Category Archives: Romance

The Jade Setter of Janloon by Fonda Lee

The Jade Setter of Janloon by Fonda Lee

The rapidly changing city of Janloon is ruled by jade, the rare and ancient substance that enhances the abilities and status of the trained Green Bone warriors who run the island’s powerful clans. Pulo Oritono is not one of those warriors. He’s simply an apprentice jade setter with dreams of securing clan patronage and establishing a successful business. His hopes are dashed, however, when a priceless jade weapon is stolen from the shop where he works… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Drug use
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Murder
  • Torture

Wriggle and Sparkle by Megan Derr

Wriggle & Sparkle by Megan Derr

Lynn is a kraken shifter in every way: detailed, tenacious, resilient, and hard-working. Also possessive, vain, arrogant, and demanding. It makes him an excellent agent for the Federal Bureau of Paranormal Security and Investigation—and impossible to work with, as the long list of partners who have transferred away from him will attest. His newest partner is a unicorn, possibly the worst type of paranormal for work that often turns ugly and violent. Everyone knows unicorns are too delicate for such things. Then Anderson proves to be a unicorn like no other, the kind of partner Lynn has always wanted—the kind of partner he… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Murder
  • Kidnaping & hostage situation

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

Marnie and her little sister Nelly have always been different. Marnie leads a life of smoking, drinking and drugs; Nelly enjoys playing the violin, eating cornflakes with Coke and reading Harry Potter. But on Christmas Eve, the sisters have to join forces and put their differences aside. And when Lennie, the old guy next door, starts to get suspicious, it’s only a matter of time before their terrible secret is discovered.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape, implied
  • Domestic violence
  • Alcoholism
  • Drug abuse

The Bird Tribunal by Agnes Ravatn

The Bird Tribunal by Agnes Ravatn

TV presenter Allis Hagtorn leaves her partner and her job to take voluntary exile in remote house on an isolated fjord. But her new job as housekeeper and gardener is not all that it seems, and her silent, surly employer, 44-year-old Sigurd Bagge, is not the old man she expected. As they await the return of his wife from her travels, their silent, uneasy encounters develop into a chilling, obsessive relationship, and it becomes clear that atonement for past sins may not be enough.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Cheating
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Murder
  • Animal death

Liquor and Laundry by Tasha Harrison

Liquor and Laundry by Tasha L. Harrison

The last time she saw Ahmad Williamson, she drank too much and spent the night on her knees in his hotel room doing things that still make her blush and cover her face with shame. The last thing she wants to do is relive that humiliating moment. She’d much rather spend the evening at her family’s laundromat; sweeping and mopping the floor as she reconsiders her life choices. And he’s spent every night since last summer wishing one of them had been brave enough to call. Was it just a fling for her? Was all that flirting she’d done over the years just a joke?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Slut shaming

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin and illustrated by Jenn St-Onge

Bingo Love is a story of a same-sex romance that spans over 60 years. A chance meeting at church bingo in 1963 brings Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray together. Through their formative years, these two women develop feelings for each other and finally profess their love for one another. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid 60’s, Hazel and Mari are reunited again at a bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Queermisia
  • Infidelity
  • Disownment
  • Alzheimer’s Disease

The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane

The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane

For Clementine Haas, finding herself is more than a nice idea. Ever since she woke up in an Irish hospital with complete amnesia, self-discovery has become her mission. They tell her she’s the lone survivor of a plane crash. They tell her she’s lucky to be alive. But she doesn’t feel lucky. She feels…lost. With the relentless Irish press bearing down on her, and a father she may not even recognize on his way from America to take her home, Clementine assumes a new identity and enlists a blue-eyed Irish stranger, Kieran O’Connell, to help her escape her forgotten life…and start a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent scenario*
  • Retrograde amnesia
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a boyfriend
  • Plane crash, off-page

*Context : The two main characters, who are in a sexual relationship, are lying about their identities and manipulating each other.

The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane

The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane

According to sixteen-year-old Zander Osborne, nowhere is an actual place—and she’s just fine there. But her parents insist that she get out of her head—and her home state—and attend Camp Padua, a summer camp for at-risk teens. Zander does not fit in—or so she thinks. She has only one word for her fellow campers: crazy. In fact, the whole camp population exists somewhere between disaster and diagnosis. There’s her cabinmate Cassie, a self-described manic-depressive-bipolar-anorexic. Grover Cleveland (yes, like the president), a cute but confrontational… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Eating Disorder (anorexia)
  • Schizophrenia

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

Ashleigh’s boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he’ll forget about her while he’s away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh’s friends suggest she text him a picture of herself — sans swimsuit — to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits “send.” But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Revenge pornography of a minor

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman’s boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets. Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends, and the girl whose life she… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental infidelity mentioned
  • Depression
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • School shooting, on-page
  • Bullying