Category Archives: Young Adult

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Danica Novgoorodoff

After Will’s brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. Don’t cry. Don’t snitch. Get revenge. So he gets in the lift with Shawn’s gun, determined to follow The Rules. Only when the lift door opens, Buck walks in, Will’s friend who died years ago. And Dani, who was shot years before that. As more people from his past arrive, Will has to ask himself if he really knows what he’s doing.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption & abuse mentioned (secondary character)
  • Smoking & mentions of drug use (secondary character, on-page)
  • Murder by gun violence (theme, on-page), including depictions of bloodied dead bodies with gunshot wounds
  • Death of a child, sibling, parent, friend & uncle

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood depiction
  • Physical injury, including ugnshot wounds
  • Dental medical procedure
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a sibling
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of an uncle
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake

The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake

Miss Saunders, who’s skin is blotched with a rare skin condition, serves as a mirror to Maleeka Madison’s struggle against the burden of low self-esteem that many black girls face when they’re darker skinned. Miss Saunder’s is tough and through this, Maleeka learns to stand up to tough-talking Charlese. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Attemped rape
  • Bullying

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

After Will’s brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. Don’t cry. Don’t snitch. Get revenge. So he gets in the lift with Shawn’s gun, determined to follow The Rules. Only when the lift door opens, Buck walks in, Will’s friend who died years ago. And Dani, who was shot years before that. As more people from his past arrive, Will has to ask himself if he really knows what he’s doing.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption & abuse mentioned (secondary character)
  • Smoking & mentions of drug use (secondary character)
  • Blood & injury depiction, including gunshot wounds
  • Dental medical procedure
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Death of a child, sibling, parent, friend & uncle
  • Gun violence (theme)

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Call of the Wilde by Jack London

First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London’s masterpiece. Based on London’s experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Animal abuse & cruelty

Becoming the Dark Prince by Kerri Maniscalco 

Becoming the Dark Prince by Kerri Maniscalco

Enigmatic, brooding, and darkly handsome, Thomas Cresswell has always been the one mystery Audrey Rose has never been able to fully solve. As brilliant partners in crime investigation, they understand each other perfectly…but as young lovers, their passionate natures have led to both euphoria and heartbreak throughout the Stalking Jack the Ripper series.

This novella features a collection of scenes that takes place during and after the pair’s horrifying Atlantic voyage in Escaping From Houdini. Experience new and familiar scenes from Thomas’s unique point of view, including an intensely personal look into his plea for Audrey Rose’s hand in marriage.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & physical injury depiction
  • Death of a mother mentioned
  • Murder

Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco 

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell have landed in America, a bold, brash land unlike the genteel streets of London they knew. But like London, the city of Chicago hides its dark secrets well. When the two attend the spectacular World’s Fair, they find the once-in-a-lifetime event tainted with reports of missing people and unsolved murders. Determined to help, Audrey Rose and Thomas begin their investigations, only to find themselves facing a serial killer unlike any they’ve heard of before. Identifying him is one thing, but capturing him and getting dangerously lost in the infamous Murder Hotel he constructed… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Blood depiction
  • Medical procedures (autopsies)
  • Death of a mother mentioned
  • Graphic murder
  • Poisoning
  • Animal butchery

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco 

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her partner-in-crime-investigation, Thomas Cresswell, are en route to New York to help solve another blood-soaked mystery. Embarking on a week-long voyage across the Atlantic on the opulent RMS Etruria, they’re delighted to discover a travelling troupe of circus performers, fortune tellers, and a certain charismatic young escape artist entertaining the first-class passengers nightly.

But then, privileged young women begin to go missing without explanation, and a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. The disturbing influence of the Moonlight Carnival pervades the decks as the murders grow ever more freakish, with nowhere to escape except the unforgiving sea… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies & autopsies
  • Murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Hanging
  • Poisoning
  • Blackmail
  • Animal attack

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco 

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine… and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life’s dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Panic attack
  • Drug abuse mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies & autopsies
  • Murder
  • Poisoning
  • Fire

Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco 

Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco

After selling her soul to become Queen of the Wicked, Emilia travels to the Seven Circles with the enigmatic Prince of Wrath, where she’s introduced to a seductive world of vice.

She vows to do whatever it takes to avenge her beloved sister, Vittoria… even if that means accepting the hand of the Prince of Pride, the king of demons.

The first rule in the court of the Wicked? Trust no one. With back-stabbing princes, luxurious palaces, mysterious party invitations, and conflicting clues about who really killed her twin, Emilia finds herself more alone than ever before… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder
  • Torture

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco 

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost-even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked-princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems… 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Hate crime
  • Self harm
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Stalking