Nelia Alarcon writes dark new-adult romance and science-fiction romance. Her catalog divides into two very different branches: the alien-romance books set around the Plutonians and the darker Redwood Prep books built around The Kings.
Those branches do not share a fictional universe. Readers can begin with either one without needing material from the other.
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The main continuity decision concerns Redwood Prep. The five Redwood Kings books should be completed before Redwood Secrets, because the newer series continues the setting, characters, criminal conflicts, and unresolved background mysteries established earlier.
The Essential Order
Readers interested in Redwood Prep should use this sequence:
- The Darkest Note
- The Ruthless Note
- The Broken Note
- The Forbidden Note
- The Silent Note
- The Hidden Note
The first three books complete Dutch’s central romance. Books four and five move to Zane’s relationship while continuing the larger Redwood storyline. The Hidden Note then begins a new series centered on Finn.
For the science-fiction books, begin with The Alien Warrior’s Mate and continue through the four Plutonian Warriors novels. Made for the Alien Warrior belongs to a related successor series rather than the numbered four-book sequence.
Redwood Prep: How the Series Fit Together
The Redwood books are easier to understand when treated as one developing saga with two series labels.
Redwood Kings
Included – first Redwood series
Redwood Kings contains five books. It introduces Redwood Prep, the Cross brothers, their band The Kings, and the secrets surrounding the school.
The first three installments follow one central couple across a continuing dark bully-romance arc. Books four and five switch to another couple, but they remain dependent on the world and revelations established earlier.
Redwood Secrets
Included – continuation series
Redwood Secrets begins after Redwood Kings. Its opening novel turns the focus toward Finn Cross and the dangerous world developing beyond Redwood Prep.
It is not a clean standalone reset. Readers who skip Redwood Kings will encounter established characters, relationships, threats, and mysteries without their original context.
Redwood Kings Books in Order
1. The Darkest Note
The Darkest Note (2022): Dutch Cross, lead singer of The Kings and one of Redwood Prep’s most feared students, targets a new girl who refuses to leave quietly, beginning a hostile relationship shaped by bullying, attraction, and secrets.
This is the necessary starting point for the Redwood storyline. It introduces Dutch, his brothers, the school’s social hierarchy, and the central conflict that carries through the opening trilogy.
The book does not complete Dutch’s larger story. Continue directly to The Ruthless Note.
2. The Ruthless Note
The Ruthless Note (2022): Dutch seeks revenge after learning that the heroine has kept damaging secrets, while she returns to Redwood determined to fight him rather than become his victim again.
The second installment escalates the conflict instead of introducing a new couple. Trust deteriorates, the struggle for control becomes more personal, and the wider dangers surrounding Redwood begin to deepen.
This book should not be read independently. It relies on the first novel and leads into The Broken Note.
3. The Broken Note
The Broken Note (2022): A buried secret forces Dutch and the heroine into an uneasy alliance, bringing their destructive relationship and the first major Redwood arc toward its resolution.
This completes the central trilogy begun in The Darkest Note. It also develops the wider school mystery and the power struggles that remain relevant after Dutch’s romance reaches its main conclusion.
Readers interested only in Dutch’s couple can stop here, although the overall Redwood story continues.
4. The Forbidden Note
The Forbidden Note (2023): Zane Cross becomes involved with a woman who is both his teacher and his new stepsister, turning a supposedly anonymous encounter into a forbidden relationship with serious personal and professional consequences.
The book shifts the romantic focus away from Dutch while retaining Redwood Prep, The Kings, the Cross family, and the series’ darker mystery elements.
Because earlier couples and revelations remain part of the setting, this is not an ideal alternative starting point. Read the first three books before beginning Zane’s story.
5. The Silent Note
The Silent Note (2024): Zane binds himself more closely to the woman he cannot openly claim, while threats, hidden bodies, family complications, and the risk of exposure push their relationship toward a final reckoning.
This is the second half of the romance begun in The Forbidden Note. It resolves the main relationship arc for Zane’s couple while continuing the dangerous background story at Redwood.
Do not separate Books 4 and 5. The Silent Note assumes full knowledge of the forbidden relationship and the events that placed both characters at risk.
Redwood Secrets Books in Order
1. The Hidden Note
The Hidden Note (2025): Finn Cross seeks help from a dangerously perceptive young woman with a serious heart condition, but their battle for control becomes entangled with the Cross family’s expansion into a violent criminal underworld.
The central romance is between Finn and a heroine who understands more about The Kings than he expects. Although their relationship receives a resolution, the book deliberately leaves wider questions for later Redwood Secrets installments.
The Hidden Note should be read after all five Redwood Kings books. It assumes that readers already recognize Finn, the other Cross brothers, Redwood Prep, and the dangers developing around them.
Is The Hidden Note a Standalone?
No.
It begins Finn’s central romance and gives the couple a romantic resolution, but it also launches a continuing series mystery. The author specifically presents Redwood Secrets as a connected sequence in which some questions remain open for later books.
The correct preparation is:
- Complete Redwood Kings.
- Begin Redwood Secrets with The Hidden Note.
- Continue in series order as further installments are confirmed.
Best Redwood Reading Order
The recommended order is also the publication and story order:
- The Darkest Note (2022): Dutch targets a student who challenges his control of Redwood Prep, beginning their multi-book enemies-to-lovers conflict.
- The Ruthless Note (2022): Revenge and concealed information intensify Dutch’s war with the heroine as she returns determined to resist him.
- The Broken Note (2022): Dutch and the heroine confront a larger threat together, completing their central trilogy.
- The Forbidden Note (2023): Zane enters a forbidden romance with his teacher and stepsister while the Redwood danger continues.
- The Silent Note (2024): Zane’s relationship faces exposure, family consequences, and escalating violence in the conclusion to his two-book arc.
- The Hidden Note (2025): Finn’s romance opens a darker phase involving illness, manipulation, mafia connections, and unresolved Redwood secrets.
There is no useful alternate chronological arrangement. The books already move forward in the sequence intended by the author.
Plutonian Warriors Books in Order
The Plutonian Warriors series combines alien abduction, survival, protective heroes, dangerous planets, and complete central romances.
Each book changes the featured couple. The individual relationships reach satisfying endings, but the surrounding conflict and alien world develop across the sequence.
1. The Alien Warrior’s Mate
The Alien Warrior’s Mate (2020): A human woman placed on an intergalactic auction block is rescued by a blue, tattooed alien warrior whose hidden motives make it difficult to know whether he is her savior or another threat.
The novel introduces the Plutonians, the human captives, and the larger danger surrounding the alien trade. It is the strongest starting point even though later books follow other couples.
2. The Alien Warrior’s Woman
The Alien Warrior’s Woman (2020): A human woman running through a hostile alien wilderness is rescued by a blue-skinned protector who appears trustworthy but carries a secret of his own.
The central romance can be understood separately, but the world and conflict are clearer after The Alien Warrior’s Mate. Publication order also preserves the intended introduction of the Plutonian characters.
3. The Alien Warrior’s Heart
The Alien Warrior’s Heart (2021): A human prisoner must work with Zar, the brooding Plutonian held beside her, as their escape becomes complicated by their captors’ reproductive plans and Zar’s concealed mission.
The forced-proximity romance unfolds during an active struggle for survival. By this stage, the wider alien conflict is established, making the first two books useful preparation.
4. The Alien Warrior’s Vow
The Alien Warrior’s Vow (2021): A human woman who resents Lans, the alien involved in her abduction and rescue, must train beside him when a powerful enemy threatens the planet.
This enemies-to-lovers story takes place as the larger war reaches a critical stage. It works as the closing book of the original four-part Plutonian Warriors sequence and should be saved for last.
Can the Plutonian Warriors Books Stand Alone?
The romantic plots are structured around different couples, so a reader selecting one book can usually follow the immediate relationship.
Order still improves the experience. The same alien world, political dangers, human abductions, and developing war run through the books.
The most reliable route is:
- The Alien Warrior’s Mate
- The Alien Warrior’s Woman
- The Alien Warrior’s Heart
- The Alien Warrior’s Vow
Mates for the Plutonians Books in Order
1. Made for the Alien Warrior
Made for the Alien Warrior (2021): A human woman with a new bionic arm searches for answers about her connection to a mysterious power called the Light while developing feelings for Tiegan, a guarded Plutonian warrior.
The book was introduced as the first Mates for the Plutonians novel. It expands the same broad alien setting but begins a new series label rather than occupying Book 5 of Plutonian Warriors.
It contains a complete central romance and is described as a fade-to-black science-fiction romance.
Where Does Made for the Alien Warrior Belong?
Place it after the original Plutonian Warriors sequence:
- The Alien Warrior’s Mate
- The Alien Warrior’s Woman
- The Alien Warrior’s Heart
- The Alien Warrior’s Vow
- Made for the Alien Warrior
This order is recommended because Made for the Alien Warrior builds on Plutonian concepts rather than introducing the setting from its earliest point.
It should not be numbered as Plutonian Warriors Book 5. Its official series designation is separate.
The Alien Warrior’s Choice
The Alien Warrior’s Choice: A Korean student is abducted from her dorm room and stranded after an alien spacecraft crashes, where she is rescued by a blue, tattooed warrior while his hostile brother and the planet itself place them in danger.
This is a free novella connected to Alarcon’s alien-romance world. It is optional rather than essential to the numbered Plutonian Warriors sequence.
Because its exact placement relative to every main-series event is not firmly established in public listings, the safest position is after the four core novels. Readers may also treat it as a separate sample of the author’s alien romances.
Complete Nelia Alarcon Publication Order
This chronology separates original English-language works from translated editions, duplicate formats, and audio releases.
- The Alien Warrior’s Mate (2020): A human captive at an alien auction is taken by a Plutonian warrior whose secret may endanger the woman he rescues.
- The Alien Warrior’s Woman (2020): A stranded human relies on an alien protector while trying to survive a dangerous extraterrestrial wilderness.
- The Alien Warrior’s Heart (2021): Two prisoners plan their escape as captivity, attraction, and a concealed mating mission bind them together.
- The Alien Warrior’s Vow (2021): A human woman and the Plutonian she resents train for war while hostility develops into attachment.
- Made for the Alien Warrior (2021): A woman with a bionic arm and a mysterious connection to the Light falls for the warrior helping her confront a widening alien threat.
- The Darkest Note (2022): Dutch Cross begins a campaign against a student who refuses to submit to his power at Redwood Prep.
- The Ruthless Note (2022): Dutch’s search for revenge turns his relationship with the heroine into a more dangerous struggle over secrets and control.
- The Broken Note (2022): Dutch and the heroine confront threats within Redwood’s elite world as their three-book romance reaches its conclusion.
- The Forbidden Note (2023): Zane Cross pursues a forbidden relationship with a woman connected to him as both teacher and stepsister.
- The Silent Note (2024): Zane’s secret relationship moves toward commitment while scandal and violence threaten everyone involved.
- The Hidden Note (2025): Finn Cross enters a battle of secrets with a young woman whose heart condition has not stopped her from manipulating events around The Kings.
The Alien Warrior’s Choice is not assigned a firm date in this chronology because its release information and exact series placement are less consistently documented than the principal novels.
Recommended Reading Paths
Nelia Alarcon’s books should not be combined into one continuous reading marathon. Choose the branch that matches the kind of romance you want.
For Dark Bully Romance
- The Darkest Note
- The Ruthless Note
- The Broken Note
- The Forbidden Note
- The Silent Note
- The Hidden Note
This path preserves every Redwood relationship, reveal, and change in the Cross family’s power.
For Alien Romance
- The Alien Warrior’s Mate
- The Alien Warrior’s Woman
- The Alien Warrior’s Heart
- The Alien Warrior’s Vow
- Made for the Alien Warrior
Add The Alien Warrior’s Choice as optional supplementary reading.
For the Lowest Commitment
Begin with The Alien Warrior’s Mate when you want a romance that changes couples in the next installment.
The Redwood books require a larger commitment. Dutch’s romance lasts three books, Zane’s lasts two, and Finn’s novel begins another continuing mystery.
Which Nelia Alarcon Series Is Complete?
Plutonian Warriors
The original Plutonian Warriors sequence is complete at four books:
- The Alien Warrior’s Mate
- The Alien Warrior’s Woman
- The Alien Warrior’s Heart
- The Alien Warrior’s Vow
Redwood Kings
Redwood Kings is complete at five books:
- The Darkest Note
- The Ruthless Note
- The Broken Note
- The Forbidden Note
- The Silent Note
Completing Redwood Kings does not end the broader Redwood continuity. That world continues in Redwood Secrets.
Redwood Secrets
Redwood Secrets is ongoing.
Only The Hidden Note has been reliably confirmed as a published installment as of July 18, 2026. The book leaves some series-level questions unresolved for later entries.
Mates for the Plutonians
Made for the Alien Warrior was released as the first book in this successor series.
No additional title has been confirmed clearly enough to include here as a published or scheduled second installment.
Latest Nelia Alarcon Book
The latest confirmed Nelia Alarcon release is The Hidden Note, published in December 2025.
The Hidden Note (2025): Finn Cross turns to an intelligent heart patient for help as The Kings move deeper into a dangerous underworld, only to discover that she has her own plans for him.
The book begins Redwood Secrets and follows the completed five-book Redwood Kings series. It should therefore be treated as the sixth step in the overall Redwood reading route, not as an independent introduction.
No later title or firm release date has been confirmed reliably enough to add to the order as of July 18, 2026.
Content and Continuity Notes
The Redwood books are dark romances containing bullying, unequal power dynamics, violence, criminal activity, manipulation, and taboo or forbidden relationships.
The Forbidden Note and The Silent Note involve both a teacher-student dynamic and a step-sibling connection. Readers sensitive to those elements should review the author’s detailed content guidance before beginning the two-book arc.
The Plutonian books include alien abduction, captivity, threats of forced reproduction, violence, warfare, and survival situations. Their overall romantic structure is lighter and more self-contained than the continuing Redwood arcs, but the premises still involve coercive dangers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Nelia Alarcon’s first book?
The Alien Warrior’s Mate (2020): A human woman facing sale at an alien auction is rescued by a mysterious Plutonian warrior.
It is the earliest confirmed novel in her current bibliography and the first Plutonian Warriors book.
What is Nelia Alarcon’s most popular series?
Redwood Kings is her best-known series and begins with The Darkest Note.
It follows the Cross brothers, their band The Kings, and the dangerous social world surrounding Redwood Prep.
Do The Darkest Note, The Ruthless Note, and The Broken Note follow the same couple?
Yes.
The three books form one continuous romance centered on Dutch. They should be read consecutively rather than treated as interconnected standalones.
Do The Forbidden Note and The Silent Note follow the same couple?
Yes.
They form Zane’s two-book relationship arc. The Silent Note is a direct continuation and should not be read first.
Is The Hidden Note Redwood Kings Book 6?
Not officially.
It is Redwood Secrets Book 1, but it continues the same broader world after the five Redwood Kings novels. For practical reading purposes, it comes sixth in the complete Redwood sequence.
Can The Hidden Note be read first?
It is not recommended.
The novel assumes familiarity with Finn, his brothers, The Kings, Redwood Prep, and the criminal dangers established in Redwood Kings.
Does The Hidden Note end on a cliffhanger?
Finn’s central couple receives a romantic resolution, but the wider Redwood Secrets storyline remains open.
Readers should expect unanswered series-level questions rather than a completely closed fictional world.
Are the alien books connected to Redwood Kings?
No.
The alien romances and Redwood Prep books belong to separate genres and continuities.
Must the Plutonian Warriors books be read in order?
They feature different couples and can be followed more independently than the Redwood novels.
Publication order is still recommended because the alien world and ongoing conflict develop from one book to the next.
Is Made for the Alien Warrior Plutonian Warriors Book 5?
No.
It is the first Mates for the Plutonians book. Read it after the four Plutonian Warriors novels, but keep its separate series label.
Where should a new reader begin?
Start with The Darkest Note for dark high-school bully romance and a long connected saga.
Start with The Alien Warrior’s Mate for science-fiction romance with a new central couple in each installment.
Final Order
For the complete Redwood experience, read The Darkest Note, The Ruthless Note, and The Broken Note for Dutch’s arc. Continue with The Forbidden Note and The Silent Note for Zane, then begin Redwood Secrets with The Hidden Note for Finn.
For the alien-romance side of the bibliography, begin with The Alien Warrior’s Mate and complete the four Plutonian Warriors books before reading Made for the Alien Warrior. Keep the Redwood and Plutonian books separate, because no story connection exists between those worlds.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.