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A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

With A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens created a modern fairy tale and shaped our ideas of Christmas. The tale of the solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of the season by a series of ghostly visitors and given a second chance, was conjured up by Dickens during one of his London night walks, who “wept and laughed” as he composed it. Taken to readers’ hearts for its humour, compassion and message of redemption, it remains its best-loved book.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use (smoking)

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille the aging Dr Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil lanes of London, they are all drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror and soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Graphic child sexual abuse
Rape
Beheading
Murder
Gun violence
Imprisonment

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Drug overdose
Terminal illness
Death of an infant
Murder
Blackmail

Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough

Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough

Marcie’s affair with Jason Maddox catapulted her into the world of the elite. Old money, old ties, old secrets. Marcie may have married into this world — but she’ll never be part of it.

Then Jason’s boss brings back a new wife from his trip to London. Young, attractive, reckless — nobody can take their eyes off Keisha. Including Marcie’s husband.

Some people would kill for the life Marcie has—what will she do to keep it?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Fatmisia & body shaming
Misogyny
Classism
Slut shaming
Sex work shaming
Rape (on-page)
Domestic abuse
Child abuse
Cheating recounted
Drug addiction
Nightmares
Suicide
Alcohol consumption
Pregnancy
Murder

13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough

13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough

They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you’re a teenage girl, it’s hard to tell them apart.

Natasha doesn’t remember how she ended up in the icy water that night, but she does know this—it wasn’t an accident, and she wasn’t suicidal. Her two closest friends are acting strangely, and Natasha turns to Becca, the best friend she dumped years before when she got popular, to help her figure out what happened.

Natasha’s sure that her friends love her. But does that mean they didn’t try to kill her?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Queermisia
Slut shaming
Statutory rape
Memory loss
Eating disorder

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The very married man from the bar… who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.

And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Rape by coercion
Adult-minor relationship recounted
Domestic violence
Cheating
Abortion
Sleep disorder & night terrors
Substance addiction
Recreational drug use
Overdose
Alcohol consumption
Psychiatric hospital
Burns
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a wife
Death of a mother
Murder & attempted murder
Stalking
Fire recounted
Graphic animal death & death of a pet

The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood

The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood

Zee is nobody’s fairy tale princess. Almost six-foot, with a redhead’s temper and a shattered hip, she has a long list of worries: never-ending bills, her beautiful, gullible sister, her five-year-old nephew, her housebound mother, and her drug-dealing boss.

Zee may not be a princess, but Gentry is an actual knight, complete with sword, armor, and a code of honor. Two years ago the voices he hears called him to be Zee’s champion. Both shy and autistic, he’s barely spoken to her since, but he has kept watch, ready to come to her aid… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial slurs
Hoarding Disorder
Alcohol abuse
Recreational drug abuse
Gun violence
Kidnapping
Car accident

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens — until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town’s residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state’s best witness, but she can’t remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Abusive relationship
Suicide
Blood depiction
Murder
School shooting (theme)
Gun violence
Explosion (car bomb)
Car accident
Imprisonment
Bullying

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

One day June Nealon was happily anticipating a lifetime of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. Waiting for a miracle to happen.

For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens one day that changes everything for him. Now he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June’s twelve-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes and the rage of a mother who has lost her child.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Fatmisia & body shaming
Sexual assault

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith

Aurelia is a princess, but they call her a witch. Surrounded by spirits and burdened with forbidden magic, she lives in constant fear of discovery by the witch-hunting Tribunal and their bloodthirsty mobs. When a devastating assassination attempt reveals her magical abilities, Aurelia is forced to flee her country with nothing but her life.

Alone and adrift in an enemy kingdom, Aurelia plans her revenge against the Tribunal, desperate to bring down the dark organization that has wrought terror upon her people for hundreds of years. But there’s something deeply amiss in her new home, too, and soon she finds herself swept into a deadly new mystery with a secretive prince, the ghost of an ancient queen, and a poison vine called Bloodleaf.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexual assault
Suicide
Self harm
Blood & gore depiction
Murder*
Knife violence
Poisoning
Graphic animal death

*Note: This include the murder of a pregnant woman where the baby survives.