Category Archives: Representation

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…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

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

While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

Ben Stephens has never bothered with serious relationships. He has plenty of casual dates to keep him busy, family drama he’s trying to ignore and his advertising job to focus on. When Ben lands a huge ad campaign featuring movie star Anna Gardiner, however, it’s hard to keep it purely professional. Anna is not just gorgeous and sexy, she’s also down to earth and considerate, and he can’t help flirting a little…

Anna Gardiner is on a mission: to make herself a household name, and this ad campaign will be a great distraction while she waits to hear if she’s booked her next movie. However, she didn’t expect Ben Stephens to be her biggest distraction… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Car accident, off-page

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

Dating is the last thing on Olivia Monroe’s mind when she moves to LA to start her own law firm. But when she meets a gorgeous man at a hotel bar and they spend the entire night flirting, she discovers too late that he is none other than hotshot junior senator Max Powell. Olivia has zero interest in dating a politician, but when a cake arrives at her office with the cutest message, she can’t resist–it is chocolate cake, after all.

Olivia is surprised to find that Max is sweet, funny, and noble–not just some privileged white politician she assumed him to be. Because of Max’s high-profile job, they start seeing each other secretly, which leads to clandestine dates and silly disguises… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism

The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

Maddie and Theo have two things in common: 1. Alexa is their best friend, and 2. They hate each other.

After an “Oops, we made a mistake” kiss, neither one can stop thinking about the other. With Alexa’s wedding rapidly approaching, Maddie and Theo both share bridal party responsibilities that require more interaction with each other than they’re comfortable with. Underneath the sharp barbs they toss at each other is a simmering attraction that won’t fade. It builds until they find themselves sneaking off together to release some tension when Alexa isn’t looking.

But as with any engagement with a nemesis, there are unspoken rules that must be abided by. First and foremost, don’t fall in love

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Physical assault resulting in a concussion

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn’t the hard part–they’ve only been dating for five months, and he can’t even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans…

At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik’s rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He’s even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik’s social media blows up–in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can’t be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Pregnancy-related medical crisis, including an emergency caesarian & pre-eclampsia
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent from a heart attack recounted

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck within an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn’t normally do. But there’s something about Drew Nichols that’s too hard to resist.

On the eve of his ex’s wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend…

After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she’s the mayor’s chief of staff. Too bad they can’t stop thinking about the other … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Terminal cancer

The Cousins by Karen McManus

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racist microaggressions
  • Sexism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Cheating
  • Parental abuse & neglect
  • Parental abandonment
  • Familial disownment & estrangement (central theme)
  • Pregnancy discussed
  • Miscarriage recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Death of a father & grandfather mentioned
  • Death of a mother & grandmother mentioned
  • Death of a son mentioned
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Death in a car accident mentioned
  • Murder recounted
  • Gun violence
  • Hostage situation
  • Housefire & death from smoke inhalation mentioned
  • Financial struggles & bankruptcy discussed

One of Us Is Next by Karen McManus

One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts. Until now. This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game.

Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark. Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare. But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Public outing recounted
  • Slut-shaming
  • Victim-blaming
  • Sexual assault, on-page & detailed
  • Suicide recounted
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Cancer remission & relapsing discussed
  • Mild blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Hospital
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a classmate & ex-boyfriend, off-page
  • Death of a child, off-page
  • Death by a fall
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Explosion & attempted bombing
  • Death threats
  • Blackmail
  • Stalking
  • Bullying

Empress and Aniya by Candice Carty-Williams

Empress and Aniya by Candice Carty-Williams

When Empress starts at Aniya’s school, they’re not exactly best friends. But, when the two teenage girls accidentally cast a spell on their 16th birthday and end up switching bodies, they quickly learn that friendship is the most important magic of all. South London’s answer to ‘Freaky Friday’, Empress and Aniya is a moving portrayal of the importance of real friendship and the ups and downs of being a teenager. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child neglect
  • Sexual harassment

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle-class peers. After a messy break-up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Workplace harassment
  • Depression
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)