BIPOC Lit – Page 44 – Trigger Warning Database

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp. In this society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children, Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. But when… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Child abuse

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past, the present, and herself. One hundred years earlier, a single violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self-discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what’s right the night Tulsa burns.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Hate crime
Blood depiction
Dead bodies
Murder
Lynching
Car accident
Riots

Patience and Esther by Sarah Winifred Searle

Patience & Esther by Sarah Winifred Searle

Patience is a kindhearted country girl, eking out a living in Edwardian England as tremors of social change rock the world around her. When she starts her employment in formal service on the grounds of an opulent country manor, she has no idea that her own personal revolution is about to begin. Selfless, dutiful, and just a touch naive, she takes to both her place as a parlour maid and to her new roommate, the bookish and progressive lady’s maid, Esther. In another time, the two women would have kept one another’s company forever in their little attic bedroom, living out their days… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Misogyny
Death of a baby brother & sister from scarlet fever recounted
Death of an employee from illness, off-page

Forward March by Skye Quinlan

Forward March by Skye Quinlan

Harper “Band Geek” McKinley just wants to make it through her senior year of marching band—and her Republican father’s presidential campaign. That was a tall order to start, but everything was going well enough until someone made a fake gay dating profile posing as Harper. The real Harper can’t afford for anyone to find out about the Tinder profile for three very important reasons: 1. Her mom is the school dean and dating profiles for students are strictly forbidden… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Forced outing
Anxiety & panic attacks
Substance addiction mentioned
Self-harm mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Asthma attacks

Always Be My Duchess by Amalie Howard

Always Be My Duchess by Amalie Howard

Lord Lysander Blackstone, the stern Duke of Montcroix, has only one interest: increasing his considerable fortune. After a series of betrayals, he keeps his emotions buried deep. Money, after all, can’t break a man’s heart—or make promises it can’t keep. But when his reputation for being heartless jeopardizes a new business deal, he finds himself seeking a most unusual—and alluring—solution. Once an up-and-coming ballerina, Miss Geneviève Valery is now hopelessly out of work. After refusing to become a wealthy patron’s mistress, Nève was promptly shown the door to the streets. When she accidentally saves the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abuse recounted
Sexual harassment
Fertility issues (amenorrhea)
Death of a parent

Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard

Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard

Born to a life of privilege, Lady Ravenna Huntley rues the day that she must marry. She’s refused dozens of suitors and cried off multiple betrothals, but running away—even if brash and foolhardy—is the only option left to secure her independence. Lord Courtland Chase, grandson of the Duke of Ashton, was driven from England at the behest of his cruel stepmother. Scorned and shunned, he swore never to return to the land of his birth. But when a twist of bad luck throws a rebellious heiress into his arms, at the very moment he finds out he’s the new Duke, marriage is the only… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Racism
Slavery mentioned
Blood depiction
Gun violence
Animal death recounted
Bullying

Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova

Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova

Lula Mortiz may be a bruja with healing powers, but after her family’s battle in Los Lagos, she feels broken in a way she can’t seem to fix. Then tragedy strikes when a bus crash leaves her friends and her boyfriend, Maks, dead. Desperate to reclaim normalcy, Lula invokes a dark spell to bring Maks back. It isn’t until she hears that all of the bodies from the crash have gone missing that she realizes something is wrong. Lula has unwittingly raised an army of casi muertos–creatures between the living and dead–and they’re hungry for freedom…which they can only achieve if Lula dies.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Self harm for blood magic
Blood & gore depiction
Dead bodies
Grief & loss depiction
Car accident

Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova

Wayward Witch by Zoraida Córdova

Rose Mortiz has always been a fixer, but lately, she’s been feeling lost. She has brand-new powers she doesn’t understand, and her family is still trying to figure out how to function in the wake of her amnesiac father’s return home. Then, on the night of her Deathday party, Rose discovers her father’s memory loss has been a lie. As she rushes to his side, the two are ambushed and pulled through a portal to the land of Adas, a fairy realm hidden in the Caribbean Sea. There, Rose is forced to work with a group of others to save Adas. Soon, she begins to discover the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a parent
Kidnapping

The Rose & the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh

The Rose & the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unravelled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever. Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault
Alcohol consumption
Drugging
Blood & injury depiction including scars
Emesis
Death of a mother from illness
Sword & arrow violence
Kidnapping

Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

Prince Jones is the guy with all the answers—or so it seems. After all, at seventeen, he has his own segment on Detroit’s popular hip-hop show, Love Radio, where he dishes out advice to the brokenhearted. Prince has always dreamed of becoming a DJ and falling in love. But being the main caretaker for his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, and his little brother means his dreams will stay just that and the only romances in his life are the ones he hears about from his listeners. Until he meets Dani Ford… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Sexual assault, on-page