Contemporary – Page 120 – Trigger Warning Database

Out of the Blue by Jason June

Out of the Blue by Jason June

Crest is not excited to be on their Journey: the monthlong sojourn on land all teen merfolk must undergo. The rules are simple: Help a human within one moon cycle and return to Pacifica to become an Elder–or fail and remain stuck on land forever. Crest is eager to get their Journey over and done with: after all, humans are disgusting. They’ve pollluted the planet so much that there’s a floating island of trash that’s literally the size of a country.

In Los Angeles with a human body and a new name… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cheating mentioned

Yerba Beuna by Nina LaCour

Yerba Beuna by Nina LaCour

When Sara Foster runs away from home at sixteen, she leaves behind not only the losses that have shattered her world but the girl she once was, capable of trust and intimacy. Years later, in Los Angeles, she is a sought-after bartender, renowned as much for her brilliant cocktails as for the mystery that clings to her. Across the city, Emilie Dubois is in a holding pattern. In her seventh year and fifth major as an undergraduate, she yearns for the beauty and community her Creole grandparents cultivated but is unable to commit. On a whim, she takes a job arranging flowers at the glamorous restaurant Yerba Buena and embarks on an affair with the married owner.

When Sara catches sight of Emilie one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault of a child
Sex work
Drug use
Overdose
Death of a parent

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents’ American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine—or at least, the closest… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Cancer
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.

Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Domestic abuse
Pregnancy & childbirth mentioned
Miscarriage mentioned
Blood & injury depiction
Death of a child
Death of a sibling
Vivisepulture (being buried alive) mentioned

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cheating
Religious queermisia
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use mentioned

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall

Freya Scott is getting married. Her wedding to Matthew, her long-term boyfriend, is the first of eight in her calendar this year, and as someone who prides herself on being meticulously organized, Freya is intent on making it the perfect day to remember.

But when Matthew calls things off hours before they walk down the aisle, Freya’s entire life plan goes up in smoke. Humiliated and heartbroken, the last thing she wants is to attend a summer of other peoples’ nuptials on her own….. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Divorce

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippencott

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippencott

Alex Blackwood is a little bit headstrong, with a dash of chaos and a whole lot of flirt. She knows how to get the girl. Keeping her on the other hand…not so much. Molly Parker has everything in her life totally in control, except for her complete awkwardness with just about anyone besides her mom. She knows she’s in love with the impossibly cool Cora Myers. She just…hasn’t actually talked to her yet.

Alex and Molly don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus. But when Alex, fresh off a bad (but hopefully not permanent) breakup… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Internalised racism
Slut-shaming
Parent with alcoholism
Alcohol consumption

Exactly Where You Need to Be by Amelia Diane Coombs

Exactly Where You Need to Be by Amelia Diane Coombs

Florie’s OCD and her mother’s worrying have kept her from a lot of things, like having an after-school job and getting her driver’s license. And now that she’s graduated high school, while her best friend Kacey is headed off to Portland in the fall, Florie’s taking a parent-sanctioned gap year off before starting college. When the decision was made, Florie was on board, but now she can’t ignore the growing itch to become the person she wants to be and venture outside the quaint, boring Washington town she grew up in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Keep My Heart in San Francisco by Amelia Diane Coombs

Keep My Heart in San Francisco by Amelia Diane Coombs

Caroline “Chuck” Wilson has big plans for spring break—hit up estate sales to score vintage fashion finds and tour the fashion school she dreams of attending. But her dad wrecks those plans when he asks her to spend vacation working the counter at Bigmouth’s Bowl, her family’s failing bowling alley. Making things astronomically worse, Chuck finds out her dad is way behind on back rent—meaning they might be losing Bigmouth’s, the only thing keeping Chuck’s family in San Francisco. And the one person other… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Alcohol consumption
Death of a mother from suicide
Financial difficulties

Between You, Me, and the Honeybees by Amelia Diane Coombs

Between You, Me, and the Honeybees by Amelia Diane Coombs

Josie Hazeldine has just graduated from high school, and she’s ready for a summer full of sunshine, beekeeping, and…lying to her mom. Josie’s mom couldn’t be more proud of her daughter going to college, something she never got to do. But Josie wants to stay in her California hometown and take over the family business, Hazeldine Honey. So that college acceptance her mom is thrilled about? Yeah, Josie turned it down. But she’s going to come clean—just not yet… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Anxiety
Panic attack
Parkinson’s Disease