Hellbent Books in Order

Hellbent is a spin off set years after the Fall Away novels, when the children of the original couples are old enough to make their own trouble. The same rain soaked streets, back roads and racetracks of Shelburne Falls are still here, but the kids have grown up under legends about their parents that they can never quite live up to.

The first book, Falls Boys, pairs golden boy Hawke Trent with Aro Marquez, a hustler from the rougher side of town who is very used to looking out for herself. A crime gone wrong forces them to hide in an old underground speakeasy nicknamed Carnival Tower while the police circle above. Locked in together among mirrors, tunnels and urban legends, the two of them work through class resentment, family expectations and a chemistry neither of them planned.

Pirate Girls widens the focus to a long running football rivalry between privileged Shelburne Falls and gritty Weston across the river. During Rivalry Week the schools trade prisoners, and Dylan Trent is sent to Weston, where she stays in a crumbling brownstone next door to Hunter Caruthers, the estranged cousin she grew up with. Two weeks of pranks, games and late night dares on enemy turf turn their stepfamily bond into something much more complicated.

Future installments, starting with Quiet Ones, are planned to follow Quinn Caruthers and the rest of the next generation as they fall in love, push against their famous families and sort out who they are outside of old stories. The tone stays firmly in new adult territory, with college decisions, part time jobs and found family moments sitting next to rough fights and reckless nights.

What ties the Hellbent books together is the sense of inheritance. These characters are living with the consequences of choices made in Bully, Rival, Aflame and even Credence, from racing teams and small businesses to complicated family trees. You can read each romance as a standalone, but starting with Falls Boys and moving forward lets you watch this second generation find their own voice inside a world readers already know.