The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh

The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh

For almost a decade, successful 37-year-old Samira Broderick has used her bustling LA practice as an excuse to avoid a trip home to Australia. She still resents her meddling Indian mother for arranging her marriage to a man who didn’t stick around when the going got tough, but now with a new job Down Under, she’s finally ready to reconnect with her. And while she’s there, a hot international fling might be just what she needs to get out of her recent funk. Aussie stuntman, Rory Radcliffe, has been hiding his stutter for years by avoiding speaking roles. When a… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Cheating
  • Infertility
  • Bullying

Clues to the Universe by Christina Li 

Clues to the Universe by Christina Li 

The only thing Rosalind Ling Geraghty loves more than watching NASA launches with her dad is building rockets with him. When he dies unexpectedly, all Ro has left of him is an unfinished model rocket they had been working on together. Benjamin Burns doesn’t like science, but he can’t get enough of Spacebound, a popular comic book series. When he finds a sketch that suggests that his dad created the comics, he’s thrilled. Too bad his dad walked out years ago, and Benji has no way to contact him. Though Ro and Benji were only supposed to be science class partners, the pair become unlikely friends: Benji helps Ro finish her… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Bullying

Raze by Roan Parrish

Raze by Roan Parrish

For the last ten years, Huey has built his life around his sobriety. If that means he doesn’t give a damn about finding love or companionship for himself, well, it’s probably better that way. After all, the last thing he wants is to hurt anyone else. Until Felix Rainey walks into his bar, fresh-faced, unbearably sweet—and, for some reason Huey can’t fathom, interested in him. As the eldest of five kids, Felix Rainey spent his childhood cooking dinner, checking homework, and working after-school jobs. Now in his twenties, he’s still scrambling to make ends meet and wondering what the… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Substance addiction recovery (theme)
  • Parent with depression mentioned
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Death of a parent recounted

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

The multiverse business is booming, but there’s just one catch: no one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying–from diseases, from turf wars, from vendettas they couldn’t outrun. But on this earth, Cara’s survived. And she’s reaping the benefits, thanks to the well-heeled Wiley City scientists who ID’d her as an outlier and plucked her from the dirt. Now she’s got a new job collecting offworld data, a path to citizenship, and a near-perfect Wiley City accent. Now she can pretend… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Child abandonment & neglect mentioned
  • Domestic abuse
  • Death on an infant mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gang violence
  • Strangulation
  • Physical assault
  • Drowning
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Kings of B’more by R Eric Thomas

Kings of B’more by R. Eric Thomas

With junior year starting in the fall, Harrison feels like he’s on the precipice of, well, everything. Standardized testing, college, and the terrifying unknowns and looming pressures of adulthood after that–it’s like the future wants to eat him alive. Which is why Harrison is grateful that he and his best friend Linus will face these things together. But at the end of a shift at their summer job, Linus invites Harrison to their special spot overlooking the city to deliver devastating news: he’s moving out of state at the end of the week. To keep from completely losing it–and partially inspired by a cheesy movie-night pick… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Suicidal ideation
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Postcards for a Songbird by Rebekah Crane

Postcards for a Songbird by Rebekah Crane

Everyone eventually leaves Wren Plumley. First it was her mother, then her best friend, and then her sister. Now living with only her cop father and her upended dreams, Wren feels stranded, like a songbird falling in a storm. When Wilder, a sickly housebound teen, moves in next door, Wren finally finds what she’s always wanted—a person who can’t leave. But a chance meeting with Luca, the talkative, crush-worthy boy in her driver’s ed class, has Wren wondering if maybe she’s too quick to push people away. Soon, Wren finds herself caught between the safety of a friendship and a … Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
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The Cake King by Rosie Chase

The Cake King by Rosie Chase

Sam Davis has been fan-girling over Michael “The Cake King” Godwin for years. So, when she receives a letter from Godwin asking her to compete in a private baking competition where the prize could pull her (and her adoptive family) out of poverty, how can she say no? There’s just one problem: Sam is an amateur baker from a no-name restaurant in a tiny town nobody’s ever heard of. How is she supposed to hold her own against some of the country’s best up-and-coming pastry chefs? She’ll have to dig deep and discover what she’s really made of if she wants to win because the prize here isn’t just first place. It’s The Cake King’s heart.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Death of a grandmother recounted
  • Car accident, off-page
  • Homelessness mentioned
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Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo

Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo

In the town of Howler’s Hollow, conjuring magic is strictly off-limits. Only nothing makes Delpha McGill’s skin crawl more than rules. So when she finds her family’s secret book of hexes, she’s itching to use it to banish her mama’s money troubles. She just has to keep it quieter than a church mouse — not exactly Delpha’s specialty. Trouble is, Katybird Hearn is hankering to get her hands on the spell book, too. The daughter of a rival witching family, Katy has reasons of her own for wanting to learn forbidden magic, and she’s not going to let an age-old feud or Delpha’s contrary ways stop her. But their quarrel accident… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Persecution for witchcraft
  • Parental abandonment discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a cousin recounted
  • Death of a grandmother from dementia recounted
  • Death of a brother & child by drowning mentioned
  • Car accident recounted
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Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how… Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to inter… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment & child neglect recounted
  • Boss-employee relationship
  • Physical injury (concussion)
  • Car accident

See Me After Class by Meghan Quinn

See Me After Class by Meghan Quinn

Good question. I’d like to preface this by saying it was never my intention to ever get involved in a workplace romance, let alone get involved with the most surly, agitating, and pompous man I’ve ever met who just so happens to be my new friend’s brother. My intentions were to show students how English and reading books could actually be fun and make a new life for myself in the suburbs of Chicago. But so far, I’ve managed to be called into the principal’s office. Coerced into participating in the teacher’s badminton league. And instigated into passionate fights with Arlo Turner over education and decorum while losing my underwear at the same time.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Self-harm (cutting)