Contemporary – Page 132 – Trigger Warning Database

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside. Now she’s at Sea Pines, a “residential treatment facility” filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with anyone. She won’t even speak. But Callie can only stay silent for so long….

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Trigger & Content Warnings

Self-harm
Psychiatric hospitalisation

Social Queue by Kay Kerr

Social Queue by Kay Kerr

Zoe Kelly is starting a new phase of her life. High school was a mess of bullying and autistic masking that left her burnt out and shut down. Now, with an internship at an online media company—the first step on the road to her dream writing career—she is ready to reinvent herself. But she didn’t count on returning to her awkward and all-too-recent high-school experiences for her first writing assignment. When her piece, about her non-existent dating life, goes viral, eighteen-year-old Zoe is overwhelmed and more than a little surprised by the response. But, with a deadline and a list… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Police brutality
Bullying

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” — the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

Infidelity
Rape
Cancer
Near-drowning

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

For Angel, life is only about one thing: The Ark – a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything – her friend Juliet, her dreams, her place in the world. Jimmy owes everything to The Ark. He’s their frontman – and playing in a band with his mates is all he ever dreamed of doing. But dreams don’t always turn out the way you think, and when Jimmy and Angel are unexpectedly thrust together they find out just how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Transmisia
Outing recounted
Parental abandonment
Disownment
Alcoholism
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Depression
Suicidal ideation
Blood & injury depiction (broken leg)
Hospitalisation
Knife violence & stabbing

How to Build a Heart by Maria Padian

How to Build a Heart by Maria Padian

All sixteen-year-old Izzy Crawford wants is to feel like she really belongs somewhere. Her father, a marine, died in Iraq six years ago, and Izzy’s moved to a new town nearly every year since, far from the help of her extended family in North Carolina and Puerto Rico. When Izzy’s hardworking mom moves their small family to Virginia, all her dreams start clicking into place. She likes her new school—even if Izzy is careful to keep her scholarship-student status hidden from her well-to-do classmates and her new athletic and popular boyfriend. And best of all: Izzy’s family has been selected by Habitat for Humanity to build and move… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

Classism
Racism
Death of a father during military deployment

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by AS King

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything. So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Slut-shaming
Domestic violence (off-page)
Alcohol consumption & drug abuse
Death of a friend
Bullying

Everybody Sees the Ants by AS King

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

Lucky Linderman didn’t ask for his life. He didn’t ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn’t ask for a father who never got over it. He didn’t ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn’t ask to be the target of Nader McMillan’s relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far. But Lucky has a secret–one that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life. In his dreams, Lucky escape to the war-ridden jungles of Laos, the prison his grandfather… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cheating
Prescription drug abuse
Suicide discussed
Death of a grandfather in the Vietnam War recounted
Physical assault
Graphic bullying (theme)

The Moonlight Dreamers by Siobhan Curham

The Moonlight Dreamers by Siobhan Curham

Amber craves excitement and adventure. Instead, she’s being bullied at school for having two dads, and life at home isn’t much better. Inspired by Oscar Wilde, Amber realizes that among the millions of people in London, there must be others who feel the same as she does; other dreamers – moonlight dreamers. After chance encounters with Maali, Sky and Rose, Amber soon recruits the three girls to the Moonlight Dreamers. It’s high time they started pursuing their dreams, and how better than with the support of friends?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault

The World on Either Side by Diane Terrana

The World on Either Side by Diane Terrana

After the death of her boyfriend, sixteen-year old Valentine stops going to school, quits seeing her friends, and, finally, won’t leave her bed. Desperate for her daughter to recover, Valentine’s mother takes her on a trek in Thailand. In the mountains north of Chiang Mai, Valentine finds a world she didn’t know existed, where houses are on stilts and elephants still roam wild. She learns about the Burmese civil war and the relentless violence against the Karen and Rohingya peoplest… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Human trafficking
Rape
Depression
Attempted suicide by overdose
Self-harm (cutting)
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a boyfriend recounted
Murder
Graphic animal cruelty & abuse
Poaching

Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho

Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho

Elena Soo has always felt overshadowed. Whether by her more successful older sisters, her more popular twin brother, or her more outgoing best friend, everyone except Elena seems to know exactly who they are and what they want. But she is certain about one thing – she has no interest in going to prom. While the rest of the school is giddy over corsages and dresses, Elena would rather spend her time working to save the local community centre, the one place that’s always made her feel like she belonged… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a father in a car accident