Category Archives: BIPOC Lit

A Vicious Game by Melissa Blair

A new king is on the throne and the rebellion lies in ruins. Keera spends her days drinking and her nights avoiding the strange dreams that have haunted her since she returned from the capital. Keera’s family in Myrelinth won’t let her go without a fight. With new intelligence about the magical seals left behind by Keera’s ancient kin, the Light Fae, she rallies to face her demons and unleash the formidable powers she inherited from her people. But a shocking truth is hiding in plain sight, one with the power to unravel the entire rebellion…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcoholism (relapse)
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies, emesis & needles
  • Death of a sibling
  • Torture mentioned
  • Kidnapping

The Sea in Winter by Christine Day

It’s been a hard year for Maisie Cannon, ever since she hurt her leg and could not keep up with her ballet training and auditions. Her blended family is loving and supportive, but Maisie knows that they just can’t understand how hopeless she feels. With everything she’s dealing with, Maisie is not excited for their family midwinter road trip along the coast, near the Makah community where her mother grew up. But soon, Maisie’s anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee. How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as roiling and cold as the ocean?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Leg injury (theme)
  • Death of a parent recounted

Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola

Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink. They’re soon embroiled in… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs including mentions of racial profiling and police harassment
  • Revenge pornography & blackmail
  • Dubious consent scene recounted*
  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Parental infidelity & infidelity mentioned
  • Depression (recovery)
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use (marijuana)
  • Emesis
  • Death of a grandfather mentioned
  • Physical assault

Context : The female protagonist’s ex-partner posts a intimate photo of her on social media without consent, and similarly blackmails other women. The protagonist’s best friend’s boyfriend coerced her to have sex while she was drunk.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child marriage, paedophilia & incest
  • War themes

For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga

Three hundred and sixty-four days. Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, Dania counts down her days in prison until she can exact revenge on Mazin, the boy responsible for her downfall, the boy she once loved—and still can’t forget. When she discovers a fellow prisoner may have the key to exacting that vengeance–a stolen djinn treasure–they execute a daring escape together and search for the hidden treasure. Armed with dark magic and a new identity, Dania enacts a plan to bring down those who betrayed her and her family, even though Mazin stands in her way. But seeking revenge becomes a complicated game of.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abusing and addiction to a magical substance (on-page & discussion)
  • Physical injury (protagonist)
  • Murder of a father
  • Murder by sword violence & fire
  • Torture during imprisonment by physical beating
  • Kidnapping mentioned

A War of Swallowed Stars by Sangu Mandanna

A prince without his kingdom. A kingdom without its princess. The destruction of the stars themselves. War is destroying the galaxy. Esmae has vanished without a trace. A terrifying, ravenous beast is devouring the stars one by one. Titania is offered a gift that may well be a curse. Alexi, the exiled prince, is asked to pay a heavy price for his mistakes. And far, far away, on a dark, mysterious planet, a sleeping god stirs awake. War or family. Pride or peace. As the end of the world draws ever closer, Esmae and Alexi must decide how far they’ll go to win—and who they’ll sacrifice along the way.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Graphic blood & injury depiction & needles
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother & son
  • Death of a friend recounted
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Attempted infanticide recounted
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Poisoning recounted
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Fire recounted
  • War & battle scenes (theme)

A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna

Raised alone and far away from her home on Kali, Esmae longs to return to her family. When the King of Wychstar offers to gift the unbeatable, sentient warship Titania to a warrior that can win his competition, she sees her way home: she’ll enter the competition, reveal her true identity to the world, and help her famous brother win back the crown of Kali. It’s a great plan. Until it falls apart.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Infanticide mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Fire recounted
  • War, rebellion & royal coup (theme)

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers. It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work. Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny, racism & classism
  • Alcohol consumption & alcoholism
  • Murder & torture
  • Kidnapping, rape & abuse of multiple women discussed
  • Cults

I’ll Have What He’s Having by Adib Khorram

When it comes to love, Farzan Alavi is a disaster. After his most recent heartbreak, he’s drowning his sorrows at Kansas City’s newest wine bar. Only instead of being crowded between strangers, he’s escorted to a VIP table for one. There, the hot sommelier does more than treat him to the meal of his life. The way he flirts with Farzan ignites instant sparks. There’s just one problem: David Curtis thinks Farzan is Frank Allen, Kansas City’s most influential food critic. The truth only comes out after the two spend an unforgettably hot night together. Good news—both think the mix-up is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption

The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean

As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila’s childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There’s just one glaring caveat: her zoo’s breeding program hasn’t functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighboring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins. But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons. Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. But muster… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety (protagonist)