Category Archives: Representation

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery & sex slavery
  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Rape
  • Suicide
  • Body horror
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a father in a hunting accident recounted
  • Murder of a mother by poisoning recounted
  • Torture
  • Immolation

The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

This is the way the world ends… for the last time.

The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.

Essun has inherited the power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which every orogene child can grow up safe.

For Nassun, her mother’s mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Amputation
  • Body horror
  • Murder
  • Torture

The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

This is the way the world ends… for the last time.

The season of endings grows darker as civilization fades into the long cold night. Alabaster Tenring – madman, world-crusher, savior – has returned with a mission: to train his successor, Essun, and thus seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

It continues with a lost daughter, found by the enemy. It continues with the obelisks, and an ancient mystery converging on answers at last. The Stillness is the wall which stands against the flow of tradition, the spark of hope long buried under the thickening ashfall. And it will not be broken. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Death of a child
  • Murder

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory.

But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England’s magical past and regained some of the powers of England’s magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism

Glutton for Pleasure by Alisha Rai

Glutton for Pleasure by Alisha Rai

They’re craving something sweet. She likes it spicy.
 
Devi Malik knows how to heat things up. She does it every night as head chef in her family’s Indian restaurant. Her love life, though, is stuck in the subzero freezer. Now, with a chance to fulfil a secret fantasy with her long-time crush and his brother, it’s time to put her desire on the front two burners.
 
For Marcus Callahan, a love-’em-and-leave-’em attitude isn’t only a necessary evil of their kink. It’s a protective device. Lately, though, his brother Jace has been making noises about craving something more… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child physical & sexual abuse
  • Slut-shaming
  • Internalised fatmisia
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent by car accident

Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai

Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai

Heiress Evangeline Chandler knows how to keep a secret . . . like her life-long crush on the tattooed hottie who just happens to be her big brother’s friend. She’s a Chandler, after all, and Chandlers don’t hook up with the help. Then again, they also don’t disobey their fathers and quit their respectable jobs, so good-girl rules may no longer apply.

Gabriel Hunter hides the pain of his past behind a smile, but he can’t hide his sudden attraction to his friend’s sheltered little sister. Eve is far too sweet to accept anything less than forever and there’s no chance of a future between the son of a housekeeper and the town’s resident princess… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Emotional & verbal parental abuse
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Car accident recounted

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai

Accused of a crime he didn’t commit, Jackson Kane fled his home, his name, and his family. Ten years later, he’s come back to town: older, wiser, richer, tougher—and still helpless to turn away the one woman he could never stop loving, even after she married his brother.

Sadia Ahmed can’t deal with the feelings her mysterious former brother-in-law stirs, but she also can’t turn down his offer of help with the cafe she’s inherited. While he heats up her kitchen, she slowly discovers that the boy she adored has grown into a man she’s simply unable to resist.

An affair is unthinkable, but their desire is undeniable. As secrets and lies are stripped away, Sadia and Jackson must decide if they’re strong enough to face the past…and step into a future together.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide mentioned
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attack
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Fire recounted
  • Incarceration recounted

First Comes Like by Alisha Rai

First Comes Like by Alisha Rai

Beauty expert and influencer Jia Ahmed has her eye on the prize: conquering the internet today, the entire makeup industry tomorrow, and finally, finally proving herself to her big opinionated family. She has little time for love, and even less time for the men in her private messages—until the day a certain international superstar slides into her DMs, and she falls hard and fast. There’s just one wrinkle: he has no idea who she is.

The son of a powerful Bollywood family, soap opera star Dev Dixit is used to drama, but a strange woman who accuses him of wooing her online, well, that’s a new one. As much as he’d like to focus on his Hollywood fresh start, he can’t get Jia out of his head. Especially once he starts to suspect who might have used his famous name to catfish her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Panic attack
  • COVID-19 mentioned
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Catfishing

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

One minute, Katrina King’s enjoying an innocent conversation with a hot guy at a coffee shop; the next, a stranger has live-tweeted the entire episode with a romantic meet-cute spin and #CafeBae is the new hashtag-du-jour. The problem? Katrina craves a low-profile life, and going viral threatens the peaceful world she’s painstakingly built. Besides, #CafeBae isn’t the man she’s hungry for…

With the internet on the hunt for the identity of #CuteCafeGirl, Jas Singh, bodyguard, friend, and possessor of the most beautiful eyebrows Katrina’s ever seen, comes to the rescue and whisks her away to his family’s home. Alone in a remote setting with the object of her affections? It’s a recipe for romance. But after a long dating dry spell, Katrina isn’t sure she can trust her instincts when it comes to love—even if Jas’ every look says he wants to be more than just her bodyguard…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Sexual assault (groping) recounted
  • Emotional parental abuse
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attack, on-page
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Nightmares
  • Dissociation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent
  • Torture recounted
  • Explosion recounted
  • Kidnapping recounted
  • Blackmail
  • Military service recounted
  • Doxing

The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai

The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai

Rhiannon Hunter may have revolutionized romance in the digital world, but in real life she only swipes right on her career—and the occasional hookup. The cynical dating app creator controls her love life with a few key rules: Nude pics are by invitation only, if someone stands you up, block them with extreme prejudice, and protect your heart.

Only there aren’t any rules to govern her attraction to her newest match, former pro-football player Samson Lima. The sexy and seemingly sweet hunk woos her one magical night… and disappears.

Rhi thought she’d buried her hurt over Samson ghosting her, until he suddenly surfaces months later… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual harassment
  • Cyberbullying & harassment
  • Emotionally abuse relationship recounted
  • Chronic illness discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction