Category Archives: Fantasy & Paranormal

Savage Blooms by S.T. Gibson

Adam has been in love with his best friend Nicola since college, but the closest he can come to admitting his feelings is inviting her to travel with him to Scotland in search of a legendary cave from his grandfather’s bedtime stories. When a storm washes out the road, Adam and Nicola find themselves at the mercy of Eileen, an eccentric aristocrat, and Finley, her brooding groundskeeper. The Americans quickly get more than they bargained for as they become entangled in Eileen and Finley’s world of mind games, kink, and ancient enchantment.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Forced marriage
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Consensual non-consent
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Traumatic childbirth & infertility mentioned
  • Near-drowning incident

An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua’s College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold. On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla. But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, misogyny & homophobia
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking
  • Blood & gore depiction including emesis, blood-drinking, dead bodies & decapitation
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Murder
  • Death of a kitten mentioned (brief)

Holly by Adalyn Grace

Something strange is happening at Wisteria Gardens, the magical manor that Blythe and Aris call home. All they want is a peaceful holiday season with their family, but a group of restless spirits is determined to threaten their festivities. With a new mystery to solve, Signa, Death, Blythe, and Fate must uncover what happened to Wisteria’s ghostly inhabitants and help the spirits move on before it’s too late.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fire & related injury depiction

Wisteria by Adalyn Grace

Blythe Hawthorne has never let anyone tell her what to do—not society, not her overprotective father, and certainly not the man she’s bound herself to, no matter how rude and insufferable he is. In fact, she’s determined to be a thorn in his side for the rest of her days, even as he ensures that her life in his palace is anything but a fairytale. But as Blythe discovers a new side of herself linked to his past, she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to let an unexpected spark ignite…and to discover the truth about who she really is.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hallucinations
  • Emesis
  • Blood & gore depiction and dead bodies
  • Plague mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Poisoning
  • Animal death

Atlantia by Ally Condie

Can you hear Atlantia breathing? For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamed of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all Rio’s hopes for the future are shattered when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected choice, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long silenced—she has nothing left to lose. Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depiction of dead bodies
  • Murder & mass murder (off-page)
  • Political imprisonment mentioned

The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie

Who do you become when you have nothing left to lose? There is something Poe Blythe, the seventeen-year-old captain of the Outpost’s last mining ship, wants far more than the gold they tear from the Serpentine River. Revenge. Poe has vowed to annihilate the river raiders who robbed her of everything two years ago. But as she navigates the treacherous waters of the Serpentine and realizes there might be a traitor among her crew, she must also reckon with who she has become, who she wants to be, and the ways love can change and shape you. Even – and especially – when you think all is lost.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Graphic physical injuries including burns & gunshot wounds
  • Battle scenes including violent takeovers by raiders and knife & gun violence
  • Fire

The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi

Prince Arris knows that marriage means murder. Thanks to a poorly worded wish to a sea witch, all one needs to rule the Isle of Malys is the heart and hand of the kingdom’s heir. Historically, this has been construed quite literally. Thus, Arris expects that the day after his marriage and murder he will wake up as a sentient tree alongside the rest of his predecessors. His only chance at a long life is finding true and lasting love. When Arris’s parents announce a tournament of brides to compete for his hand and heart, a slew of eligible, lovely and (possibly murderous) bachelorettes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Attempted murder by poisoning
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Loss of autonomy discussed (magical shapeshifting curse)

A War of Wyverns by S.F. Williamson

Who is Vivien Featherswallow? Is she The Swallow, the most wanted rebel in all of Britannia? Is she a Brasstongue on the cusp of translating a new language? Or is she just Viv, the girl who lost the love of her life after playing spy? Though this war might have begun with bombs and teeth, it will be fought with tongues. And Viv will soon learn that everything she thought she knew—even about herself—might be a lie.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption mentioned & smoking (on-page)
  • Blood & injury depiction, including amputation
  • Imprisonment mentioned
  • War themes & battle scenes, including chemical gassing, knife & crossbow violence, and stabbing
  • Mythical animal attacks, injuries & cruelty, including torture and death of a dragon from a poisonous bullet

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abandonment recounted
  • Death from falling down stairs mentioned
  • Loss of autonomy (magic used to temporarily turn a character into a statue)

A Sea Monster Conundrum by Lisa Yee

Oof! When reports of ghosts arise around an abandoned lighthouse, Olive and her elite team of underdogs are immediately thrust into a brand new case. After all, ghosts don’t exist . . . right? Real or not, the ghosts draw quite a crowd at Olive’s beloved Reforming Arts School, or RASCH (not “rash”). Turns out everyone wants a glimpse of the ghosts, including . . . the nearby marine life?! Between RASCH’s ghosts and newfound tourism, rumors soon spiral out of control about a sea monster in the bay—snagging unwanted attention from a corrupt mogul. What is going on at RASCH? Does… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emesis (on-page)
  • Animal abuse (held in captivity, separating parents from their children)