Belle (Carrie Jones) Books in Order

The Belle books are Carrie Jones before pixies and alien hunters took over so much of the conversation around her work. They are contemporary, emotional YA novels about a girl trying to understand love after the shape of it suddenly changes. The first book, Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend, begins with a breakup that is not just a breakup. Belle's boyfriend Dylan tells her he is gay, and that one revelation scrambles the way she sees her relationship, herself, and the whole small-town world around them.

What makes the series work is that Jones does not treat that premise like a gimmick. Belle is hurt, confused, embarrassed, loving, selfish, generous, and often all of those things in the same chapter. The story cares about Dylan too, and about how cruel a school or town can get when somebody stops fitting the role people assigned them. That lets the books talk about sexuality, labels, and friendship without turning into lectures.

Belle is also a good narrator for this kind of story because she keeps noticing the emotional side of things. She does not just ask what happened. She asks what the change means and what is left after the old version of a relationship falls apart. That makes the first book feel less like a standard romance and more like a coming-of-age novel about how love can survive by changing shape.

The second book, Love, keeps Belle in that same pressure cooker as senior year brings more decisions, more rumors, and more emotional weight. Her relationship with Tom matters, but so do the problems hitting the people around her, including a pregnant best friend, lingering cruelty from classmates, and Belle's own health issues. Jones keeps widening the story in useful ways. The series is not only about who Belle dates. It is about who she wants to be when adult choices start arriving before she feels ready for them.

These are very human books.

They are sometimes messy, sometimes funny, and often sharper than they first appear. Readers who come to Jones for her paranormal work may be surprised by how well she handles ordinary heartbreak and social pressure. The same interest in outsiders and hidden damage is already here, just without the magic. If you like teen fiction that takes feelings seriously, allows people to be complicated, and understands that growing up can rearrange every relationship you thought was fixed, the Belle books are worth a look.

At their core, they are about learning that love is not always lost when it changes, but it is never simple after that.