The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Today is my last day as Violet Lasting. Tomorrow I become Lot 197.

Sold for six million diamantes, Violet is now Surrogate of the House of the Lake in the centre of the Lone City, the Jewel. Her sole purpose is to produce a healthy heir for the Duchess – a woman Violet fears and despises.

Violet is trapped in a living death, her name and body no longer her own. She fights to hold on to her own identity and sanity, uncertain of the fate of her friends, isolated and at the mercy of the Duchess.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny (theme)
  • Child abuse
  • Forced child sex work
  • Suicide
  • Forced child & teenage pregnancy (theme)
  • Death of a friend
  • Non-consensual medical procedures
  • Needles
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A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

After burying her spinster aunt, orphaned Veronica Speedwell is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as with fending off admirers, Veronica intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

But fate has other plans when Veronica thwarts her own attempted abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron, who offers her sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker, a reclusive and bad-tempered natural historian. But before the baron can reveal what he knows of the plot against her, he is found murdered—leaving Veronica and Stoker on the run from an elusive assailant as wary partners in search of the villainous truth. 

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Eyeball trauma recounted
  • Death of an aunt
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Home invasion
  • Attempted kidnapping
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Animal attack recounted
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The Wicked King by Holly Black

The Wicked King by Holly Black

The Wicked King by Holly Black book cover

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse, recounted
  • Parental abandonment
  • Forced and arranged marriages
  • Cheating
  • Suicide, recounted
  • Self-harm, recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hallucinogenic drugs, mentioned
  • Blood depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Dead bodies
  • Death of parents, recounted
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Captivity
  • Loss of autonomy
  • War themes
  • Bullying

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Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett book cover

As a magical revolution remakes a city, an ancient evil is awakened in a brilliant new novel from the Hugo-nominated author of Foundryside and the Divine Cities trilogy

Having narrowly saved the metropolis of Tevanne from destruction, Sancia Grado and her allies have turned to their next task: sowing the seeds of a full-on magical-industrial revolution. If they succeed, the secrets behind scriving—the art of imbuing everyday objects with sentience—will be accessible to all of Tevanne’s citizens, much to the displeasure of the robber-barons who’ve hoarded this knowledge for themselves.  

But one of Sancia’s enemies has embarked on a desperate gambit, an attempt to resurrect a figure straight out of legend—an immortal being known as a heirophant. Long ago, the heirophant was an ordinary man, but he’s used scriving to transform himself into something closer to a god. Once awakened, he’ll stop at nothing to remake the world in his horrifying image.

And if Sancia can’t stop this ancient power from returning? Well, the only way to fight a god…is with another god.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood and gore depiction
  • War themes
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Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett book cover

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.

But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia
  • Hate slurs
  • Slavery
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Medical experimentation
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions
  • Child trafficking
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S.T.A.G.S by M. A. Bennett

S.T.A.G.S by M. A. Bennett

S.T.A.G.S by M. A. Bennett book cover

It is the autumn term and Greer MacDonald is struggling to settle into the sixth form at the exclusive St. Aidan the Great boarding school, known to its privileged pupils as S.T.A.G.S. Just when she despairs of making friends Greer receives a mysterious invitation with three words embossed upon on it: huntin’ shootin’ fishin’. When Greer learns that the invitation is to spend the half term weekend at the country manor of Henry de Warlencourt, the most popular and wealthy boy at S.T.A.G.S., she is as surprised as she is flattered. But when Greer joins the other chosen few at.. Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Cults
  • Animal death & hunting

The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando

The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando

The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando book cover

Natalie’s parents are taking her and her three best friends on a cruise for her seventeenth birthday. A sail-a-bration, they call it. But it’s only been a few short months since Natalie’s boyfriend died in a tragic accident, and she wants to be anywhere but here.

Then she meets a guy on the first night and sparks fly. After a moonlit conversation on a secluded deck of the ship, Natalie pops down to her cabin to get her swimsuit so they can go for a dip. But when she returns, he’s gone. Something he said makes her think he might have . . . jumped? No, he couldn’t have.

But why do her friends think she’s crazy for wanting to make sure he’s okay? Also, why do they seem to be hiding something from her? And how can she find him when she doesn’t even know his name? Most importantly, why is the captain on the intercom announcing the urgent need for a headcount?

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Suicide, implied
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The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando book cover

Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back–with no idea of where they’ve been.

Eleven years ago, six kindergarteners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to.

Until today. Today five of those kids return. They’re sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn’t really recognize the person she’s supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they’re entirely unable to recall where they’ve been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max. He doesn’t come back. Everyone wants answers. Most of all Max’s sister Avery, who needs to find her brother–dead or alive–and isn’t buying this whole memory-loss story.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Child abuse
  • Absent parent
  • Cheating
  • Alcoholism
  • Depression
  • Asthma
  • Grief depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a sibling
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
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Zenith by Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings

Zenith by Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings

Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings book cover

Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she’s just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.

But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder‘s all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi’s past.

Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.

Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their ship or just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Grief depiction
  • Murder
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Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh

Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh

Smoke in the Sun by Renee Adieh book cover

For weeks, seventeen-year-old Mariko pretended to be a boy to infiltrate the notorious Black Clan and bring her would-be murderer to justice. She didn’t expect to find a place for herself among the group of fighters—a life of usefulness—and she certainly didn’t expect to fall in love. Now she heads to the imperial castle to resume a life she never wanted to save the boy she loves.

Ōkami has been captured, and his execution is a certainty. Mariko will do what she must to ensure his survival—even marry the sovereign’s brother, saying goodbye to a life with Ōkami forever.

As Mariko settles into her days at court—making both friends and enemies—and attempting Ōkami’s rescue at night, the secrets of the royal court begin to unravel as competing agendas collide. One arrow sets into motion a series of deadly events even the most powerful magic cannot contain. Mariko and Ōkami risk everything to right past wrongs and restore the honor of a kingdom thrown into chaos by a sudden war, hoping against hope that when the dust settles, they will find a way to be together.

Set against the backdrop of feudal Japan, Smoke in the Sun is the breathless, romantic, not-to-be-missed fiery conclusion to a spell-binding adventure.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Classism
  • Marital rape, implied and discussed
  • Body modifications without consent
  • Grief depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a husband
  • Death of a girlfriend
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a public figure
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Torture
  • Explosion, recounted
  • Imprisonment
  • Blackmail
  • Loss of autonomy
  • Kidnapping
  • Poisoning, recounted
  • Fire
  • Drowning
  • Exile
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