Category Archives: Genres

Pretty Reckless by LJ Shen

Pretty Reckless by L.J. Shen

I’d had four years to stew on what Daria Followhill did to me, and now my heart was completely iced. I took her first kiss. She took the only thing I loved. I was poor. She was rich. The good thing about circumstances? They can change. Fast. Now, I’m her parents’ latest shiny project. Her housemate. Her tormentor. The captain of the rival football team she hates so much. Yeah, baby girl, say it—I’m your foster brother. There’s a price to pay for ruining the only good thing in my life, and she’s about to shell out some serious tears. Daria thinks she is the queen. I’m about to prove to her that she’s nothing but a spoiled princess.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slur
  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Grey-area cheating
  • Statutory rape recounted
  • Principal-student relationship
  • Domestic violence
  • Substance addiction
  • Alcohol consumption & overdose mentioned

Vicious by LJ Shen

Vicious by L.J. Shen

They say love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances, and it’s true. The man who comes to me in my dreams also haunts me in my nightmares. He is a brilliant lawyer. A skilled criminal. A bully. A saviour. Ten years ago, he made me run away from the small town where we lived. Now, he came for me, and he isn’t leaving until he takes me with him. She is a starving artist. Ten years ago, she barged into my life unannounced and turned everything upside down. She paid the price. Emilia LeBlanc is completely off-limits, my best friend’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Chronic illness
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Bullying

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram Kendi 

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism—and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colours to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Queermisia
  • Cancer

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht 

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself.

But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Domestic abuse & violence
  • Suicide

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik 

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik

Tragedy has struck His Majesty’s Aerial Corps, whose magnificent fleet of fighting dragons and their human captains valiantly defend England’s shores against the encroaching armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. An epidemic of unknown origin and no known cure is decimating the noble dragons’ ranks– forcing the hopelessly stricken into quarantine. Now only Temeraire and a pack of newly recruited dragons remain uninfected–and stand as the only means of an airborne defense against France’s ever bolder sorties.

Bonaparte’s dragons are already harrowing Britain’s ships at sea. Only one recourse remains: Temeraire and his captain, Will Laurence… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Plague
  • War themes

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik 

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year–and the looming spectre of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules . . .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Starvation & dehydration
  • Dead bodies
  • Death of a parent
  • Death from a child mentioned
  • Attempted murder
  • Strangulation

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik 

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik

Before Captain Will Laurence can prepare his crew for the slow voyage home from China, new orders arrive for him and his dragon, Temeraire: they must fly home immediately, stopping only in Istanbul to collect three priceless dragon eggs, purchased by the British government from the Ottoman Empire.

But the cross-continental journey is fraught with danger; not only will they have to scale mountains and traverse vast hostile deserts, but a Machiavellian herald precedes them, spreading political menace in her wake. Holding Temeraire responsible for the death of her princely companion, Lien has absconded from China consumed by vengeance. If she can, she will destroy everything and everyone Temeraire loves.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Death from a fall
  • Animal death
  • War themes

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik 

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere.

El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Fire
  • Bullying

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik 

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk–grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh–Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Domestic abuse
  • Graphic physical child abuse
  • Rape & sexual assault discussed
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a sibling
  • Murder
  • Animal death

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay

In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of colour (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through the culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Queermisia
  • Ableism & ableist slurs
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Classism
  • Misogyny & sexism discussed (theme)
  • Hate crimes
  • Rape culture discussed
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Eating disorders mentioned
  • Murder mentioned
  • Terrorism mentioned
  • Police brutality mentioned