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The Only by Katherine Applegate

The Only by Katherine Applegate

In the beginning, Byx’s original quest was to discover if there were more of her kind, or if she was destined to become an endling—the last dairne alive. She did indeed find more dairnes, and along the way she also created allies among other creatures in her world, including humans, felivets, raptidons, and wobbyks.

But Byx and her new friends soon learned that it wasn’t just dairnes in jeopardy of extinction, but that everyone was at risk. With the world in unprecedented danger, Byx must rally creatures of all kinds to lead a revolution.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery
Murder
Knife violence & stabbing
Hostage situation
Battle scenes
Animal attack
Animal death

Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony

Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony

It’s early one morning on a hot day in August, and millennial congressman Alexander Paine Wilson (R), planning his first reelection campaign and in deep denial about his sexuality, receives a mysterious, over-sized FedEx delivery on his front stoop. Inside is a gigantic taxidermied aardvark.

This outrageous, edge-of-your-seat novel hurtles between contemporary Washington, DC, where Wilson tries to get rid of the unsightly beast before it destroys his career, and Victorian England–where we meet Titus Downing, the taxidermist who stuffed the aardvark, and Richard Ostlet, the naturalist who hunted her. Our present world, we begin to see, has been shaped in profound and disturbing ways by the secret that binds these men.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Racism
Sexism
Blood & gore depiction
Eye horror

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s seven volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope and joy, achievement and celebration. In this first volume of her autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evoker her childhood with her grandmother in the American South of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother’s lover.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial slurs
White supremacy & mentions of the Klu Klux Klan
Sexism
Rape of a child
Sexual assault
Chronic bronchitis
Alcohol consumption
Smoking
Dead body
Murder
Physical assault

Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Ann Angel

Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Ann Angel

Forty years after her death, Janis Joplin remains among the most compelling and influential figures in rock-and-roll history. Her story is one of a girl who struggled against rules and limitations, yet worked diligently to improve as a singer. It’s the story of an outrageous rebel who wanted to be loved, and of a wild woman who wrote long, loving letters to her mom. And finally, it’s the story of one of the most iconic female musicians in American history, who died at twenty-seven.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Overdose

Semper Fi by Keira Andrews

Semper Fi by Keira Andrews

As Marines, Cal and Jim depended on each other to survive bloodshed and despair in the Pacific. Relieved to put the horrors of war behind him, Jim went home to his apple orchard and a quiet life with his wife and children. Knowing Jim could never return his forbidden feelings, Cal hoped time would dull the yearning for his best friend.

But when Jim’s wife dies, Cal returns to help. He doesn’t know a thing about apple farming—or children—but he’s determined to be there for Jim, even as the painful torch he carries blazes back to life. Jim is grateful for his friend’s support as he struggles with buried emotions and dark wartime memories. Then Jim begins to see Cal in a new light, and their relationship deepens in ways neither expected. Can they build a life together as a family?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a wife
War themes & military service

Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews

Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews

Troy Tanner walks out on his boy band’s world tour rather than watching his little brother snort his life away. Screw it. He’ll take a private jet home and figure out his life away from the spotlight.

But Troy doesn’t make it home.

The plane crashes on a jungle island in the South Pacific. Forget dodging the paparazzi—now Troy’s desperate for food and water. The turquoise ocean and white sand beach looks like paradise, but danger lurks everywhere. Thank God the pilot survived too. At least Troy’s not alone. He has Brian… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Substance addiction
Drug abuse

Kidnapped by the Pirate by Keira Andrews

Kidnapped by the Pirate by Keira Andrews

Nathaniel Bainbridge is used to hiding, whether it’s concealing his struggles with reading or his forbidden desire for men. Under the thumb of his controlling father, the governor of Primrose Isle, he’s sailing to the fledging colony, where he’ll surrender to a respectable marriage for his family’s financial gain. Then pirates strike and he’s kidnapped for ransom by the Sea Hawk, a legendary villain of the New World.

Bitter and jaded, Hawk harbors futile dreams of leaving the sea for a quiet life, but men like him don’t deserve peace. He has a score to settle with Nathaniel’s father—the very man whose treachery forced him into piracy—and he’s sure Nathaniel is just as contemptible… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Internalised homomisia
Kidnapping

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.

Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Recreational drug use
Cancer (leukemia)

Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews

Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews

Shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau may be a powerful healer and magic user, but she’s far from what might be called “normal”. She dislikes the violence and bloodshed that are a way of life for most of her kind, even going so far as to become a vegetarian. The last thing she wants is trouble…

Jim Shrapshire is an original, hardcore badass. A jaguar shifter, he’s been tasked with keeping Atlanta’s Cat Clan in line, which he does with swift and lethal force when necessary. His only soft spot is for the petite Dali, whose kindness he calls upon when he is injured… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood & gore depiction
Death of a child recounted
Car accident recounted

Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

Scarred, solitary Derek Gaunt has separated from his Pack, and is truly a lone wolf. With no family he answers to no one; but is fiercely loyal to a chosen few. So, when several of those close to him are murdered, he’ll stop at nothing to hunt their killer through the magic-drenched streets of Atlanta.

Never one to be left on the sidelines, equally determined—some might say stubborn—Julie Lennart-Olsen soon joins in his pursuit; and what began as revenge turns into a race to save the city. Their search pits them against powers they never imagined and magic so old, it predates history. It may cost Derek his life, but there are things for which even he would risk everything.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape mentioned
Blood & gore depiction
Murder