The best first-time reading order for Chloe Walsh’s six published Boys of Tommen novels is publication order. It introduces Tommen through Johnny and Shannon before revisiting its interconnected friendships from perspectives that add carefully timed context.
The clearest spoiler-free answer is to read Chloe Walsh’s Boys of Tommen series in publication order: Binding 13, Keeping 13, Saving 6, Redeeming 6, Taming 7 and Releasing 10. The timeline does not move forwards in one neat line, but that is part of the design. Beginning with Johnny Kavanagh and Shannon Lynch allows Tommen College, its friendships and its private struggles to emerge gradually. Each later viewpoint then changes the meaning of what readers thought they understood without requiring them to know those answers too soon.
At a glance
- First-time readers should follow publication order, even when later books travel back in time.
- Binding 13 and Keeping 13 follow Johnny and Shannon; Saving 6 and Redeeming 6 follow Joey and Aoife.
- Taming 7 centres on Gibsie and Claire, while Releasing 10 follows Hughie and Lizzie.
- The overlapping chronology is purposeful: later perspectives deepen familiar relationships and events.
- Chronological or couple-first routes are better treated as reread experiments.
In this guide
- The six published books in order
- Why Binding 13 is the right doorway into Tommen
- Johnny and Shannon first; Joey and Aoife second
- How Taming 7 and Releasing 10 reframe the group
- Why chronological order is better for a reread
- What about reading one couple at a time?
- A brief note on content and pacing
The six published books in order
The publication order keeps each established two-book arc together before shifting attention to another part of the friendship group. It is the most coherent first-read route because both the romantic relationships and the wider ensemble are introduced in stages.
- 1. Binding 13, Johnny Kavanagh and Shannon Lynch
- 2. Keeping 13, Johnny Kavanagh and Shannon Lynch
- 3. Saving 6, Joey Lynch and Aoife Molloy
- 4. Redeeming 6, Joey Lynch and Aoife Molloy
- 5. Taming 7, Gerard “Gibsie” Gibson and Claire Biggs
- 6. Releasing 10, Hugh “Hughie” Biggs and Lizzie Young
Why Binding 13 is the right doorway into Tommen
Binding 13 introduces Shannon as a new pupil at Tommen College and Johnny as a prominent rugby player already rooted in its social world. That contrast gives the opening a useful double movement: readers experience the uncertainty of arriving somewhere unfamiliar while also seeing the confidence, loyalties and assumptions of somebody who seems to belong there.
Shannon’s position means the ensemble is encountered at an outsider’s pace. Names become personalities, jokes begin to reveal loyalties, and apparent confidence gradually acquires complications. Johnny provides access to the established group, but Shannon’s limited knowledge prevents that access from becoming an information dump. The reader learns whom to trust, question or reconsider at roughly the same pace she does.
Keeping 13 belongs immediately after Binding 13. It continues Johnny and Shannon’s story rather than functioning as an optional companion, so inserting another couple’s book between them would interrupt both the emotional momentum and the series’ carefully managed introduction. Together, the first two novels establish the shared world before later books ask readers to look beneath its first impressions.
Johnny and Shannon first; Joey and Aoife second
Saving 6 begins Joey Lynch and Aoife Molloy’s two-book story, which continues in Redeeming 6. Joey is Shannon’s older brother, so moving from her experience to his creates a controlled change of perspective. The family connection is already meaningful, but the reader has not yet been given every part of Joey’s interior life.
That distinction is important. A person seen from the outside can appear guarded, angry, capable or unreachable; a central viewpoint can expose the pressure hidden inside those impressions. Joey and Aoife’s books reach further back than Binding 13 and overlap with parts of Johnny and Shannon’s timeline. They are therefore not simple sequels in calendar terms. They are an expansion of narrative understanding.
Reading these books third and fourth preserves that effect. The reader first meets Joey as part of Shannon’s world, then encounters the longer history that makes his behaviour more legible. Emotional context arrives in layers, allowing recognition to do as much work as surprise. Saving 6 and Redeeming 6 should also remain together: their relationship arc and sustained examination of responsibility, addiction and loyalty depend upon continuity.
How Taming 7 and Releasing 10 reframe the group
Taming 7 turns to Gerard “Gibsie” Gibson and Claire Biggs, childhood friends whose public identities can seem easy to read. Gibsie is known for humour, while Claire is closely connected to him and the wider group. Giving them the fifth book tests the assumptions formed during four novels of seeing them largely in relation to other people.
This is where publication order becomes more than administrative convenience. Humour has already shaped Gibsie’s place in the ensemble before the novel examines what it may protect or conceal. The shift does not merely supply missing biography; it asks whether being familiar with a character is the same as understanding them.
Releasing 10 then centres Hughie Biggs and Lizzie Young. Its timeline reaches back into their earlier lives, but it arrives sixth because the reader now has a developed sense of the friendship group and its tensions. That accumulated context gives their perspective weight. Placing the book first for chronological neatness would provide information before many of the relationships carrying it had acquired meaning.
Across these shifts, later knowledge changes earlier impressions. That is the series’ central structural pleasure: a familiar person can become newly complicated without the earlier portrayal becoming false. Different characters know different portions of the same emotional landscape, and the publication sequence controls when the reader is invited to cross each boundary.
Why chronological order is better for a reread
An approximate chronological route is Releasing 10, Saving 6, Binding 13, Keeping 13, Redeeming 6 and Taming 7. Even this arrangement cannot make every event perfectly linear because individual novels cover broad periods, revisit earlier years or overlap with one another.
The attraction is understandable. Chronological reading makes it easier to compare what different characters are experiencing around the same time. On a reread, that can illuminate parallels, missed signals and differences between public behaviour and private struggle.
For a first reading, however, the cost is considerable. Starting with Releasing 10 introduces an emotionally demanding history before the ensemble has been allowed to form naturally. Beginning with Saving 6 gives greater knowledge of the Lynch family before Shannon’s arrival at Tommen, changing the uncertainty through which Binding 13 originally introduces her. Neither choice makes the story incomprehensible, but both weaken carefully staged revelations and character introductions. Chronology is best used as a reread experiment, when discovery can give way to comparison.
What about reading one couple at a time?
A couple-first approach usually means choosing whichever pairing sounds most appealing and reading its books before the rest. The two completed duologies already stay together in publication order: Johnny and Shannon occupy books one and two, followed by Joey and Aoife in books three and four. Starting instead with Taming 7 or Releasing 10 is more disruptive because those characters have been established through several earlier viewpoints.
The romances have distinct centres, but the novels are not sealed compartments. Siblings, friends and classmates carry emotional history between them. A later lead may first appear as comic relief, a source of friction or a dependable presence in somebody else’s story. Those partial impressions are deliberate foundations, not obstacles to skip.
Readers returning for a favourite pairing may enjoy following that character’s thread across all six books. For a newcomer, publication order preserves the difference between meeting somebody, becoming accustomed to them and finally understanding more of their inner life.
A brief note on content and pacing
These are mature romances dealing with serious real-life issues and trauma alongside friendship, humour, family relationships and first love. The author identifies the series as intended for adult readers and provides detailed content guidance, particularly for Releasing 10. Checking those warnings before beginning is sensible and does not require seeking plot summaries.
The books are substantial and emotionally intense, so there is no disadvantage in pausing between each couple’s arc. The natural stopping points are after Keeping 13 and Redeeming 6. What matters structurally is returning to the published sequence rather than skipping ahead for answers that the series intends to reveal from another angle.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct order for a first-time reader?
Read Binding 13, Keeping 13, Saving 6, Redeeming 6, Taming 7 and Releasing 10. This publication order preserves the introductions, shifting perspectives and gradual release of context.
Do Binding 13 and Keeping 13 need to be read together?
Yes. Keeping 13 directly continues Johnny and Shannon’s story, so it should follow Binding 13 without another Boys of Tommen novel inserted between them. The same principle applies to Saving 6 and Redeeming 6 for Joey and Aoife.
Can the series be read in chronological order?
It can be read in an approximate chronology beginning with Releasing 10 and Saving 6, but the novels span and revisit overlapping periods. That route is more rewarding on a reread because it prioritises timeline comparison over the original order of discovery.
Can I begin with Taming 7 or Releasing 10 for a favourite couple?
The central relationships can be identified separately, but their characters and tensions are established in earlier books. Starting late removes some of the contrast between their public roles in the group and the private perspectives eventually revealed.
Is this series suitable for younger readers?
The author describes the books as intended for mature readers aged 18 and over. They address trauma and other distressing subjects, so readers should consult the author’s content warnings before choosing whether or when to continue.
Publication order respects the way Boys of Tommen builds understanding: first through arrival, then familiarity, and finally reconsideration. Johnny and Shannon open the door; Joey and Aoife reveal a history running beside them; Gibsie, Claire, Hughie and Lizzie show how incomplete even long-held impressions can be. The dates overlap, but the storytelling has a clear direction. For a first visit to Tommen, follow that direction and save chronology for the return journey.
Sources and further reading
- Boys of Tommen, Chloe Walsh’s official author site
- Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh, Little, Brown Book Group
- The Boys of Tommen Reading Order Explained: Your Guide to Chloe Walsh’s Books
Join the conversation
No comments yet. Be the first reader to add yours.