At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp 

At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp

The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named. No one has hope for the delinquent teenagers who have been exiled there; the world barely acknowledges that they exist. Then the guards at Hope start acting strange. And one day…they don’t show up. But when the teens band together to make a break from the facility, they encounter soldiers outside the gates. There’s a rapidly spreading infectious disease outside, and no one can leave their houses or travel without a permit. Which means that they’re stuck at Hope. And this time, no one is watching out for them at all.

As supplies quickly dwindle and a deadly plague tears through their ranks, the group has to decide whom among them they can trust and figure out how they can survive in a world that has never wanted them in the first place

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racial profiling
  • Transmisia
  • Deadnaming
  • Ableism
  • Blood depiction
  • Gun violence
  • Imprisonment
  • Homelessness
  • Foster care system
  • Animal hunting
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What I Carry by Jennifer Longo

What I Carry by Jennifer Longo

Growing up in foster care, Muir has lived in many houses. And if she’s learned one thing, it is to Pack. Light. Carry only what fits in a suitcase. Toothbrush? Yes. Socks? Yes. Emotional attachment to friends? foster families? a boyfriend? There’s no room for any additional baggage.

Muir has just one year left before she ages out of the system. One year before she’s free. One year to avoid anything–or anyone–that could get in her way. Then she meets Francine. And Kira. And Sean.

And everything changes.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Foster care system
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The Righteous by Renée Ahdieh

The Righteous by Renée Ahdieh

The Court of the Lions have done everything they can to save her but have failed. A healer from the Sylvan Vale could help her, but only Arjun Desai, as a half fey, can cross the boundary between realms. The Sylvan Vale is a world Arjun despises, and in return, it despises him. But knowing it could save Odette, he returns to the Vale with all haste, leaving the mirrored tare between the two worlds open and unwittingly setting the stage for both love and war.

It’s mere days until Pippa Montrose is to wed Phoebus Devereux and become a member of his well-heeled family, offering salvation to her own. But Celine is missing. Pippa has no idea where her best friend has gone, but she’s certain it’s in the company of vampire Sébastien… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • War themes
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Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler 

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

Amber McCloud’s dream is to become cheer captain at the end of the year, but it’s an extra-tall order to be joyful and spirited when the quarterback of your team has been killed in a car accident. For both the team and the squad, watching Robbie get replaced by newcomer Jack Walsh is brutal. And when it turns out Jack is actually short for Jaclyn, all hell breaks loose.

The players refuse to be led by a girl, the cheerleaders are mad about the changes to their traditions, and the fact that Robbie’s been not only replaced but outshined by a QB who wears a sports bra has more than a few Atherton Alligators in a rage. Amber tries for some semblance of unity, but it quickly becomes clear that she’s only got a future on the squad and with her friends if she helps them take Jack down… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Queermisia
  • Threatened outing
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Miscarriage
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Car accident
  • Bullying
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The Color Project by Sierra Abrams

The Color Project by Sierra Abrams

Bernice Aurora Wescott has one thing she doesn’t want anyone to know: her name. That is, until Bee meets Levi, the local golden boy who runs a charity organization called The Color Project. Levi is not at all shy about attempting to guess Bee’s real name. But while Levi is everything she never knew she needed, giving up her name would feel like a stamp on forever. And that terrifies her.

When unexpected news of an illness in the family drains Bee’s summer of everything bright, she is pushed to the breaking point. Losing herself in The Color Project—a world of weddings, funerals, cancer patients, and hopeful families that the charity funds—is no longer enough. Bee must hold up the weight of her family, but to do that, she needs Levi.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety
  • Car accident

Goth Girl, Queen of the Universe by Lindsay Zrull 

Goth Girl, Queen of the Universe by Lindsay S. Zrull

Jess was claimed by the state when her bio mom’s mental illness made her unstable. While their relationship is far from traditional, blood ties are hard to break. There’s only one problem: Jess can’t reunite with her mom in New York City without a bunch of paperwork and she worries her social worker will never approve the trip. That’s when she remembers Oscar’s cosplay group, which is aiming for that big convention in New York . . .

So, Jess joins Oscar’s team—with every intention of using them to get to her mom. But her plan gets complicated when she discovers that, actually, cosplay is pretty great, and so is having friends. And Oscar, who Jess thought was just a shy nerd, can be as gallant and charming as the heroes he pretends to be. As the big convention draws near, Jess will have to decide whether or not chasing a dream of “family” is worth risking the family she’s built for herself.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Schizophrenia
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attacks, on-page
  • Foster care system
  • Bullying

Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein

Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein

Grace Welles had resigned herself to the particular loneliness of being fifteen and stuck at a third-tier boarding school in the swamps of Florida, when she accidentally saves the new kid in her class from being beat up. With a single aim of a slingshot, the monotonous mathematics of her life are obliterated forever…because now there is this boy she never asked for. Wade Scholfield.

With Wade, Grace discovers a new way to exist. School rules are optional, life is bizarrely perfect, and conversations about wormholes can lead to make-out sessions that disrupt any logical stream of thoughts… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut shaming
  • Sexual harassment
  • Teacher-student relationship
  • Physical parent abuse
  • Cheating

Such a Good Girl by Amanda Morgan

Such a Good Girl by Amanda K. Morgan

Riley Stone is just about perfect. (Ask anyone.) She has a crush on her French teacher, Alex Belrose. And she suspects he likes her, too. Riley has her entire life planned out. The plan is nonnegotiable. She’s never had a secret she couldn’t keep.
Riley is sure that her life is on the right track. And nothing will change that. She’s nothing like a regular teenager.
But she doesn’t have any problem admitting that.

Riley doesn’t usually play games. But when she does, she always wins. She thinks a game is about to start but Riley always has a plan… and she always wins.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Teacher-student relationship

The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi

The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi and translated by Cathy Hirano

Elin’s family has an important responsibility: caring for the fearsome water serpents that form the core of their kingdom’s army. So when some of the beasts mysteriously die, Elin’s mother is sentenced to death as punishment. With her last breath she manages to send her daughter to safety.

Alone, far from home, Elin soon discovers that she can talk to both the terrifying water serpents and the majestic flying beasts that guard her queen. This skill gives her great powers, but it also involves her in deadly plots that could cost her life. Can she save herself and prevent her beloved beasts from being used as tools of war? Or is there no way of escaping the terrible battles to come?

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent
  • Fire
  • Animal abuse

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person – any dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain – he died young, and so did Laurel’s sister May – so maybe he’ll understand a bit of what Laurel is going through. Soon Laurel is writing letters to lots of dead people – Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart… it’s like she can’t stop. And she’d certainly never dream of handing them in to her teacher. She writes about what it’s like going to a new high school, meeting new friends, falling in love for the first time – and how her family has shattered since May died.

But much as Laurel might find writing the letters cathartic, she can’t keep real life out forever. The ghosts of her past won’t be contained between the lines of a page, and she will have to come to terms with growing up, the agony of losing a beloved sister, and the realisation that only you can shape your destiny. 

.GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child sexual abuse