Contemporary – Page 121 – Trigger Warning Database

You Owe Me a Murder by Eileen Cook

You Owe Me a Murder by Eileen Cook

17-year-old Kim never expected to plot a murder. But that was before her boyfriend dumped her for another girl. Now, Kim’s stuck on a class trip to London with him and his new soulmate and she can’t help wishing he was a little bit dead, even if she’d never really do that. But when Kim meets Nicki, a stranger on the plane who’s more than willing to listen to Kim’s woes, things start to look up. Nicki’s got a great sense of humour, and when she jokes about swapping murders, Kim… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abuse
Alcoholism
Alcohol consumption
Murder & attempted murder
Blackmail

The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor

The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor

Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard. An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day.

Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a best friend
Death from a fall
Bullying

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook by Leslie Connor

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor

Eleven-year-old Perry was born and raised by his mom at the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. His mom is a resident on Cell Block C, and so far Warden Daugherty has made it possible for them to be together. That is, until a new district attorney discovers the truth—and Perry is removed from the facility and forced into a foster home.

When Perry moves to the “outside” world, he feels trapped. Desperate to be reunited… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Incarceration of a parent for manslaughter
Car accident recounted

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

It begins in a big yellow house, with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief variation forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the Skinner siblings—fierce Renee, sensitive Caroline, golden-boy Joe and watchful Fiona—emerge from the Pause staunchly loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, the siblings find themselves once again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they’ve made and to ask what, exactly, they are willing to do for love.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Substance addiction
Drug use & abuse
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent

Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles

Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles

There’s always been a hole in Gio’s life. Not because he’s into both guys and girls. Not because his father has some drinking issues. Not because his friends are always bringing him their drama. No, the hole in Gio’s life takes the shape of his birth mom, who left Gio, his brother, and his father when Gio was nine years old. For eight years, he never heard a word from her . . . and now, just as he’s started to get his life together, she’s back.

It’s hard for Gio to know what to do. Can he forgive her like she wants to be forgiven? Or should… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Bimisia
Racism & racial profiling
Child verbal and emotional abuse
Parental abandonment
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Suicide mentioned
Death of a sibling

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

When Marvin Johnson’s twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid.

The next day, Tyler has gone missing, and it’s up to Marvin to find him. But when Tyler is found dead, a video leaked online tells an even more chilling story: Tyler has been shot and killed by a police officer. Terrified as his mother unravels and mourning a brother who is now a hashtag, Marvin must learn what justice and freedom really mean.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Blood depiction
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother
Gun violence
Police brutality & violence
Incarceration of a parent

Raze by Tillie Cole

Raze by Tillie Cole

Conditioned in captivity to maim, to kill and to slaughter, prisoner 818 becomes an unremorseful, unrivalled and unstoppable fighter in the ring. Violence is all he knows. Death and brutality are the masters of his fate. After years of incarceration in an underground hell, only one thought occupies his mind: revenge…bloody, slow and violent revenge.

Revenge on the man who lied. Revenge on the man who wronged him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Domestic abuse
Cheating
Murder

Souls Unfractured It by Tillie Cole

Souls Unfractured by Tillie Cole

Labeled a ‘Cursed’ woman of Eve from birth, Maddie has endured nothing but pain and repression at the hands of The Order’s most abusive elder, Moses. Now living with her sister in The Hangmen’s secluded compound, finally, Maddie, is free. Free from the suffocating faith she no longer believes in. Free from endless years of physical and mental torment.

At age twenty-one, the timid and shy Maddie is content to live within the confines of her new home—safe from the outside world, safe from harm and, strangely, protected by the Hangmen’s most… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape of a child
Domestic abuse
Child abuse & neglect
Suicide
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm
Murder
Torture
Kidnapping

It Ain’t Me, Babe by Tillie Cole

It Ain’t Me, Babe by Tillie Cole

Many years ago, two children from completely different worlds forged a connection, a fateful connection, an unbreakable bond that would change their lives forever. Many years ago, two children from completely different worlds forged a connection, a fateful connection, an unbreakable bond that would change their lives forever…

Salome knows only one way to live—under Prophet David’s rule. In the commune she calls home, Salome knows nothing of life beyond her strict faith, nor of life beyond the Fence… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Child abuse
Murder
Kidnapping
Cult

Category Archives: Contemporary

You Owe Me a Murder by Eileen Cook

The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook by Leslie Connor

Suggested Reading by David Connis

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

Raze by Tillie Cole

Souls Unfractured It by Tillie Cole

It Ain’t Me, Babe by Tillie Cole