Belles (Calonita)

Isabelle Scott's life may not be easy, but she loves it. She is a star swimmer and lifeguard, has great friends, and has been spending the summer with Brayden, a cute surfer-though they're just friends. But her grandmother, with whom she's lived since her mother died five years earlier, is declining quickly, and Izzie's whole world is upended. She's whisked away from the poor, rough neighborhood where she grew up to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in the exclusive Emerald Cove. Mirabelle Monroe leads a charmed life: her father is a former baseball star about to run for the United States Senate. She's popular and beautiful and has a super cute jock boyfriend. But when her cousin, Izzie, comes to live with her family, her well-ordered world starts to unravel. It doesn't help that Mira's best friend and queen bee, Savannah, hates Izzie from the start, maybe because Izzie seems to be so close to Savannah's boyfriend, Brayden. And Mira doesn't know whether to choose her friends and status at school or her family. As Izzie and Mira try to navigate their new lives, family secrets are dug up and the girls learn what friends and family truly mean. Proving Southern belles can backstab with the best of 'em, Jen Calonita weaves a soapy tale that keeps you guessing from beginning to end.

Isabelle Scott and Mirabelle Monroe are still reeling from the revelation that they share more than just the roof over their heads. The media has pounced on their story and the girls are caught up in a flurry of talk-show appearances and newspaper interviews. They've put on a happy public face, but someone is leaking their true feelings to the press. While it seems like the world is watching their every move, at least they have each other. But with cotillion season right around the corner, Izzie and Mira have barely had time to process their newfound sisterhood. Mira has always dreamed of making her debut in a gorgeous white gown-now if only she could find an escort. Izzie, meanwhile, is still struggling to find her place in Emerald Cove, and it's seeming ever more impossible with EC mean-girls, young and old, doing their best to keep her down. As cotillion preparations heat up, though, there are dance steps to learn, manners to perfect-and secret initiations to complete?-as if sophomore year wasn't hard enough. It's time for the gowns to go on and the gloves to come off.

Who says you can't choose your family? Their shared sweet sixteen party is just around the corner, and half sisters Isabelle Scott and Mirabelle Monroe are ready to cut loose, even if they are the daughters of a prominent public figure. So when Izzie's estranged aunt, Zoe, breezes into town unannounced, it just might be the change that the Monroe family needs-or not, depending on who you ask. Happy with her cute surfer boyfriend and a group of great girlfriends, Izzie has no interest in getting to know yet another long-lost family member. But Mira, who's on a mission to try new things and meet new people-a handsome brooding painter in particular-is drawn to Izzie's artsy aunt, who seems to be the polar opposite of the uptight Monroe family. As the girls try to negotiate the unexpected paths their lives have taken, Zoe's laid-back attitude eventually charms them both. But when Zoe offers Izzie the chance to leave Emerald Cove and start fresh in California, Izzie and Mira are faced with bigger changes than they expected. Is a move to the West Coast what Izzie had in mind for her sweet sixteen?