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This Is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang

This Is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang

Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship—as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his best friend is colored with doubt.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape
Suicide
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Smoking
Death of a mother in a car accident
Physical assault
Fire

The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez by Peter Johnson

The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez by Peter Johnson

Everyone thinks Benny Alvarez is Mr. Negativity. According to Benny, he’s just realistic about seeing the “other side” of things — when it comes to just about everything. But maybe there’s another way to deal with the things Benny can’t control — like his ailing grandfather, his wild younger brother, and the know-it-all girls at school. In this poignant novel about acceptance, Benny Alvarez will have to decide… is the glass half empty or half full?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Death of a pet dog

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it—until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls—beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard—has disappeared.

A year later, Anna is still missing. Ella is wracked with guilt over what she failed to do, and she’s not the only one who can’t forget. Someone is sending her threatening letters—letters that make her fear for her life… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexual assault
Eating disorders
Self harm

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest.

With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the result will be independence — with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile. And there is also the matter of a tiny clipping from The Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports Jamie’s death, along with his kin. For once, he hopes, his time-traveling family may be wrong about the future.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery
Rape
Sexual assault
Sexual harassment
Attempted suicide
Suicidal ideation
Death of a pregnant woman
Murder
Torture
Kidnapping
Arson

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

When Margaret Hale’s father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience she is forced to leave her comfortable home in the tranquil countryside of Hampshire and move with her family to the fictional industrial town of Milton in the north of England. Though at first disgusted by her new surroundings, she witnesses the brutality wrought by the Industrial Revolution and becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers. Sympathetic to the poor she makes friends among them and develops a fervent sense of social justice. She clashes with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, who is contemptuous of his workers. However, their fierce opposition masks a deeper attraction.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Suicide
Death of a friend
Death of a parent

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child abuse
Sexual assault mentioned
Substance addiction
Recreational drug use & abuse
Blood & physical injury depiction
Hospital
Needles
Emesis
Death of a parent
Murder
Gun violence
Immolation
Torture
Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
Drowning mentioned
Kidnapping
War & rebellion themes, including child soldiers (themes)

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion . . . she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.

Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Cheating
Graphic emesis
Food poisoning

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Marital rape
Child sexual abuse
Parental neglect
Suicide mentioned
Domestic violence
Drug abuse
Stillbirth
Murder
Cults

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader’s wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel – the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery
Colonialism
Racism & racial slurs
Rape
Arranged marriage
Substance addiction
Drug abuse
Death of a child
Kidnapping
Fire
War themes

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that.

But in this world, there are two moons in the sky.

In this world, the fates of two people, Tengo and Aomame, are closely intertwined. They are each, in their own way, doing something very dangerous. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both.

Something extraordinary is starting.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child abuse
Domestic violence
Blood & gore depiction
Needles & syringes
Hospital
Death of a parent
Animal death