The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club by Alex Bell

The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club by Alex Bell

It sounded like a respectable and worthy enough death for an explorer – tumbling from an ice bridge to be impaled upon a mammoth tusk – but Stella really, really didn’t want that to happen, just the same.

Join Stella Starflake Pearl and her three fellow explorers as they trek across the snowy Icelands and come face-to-face with frost fairies, snow queens, outlaw hideouts, unicorns, pygmy dinosaurs and carnivorous cabbages . . .

When Stella and three other junior explorers get separated from their expedition can they cross the frozen wilderness and live to tell the tale?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Frostbite
  • Amputation
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The Haunting by Alex Bell

The Haunting by Alex Bell

Some curses grow stronger with time…People say that all Cornish inns are haunted, but the Waterwitch’s history is particularly chilling. Built from the salvaged timber of a cursed ship, the guest house’s dark secrets go further back than anyone can remember.

Emma is permanently confined to a wheelchair after an accident at the Waterwitch which took place when she was ten. Seven years later, she decides to return to the place where the awful event occurred. But the ancient inn still has its ghosts, and one particular spirit is more vengeful than ever…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Domestic violence
  • Self harm
  • Body horror
  • Serious physical injury recounted
  • Burns
  • Death of a grandparent
  • Death of a parent
  • Torture recounted
  • Animal injury
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Under the Magnolias by T. I. Lowe

Under the Magnolias by T. I. Lowe

Under the Magnolias by T. I. Lowe

Magnolia, South Carolina, 1980
Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness.

Scratching out a living on the family’s tobacco farm is as tough as it gets. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters’ hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia’s most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it’s next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin’s desperate attempts to save face all but break her.

Just when it seems she might have something more waiting for her–with the son of a wealthy local family who she’s crushed on for years–her father makes a choice that will crack wide-open the family’s secrets and lead to a public reckoning. There are consequences for loving a boy like Vance Cumberland, but there is also freedom in the truth.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted suicde
  • Bipolar disorder
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Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

When fifteen-year-old Sophie’s best friend dies abruptly under mysterious circumstances, Sophie sets off to stay with her uncle and cousins on the remote Isle of Skye. It’s been years since she last saw her cousins — brooding Cameron with his scarred hand; Piper, who seems too perfect to be real; and peculiar little Lilias with her fear of bones.

Sophie knows that in her uncle’s house, there are rules she must follow: Make no mention of Cameron’s accident. Never leave the front gate unlocked. Above all, don’t speak of the girl who’s no longer there, the sister whose room lies empty of all but the strange antique dolls she left behind… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Fire recounted
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The Revenant by Michael Punke

The Revenant by Michael Punke

The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke

Rocky Mountains, 1823. The trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is one of the most respected men in the company, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker.But when a scouting mission puts Glass face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two men from the company are ordered to remain with him until his inevitable death. But, fearing an imminent attack, they abandon Glass, stripping him of his prized rifle and hatchet.

As Glass watches the men flee, he is driven to survive by one all-consuming desire: revenge. With shocking grit and determination, he sets out on a three-thousand-mile journey across the harsh American frontier, to seek revenge on the men who betrayed him.

The Revenant is a remarkable tale of obsession and the lengths that one man will go to for retribution.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny and sexism
  • Racism and racial slurs
  • Sex worker shaming and slurs
  • Abuse, neglect and abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Dead bodies and body parts
  • Decapitation
  • Physical injury and wounds
  • Medical treatment, including surgery
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Gun violence
  • Scars
  • Imprisonment and captivity
  • Starvation and dehydration depiction
  • Blizzard
  • Animal death
  • Hunting
  • Colonialism themes
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One Last Chance by Therese Beharrie

One Last Chance by Therese Beharrie

Six years ago, Zoey Roux secretly married her best friend Sawyer. But all that did was destroy the best relationship she’s ever had. They went their separate ways, but Zoey never could go through with a divorce. Seeing him again at her sister’s charity event is a shock, but also enlightening: no matter how much she still loves him, it’s time to let him go.

Zoey was Sawyer Wilson’s first love. She broke his heart, but his feelings never died. Love was never their issue—only timing. Seeing her again is a shock: in a perfect world, she would run back into his arms. Instead, she’s asking for a divorce. But a lot can happen in twenty-four hours and a second chance might just lead to happily ever after.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Panic attack
  • Parent with dementia mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a grandparent
  • Death of a father from a brain tumour recounted
  • Bullying recounted
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Second Chance with Her Billionaire by Therese Beharrie

Second Chance with Her Billionaire by Therese Beharrie

From I don’t to I do?

Summer Bishop knew her parents’ anniversary party in stunning South Africa would be hard. Spending the weekend with her gorgeous ex-husband, Wyatt Montgomery, reminds Summer of their painful divorce but also – inconveniently – why she fell in love with him…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Parental abandonment
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Parent with alcoholism, including near-death by alcohol poisoning recounted
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One Day to Fall by Therese Beharrie

One Day to Fall by Therese Beharrie

She should be at her “perfect” sister’s bedside, awaiting the arrival of the newest member of her family. But the thought of spending hours at the hospital with her suffocating relatives has Sophia hailing the first taxi she sees. Only to realise too late that the man at the wheel of her getaway car is the most unpleasant one she’s ever had the misfortune to meet.

Parker Jones, the handsome yet surly driver in question, is used to dealing with baggage of the family variety. And it just so happens he’s in need of temporary escape from his own. Witty banter with a beautiful—if exasperating—woman while chauffeuring her around the city on a gorgeous spring day makes for an ideal break from reality.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Childbirth
  • Surgery
  • Parent with dementia
  • Death of a parent from a brain tumour mentioned
  • Car accident mentioned
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A Wedding One Christmas by Therese Beharrie

A Wedding One Christmas by Therese Beharrie

Caledon, South Africa, is supposed to be just a stop on the way to Christmas in Cape Town, part of Angie’s long-avoided homecoming. She never expected to star in a bizarre comedy of errors, but here she is: convincing a handsome stranger to be her fake boyfriend for the day.

Ezra Johnson, the handsome stranger in question, turns out to be a pleasant distraction from both the wedding and thoughts of her first family Christmas without her father. And he seems to loathe weddings just as much as she does. He’s the perfect temporary companion.

But a lot can happen in twenty-four hours. Including a connection so strong it tempts them both into thinking of something more permanent…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Pregnancy
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father from a brain tumour recounted
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Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Transmisia
  • Deadnaming
  • Racism
  • Parental physical abuse
  • War themes
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