Category Archives: Entries

Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore

Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore

Dylan and her adored French mother dream of one day sailing across the ocean to France. Paris, Dylan imagines, is a place where her black skin won’t stand out, a place she might feel she belongs. But when she loses her mother in a freak accident, Dylan finds herself on a very different journey: a road trip across outback Australia in the care of her mother’s grieving boyfriend, Pat. As they travel through remote towns further and further from the water Dylan longs for, she and Pat form an unlikely bond. One that will be broken when he leaves her with the family she has never… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Internalised racism & racial slurs
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent

Hard Rain by Irma Venter

Hard Rain by Irma Venter

Journalist Alex Derksen’s new assignment in Tanzania should be easy, but he soon finds himself on the wrong side of the news. It starts when he meets Ranna, a beautiful photographer with something to hide. Alex stopped believing in love a long time ago, yet here in the middle of East Africa, it’s found him again. Alex knows a thing or two about chaos—wherever he goes, it follows. When an IT billionaire washes up onshore after seasonal flooding, he finds himself at the center of an investigation with Ranna as the main suspect. It turns out she may have a good reason for hiding… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder
  • Stalking

Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas

Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas

Wedding planner Avery Crosslin may be a rising star in Houston society, but she doesn’t believe in love—at least not for herself. When she meets wealthy bachelor Joe Travis and mistakes him for a wedding photographer, she has no intention of letting him sweep her off her feet. But Joe is a man who goes after what he wants, and Avery can’t resist the temptation of a sexy southern charmer and a hot summer evening. After a one night stand, however, Avery is determined to keep it from happening again. A man like Joe can only mean trouble for a woman like her, and she can’t afford… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • High-risk pregnancy
  • Childbirth

See Me After Class by Meghan Quinn

See Me After Class by Meghan Quinn

Good question. I’d like to preface this by saying it was never my intention to ever get involved in a workplace romance, let alone get involved with the most surly, agitating, and pompous man I’ve ever met who just so happens to be my new friend’s brother. My intentions were to show students how English and reading books could actually be fun and make a new life for myself in the suburbs of Chicago. But so far, I’ve managed to be called into the principal’s office. Coerced into participating in the teacher’s badminton league. And instigated into passionate fights with Arlo Turner over education and decorum while losing my underwear at the same time.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Self-harm (cutting)

Shadow Music by Julie Garwood

Shadow Music by Julie Garwood

Prized for her exquisite beauty, Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel, the daughter of one of England’s most influential barons, is a perfect bargaining chip for a king who needs peace in the Highlands: King John has arranged Gabrielle’s marriage to a good and gentle laird. But this marriage will never take place. Upon her arrival in Scotland, Gabrielle is immediately entangled in Highland intrigue, as a battle royal flares between enemies old and new. For two sadistic noblemen, underestimating Gabrielle’s bravery and prowess may prove fatal. Colm MacHugh, the most feared man in Scotland, makes no such mistakes about the captivating princess. Under his penetrating gaze, neither Gabrielle’s body nor her heart is safe.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

Beastars, Volume 1 by Paru Itagaki

Beastars, Vol. 1 by Paru Itagaki

At this high school, instead of jocks and nerds, the students are divided into predators and prey. At a high school where the students are literally divided into predators and prey, it’s personal relationships that maintain the fragile peace. Who among them is a Beastar—an academic and social role model destined to become a leader in a society naturally rife with mistrust?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Physical assault

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing. It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Murder
  • Torture

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

Near the island of Black Conch, a fisherman sings to himself while waiting for a catch. But David attracts a sea-dweller that he never expected – Aycayia, an innocent young woman cursed by jealous wives to live as a mermaid. When American tourists capture Aycayia, David rescues her and vows to win her trust. Slowly, painfully, she transforms into a woman again. Yet as their love grows, they discover that the world around them is changing – and they cannot escape the curse for ever…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Racism
  • Attempted suicide
  • Genocide

Cash Plays by Cordelia Kingsbridge

Cash Plays by Cordelia Kingsbridge

The Seven of Spades is back with a vengeance—the vigilante serial killer has resumed their murderous crusade, eluding the police at every turn. But a bloodthirsty killer isn’t the only threat facing Sin City. A devious saboteur is wreaking havoc in Las Vegas’s criminal underworld, and the entire city seems to be barreling toward an all-out gang war. As Detective Levi Abrams is pushed ever closer to his breaking point, his control over his dangerous rage slips further every day. His relationship with PI Dominic Russo should be a source of comfort, but Dominic is secretly locked in his own downward spiral, confronting a night… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Homomisia
  • Physical abuse
  • Gambling addiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Dead bodies
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Fire

The Door in the Alley by Adrienne Kress

The Door in the Alley by Adrienne Kress

This is one of those stories that start with a pig in a teeny hat. It’s not the one you’re thinking about. (This story is way better than that one. This pig-in-a-teeny-hat story starts when a very uninquisitive boy stumbles upon a very mysterious society. After that, there is danger and adventure; there are missing persons, hired thugs, a hidden box, a lost map, and famous explorers; and also a girl on a rescue mission.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent in a car crash
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Disappearance of a grandparent