Category Archives: Horror

37 Things I Love by Kekla Magoon

37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order) by Kekla Magoon

Ellis only has four days of her sophomore year left, and summer is so close that she can almost taste it. But even with vacation just within reach, Ellis isn’t exactly relaxed. Her father has been in a coma for years, the result of a construction accident and her already-fragile relationship with her mother is strained over whether or not to remove him from life support. Her best friend fails even to notice that anything is wrong and Ellis feels like her world is falling apart. But when all seems bleak, Ellis finds comfort in the most unexpected… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parent on life support after a construction accident

Notreadytodie by Cate Carlyle

#Notreadytodie by Cate Carlyle

A killer stalks the hallways Ginny’s life suddenly comes to a screeching halt one fateful Monday when a shooter shows up at Southwestern High School during first period. In lockdown with both the homeroom sub and her secret crush Owen badly wounded, Ginny finds herself teamed up with Kayla, one of the “Barbies.” Together, they must try to keep their classmates alive amid terror and pain. A teacher is fatally wounded As the chaos continues, Ginny is plagued with questions. Has she judged Kayla too harshly? Will she ever have the chance to ask Own to prom? Will the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Self-harm recounted
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • School shooting (theme)

You Set Me on Fire by Mariko Tamaki

(You) Set Me on Fire by Mariko Tamaki

Allison Lee is seventeen and off to college in the fall. So far, she’s been in love once (total catastrophe) and on fire twice (also pretty bad). Both love and fire have left their scars. Looking a little more burnt chicken and a little less radiant phoenix, Allison takes up residence in Dylan Hall (a.k.a. Dyke Hall) at St. Joseph’s College, where she discovers the true gift of freshman year: the opportunity to reinvent yourself. Miles away from the high school she’s happy to leave behind, her all-female dorm is a strange new world, home to new social circles and challenges. Allison still feels like the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug abuse
  • Burn scars

Pretending I Love Lucy by Julie Christianson

Pretending I Love Lucy by Julie Christianson

People think it’s easy being Felix Dodd III. And sure the fortune, legacy, and inheritance aren’t exactly terrible. But the name comes with so many strings, my hands feel permanently tied. ’ve got less than zero interest in marriage, ever since my one attempt at love crashed and burned. But Grams won’t let me access my trust until I’m engaged. Which means I need a fiancée. I’ve got less than zero interest in marriage, ever since my one attempt at love crashed and burned. But Grams won’t let me access my trust until I’m engaged. Which means I need a fiancée. Someone who’s looking for quick cash and a quicker getaway… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of parents recounted

Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Sometimes there’s a town called Indianola. And sometimes there isn’t. Summer, 1993. Claire has been dumped in rural Indianola, Texas, to spend her whole vacation taking care of mean, sickly Grammy. There’s nothing too remarkable about Indianola: it’s run-down, shabby, and stifling hot, a pin-dot on the Gulf Coast. Well, there is one remarkable thing, she discovers. Something otherworldly. Well, there is one remarkable thing, she discovers. Something otherworldly. Because there’s a confluence of energies at Indianola, a fissure in time and space, a gap in reality… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & internalised homomisia
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Gun violence

A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic by Lisa Papademetriou

A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic by Lisa Papademetriou

Kai and Leila are both finally having an adventure. For Leila, that means a globe-crossing journey to visit family in Pakistan for the summer; for Kai, it means being stuck with her crazy great-aunt in Texas while her mom looks for a job. In each of their bedrooms, they discover a copy of a blank, old book called The Exquisite Corpse. Kai writes three words on the first page—and suddenly, they magically appear in Leila’s copy on the other side of the planet. Kai’s words are soon followed by line after line of the long-ago, romantic tale of Ralph T. Flabbergast and his forever-love… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a father recounted

An Indecent Invitation by Laura Trentham

An Indecent Invitation by Laura Trentham

Lady Lily Drummond understands only too well the danger of spy work. Her father, a preeminent master spy, has been missing for months, and her brother barely survived his final mission for the Crown. Lily is still determined to help find her father, no matter how hard her brother and his best friend try to keep her in the dark. Busy trying to untangle the web of deceit surrounding the Earl of Windor’s disappearance, Crown spy Gray Masterson also has to ensure Lily Drummond, the gangly, awkward child who was his constant shadow growing up, doesn’t get herself ruined… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Disappearance of a parent

Blood and Marriage by Megan Derr

Blood and Marriage by Megan Derr

Morrin has waited a long time to claim his throne, and even longer to have a real family. It may not be a conventional family, consisting of his closest friends, his brother Istari, and Istari’s spouse and children, but it’s one he loves and is proud of. No odious brothers, no abusive father, no cowardly mother. The very last thing he wants is to upset the balance by taking a wife, but his friends are right in that seeing him married will go a long way toward repairing the damage caused by his war-mongering, tyrant father. He just didn’t expect them to suggest the blandest princess… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming mentioned
  • Human trafficking
  • Child abuse
  • Suicide

Spell Sweeper by Lee Edward Födi

Spell Sweeper by Lee Edward Födi

Most students at Dragonsong Academy spend their days practising spells and wielding wands, but after flunking her sixth-grade standardized tests, Cara Moone is on the fast track to becoming a MOP (a.k.a. Magical Occurrence Purger). See, when a real wizard casts a spell, it leaves behind a residue called spell dust—which can be dangerous if not disposed of properly. It’s a MOP’s job to clean up the mess. And no one makes more of a mess than Dragonsong Academy’s star student, Harlee. Widely believed to be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent in a car accident recounted
  • Bullying

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

Dr Marie Heaton is an anesthesiologist at the height of her profession. She has worked, lived, and breathed her career since medical school, and she now practices at a top Seattle hospital. Marie has carefully constructed and constricted her life according to empirical truths, to the science and art of medicine. But when her tried-and-true formula suddenly deserts her during a routine surgery, she must explain the nightmarish operating room disaster and face the resulting malpractice suit. Marie’s best friend, colleague, and former lover, Dr Joe Hillary, becomes her closest confidante… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Prescription drug abuse
  • Death of a child