Afterlife by Melissa Jennings

Afterlife is a collection of poetry about catharsis, self-love, and self-revolution. Afterlife is a journey from the darkness to the light again, and again, and again.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression & anxiety
  • Intrusive thoughts & trauma flashbacks
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm

Abandon Me: Memoirs by Melissa Febos

In her dazzling Abandon Me, Febos captures the intense bonds of love and the need for connection–with family, lovers, and oneself. First, her birth father, who left her with only an inheritance of addiction and Native American blood, its meaning a mystery. As Febos tentatively reconnects, she sees how both these lineages manifest in her own life, marked by compulsion and an instinct for self-erasure. Meanwhile, she remains closely tied to the sea captain who raised her, his parenting ardent but intermittent as his work took him away for months at a time. Woven… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional intimate partner abuse
  • Substance addiction
  • Suicidal ideation

A + E 4ever by I. Merey

Asher Machnik is a teenage boy cursed with a beautiful androgynous face. Guys punch him, girls slag him and by high school he’s developed an intense fear of being touched. Art remains his only escape from an otherwise emotionally empty life. Eulalie Mason is the lonely, tough-talking dyke from school who befriends Ash. The only one to see and accept all of his sides as a loner, a fellow artist and a best friend, she’s starting to wonder if ash is ever going to see all of her….

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & coming out themes
  • Statutory rape
  • Bullying

After You Died by Dea Poirier

Bisexual teen, Asher remembers nothing from the night in 1968 that the police found him covered in his girlfriend’s blood. He knows he’d never hurt anyone, least of all her. But the only person who believes him is his twin sister. He’s sentenced to five years at the Dozier Reform School. And like Asher’s memory, Dozier hides violent secrets of its own. Juvenile boys serving time for everything from truancy to murder are hidden away in the sinister School for Boys. Those who manage to escape its bounds with broken bones and scars are the lucky ones. Asher’s afraid he may end… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child sexual abuse mentioned
  • Domestic abuse
  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Murder
  • Torture

Affiliations, Aliens, and Other Profitable Pursuits by Lyn Gala

A desire for status has brought Ondry and Liam to a human world to trade, but dealing with humans has brought up all the old pain in Liam’s heart. Even though Ondry would do anything to protect his beloved palteia, he doesn’t know how to protect Liam from himself. Worse, Ondry isn’t sure how to shield Liam from the shifting politics on the Rownt ship where the Calti Grandmothers are nothing like the ones they left behind on the planet.With everything in their lives changing, Ondry and Liam have only each other… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Rape (off-page) & child sexual abuse recounted
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & trauma
  • Death of a parent (off-page)
  • War themes
  • Animal attack (off-page)

The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero

Ana Falcón, along with her husband Lucho and their two young children, has fled the economic and political strife of Peru for a chance at a new life in New York City in the 1990s. Being undocumented, however, has significantly curtailed the family’s opportunities: Ana is indebted to a loan shark who calls herself Mama, and is stretched thin by unceasing shifts at her factory job. To make matters worse, Ana must also battle both criticism from Lucho’s cousin—who has made it obvious the family is not welcome to stay in her spare room for much longer—and escalating and unwant… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Homophobia
  • Rape mentioned & sexual assault
  • Abortion
  • Deportation

Mixing Magics by Clare Edge

Bernadette Crowley feels like she’s finally getting a handle on her diabetes diagnosis. At least, she can finally manage to not summon a demon every time she checks her blood sugar. But without her Grandma Orla, who disappeared into the demon dimension while protecting their family’s coven, even big wins don’t seem to matter as much. Frustrated that no one is trying hard enough to rescue Grandma Orla, Ber takes matters into her own hands, using her growing powers to try to reach the demon dimension. But nothing can prepare her for the truth, a history that… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Diabetes (protagonist)
  • Needles & self-injury for blood (on-page)

Accidental Demons by Clare Edge

For the youngest in a long line of witches, demons used to be no big deal. A spell and a quick prick of the finger, and a witch like Ber could summon a demon to do anything she needed—clean a mess, send a message, you name it. But that was before Ber was diagnosed with diabetes. Now each time she tests her blood sugar, accidental demons are slipping into the human dimension…and causing absolute chaos. Good thing Ber and her older sister, Maeve, know that every magical problem has a magical solution. They’ll just conjur a low-order demon to monitor… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Diabetes (protagonist)
  • Needles & self-injury for blood (on-page, theme)
  • Animal death (sacrifices)

About That Night by Laura Brown

Izzy Fineberg can take on any challenge—and she’s had some big ones lately. After one fateful night with the hottest Deaf man she’d ever met, Izzy found she was pregnant with his child. And she never caught his name. She’s been doing the single mom thing for nine months now, and surely, nothing could be more challenging than that. But her first day at her new job, she meets her supervisor…and recognizes him immediately. Nolan Holtzman never expected to see Izzy again, and now, she’s the new hire at the agency he works in. He’d think things were finally going his way for once… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Unplanned pregnancy

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris, hoping for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Meredith also hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe’s muse awake, and he’ll be inspired to write again. And he is; after their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. Seems like this trip is just… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cancer
  • COVID-19 pandemic (theme)
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Confinement & stalking