My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order – Complete Reading Guide

Quick Answer (TL;DR)

Here’s the short version of My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order:

1. My Life with the Walter Boys (2014; revised Netflix tie-in editions 2023+) – Jackie’s life changes overnight when she moves from New York to rural Colorado and into a house full of Walter boys.
2. My Return to the Walter Boys (2025) – The direct sequel, picking up after a summer in New York and digging deeper into Jackie’s feelings for Cole, her bond with the Walters, and her fear of truly moving forward.

That’s it. No novellas, no prequels, no side series—just a clean, two-book arc that follows Jackie’s journey with the Walters in straightforward chronological order.

Introduction

Losing your entire family in one night isn’t something you just “get over,” and Ali Novak never pretends otherwise. In My Life with the Walter Boys, Jackie Howard is uprooted from her fast-paced, Ivy-League-focused New York world and dropped onto a Colorado ranch with a dozen new siblings, chaos at every meal, and a love triangle she never asked for.

Originally a Wattpad story that racked up over 150 million reads before landing in print, the series has since become a New York Times bestseller and a full-blown Netflix hit, with multiple seasons already out and a third on the way.

Because the books and the show sometimes diverge in tone and plot, readers often ask:

• What’s the best way to read the My Life with the Walter Boys books in chronological order?
• Does the sequel pick up right where the first one leaves off?
• How does the Netflix adaptation fit into the overall timeline?

This guide is here to answer all of that—and help you decide where to go next once you’ve finished the books, whether that’s more Ali Novak or other YA favorites like Jenny Han and E. Lockhart (hello, We Were Liars).

Quick Facts

Item	Details
Series	My Life with the Walter Boys (2-book YA contemporary romance series)
Best Order	My Life with the Walter Boys → My Return to the Walter Boys (publication order = story order)
Setting & Tone	From Manhattan prep-school polish to a lively Colorado horse ranch; warm, funny, sometimes heartbreaking; heavy on found family, grief, and slow-burn romance
Pages (approx.)	My Life with the Walter Boys: ~358–400 pages depending on edition; My Return to the Walter Boys: ~325–336 pages; total series length ~700–740 pages.
Estimated Read Time	~7–9 hours per book, ~15–18 hours for the duet at an average pace; audiobooks typically run 9–11 hours each (varies by narrator and edition).
Reading Difficulty	Easy–Moderate YA – accessible prose, emotional depth, lots of dialogue and character interaction.
Genres	Young Adult • Contemporary Romance • Coming-of-Age • Found Family • Love Triangle
Content Warnings	Death of parents and sibling (off-page but central), grief, car accident, some underage drinking/parties, mild language, love triangle drama, emotional turmoil.
Media Adaptations	Netflix teen drama series based on the first book; Season 1 released December 7, 2023; Season 2 released August 28, 2025; Season 3 confirmed for 2026.
Ideal Age Range	14+ – marketed to teens (roughly grades 8–12) but very approachable for older YA and nostalgic adult readers.

About the Book Series

The My Life with the Walter Boys series is, at its heart, about a girl who loses everything and then—very slowly, very stubbornly—allows herself to build something new.

After her parents and older sister are killed in a car accident, ambitious New Yorker Jackie Howard is sent to live with Katherine Walter, her late mother’s college friend, on a horse ranch in rural Colorado. There’s just one tiny complication: the Walters have eleven sons (plus one daughter, Parker, who’s basically “one of the boys”).

The boys are:

• Loud and chaotic
• Not remotely impressed by Jackie’s city-girl perfectionism
• And, in several cases, extremely attractive

As Jackie adjusts to Walters-level chaos—chore charts, shared bathrooms, football practice, muddy boots everywhere—she also starts to confront her grief and her obsession with perfection. The series isn’t just about choosing between Cole and Alex; it’s about asking whether the life she planned before the accident is still the life she wants now.

The second book, My Return to the Walter Boys, picks up when Jackie comes back to the ranch after a summer in New York. She’s had time and distance, but her feelings for Cole, her bond with the Walters, and her fear of truly moving forward are all still there—and more complicated than ever.

Because this is a tightly connected duet, following My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order lets you really see Jackie’s emotional journey from shock and survival to something like hope.

My Life with the Walter Boys Books at a Glance

#	Title	Amazon Buy Link
1	My Life with the Walter Boys	Buy on Amazon
2	My Return to the Walter Boys	Buy on Amazon

My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order

Because publication order and timeline match, My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order is mercifully simple. But each book covers a distinct emotional phase in Jackie’s life, so it’s worth looking at what you get from each one.

1. My Life with the Walter Boys

Where it fits:
This is where everything starts—Jackie’s loss, her move to Colorado, and every “you’ve got to be kidding me” moment of living with eleven boys.

Core setup

Jackie is a Manhattan overachiever: she collects extracurriculars, A+ grades, and elite college dreams like they’re armor. If she’s perfect enough, maybe her parents will finally notice her in the way she craves. Then, in one devastating moment, that life disappears.

She’s sent to live with the Walters:

• Katherine (Katherine/Kat), her mother’s old friend, who welcomes her into an already full house.
• George, the dad who runs the ranch.
• A wild lineup of Walter sons, including:
  • Cole, brooding and magnetic, with a rebel streak and complicated emotional walls.
  • Alex, kinder and steadier on the surface, with his own vulnerabilities.
  • Parker, the daughter who’s grown up fighting for space in a house of boys.

Jackie clashes hard with the Walters at first. They’re messy where she’s controlled, chaotic where she’s structured, and emotionally open in ways she’s not ready for. But the longer she stays:

• The more she sees that perfection was never actually protecting her.
• The more she develops real feelings—both romantic and familial—that don’t fit the tidy story she’d planned.

Why this book matters in the chronology

• It establishes Jackie’s grief baseline—how tightly she clings to her old life and to the idea of being perfect in her parents’ memory.
• It lays the groundwork for the Cole vs. Alex emotional tangle, while making it clear this isn’t just a love triangle story; it’s a healing story.
• It introduces the Walter family as a found family that Jackie desperately needs, even when she can’t admit it.

Without the first installment, My Return to the Walter Boys doesn’t have nearly the same impact. You need to see Jackie try to outrun her feelings before you watch her circle back to the house that started to feel like home.

2. My Return to the Walter Boys

Where it fits:
This is the direct continuation of the story, picking up after Jackie’s summer in New York and following her as she returns to the ranch—older, more self-aware, but still deeply conflicted.

Core setup

At the end of the first book, Jackie’s life with the Walter boys hits a turning point. She decides to spend the summer in New York, putting physical distance between herself and both Cole and Alex. But emotional distance? That’s a lot harder.

When My Return to the Walter Boys opens:

• Jackie is coming back to Colorado with unanswered questions and a heart that did not, in fact, move on just because she changed time zones.
• Cole is working in town at Tony’s garage, on the cusp of college and adulthood.
• The Walters are still the big, messy, loving family she’s attached herself to—even if she’s not sure she has the right to call them “home” yet.

She and Cole shared a goodbye kiss before she left, then she stopped texting him over the summer. Now she has to see him again in person—while navigating her fear of commitment, her grief that still flares up at unexpected moments, and the pressure of choosing a path forward that’s truly hers.

Why this book matters in the chronology

• It shows Jackie actively choosing what she wants, rather than just reacting to tragedy.
• It explores how grief doesn’t disappear once you find a new family; it transforms.
• It pushes the love story into more mature territory: conversations about the future, college, and what long-term commitment actually looks like at this stage of life.

Because My Return to the Walter Boys is explicitly set after the first book’s events and directly references that goodbye kiss and her time away, reading the My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order is crucial for emotional continuity.

Series Timeline & Character Development

One of the biggest perks of reading the My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order is how clearly you can trace the emotional evolution of the main cast, especially Jackie and the key Walter brothers.

Jackie Howard

Book 1: Survival & Perfection

• She measures her worth in grades, achievements, and future plans.
• She initially treats the Walters’ ranch as a temporary stop, not a genuine home.
• Grief is something she manages by working harder, not something she lets herself feel.

Book 2: Choice & Vulnerability

• Jackie has to decide if she’s willing to be vulnerable enough to love again—romantically and familially.
• Her perfectionism is challenged by the reality that life with the Walters is messy, unpredictable, and utterly non-linear.
• She begins to ask more honest questions about what she wants, not what would look impressive to an imaginary admissions committee or to the memory of her parents.

By the end of the duet, Jackie’s arc is less “which boy will she choose?” and more “who is she when she stops performing perfection and starts living?”

Cole & Alex Walter

The Netflix series leans heavily into the Jackie–Cole–Alex triangle, and the books certainly contain that tension too, though with slightly different emphases.

• Cole tends to embody risk, passion, and that “one wrong move away from disaster” energy. With him, Jackie has to confront her fear of losing control.
• Alex feels safer on the surface—thoughtful, steady, and less likely to burn everything down—but that doesn’t mean a relationship with him is automatically easier.

Reading the My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order lets you see how both boys grow:

• As Jackie’s presence forces them to interrogate their own futures.
• As they navigate their sibling bond, rivalry, and the weirdness of both liking the same girl.

The Walter Family as a Whole

The wider Walter clan matters just as much as the central triangle. Across both books:

• You see how Katherine and George balance parenting a huge brood with welcoming Jackie as something between a niece, a daughter, and a guest.
• You watch the younger boys gradually accept Jackie as more than just “the new girl in the spare room.”
• You sense the financial and emotional realities of running a ranch and sending kids to college—grounding the romance in a very real, working-family context.

Together, the two books chart a believable timeline: first arrival and shock, then return and choice.

Novels Sorted in Order of In-Universe Events

Good news: the in-universe chronology is straightforward and matches publication order.

1. My Life with the Walter Boys
   • Jackie’s parents and sister die in the car accident.
   • She moves from New York to Colorado and into the Walter ranch.
   • First-year adjustment, friendships, and romantic complications play out over a school year.
2. My Return to the Walter Boys
   • Set after Jackie spends a summer back in New York.
   • She returns to the Walters with unresolved feelings for Cole, complicated friendships, and big decisions looming about college and the future.

If additional novellas or bonus stories ever appear (for example, from Cole’s POV or Parker’s), they’d likely slot between or after these events—but right now, the two-book structure is complete.

Novels Sorted in Order of Publication

For reference, here’s the publication order, which again is identical to the My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order:

1. My Life with the Walter Boys – First appeared on Wattpad in 2010, then published in print by Sourcebooks Fire in March 2014; later updated in 2019 and as a 2023 Netflix tie-in edition.
2. My Return to the Walter Boys – Published April 15, 2025 by Sourcebooks, continuing the story directly from book one.

Companion Works

There are no officially labeled “companion novels” set in the Walter Boys universe outside the main duet. But if you’re looking for thematically similar or author-adjacent reads, you’ve got great options:

By Ali Novak

Ali Novak has written several other contemporary YA titles with strong emotional cores and romantic arcs, including:

• The Heartbreakers and Paper Hearts – focusing on bands, fandom, and love.
• Other Wattpad-to-print projects that share that addictive, serial-feels vibe.

On Books in Chronological Order

If you love the mix of romance, grief, and big feelings in My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order, check out:

• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before books in chronological order – more love letters, family dynamics, and Netflix tie-ins. SiteMap
• We Were Liars books in chronological order – if you want another emotional, tragic summer story with secrets. SiteMap
• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder books in chronological order – if you’d like your YA drama with a mystery/thriller twist next. SiteMap

These make perfect “what next?” picks once you’ve finished your time with the Walters.

Editions & Formats (hardcover, collector, audio)

Because the series exploded thanks to Wattpad and Netflix, there are a few different ways to experience My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order.

Paperback

• My Life with the Walter Boys is widely available in paperback across multiple markets; many editions clock in at around 400 pages and prominently feature “Now a Netflix series” on the cover.
• My Return to the Walter Boys is currently available in paperback as well, often matching the slim, colorful design of the first book’s newer editions.

eBook (Kindle and others)

• Both titles are available in Kindle and other digital formats, often at a lower price than print. Digital is ideal if you want to binge both books on your e-reader right after finishing the Netflix show.

Audiobook

• My Life with the Walter Boys has an audiobook edition through major online retailers.
• My Return to the Walter Boys also has audio, letting you follow Jackie’s return journey in your ears while commuting or doing chores.

Netflix Tie-In Editions / Collector Appeal

• The Netflix series tie-in paperback features Nikki Rodriguez’s Jackie and the two key Walter brothers on the cover, clearly marked as “The book that inspired the series.”
• Some retailers sell 2-book bundles that package both titles together with coordinated cover art—a nice option if you want a matching shelf aesthetic.

At the moment, there isn’t a deluxe leatherbound or sprayed-edges collector’s edition, but the tie-in covers themselves are highly displayable—especially if you’re a completionist for book-to-screen favorites.

Why Read My Life with the Walter Boys?

Sticking to My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order (Book 1 → Book 2) might sound obvious, but there are specific benefits:

1. Emotional Continuity
   You feel the full punch of Jackie’s grief, awkward adjustment, and tentative first crushes in book one before diving into the more mature emotional questions of book two. Reading out of order would flatten that growth.
2. Character Arcs Make Sense
   Cole and Alex’s relationships with Jackie, and with each other, are layered on top of years of shared history. You need book one’s context to fully understand the tensions and quiet moments in book two.
3. The Found-Family Feel Builds
   The Walter house doesn’t feel like “home” right away—they’re strangers, then acquaintances, then something more. Reading the My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order lets that sense of home develop naturally.
4. Netflix Viewing Synergy
   If you’re coming from the show, reading the books in order gives you a baseline to compare how the adaptation changes certain beats (especially around the love triangle and Jackie’s sense of independence).

Author Spotlight

Ali Novak

Ali Novak is the kind of author who literally grew up with her readers. She began drafting My Life with the Walter Boys when she was just fifteen, posting chapters on Wattpad in 2010. The story became an instant hit, amassing more than 150 million reads online.

Key highlights:

• She’s a Wisconsin native and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s creative writing program.
• Her success on Wattpad helped open the door to a print deal with Sourcebooks Fire, who published My Life with the Walter Boys in 2014 and have continued to work with her on subsequent projects.
• Her other novels, like The Heartbreakers and Paper Hearts, also focus on contemporary YA themes—music, love, grief, and identity—with a similar bingeable energy.

Novak’s career is a great example of how digital-first storytelling (on platforms like Wattpad) can evolve into traditional publishing and even major streaming adaptations.

Media Adaptations (Films, TV, Radio)

The My Life with the Walter Boys universe doesn’t just live on the page anymore.

Netflix Series

• Title: My Life with the Walter Boys
• Platform: Netflix
• Type: Teen drama TV series
• Premiere: December 7, 2023

Key details:

• Developed by Melanie Halsall, produced by iGeneration Studios and Nomadic Pictures.
• Stars Nikki Rodriguez as Jackie, Noah LaLonde as Cole, and Ashby Gentry as Alex, alongside a large ensemble playing the Walters and their community.
• Season 1 adapts the core setup of the first book: Jackie’s arrival on the ranch, her grief, and the gradual build of the love triangle.
• Season 2 (released August 28, 2025) continues her journey back to Silver Falls after time away, mirroring the emotional premise of My Return to the Walter Boys while making its own choices about the story’s direction.
• Season 3 is confirmed and set to premiere in 2026, with production already wrapped.

The show isn’t a line-for-line adaptation of the books; it takes liberties—especially with who Jackie chooses and how quickly certain relationships progress—but it keeps the core themes: grief, found family, and the chaos of loving people who don’t fit into neat boxes.

Watch now My Life With the Walter Boys official trailer:

There are currently no radio dramas or feature films separate from the Netflix series, and no official tie-in audio beyond the audiobooks.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

Spending time with the My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order feels like moving into the Walter ranch yourself: overwhelming at first, noisy always, and unexpectedly healing in the quiet moments.

Reading in order—My Life with the Walter Boys followed by My Return to the Walter Boys—lets you watch Jackie grow from a grief-stricken perfectionist into someone who can choose messy, real love and a future that doesn’t look anything like the one she’d planned. You also get the full, satisfying sweep of the Walter family’s chaos, from the smallest inside jokes to the biggest life decisions.

Whether you discovered the story through Wattpad, the bookshelf, or the Netflix home screen, this duet rewards anyone who wants:

• Bingeable YA contemporary romance
• A believable found-family arc
• A love triangle that actually wrestles with hard questions instead of just dragging out drama

Once you’ve finished the My Life with the Walter Boys Books in Chronological Order, come back to Books in Chronological Order and line up your next comfort read—maybe To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, We Were Liars, or A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder for something twistier.