Contradictions Books in Order

The Contradictions series is the part of Lesley Jones's catalogue that feels closest to real life in the most immediate way. It is built around Sarah and Liam, two people who feel an instant connection and then have to find out whether strong chemistry is enough to survive everything that comes after. On some editions you may also see these books presented under the Spiralling Skywards name, but the heart of the story stays the same.

Falling begins with that rush of recognition, the sense that one meeting can shift the whole direction of your life. Sarah knows almost at once that Liam is not just a passing attraction. He feels important. He feels dangerous in the way that real love often does, because it asks for trust before either of them is fully ready to give it. Around them is a knot of family ties, old relationships, expectations, and outside pressure, all of which keeps pushing at the new bond they are trying to build.

This series hurts in a very everyday way.

That is really what sets Contradictions apart. The tension is not built on a glamorous lifestyle or a huge external mystery. It grows out of the things that can quietly wear people down, insecurity, responsibility, miscommunication, fragile self-worth, and the fear that love will not hold if life gets complicated enough. The contemporary setting matters because it feels so recognisable. Homes, family gatherings, work links, shared friend groups, and ordinary daily pressures become the places where the emotional damage happens.

Then Fading takes that damage seriously. From the outside, Sarah and Liam can look solid, even settled, but the second book is about what happens when one person begins to lose hold of themselves inside a relationship. The story goes deeper into identity, trust, mental health, and the way love can be tested by exhaustion, fear, and emotional isolation. It does not treat those struggles as a quick plot twist. They are the story.

There is still warmth here, and Jones still writes with humour and heart, but the tone is more intimate than in Carnage. It is less about spectacle and more about the small moments that either pull two people together or push them apart. That makes the emotional beats land hard. When these books are tender, they really are tender. When they sting, they do it without much warning.

If you want a Lesley Jones series that keeps the big feelings but brings them into a more domestic, close-up space, Contradictions is a strong pick. Start with Falling and move straight into Fading. They are best read together, as one long emotional arc about love, damage, and the fight to keep from losing yourself while trying to hold on to someone else.