyfriend List

The Boyfriend List (2005)

Reading order

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

  1. The Boyfriend List

    Novel

    E. Lockhart opened the Ruby Oliver Quartet in 2005 with The Boyfriend List, running 229 pages. It introduces Seattle teenager Ruby Oliver through the literal boyfriend list that gives the book its title -- a running tally of the fifteen boys she's ever had feelings about -- told in her wry, footnote-heavy first-person voice amid panic attacks and a fractured friend group.

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  2. The Boy Book

    Novel

    The Boy Book followed a year later, in 2006, trimmed to 193 pages as the second entry. It continues directly from The Boyfriend List, tracking Ruby through the social fallout of a breakup that cost her most of her friends and several rounds of not-quite-relationships.

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  3. The Treasure Map of Boys

    Novel

    After a three-year gap, The Treasure Map of Boys arrived in 2009, growing to 244 pages as the series' third book. Ruby's therapy, friendships and romantic history keep building continuously from the earlier two books, in the same comedic, character-driven register that made Lockhart's early YA work distinct from her later psychological suspense.

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  4. Real Live Boyfriends

    Novel

    Lockhart closed the quartet in 2010 with Real Live Boyfriends, 224 pages, the year immediately following The Treasure Map of Boys. It completes Ruby's slow rebuilding of her own sense of self across her high school years, closing out a quartet often cited alongside The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks as Lockhart's defining early work.

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About the Ruby Oliver Quartet series

The Ruby Oliver Quartet follows Ruby Oliver, a Seattle teenager navigating panic attacks, a fractured friend group, and a running list of the fifteen boys she's ever had feelings about -- the literal boyfriend list that opens the series and gives the first book its title. Told in Ruby's wry, list-making, footnote-heavy first-person voice, the four novels track her through the social fallout of a breakup that costs her most of her friends, several rounds of not-quite-relationships, and a slow rebuilding of her own sense of self across her high school years.

Published between 2005 and 2010, the quartet predates We Were Liars and represents Lockhart's earlier, more comedic register -- character-driven contemporary YA rather than the psychological suspense she later became best known for -- and is frequently cited alongside The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks as her defining early work.

Frequently asked questions

What order should I read the Ruby Oliver books in?

In publication order: The Boyfriend List (2005), The Boy Book (2006), The Treasure Map of Boys (2009), and Real Live Boyfriends (2010).

Is the Ruby Oliver Quartet connected to We Were Liars?

No -- they share no characters or setting. The quartet is an earlier, comedic contemporary YA series about Seattle teenager Ruby Oliver; We Were Liars is Lockhart's later psychological-suspense novel.

Is the Ruby Oliver series complete?

Yes -- it's a finished quartet of four books published between 2005 and 2010, with no further entries added since.

How many books are in the Ruby Oliver Quartet series?

4: The Boyfriend List (2005), The Boy Book (2006), The Treasure Map of Boys (2009), and Real Live Boyfriends (2010).

Reading order last verified .