Queer Lit – Page 36 – Trigger Warning Database

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

After twelve years of marriage and two kids, Merit has begun to feel like a stranger in her own life. She loves her husband and sons, but she desperately needs something more than sippy cups and monthly sex. So, she returns to her career at Jager + Brandt, where a brilliant and beautiful Danish architect named Jane decides to overlook the “break” in Merit’s resume and give her a shot. Jane is a supernova—witty and dazzling and unapologetically herself—and as the two work closely together, their relationship becomes a true friendship. In Jane, Merit sees the possibility of what a woman could be. And Jane sees Merit… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Antisemitism mentioned
Cheating
Divorce mentioned
Weight loss
Miscarriage
Unplanned pregnancy
Recreational drug use
Alcohol consumption
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father from a heart attack
Death of a mother from breast cancer recounted
Death of a brother from AIDS recounted

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on tales about the might and benevolence of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear. Desperate… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny & sexism
Classism
Domestic abuse
Pregnancy & childbirth
Infertility
Murder
Fire
Animal death
War themes & battle scenes

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn’t left the house in three years, which is fine by him. Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she’s being realistic). But is ambition alone enough to get her in? Enter Lisa. Determined to “fix” Sol, Lisa steps into his world, along with her charming boyfriend, Clark, and soon the three form an unexpected bond. But, as Lisa learns more about Sol and he and Clark grow closer and closer, the walls they’ve built around themselves start to collapse and their friendships threaten to do the same.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Coming out themes
Agoraphobia
Anxiety & panic attacks
Self-harm

Season’s Change by Cait Nary

Season’s Change by Cait Nary

Olly Järvinen has a long way to go. He’s got a fresh start playing for a new team, but getting his hockey career back on track is going to take more than a change of scenery. He’s got to shut his past out and focus. On the game, not on his rookie roommate and his annoyingly sunny disposition—and annoyingly distracting good looks. All Benji Bryzinski ever wanted was to play in the big leagues, and he’s not going to waste one single second of his rookie season. Yoga, kale smoothies and guided meditation help keep his head in the game. But his roommate keeps knocking him off track. Maybe it’s just that Olly is a grumpy bastard. Or may… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia & internalised homomisia
Coming out themes
Anxiety
Bullying

Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert

Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert

After an assault, bigender seventeen-year-old Aleks/Alexis is looking for a fresh start―so they voluntarily move in with their uncle, a Catholic priest. In their new bedroom, Aleks/Alexis discovers they can overhear parishioners in the church confessional. Moved by the struggles of these “sinners,” Aleks/Alexis decides to anonymously help them, finding solace in their secret identity: a guardian angel instead of a victim. But then Aleks/Alexis overhears a confession of another priest admitting to sexually abusing a parishioner. As they try to uncover the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Ableism
Disfigurmisia
Slut shaming
Homomsia & homomisic slurs
Transmisia & internalised transmisia
Misgendering
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Domestic abuse mentioned
Disordered eating & body image
Body dysmorphia
Cancer mentioned
Physical injury
Hospital
Murder
Fire
Stalking and invasion of privacy
Bullying

A Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one. Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Forced marriage
Rape recounted
Sexual assault mentioned
Suicidal ideation recounted
Self-injury, on-page
Pregnancy from rape mentioned
Blood depiction
Terminal illness (theme)
Hospitalisation

A Mirror Mended by Alix Harrow

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty, is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues. Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can’t handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Terminal illness
Cannibalism
Torture
Imprisonment

This Way Out by Tufayel Ahmed

This Way Out by Tufayel Ahmed

Amar can’t wait to tell everyone his wonderful news: he’s found The One, and he’s getting married. But it turns out announcing his engagement on a group chat might not have been the best way to let his strict Muslim Bangladeshi family know that his happy-ever-after partner is a man—and a white man at that. Amar expected a reaction from his four siblings, but his bombshell sends shockwaves throughout the community and begins to fracture their family unit, already fragile from the death of their mother. Suddenly Amar is questioning everything he once… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Racism
Queermisia
Depression
Alcohol consumption
Grief & loss depiction
Death of parent recounted

Into the Gray by Margaret Killjoy

Into the Gray by Margaret Killjoy

“You’re using me,” I said. “That might be true, but I also love you.”

One is the Lady of the Waking Waters, an immortal mermaid. The other is a thief, who steals lives until a wish can be fulfilled, and a life-changing choice must be made.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Misgendering
Slut-shaming
Sex work discussed
Suicidal ideation
Alcohol consumption mentioned
Blood & gore depiction
Cannibalism
Murder & attempted murder
Near-drowning incident

The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy

The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy

Danielle Cain is a queer punk rock traveller, jaded from a decade on the road. Searching for clues about her best friend’s mysterious and sudden suicide, she ventures to the squatter, utopian town of Freedom, Iowa. All is not well in Freedom, however: things went awry after the town’s residents summoned a protector spirit to serve as their judge and executioner. Danielle shows up in time to witness the spirit—a blood-red, three-antlered deer—begin to turn on its summoners. Danielle and her new friends have to act fast if they’re going to save the town—or get out alive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Suicide
Death of a friend
Animal death