Guardians of the Taiga by StacyPlays

Stacy was raised by wolves. She’s never needed humans to survive and, from what she sees of humans, they’re dangerous and unpredictable. For as long as she can remember, Stacy’s pack of six powerful, playful wolves—Addison, Basil, Everest, Noah, Tucker and Wink—have been her only family. Together, Stacy’s pack patrols the forest to keep other animals safe, relying on her wits and each wolf’s unique abilities to accomplish risky rescue missions. But as the forest changes and new dangers begin lurking, are Stacy and the wolves prepared for the perils that await them?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Forest fire
  • Animal attack
  • Animal injury

Painted Scars by Neva Altaj

Nina: Charming, captivating, and seductive, and a cold-blooded killer. But I married the Pakhan of the Russian Bratva anyway. I had to. It was part of the deal. Now, I’m faking marital bliss, As I tremble with fear, And I cannot wait to be out of the clutches of this ruthless man. Roman: I get anything I desire. And I want this perfectly imperfect little manipulator. The way she can deceive anyone into believing she’s crazy in love with me, just makes me want her even more. She doesn’t know it yet, but I am not letting her go. The deal – is off.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted (off-page)
  • Arranged marriage
  • Organised crime (bratva/mafia)
  • Severe physical injury (leg)*
  • Murder & attempted murder

*Context: The protagonist uses a wheelchair while he is in physical therapy/recovery for a severe leg injury sustained during an attempted assassination.

Base Notes by Lara Elena Donnelly

In New York City everybody needs a side hustle, and perfumer Vic Fowler has developed a delicate art that has proved to be very creating bespoke scents that evoke immersive memories—memories that, for Vic’s clients, are worth killing for. But the city is expensive, and these days even artisanal murder doesn’t pay the bills. When Joseph Eisner, a former client with deep pockets, offers Vic an opportunity to expand the enterprise, the money is too good to turn down. But the job is too intricate—and too dangerous—to attempt alone. Manipulating fellow struggling… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Strangulation
  • Blackmail

The Summer of Christmas by Juliet and Keith Giglio

Ivy Green, an up-and-coming screenwriter, can only watch as her life is turned upside down. Her script, based on her love story with her high school sweetheart, Nick Shepherd—who broke up with her days before Christmas five years ago—is being filmed in her hometown! In the middle of summer, during the month of July, the production crew creates a winter wonderland Christmas. Now back home, Ivy is forced to face Nick for the first time, which he isn’t too happy about. To complicate matters, Ivy isn’t sure of her relationship with the producer, the town… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Boating accidnet

Iron Crowne by C.D. Reiss

Byron Crowne is a gentleman on the outside, and a pure savage on the inside. I detest him. I can’t resist him. He’s awakened desires I didn’t know I had. When he touches me, I need to fight him . . . and I need him to win. Our one night stand bruises my skin and leaves dents in the walls, but the sheets aren’t the only thing we shred that night. And suddenly, the stakes are higher than ever. Olivia Monroe lights a fire in me that died a long time ago. I’m a different man when I’m with her. I need to own her, take her, mark her as mine. Everything changes when she might be pregnant… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-harm
  • Drowning

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

My Body is a profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of men’s treatment of women and women’s rationalizations for accepting that treatment. These essays chronicle moments from Ratajkowski’s life while investigating the culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for women’s sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the gray area between consent and abuse. Nuanced, fierce, and incisive, My Body marks the debut of a writer brimming with courage and intelligence.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & misogyny
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Disordered eating
  • Overdose
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Stalking

The Conjoined by Jen Sookfong Lee

On a sunny May morning, social worker Jessica Campbell sorts through her mother’s belongings after her recent funeral. In the basement, she makes a shocking discovery — two dead girls curled into the bottom of her mother’s chest freezers. She remembers a pair of foster children who lived with the family in 1988: Casey and Jamie Cheng — troubled, beautiful, and wild teenaged sisters from Vancouver’s Chinatown. After six weeks, they disappeared; social workers, police officers, and Jessica herself assumed they had run away. As Jessica learns more about Casey… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Adult-minor relationship (a forty-year-old man and a teenage girl)
  • Domestic violence
  • Miscarriage
  • Terminal cancer
  • Death of a parent

The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale

When Zoe Ann Weiss moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, her whole future is wide open. But then Zach, the bartender and aspiring actor she’s falling for, ghosts her. Her debut novel, a thriller, fails. And she has writer’s block worse than ever before. Now, three years later, Zach is famous and Zoe is… not. She’s facing her thirtieth birthday, a dead-end job at a flower shop, and a demanding agent, terrified she’ll never get her life back on track. But when she goes to make a flower delivery and Zach is at the address, it’s like no time has passed at all.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Kidnapping & stalking
  • Gun violence

Maybe This Time by Cara Bastone

Romance can be a little complicated when you get sucked into a wormhole. Just ask high school English teacher June Flint. One little solar flare happens and suddenly you find yourself 85 years in the future. Eighty-five years from your dream job. Your ailing mother whose only companion in this world is you. Your favorite stuffed-crust pizza from DeLucia… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Workplace homophobia & racism recounted
  • Anxiety
  • Parent with degenerative memory issues
  • Death of a parent recounted

Love at First Psych by Cara Bastone

This Psych 312 assignment just might send me off the deep end. Determining whether love at first sight really exists with Robbie Moravian as my project partner of all people? He’s the sappiest man alive, so upbeat I could scream, and clearly rooting for happy endings at every turn. How does he not learn from experience considering our own meet-cute last semester almost got us expelled? But we both need to pass… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Divorce (secondary characters)
  • Parent in cancer remission mentioned