Category Archives: Representation

Tall Water by S.J. Sindu and Dion MBD

Ever since she turned sixteen, Nimmi has wanted to see her mother. Though she has a loving but overprotective father and a budding relationship, she yearns to travel to Sri Lanka to confront the mother who refused to leave the island during a war, not even for Nimmi’s sake. Her father is going back for the first time as a reporter on assignment, but he refuses to take her, deeming Sri Lanka too dangerous. But then Nimmi’s mother appears to her in a dream, asking her to come find her, and Nimmi knows she must go. Her father is livid when he sees her at baggage claim, but by then… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Tsunami (on-page)

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux

At Wilberton Academy, few students are more revered than the members of the elite Wilberton Theatrical Society—a.k.a. the WTS—and no one represents that exclusive club better than Elizabeth Woodward. Breathtakingly beautiful, beloved by all, and a talented thespian, it’s no surprise she’s starring as Juliet in the WTS’s performance of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. But when she’s found dead the morning after opening night, the whole school is thrown into chaos. Transfer student Abby Kita was one of the last people to see Elizabeth alive, and when local authorities… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Sexual assault of a minor & grooming
  • Suicide
  • Bullying

The Flip Side by Jason Walz

Theo’s best friend has died, and he can’t pull himself out of his sadness—a sadness that those around him don’t seem to respect or even notice. And then something even more disconcerting His town literally flips upside down and everyone disappears, except for a threatening, shape-shifting monster and a snarky teenage girl who knows her way around this flipped world. Is Theo doomed to spend the rest of his life in this scary state?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicidal ideation & self-harm
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend from cancer

Leap by Simina Popescu

Ana has been studying contemporary dance since she was little, but her heart isn’t in it anymore. Instead her focus is on Carina―a beautiful, ambitious ballerina whose fear of being outed keeps Ana in the closet and their fragile relationship from seeing the light of day. Risking her own career, Ana gives up more and more in order to fit into the shadows of Carina’s life. Sara, on the other hand, is fielding whispers she may be the best dancer their school has produced in years. Much of that is thanks to her mentor and instructor, Marlena, who plucked Sara from the classical track… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Body-shaming & weight loss discussed (in the context of ballet), including mentions of starving oneself for weight loss & calorie counting

Halfway There by Christine Mari

Christine has always felt she is just Half American, half Japanese. As a biracial Japanese American who was born in Tokyo but raised in the US, she knows all too well what it’s like to be a part of two different worlds but never feeling as though you belong to either. Now on the brink of adulthood, Christine decides it’s time to return to the place she once called home. So she sets forth on a year abroad in Tokyo, believing that this is where she truly belongs. After years of feeling like an outsider, now she will finally be complete. Except…Tokyo isn’t the answer she thought it… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Depression (protagonist) & panic attacks
  • Suicidal ideation &attempted suicide
  • Self-harm

Vantage Point by Sara Sligar

The old-money Wieland family has it all—wealth, status, power. They’re also famously cursed. Clara and her brother Teddy grew up on a small island in Maine in the shadow of their parents’ tragic deaths, haunted by rumors and paparazzi. Fourteen years later they’ve mostly put their turbulent past to rest. Teddy has married Clara’s best friend, Jess, and the three of them have moved back home to take over the sprawling, remote family mansion known as Vantage Point. Then Teddy decides to run for the Senate—an unnerving prospect made much worse when… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Domestic abuse
  • Sexual assault
  • Eating disorder (protagonist)

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

On a hot day in 1960s Maine, six-year-old Joe watches his little sister Ruthie, sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of the blueberry fields, while their family, Mi’kmaq people from Nova Scotia, pick fruit. That afternoon, Ruthie vanishes without a trace. As the last person to see her, Joe will be forever haunted by grief, guilt, and the agony of imagining how his life could have been. In an affluent suburb nearby, Norma is growing up as the only child of unhappy parents. She is smart, precocious, and bursting with questions she isn’t allowed to ask – questions about her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Miscarriage (late term)
  • Cancer

Wild Card by Elsie Silver

Sebastian Rousseau is a grumpy, hot as hell fire pilot who is too damn good with his hands. It’s the perfect combination. But unfortunately for me, he’s also my ex-boyfriend’s dad. A chance meeting brought us together and a missed connection has kept us apart. One year later, a stroke of fate has us living under the same roof—which makes everything between us downright messy. Because even after all this time, he’s still the man I think about when I fall asleep. The one I can’t get over no matter how hard I try. He’s working on mending a fragile relationship with his son and we both… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body-shaming mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Hospitalisation for surgery

Off to the Races by Elsie Silver

Keeping things professional with my employees has never been an issue… until Billie waltzes onto my property. She’s talented, feisty and so damn tempting. We clash from the moment we meet, and I can’t stop thinking about all the ways I could take her down a peg. I can’t stop thinking about her, period. And in a small town, on an even smaller farm, it’s hard to keep my distance. Billie is the whole package: whip-smart with a body I fantasise about, and quite possibly the only woman who can save this business – and me. She drives me crazy, but the more time we spend… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Parental drug abuse recounted
  • Boss-employee relationship
  • Death of a grandparent recounted

A Photo Finish by Elsie Silver

I’ve seen every square inch of Violet Eaton’s delectable body and she has no idea who I am. Until now. What happened between us online, in our chats, was meant to stay anonymous and in the past. Until it didn’t. It’s a small world, but Ruby Creek is even smaller. When I move to the tiny town, the grumpy facade I’ve created slips when we’re forced to live under the same roof. Every flush of her cheeks, every time her eyes flare with heat, every time she begs me not to stop, the ice I’ve encased myself in melts. She has me wanting things I can’t want. Things I’ve been dreaming about since I first laid eyes on her two years ago—things I… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Body-shaming
  • Military-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Leg amputation during military service recounted
  • Death of a parent mentioned