Category Archives: Contemporary

Save the Game by J.J. Mulder

After a traumatizing event and rough sophomore year, Max Kuemper does his best to keep his head down and not draw attention to himself. School and hockey are the only two things he can handle; it’s all he can do to keep himself afloat. He wants to forget about what happened to him and bring the secret to his grave. Confident and flirty Luke Kelly likes to play the field—dating as well as baseball. When he meets Max during a night shift at work, he takes an instant liking to him, despite the other man’s reserved exterior and shy personality. But secrets have a way… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Drug-facilitated rape recounted (protagonist)
  • Panic attacks (on-page)
  • Emesis (on-page)

Shots on Net by J.J. Mulder

Carter Morgan III hates everything about South Carolina University except for one thing: hockey. As the starting netminder for the team, he lives for those moments when he can step onto the ice and between the pipes. Unfortunately, his time at school and on the team is slowly coming to an end; although he’d love nothing more than to pursue a career in the NHL, he knows better than to get his hopes up. Zeke Cassidy needs a place to live. When he answers an advertisement for a roommate, he’s not sure what he is expecting except that it isn’t Carter… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Death of a parent recounted

The Ex Effect by Jo Watson

It’s been thirteen years since Ash’s sex life went down in very unsexy flames, and she’s been – quite frankly – sexually cursed ever since. But now Ash has met someone who she thinks might be able to break that curse – and they are going to break it over, and over, and over again . . .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Depression & alcoholism
  • Grief & loss depiction

Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young

High school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb Linwood have always been a sure thing. For the past seventeen years, they have had each other’s backs through all of life’s ups and downs, achievements, losses, stages, and phases. But Sarah has begun to wonder… Who is she without her other half? When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memoriam of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter, after all. Independent and capable. That is until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
  • Medical treatments & hospitalization
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use mentioned (marijuana)

Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams

Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year, with his fiancée. The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor. Jackson Bennett is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parent with alcoholism

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Overdose
  • Death of a mother
  • Teen homelessness

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed. That is, until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way. When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other—and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Coming out themes
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Homelessness mentioned

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen

Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community. Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & Islamophobia
  • Hate crimes
  • Online harassment
  • Terrorism discussed (bombing)

Chaotic Good by Whitney Gardner

Cameron’s cosplay–dressing like a fictional character–is finally starting to earn her attention–attention she hopes to use to get into the CalTech costume department for college. But when she wins a major competition, she inadvertently sets off a firestorm of angry comments from male fans. When Cameron’s family moves the summer before her senior year, she hopes to complete her costume portfolio in peace and quiet away from the abuse. Unfortunately, the only comic shop in town–her main destination for character reference–is staffed by a dudebro owner who challenges every woman who comes into… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Cyberharassment & doxxing

You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural. Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up. Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Eating disorder recovery (secondary character)
  • Bullying