The Carter Girls Books in Order

The Carter Girls series flips the camera from the famous Carter brothers to the women who love, fight, and sometimes try to leave them. Set in the same Atlanta neighborhoods and HBCU campuses as the Carter Boys books, these novels treat girlfriends, wives, and sisters as the real center of gravity in the family.

The early books introduce women like Amari Howard, a dark skinned dancer and free spirit who once had her heart broken by Shiloh Carter, and now has to decide whether to let him back into her life as a grown man. We also see more of Jade, still tough and quick tempered, figuring out how to be with Trent without losing herself. Childhood sweethearts, baby mamas, and new flings all collide whenever the Carters throw a party or drop a song.

As the series moves forward, secrets inside the bloodline start to surface. Long buried history comes to light when Hazel Marion Carter appears, a woman who grew up outside the family but carries their last name and wants to know why. Her search for answers pulls her into the middle of West Side politics, entertainment deals, and dangerous grudges she did not know existed.

Throughout the five volumes, Desirée leans into the idea that the Carter girls are both a blessing and a warning. They hold the men accountable, bring out their softest sides, and sometimes enable their worst habits. Ex girlfriends reappear at the wrong time, pregnancies shift alliances, and more than one woman has to decide whether marrying into the Carters is worth the constant swirl of drama.

Readers who loved the loud, chaotic energy of the Carter Boys books will find the same world here, but from a more intimate angle. The Carter Girls stories are about friendship as much as romance, about women comparing notes on these notorious brothers and choosing whether to protect, expose, or walk away from them. Together with the Hoodlums & Hooligans crossover pieces, they form the emotional backbone of Desirée’s ATL saga.