Contemporary – Page 139 – Trigger Warning Database

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

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