A Really Nice Prom Mess by Brian Sloan

A Really Nice Prom Mess by Brian Sloan

Cameron doesn’t want to go to prom. Not with his boyfriend, Shane, and definitely not with his fake date, Virginia. Sure, it’s senior prom, it’s the end of high school, and Virginia’s drop-dead gorgeous. But none of that matters to Cam, who’s never liked any high school dance. Ever.

Then an unexpected kiss changes everything, and Cam needs to make a quick exit. After teaming up with a waiter who’s been dealing drugs in the bathroom, Cam leaves the prom. But his night is far from over. From a high-speed car chase, to a stop at the after-prom party, to a bar with a wild dance contest… Cam’s night finally ends in the most unlikely of romances.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Emesis
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Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Emily Bell has it all. She’s in love with a boy named Sam Border, and his little brother has become part of her family. This summer is destined to be the best time of their lives–until a charismatic new girl in town sets her sights on Sam. Now Emily finds herself questioning the loyalty of the person she thought she could trust most.

But the biggest threat to her happiness is someone she never saw coming. Sam’s criminally insane father, whom everyone thought they’d finally left behind, is planning a jailbreak. And he knows exactly where to find Emily and his sons when he escapes…and takes his revenge. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death recounted
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To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan & Meg Wolitzer

Avery Bloom, who’s bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who’s fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads.

When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends–and possibly, one day, even sisters… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Anxiety
  • Boating accident
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Counting by Sevens by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life…until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Infertility & miscarriage mentioned
  • Blood depiction
  • Hospitalisation mentioned
  • Coma
  • Death of a parent in a car accident
  • Vietnam War mentioned
  • Poverty themes
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The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

It’s been almost a year since Sila’s mother traveled halfway around the world to Turkey, hoping to secure the immigration paperwork that would allow her to return to her family in the United States.

The long separation is almost impossible for Sila to withstand. But things change when Sila accompanies her father outside their Oregon town to fix a truck. There, behind an enormous stone wall, she meets a grandfatherly man who only months before won the state lottery. Their new alliance leads to the rescue of a circus elephant named Veda, and then to a friendship with an unusual boy named Mateo, proving that comfort and hope come in the most unlikely of places.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Terminal cancer
  • Death of a wife recounted
  • Graphic animal abuse, neglect & cruelty, including the use of electric prods
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Home After Dark by David Small

Home After Dark by David Small

Thirteen-year-old Russell Pruitt, abandoned by his mother, follows his father to sun-splashed California in search of a dream. Suddenly forced to fend for himself, Russell struggles to survive in Marshfield, a dilapidated town haunted by a sadistic animal killer and a ring of malicious boys who bully Russell. Rescued from his booze-swilling father by Wen and Jian Mah, a Chinese immigrant couple who long for a child, Russell betrays their generosity by running away with their restaurant’s proceeds.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Queermisia
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death
  • Animal abuse
  • Bullying
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Stitches by David Small

Stitches by David Small

One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had throat cancer and was expected to die.

Readers will be riveted by his journey from speechless victim, subjected to X-rays by his radiologist father and scolded by his withholding and tormented mother, to his decision to flee his home at sixteen with nothing more than dreams of becoming an artist.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Emotional & verbal child abuse
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Cancer
  • Surgery
  • Fire
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Bright Burning Stars by AK Small

Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small

Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood, where they’ve formed an inseparable bond forged by respective family tragedies and a fierce love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves what they would do to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera’s prestigious corps de ballet. Would they die? Cheat? Seduce the most talented boy in the school, dubbed the Demigod, hoping his magic would make them shine, too? Neither girl is sure… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Eating disorder (anorexia)
  • Restrictive & disordered eating (theme)
  • Disordered food & weight thoughts
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Self harm
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Body dysmorphia
  • Abortion
  • Death from starvation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sibling
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Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley

Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley

Nate never imagined that he would be attacked by his best friend, Cam.

Now, Nate is being called to deliver a sworn statement that will get Cam convicted. The problem is, the real story isn’t that easy or convenient—just like Nate and Cam’s friendship. Cam challenged Nate on every level from the day the boys met. He pushed him to break the rules, to dream, and to accept himself. But Nate—armed with a fierce moral code and conflicted by his own beliefs—started to push back. With each push, Nate and Cam moved closer to each other—but also spiraled closer to their breaking points.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Internalised bimisia
  • Hate crimes
  • Cheating
  • Panic attack
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Stabbing
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The Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton

The Million Pieces of Neena Gill by Emma Smith-Barton

Neena’s always been a good girl – great grades, parent-approved friends and absolutely no boyfriends. But ever since her brother Akash left her, she’s been slowly falling apart – and uncovering a new version of herself who is freer, but altogether more dangerous.

As her wild behaviour spirals more and more out of control, Neena’s grip on her sanity begins to weaken too. And when her parents announce not one but two life-changing bombshells, she finally reaches breaking point. But as Neena is about to discover, when your life falls apart, only love can piece you back together.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Anxiety
  • Panic attacks
  • Psychosis & psychotic episode
  • Depression
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Suicide discussed
  • Disappearance of a loved one
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