The Girl and the Grove by Eric Smith

The Girl & the Grove by Eric Smith

Teenager Leila’s life is full of challenges. From bouncing around the foster care system to living with seasonal affective disorder, she’s never had an easy road. Leila keeps herself busy with her passion for environmental advocacy, monitoring the Urban Ecovists message board and joining a local environmental club with her best friend Sarika. And now that Leila has finally been adopted, she dares to hope her life will improve.

But the voices in Leila’s head are growing louder by the day. Ignoring them isn’t working anymore. Something calls out to her from the grove at Fairmount Park.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Seasonal Affective Disorder
  • Depression
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Blood depiction
  • Bullying recounted
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Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith

Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith

Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya—better known as popular streaming gamer D1V—regularly leads her #AngstArmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay the rent.

Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun—and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer D1V… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Stalking
  • Blackmail
  • Bullying
  • Cyberbullying & online harassment
  • Doxxing
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Ebb and Flow by Heather Smith

Ebb & Flow by Heather Smith

One summer,
after a long plane ride
and a rotten bad year
I went to Grandma Jo’s.
It was my mother’s idea.
Jett, what you need is a change of scenery.
I think she needed a change of scenery, too.
One without me.
Because that rotten bad year?
That was my fault.

ast year, Jett and his mother had moved to a new town for a fresh start after his father went to jail. But Jett soon learned that fresh starts aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. When he befriended a boy with a difficult home life, Jett found himself in a cycle of bad decisions that culminated in the betrayal of a friend – a shameful secret he still hasn’t forgiven himself for. Will a summer spent with his unconventional grandmother help Jett find his way to redemption?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Domestic violence
  • Child abuse
  • Incarceration of a parent
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The Shadow War by Lindsay Smith

The Shadow War by Lindsay Smith

World War II is raging, and five teens are looking to make a mark. Daniel and Rebeka seek revenge against the Nazis who slaughtered their family; Simone is determined to fight back against the oppressors who ruined her life and corrupted her girlfriend; Phillip aims to prove that he’s better than his worst mistakes; and Liam is searching for a way to control the portal to the shadow world he’s uncovered, and the monsters that live within it–before the Nazi regime can do the same. When the five meet, and begrudgingly team up, in the forests of Germany, none of them knows what their future might hold.

As they race against time, war, and enemies from both this world and another, Liam, Daniel, Rebeka, Phillip, and Simone know that all they can count on is their own determination and will to survive.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Antisemitism
  • Torture
  • World War Two
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A Darkly Beating Heart by Lindsay Smith

A Darkly Beating Heart by Lindsay Smith

No one knows what to do with Reiko. She is full of hatred. All she can think about is how to best hurt herself and the people closest to her. After a failed suicide attempt, Reiko’s parents send her from their Seattle home to spend the summer with family in Japan to learn to control her emotions. But while visiting Kuramagi, a historic village preserved to reflect the nineteenth-century Edo period, Reiko finds herself slipping back in time into the life of Miyu, a young woman even more bent on revenge than Reiko herself. Reiko loves being Miyu, until she discovers the secret of Kuramagi village, and must face down Miyu’s demons as well as her own.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Lesbomisia
  • Misogyny
  • Depression
  • Self harm
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Overdose mentioned
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The Road to Winter by Mark Smith

The Road to Winter by Mark Smith

Since a deadly virus and the violence that followed wiped out his parents and most of his community, Finn has lived alone on the rugged coast with only his loyal dog Rowdy for company.

He has stayed alive for two winters—hunting and fishing and trading food, and keeping out of sight of the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang that controls the north, led by a ruthless man named Ramage.

But Finn’s isolation is shattered when a girl runs onto the beach. Rose is a Siley—an asylum seeker—and she has escaped from Ramage, who had enslaved her and her younger sister, Kas. Rose is desperate, sick, and needs Finn’s help. Kas is still missing somewhere out in the bush. And Ramage wants the girls back—at any cost.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Death from childbirth
  • Pandemic
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Hunting
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Faker by Sarah Smith

Faker by Sarah Smith

Emmie Echavarre is a professional faker. She has to be to survive as one of the few female employees at Nuts & Bolts, a power tool company staffed predominantly by gruff, burly men. From nine to five, Monday through Friday, she’s tough as nails–the complete opposite of her easy-going real self.

One thing she doesn’t have to fake? Her disdain for coworker Tate Rasmussen. Tate has been hostile to her since the day they met. Emmie’s friendly greetings and repeated attempts to get to know him failed to garner anything more than scowls and terse one-word answers. Too bad she can’t stop staring at his Thor-like biceps…

When Emmie and Tate are forced to work together on a charity construction project, things get…heated. Emmie’s beginning to see that beneath Tate’s chiseled exterior lies a soft heart, but it will take more than a few kind words to erase the past and convince her that what they have is real.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating recounted
  • Sexual harassment
  • Medical crisis
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The Ruins by Scott Smith

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Trapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine. Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation–sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site . . . and the terrifying presence that lurks there.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Self harm
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injury
  • Emesis
  • Amputation
  • Death of a sibling
  • Suffocation
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Pasadena by Sherri L Smith

Pasadena by Sherri L. Smith

Bad things happen everywhere. Even in the land of sun and roses.

When Jude’s best friend is found dead in a swimming pool, her family calls it an accident. Her friends call it suicide. But Jude calls it what it is: murder. And someone has to pay.

Now everyone is a suspect—family and friends alike. And Jude is digging up the past like bones from a shallow grave. Anything to get closer to the truth. But that’s the thing about secrets. Once they start turning up, nothing is sacred. And Jude’s got a few skeletons of her own.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Antiziganism (g slur)
  • Rape recounted
  • Suicide
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder discussed
  • Stalking
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Cloudburst by Wilbur Smith

Cloudburst by Wilbur Smith with Chris Walking

Jack Courtney has lived in the UK his whole life. But this summer his parents are travelling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a gorilla conference, and they’ve promised to take Jack and his friends with them.

When his parents go missing in the rainforest, abducted by mercenaries, nobody seems to have any answers. Jack is pretty sure that it’s got something to do with the nearby tantalum mines, but he needs to prove it. Along with Amelia and Xander, Jack must brave the jungle to save his parents. Standing in his way is a member of his own family – Caleb Courtney.

There are western gorillas, forest elephants and hippos. But there are also bandits, mercenaries and poachers. The three friends will need their wits about them if they are not only to save Jack’s parents, but their own lives too.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood depiction
  • Colonialism
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Kidnapping
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