Renee Carlino 5 Book Set The Last Post, Before We Were Strangers, Swear On This Life & more

This five-book set brings together novels by Renee Carlino: The Last Post, Before We Were Strangers, Swear on This Life, Blind Kiss and Wish You Were Here. Across the collection, each story follows characters at pivotal moments, with relationships and personal choices shaped by risk, routine, memory, ambition and uncertainty.

The narratives move between past and present experiences, from a marriage defined by a shared appetite for adventure to a connection that begins in neighbouring NYU dorm rooms. Elsewhere, a reluctant reading of a bestselling debut becomes a defining literary moment, while other stories revisit a childhood dance studio and trace a woman in her twenties searching for direction while working in Los Angeles.

Included titles

• The Last Post
• Before We Were Strangers
• Swear on This Life
• Blind Kiss
• Wish You Were Here

Key details

• Five-book set
• Novels by Renee Carlino
• Includes the five titles listed above

Synopses

The Last Post

Laya Marston’s husband, Cameron, is a daredevil enthusiast who repeats a familiar phrase before leaving for his next adventure. Laya is pragmatic and career-focused, supporting him from the sidelines as he pursues death-defying feats.

Before We Were Strangers

A letter addressed to the “Green-eyed Lovebird” looks back fifteen years to a meeting at NYU, when two neighbours move into dorm rooms at Senior House. Their friendship forms quickly, shaped by music, photography and the excitement of finding themselves.

Swear on This Life

A mysterious author, J. Colby, publishes a bestselling debut novel that becomes the literary event of the year. Emiline, an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego, reads it reluctantly while facing a stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship.

Blind Kiss

Penny spends her afternoons outside a sandwich shop, surrounded by ghosts. Fourteen years earlier it was her childhood dance studio; now she is a suburban housewife dreading her son’s departure for MIT, with a decorated McMansion and a failing marriage.

Wish You Were Here

Charlotte has spent her twenties adrift, looking for a spark and a sense of purpose. After a string of jobs and bad relationships, she feels especially lost in her job at a pie-and-fry place in Los Angeles, where the uniforms are bad and the tips are worse.