Category Archives: Fantasy & Paranormal

Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao

Pawned by her mother to the King of Hell as a child, Lady Jing is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit and all sasshole. As the King’s ward, she has spent the past ninety years running errands, dodging the taunts of the spiteful hulijing courtiers, and trying to control her explosive temper – with varying levels of success. So when Jing overhears the courtiers plotting to steal a priceless dragon pearl from the King, she seizes her chance to expose them, once and for all. With the help of a gentle mortal tasked with setting up the Central Bank of Hell, Jing embarks on a wild chase for intel, first through Hell and then mortal Shanghai… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Panic attacks
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Bullying

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

It is the year 1814 and life for a young lady of good breeding has many difficulties. There are balls to attend, fashions to follow, marriages to consider and, of course, the tiny complication of existing in a world swarming with fairy spirits, interfering deities, and actual straight-up sorcerers. Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her entry into high society hindered by an irritating curse. It begins innocuously enough with her dress slowly unmaking itself over the course of an evening at a high-profile ball, a scandal she narrowly manages to escape. However, as the curse progresses to more fatal proportions, Miss Mitchel…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Threats of rape
  • Death of a parent & sibling recounted
  • Murder
  • KIdnapping
  • Animal death (sacrifice)

Blood Gift by Vela Roth

Ancient magic is sleeping inside Cassia. Wielding it is her birthright, but her bloodright is to become an immortal Hesperine like Lio, her Grace. Until she masters her dormant magic, it’s too dangerous for him to transform her. To claim both her legacies, she must return to the land that holds the secrets of her power: the mortal kingdom where she was once powerless. Lio is ready to protect her with diplomacy, spells, or even his fists. He knows he’ll need them against the lord who is still betrothed to her under human law. Most dangerous of all, the necromancer known as the Collector lies in wait, planning to use… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Childbirth
  • Blood-drinking
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is. Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe, a notorious and unforgive….Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Persecution for witchcraft including mass murder of witches recounted
  • Enslavement recounted
  • Rape recounted (multiple, forced sexual relationship)
  • Substance addiction & alcoholism recovery (laudanum, opium)
  • Murder by gun violence and explosion
  • Torture
  • Gun & knife violence

Ghost Book by Remy Lai

July Chen sees ghosts. But her dad insists ghosts aren’t real. So she pretends they don’t exist. Which is incredibly difficult now as it’s Hungry Ghost month, when the Gates of the Underworld open and dangerous ghosts run amok in the living world. When July saves a boy ghost from being devoured by a Hungry Ghost, he becomes her first ever friend. Except William is not a ghost. He’s a wandering soul wavering between life and death. As the new friends embark on an adventure to return William to his body, they unearth a ghastly truth―for William to live, July must die.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother and wife in childbirth recounted
  • Near-death of a friend and child (on-page)
  • Mentions of death of a pet dog.

Gone Wolf by Amber McBride

In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined — to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue — the colour of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often – he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too―she wants to know why she feels so Blue and what is beyond her small-small room. In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery & forced labour
  • Racism (theme)
  • Anxiety & agoraphobia
  • Death of siblings
  • Mentions of the real murders of Black Americans by the police
  • Death of a pet

Fox Snare by Yoon Ha Lee

While on a mission to cement peace between the Sun Clans and the Thousand Worlds, Min the fox spirit and her ghost brother Jun get stranded on a death planet with Haneul the dragon spirit and Sebin the tiger spirit. To survive, the young cadets will have to rely on all their wits, training, and supernatural abilities. And let’s not forget the Dragon Pearl.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Explosion (spaceship)

City of Wishes by Christina Soontornvat

During the New Year break, Plum and her friends travel to fancy, fashionable Nakhon City. There they’ll stay with Sam and his mother, the powerful Lady Ubon. At first, Plum is dazzled by how big and exciting Nakhon City is. She’s never experienced anything like it! But under the glittering surface, secrets lurk. A storm is brewing, and Plum will have to harness all of her growing powers to survive it.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Building collapse from an earthquake
  • Cave-in

Vengeance of the Pirate Queen by Tricia Levenseller

As an assassin working for the pirate queen, eighteen-year-old Sorinda is surprised when Alosa’s next task for her is not to kill a new target, but to captain a handpicked crew on a rescue mission. Unfortunately, her sailing master is twenty-year-old Kearan. He may be the best helmsman the pirate queen has, but Sorinda finds him a real pain in the arse. Sadly, there are few places on a ship to hide from an attentive man. As the crew of the Vengeance faces dangerous waters and deadly sea creatures, they accidentally awaken the King of the Undersea, a being who can control… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol abuse recounted
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Knife, sword & gun violence
  • Murder by drowning mentioned

Nightbane by Alex Aster

Isla Crown has secured the love of two powerful rulers and broken the curses that plagued the six realms for centuries, but few know the true origins of her powers. Now, in the wake of a crushing betrayal, Isla finds herself hungry for distraction, preferring to frequent Lightlark’s seductive haunts instead of embracing her duties as the newly crowned leader of two separate realms. Worse, her fellow rulers haven’t ceded victory quietly, and there are others in Isla’s midst who don’t believe her ascent to power was earned. As certain death races toward Lightlark and secrets from the past begin to unravel, Isla must weigh her… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-harm for magic recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Knife, sword & arrow violence