BIPOC Lit – Page 52 – Trigger Warning Database

Jackal by Erin Adams

Jackal by Erin E. Adams

Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn’t exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward and passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the day of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the bride’s daughter, Caroline, goes missing—and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Fatmisia
Domestic violence
Alcoholism
Anxiety
Death of a child
Kidnapping

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking bloody havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning. At his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress, and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Childbirth
Blood depiction
Murder
Branding
War themes

Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter

Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter

The first time Aja Owens encounters the man of her dreams, she’s having a panic attack in the frozen foods section of the Piggly Wiggly. The second time, he’s being introduced to her as her favourite bingo buddy’s semi-estranged grandson. From there, all it takes is one game for her to realize that he’s definitely going to be a problem. And if there’s anything she already has a surplus of, it’s problems. In Walker Abbott’s mind, there are only two worthwhile things in Greenbelt, South Carolina. The peach cobbler at his old favourite diner and his ailing grandmother. Dragging… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Anxiety & panic attacks
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Sunset Springs by Kacen Callender

Sunset Springs by Kacen Callender

No job, no money, no love – and to make things worse, 27-year-old Charlie has no choice but to leave New York City and move in with his mom in his isolated and conservative hometown of Sunset Springs. Home isn’t a comfortable place for Charlie. One of the very few Black residents and the only trans person around town that he knows of, this will be Charlie’s first time back in Sunset Springs since he transitioned. He expects confusion and maybe even hostility. He definitely does not expect Jackson Ford… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Transmisia
Homomisia
Outing
Alcohol consumption

Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin

Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin

As a self-proclaimed book hater and a firm believer that the movie is always better, Drew Young didn’t anticipate inheriting her grandma’s bookstore, the Book Nook. She’s in way over her head even before the shop’s resident book club, comprising seven of the naughtiest old ladies ever, begin to do what they do best–meddle.

Bestselling author Jasper Williams is a hopeless romantic. When he meets Drew at his… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction (theme)
Death of a grandmother

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, is desperate to protect her sister’s life and the lives of everyone in the Empire. Yet danger lurks on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable and violent, while Keris Veturia, the ruthless Commandant, capitalizes on the Emperor’s volatility to grow her own power—regardless of the carnage she leaves in her path. Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows that the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Domestic abuse
Death of children
Murder
Torture

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again. It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Racism
Slut-shaming
Nightmares
Suicidal ideation recounted
Alcohol consumption
Drug use
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a child from cancer mentioned (leukemia)
Death of a wife from drowning mentioned
Death of a husband in a car accident recounted, on-page (theme)

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao

Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Murder
Genocide
Blackmail
Loss of autonomy (possession)
Bullying

Okoye to the People by Ibi Zoboi

Okoye to the People by Ibi Zoboi and illustrated by Noa Denmon

Okoye is a new recruit for T’Chaka’s royal guard: the Dora Milaje. Known for their loyalty and warrior abilities, the Dora are respected and revered in Okoye’s home country of Wakanda. But when Okoye is sent on her very first mission—to America—she’ll learn that her status as a Dora means nothing to New Yorkers and her expectations for the world outside of her own quickly fall apart. Chosen to accompany King T’Chaka on a humanitarian mission, Okoye finds herself trying to help teens dealing with addiction and gentrification in a forgotten neighbourhood in Brooklyn.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Arson

The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of the millions trapped by a secretive and brutal totalitarian regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. Given the repression, poverty and starvation she witnessed surely her country could not be, as she had been told “the best on the planet”?… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Human trafficking
Forced sex work
Suicide mentioned
Famine & starvation
Executions
Imprisonment
Fire
Refugee experience
Death of a pet