I’ve been asked about the exact timeline involved in my books. The stories all take place in roughly the order they were written, but I’ll lay out a few key events.

Promises starts in April of… well, it was probably about 2008. However, for the sake of simplicity, and because the beginning of Promises is also the beginning of the Coda universe, we’re going to call it Year 0.

And everything else falls into place as follows:

• Approximately 15 B.J. (Before Jeep) – Jared arrives for his first year of college at Colorado State University (Meant to Be)
• Approximately 10 B.J. – Dominic and Lamar climb into the back seat of Dom’s car. The next day, Lamar goes home to Tucson (Shotgun)
• April, year 0 – Matt wanders into a hardware/auto parts store to ask about a Jeep (Promises)
• Fall, year 0 – Matt and Jared watch a lot of football together (Promises)
• Christmastime, year 0 – Jared gets shot (Promises)
• March, year 1 A.J. (after Jeep) – Zach meets his new landlord. Also meets a smartass punk named Angelo and (shortly thereafter) offers him a job. (A to Z)
• August, year 1 A.J. – Zach and Angelo meet Matt and Jared at Folks Fest. (A to Z)
• December, year 1 – Angelo calls his mother (end of A to Z)
• Dec 31, year 1 – Angelo and Cole meet at Jared and Matt’s New Year’s Eve party (The Letter Z)
• March, year 2 A.J. – Zach, Angelo, Matt, and Jared go to Vegas for Spring Break and bump into Jonathan (The Letter Z)
• Later in March, year 2 – Matt makes a blunder (first half of The Promise)
• April 14, year 2 – Zach’s birthday. Also, a cute moment between Matt and Jared (second half of The Promise), and Zach asks Angelo for a favor (epilogue of The Letter Z)
• April 16, year 2 – Cole calls Jon for the first time, catching him at the airport (Strawberries for Dessert)
• Feb 14, year 3 – Valentine’s Day shenanigans for Matt and Jared (Putting Out Fires)
• Feb 20, year 3 – Cole takes Jon to New York City (Strawberries for Dessert)
• September 30, year 3 – Cole’s last email containing a big confession (Strawberries for Dessert)
• November, year 3 – Zach and Angelo spend a weekend in Denver (prologue, Paris A to Z)
• Thanksgiving, year 3 – Cole finally admits his secret to Jonathan (Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding)
• February, year 4 – Matt, Jared, Zach, and Angelo go to Paris for Jon and Cole’s wedding (Paris A to Z)
• Later in February, year 4 – Cole and Jon meet with their adoption attorney (Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding)
• December, year 4 – Jon and Cole get “the call” while in Munich (Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding).
• February, year 5 – Hope is born (Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding)
• Fall of year 5 – Lamar moves to Coda (Shotgun)