Contemporary – Page 134 – Trigger Warning Database

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

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

Category Archives: Contemporary

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

The Wedding Season by Katy Birchall

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippencott

Exactly Where You Need to Be by Amelia Diane Coombs

Keep My Heart in San Francisco by Amelia Diane Coombs

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

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