Category Archives: Contemporary

You, with a View by Jessica Joyce

Noelle Shepard is grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos and letters that hint to a forbidden love in her gram’s past. Needing to know the full story, she creates a TikTok video appealing for information – and it goes viral. Through her video, she manages to track down her grandmother’s secret love, Paul, who offers to take her on the honeymoon road-trip he and Gram planned but never got to go on. Noelle jumps at the chance to make this one last connection with her grandmother. There’s just one problem – Paul’s grandson is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional parental abuse (off-page)
  • Chronic back pain & minor sports injury
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a grandmother recounted
  • Discussions of employment and financial concerns

The Hookup Plan by Farrah Rochon

Successful pediatric surgeon London Kelley just needs to find some balance and de-stress. According to her friends Samiah and Taylor, what London really needs is a casual hookup. A night of fun with no strings. But no one—least of all London—expected it to go down at her high school reunion with Drew Sullivan, millionaire, owner of delicious abs, and oh yes, her archnemesis. Now London is certain the road to hell is paved with good sex. Because she’s found out the real reason Drew’s back in Austin: to decide whether her beloved hospital remains open. Worse, Drew is doing everything he can to show her that he’s a decent.… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse mentioned
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Death of a parent from cancer (off-page)

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

Samiah Brooks never thought she would be ‘that’ girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: she’s been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly Samiah – along with his two other ‘girlfriends’, London and Taylor – have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men, no dating, and no worrying about their relationship status. For once Samiah is putting herself first, and that includes finally developing the app she’s always dreamed of creating. Which is the exact moment she meets the deliciously sexy… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy & infertility mentioned (secondary character)
  • Hospitalisation of a friend from injuries sustained in a bike-bus accident (off-page)

The Dating Playbook by Farrah Rochon

When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor needs more than the support of her new best friends, Samiah and London. She needs a miracle. And Jamar Dixon might just be it. The oh-so-fine former footballer wants back into the NFL, and he wants Taylor to train him. There’s just one catch — no one can know what they’re doing. But when they’re accidentally outed as a couple, Taylor’s game plan is turned completely upside down. Is Jamar just playing to win . . . or is he playing for keeps?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety & panic attack
  • Dieting discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injury including sprained ankle & a previous sports injury (knee)
  • Hospitalisation of a grandparent (secondary character)
  • Grief & loss depiction and Survivor’s Guilt
  • Death of a friend in a motorcycle accident (off-page, discussed)

The Memory Wall by Lev A.C. Rosen

Severkin is an elf who slinks through the shadows of Wellhall’s spiraling stone towers, plundering ancient ruins and slaying mystical monstrosities with ease. He’s also a character in a video game—a character that twelve-year-old Nick Reeves plays when he needs a break from the real world. And lately, Nick has really needed a break. His mother had an “incident” at school last year, and her health has taken a turn for the worse. Nick is convinced his mother’s illness has been misdiagnosed but no one believes him. His only escape is the online world of Wellhall, where, as… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parent with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disorder

Emmett by Lev A.C. Rosen

Emmett Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence and had lived nearly eighteen years in the world with very little to distress or vex him. Emmett knows he’s blessed. And because of that, he tries to give back: from charity work to letting the often irritating Georgia sit at his table at lunch, he knows it’s important to be nice. And recently, he’s found a new way of giving matchmaking. He set up his best friend Taylor with her new boyfriend and it’s gone perfectly. So when his occasional friend-with-benefits Harrison starts saying he want… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent from cancer

Foster by Claire Keegan

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas’ house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in there care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household – where everything is so well tended to – and the summer must come to an end.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcoholism
  • Poverty

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Religious bigotry
  • Suicidal ideation & mentions of suicide

So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan

After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabine with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude – and the true significance of this particular date is revealed.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny discussed

Wandi by Favel Parrett

A young cub is snatched from his family and home by a giant eagle, then dropped, injured and alone, in a suburban garden. This is where he meets his first Human, and begins his long journey to becoming the most famous dingo in the world. He will never see his mountain home again, or his family. But it is his destiny to save alpine dingoes from extinction, and he dreams of a time when all cubs like him can live in the wild in safety, instead of facing poison and bullets and hatred.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Animal cruelty
  • Animal death & injury
  • Animal attack (eagle)