Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper, Vol. 2 by Alice Oseman

Nick and Charlie are best friends. Nick knows Charlie’s gay, and Charlie is sure that Nick isn’t.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is discovering all kinds of things about his friends, his family … and himself.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Disordered eating
  • Bullying

Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper, Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman

Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn’t been too great, but at least he’s not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He’s heard a little about Charlie – the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months – but he’s never had the opportunity to talk to him.

They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Outing recounted
  • Homomisia
  • Sexual assault, on-page
  • Bullying

The Overstory by Richard Powers

The Overstory by Richard Powers

An Air Force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hard-partying undergraduate in the late 1980s electrocutes herself, dies and is sent back into life by creatures of air and light. A hearing- and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another.

These four, and five other strangers – each summoned in different ways by trees – are brought together in a last and violent stand to save the continent’s few remaining acres of virgin forest.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Suicide
  • Police brutality
  • Torture
  • Asphyxiation
  • Eco-terrorism

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford’s campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral–viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time.

Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Medical examination
  • Trauma (theme)
  • Gun violence

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had to start with. She grew up at Merilance School for Girls. Now, nearing the end of her time there, Olivia receives a letter from an uncle she’s never met, her father’s older brother, summoning her to his estate, a place called Gallant. But when she arrives, she discovers that the letter she received was several years old. Her uncle is dead. The estate is empty, save for the servants. Olivia is permitted to… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Mutism (protagonist)
  • Nightmares
  • Alcoholism, implied
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a brother by knife violence recounted
  • Death of a mother & father mentioned
  • Death of a cousin (on-page)
  • Murder
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Strangulation
  • Bullying
  • Graphic animal death (crow, cat)

Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller

Eighteen-year-old Ziva prefers metal to people. She spends her days tucked away in her forge, safe from society and the anxiety it causes her, using her magical gift to craft unique weapons imbued with power. Then Ziva receives a commission from a powerful warlord, and the result is a sword capable of stealing its victims’ secrets. A sword that can cut far deeper than the length of its blade. A sword with the strength to topple kingdoms. When Ziva learns of the warlord’s intentions to use the weapon to enslave all… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault (unwanted kiss)
  • Anxiety & anxiety attacks (on-page)
  • Agoraphobia & claustrophobia
  • Self-harm for magic
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction & emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents mentioned
  • Murder (on-page)

A Choice Cocktail of Death by Christine Zane Thomas

A Choice Cocktail of Death by Christine Zane Thomas

When food blogger and restaurant reviewer, Allie Treadwell, is invited to the grand opening of Lanai’s newest attraction, a murder mystery dinner party, she expects a night of fun, good food, and mystery. What she didn’t expect is an actual murder.

What seems an open and shut case is anything but as Allie uncovers clues that lead to a conspiracy. With an innocent man framed, Allie can’t just sit by and watch. She uses the only power she has to help set the story straight, her words. But the real killer is out to silence the loudmouth foodie for good.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Fire

The Salty Taste of Murder by Christine Zane Thomas

Thirty-year-old Allie Treadwell is a singleton. She’s a foodie, and a runner. A restaurant reviewer by day, and a Netflix aficionado by night. Even if it doesn’t make her the most popular dinner guest in the charming southern town of Lanai, Georgia, Allie’s reviews are always honest. And her latest is no different from any other. But Allie’s review isn’t the only thing to hit the newsstand. The restaurant’s owner and Allie’s one-time high school nemesis, Jessica Hayes, is found murdered. When Jessica’s husband, Miller, is labelled the prime suspect, Allie’s convinced the police are mistaken. As if dodging the bad press while she works… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

Paper Cranes Don’t Fly by Peter Vu

Paper Cranes Don’t Fly by Peter Vu

For Adam Auttenberg, the hospital is like a second home. Despite the ever-growing tumour in his head, he just wishes he was normal. This is until his latest operation when everything seems like a lost hope, and he knows he isn’t normal. He doesn’t know what to do, because there is nothing he can do. Facing the toughest challenge of his life, all Adam has to help him are his friends. But will they be enough?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Medical procedures
  • Hospitalisation
  • Terminal brain cancer (theme)
  • Death of a friend

Alone in Space by Tillie Walden

Alone in Space by Tillie Walden

Alone In Space compiles award-winning cartoonist Tillie Walden’s short comics into a stunning and comprehensive collection of the early work which shot her to fame.

We start with Tillie’s first published comic The End of Summer, in which Lars battles illness in a secluded castle at the start of an endless winter with a giant cat to keep him company amid mounting family tensions. Also featured are I Love This Part – Tillie’s bittersweet breakout story of small-town teen romance, and A City Inside – a study of growth and adulthood through a surreal and poetic recounting of one woman’s life.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Coming out themes
  • Internalised lesbomisia
  • Terminal illness
  • Graphic death of a pet cat