Contemporary – Page 127 – Trigger Warning Database

Year on Fire by Julie Buxbaum

Year on Fire by Julie Buxbaum

What secrets will people keep—or reveal—to protect those they love? This novel, set against the frightening backdrop of an encroaching fire season, sparks reflection about friendship, the allure of romantic love, and loyalty to family. Can a single kiss change everything?

It was a year on fire. They fell in love. Someone was bound to get burned… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Child abuse & neglect
Coming out themes
Self-harm mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Arson

Admission by Julie Buxbaum

Admission by Julie Buxbaum

It’s good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer. She’s headed off to the college of her dreams. She’s going to prom with the boy she’s had a crush on since middle school. Her best friend always has her back, and her mom, a B-list Hollywood celebrity, may finally be on her way to the B+ list. It’s good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer–at least, it was, until the FBI came knocking on her front door, guns at the ready, and her future went up in smoke. Now her mother is under arrest in a massive college admissions bribery scandal. Chloe, too, might be facing charges, and even time behind bars. The public is furious, the press is rabid, and the US attorney is out for blood… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Substance addiction mentioned
Overdose
Cancer mentioned
Cyberbullying

Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum

Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum

Abbi Hope Goldstein is like every other teenager, with a few smallish exceptions: her famous alter ego, Baby Hope, is the subject of internet memes, she has asthma, and sometimes people spontaneously burst into tears when they recognize her. Abbi has lived almost her entire life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11. On that fateful day, she was captured in what became an iconic photograph: in the picture, Abbi (aka “Baby Hope”) wears a birthday crown and grasps a red balloon; just behind her, the South Tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Blackmail
9/11 (theme)

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help? … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cancer
Grief & loss depiction
Death of mother & father
Death of sibling
Death of a friend
Bullying

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David’s blunt honesty—in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit’s attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad’s tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they’ll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism & ableist slurs
Death of a parent
Bullying

Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno

Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno

Marin has always been good at navigating these unspoken guidelines. A star student and editor of the school paper, she dreams of getting into Brown University. Marin’s future seems bright―and her young, charismatic English teacher, Mr Beckett, is always quick to admire her writing and talk books with her.

But when “Bex” takes things too far and comes on to Marin, she’s shocked and horrified. Had she somehow led him on? Was it her fault? … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slut-shaming
Sexual assault (nonconsensual kiss)
Statutory rape

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