As I’m working on Fool’s Gold in earnest now, I’m thinking about reading order for the Northwest Magic series. Alexandra’s Riddle and Old Flames very much stand alone, and are so independent from each other that I know some readers have been kind of confused how they even connect to each other at all. (Which, I’m sure, is exacerbated by how long it’s been with no further books in the series—I apologize for time getting away from me so badly!)
Old Flames was originally not supposed to be a full-length book; it was going to just be a newsletter-exclusive short story or novella, a “Book 0.5” for the series. The story would have gone directly from Alexandra’s Riddle as Book 1 to Fool’s Gold as Book 2. (This is also why Fool’s Gold is the book that’s foreshadowed at the end of Alexandra’s Riddle.) But then the plot of Old Flames wound up ballooning, and it came in almost exactly the same length as Alexandra’s Riddle. Thus, it became Book 2 of the series, despite being a prequel.
While it may seem like the books have nothing to do with each other apart from the premise of faery gifts, they’re actually both going to connect pretty strongly to Fool’s Gold. This is the book that’s going to start tying everything together.
I am going to do my best to make the books stand alone, but I do think that, unlike the other two, with Fool’s Gold, it will make more sense if you at least read Alexandra’s Riddle first, and really, reading both Books 1 and 2 first will paint the most complete picture.
In terms of which of the two existing books you should read first, I don’t think it matters. Old Flames takes place before Alexandra’s Riddle, but like I said, the connection between them is tenuous. (The connection, if you’ve read them both and didn’t spot it, is that Laney and Taryn are Matthew’s sisters—Matthew being Cass’s love interest in Alexandra’s Riddle. Again, this all will make more sense when Fool’s Gold is out, because everyone’s going to be in it: Cass, Green, Matthew, Tucker, Laney, Taryn, the whole crew. I’m going to try to bring Lily in as well, if it fits, but if I can’t get her in this book, rest assured she will be in one of the later books in a major way.) If you want to read them in chronological order, Old Flames goes first; if you want to read them in order of publication, Alexandra’s Riddle goes first.
Right now, Northwest Magic is a bit of a loosely connected series, but the connections will get tighter as the series progresses. Thank you to everyone who’s hung in there patiently during the series’ unexpected hiatus, and I hope you will enjoy the additional installments coming soon!
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