Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers book cover

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find him… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse (theme)
  • Child pornography
  • Sex work
  • Child abandonment & neglect
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Alcoholism
  • Substance addiction
  • Disordered eating, mentioned
  • Attempted suicide
  • Self-injury (unintentional)
  • Alcohol & drug abuse
  • Overdose mentioned
  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Terminal cancer mentioned
  • Graphic blood depiction
  • Physical injury & illness
  • Emesis
  • Hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister and child
  • Death of a grandmother
  • Death of a husband mentioned
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Physical assault
  • Fire
  • Disappearance of a sibling
  • Hostage situation
  • Stalking
  • Car accident
  • Homelessness
  • Poverty
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Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler book cover

This Nebula Award-winning sequel to Parable of the Sower continues the story of Lauren Olamina in socially and economically depressed California in the 2030s. Convinced that her community should colonize the stars, Lauren and her followers make preparations. But the collapse of society and rise of fanatics result in Lauren’s followers being enslaved, and her daughter stolen from her. Now, Lauren must fight back to save the new world order.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Classism
  • Hate crimes
  • Victim blaming
  • Misogyny, sexism and gendered slurs
  • Racism and racial slurs
  • White supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
  • Child sexual assault and rape
  • Grooming behaviour and paedophilia
  • Rape and rape by coercion
  • Sex trafficking and sex slavery
  • Abuse, neglect and abandonment
  • Child abuse
  • Emotional abuse
  • Physical abuse
  • Verbal abuse
  • Family estrangement
  • Adult-minor relationships
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide and attempted suicide
  • Infertility themes
  • Pregnancy
  • Non-consensual pregnancy
  • Teenage and child pregnancy
  • Amnesia
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Emesis
  • Physical injuries and wounds
  • Scars
  • Starvation and dehydration depiction
  • Dead bodies and body parts
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a parent/guardians
  • Death of a sibling
  • Death of a partner/spouse
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Grief and loss depiction
  • Flogging and whippings
  • Gun violence
  • Hanging and lynching
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Avalanche
  • Chemical gassing and warfare
  • Cults
  • Home invasion
  • Exile
  • Indentured servitude
  • Imprisonment, incarceration and captivity
  • Kidnapping
  • Persecution for witchcraft
  • Police brutality and violence
  • Religious persecution
  • Terrorism
  • War and military themes
  • Homelessness
  • Poverty themes

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The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black book cover

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse & neglect recounted
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Murder
  • War themes
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Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo book cover

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Classism
  • Victim blaming
  • Facial difference discrimination
  • Persecution for witchcraft (mentioned)
  • Rape and sexual assault (recounted)
  • Parental abandonment (implied)
  • Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide attempt as self-sacrifice (recounted)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood and gore depiction, dead bodies, eyeball trauma and branding
  • Physical sickness and scars
  • Death of a brother, son, girlfriend and friend (recounted)
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Explosion, knife violence, physical assault and poisoning
  • Captivity, blackmail, hostage situation, exile and banishment
  • War themes
  • Animal death and bodies (recounted), hunting
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Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao

Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao

In the Cyrilian Empire, Affinites are reviled. Their varied gifts to control the world around them are deemed unnatural–even dangerous. And Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess, is one of the most terrifying Affinites.

Ana’s ability to control blood has long been kept secret, but when her father, the emperor, is murdered, she is the only suspect. Now, to save her own life, Ana must find her father’s killer. But the Cyrilia beyond the palace walls is one where corruption rules and a greater conspiracy is at work–one that threatens the very balance of Ana’s world.

There is only one person corrupt enough to help Ana get to the conspiracy’s core: Ramson Quicktongue. Ramson is a cunning crime lord with sinister plans–though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the princess might be the most dangerous player of all.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & colourism
  • Human trafficking and indentured servitude
  • Child emotional & physical abuse
  • Parental abandonment
  • Attempted suicide
  • Terminal illness
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Torture, including water torture
  • Whipping
  • Royal coup
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The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley

The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley

The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas  Alley book cover

Raised in isolation at Heavenly Shepherd, her family’s trailer-dealership-turned-survival compound, Ami Miles knows that she was lucky to be born into a place of safety after the old world ended and the chaos began. But when her grandfather arranges a marriage to a cold-eyed stranger, she realizes that her “destiny” as one of the few females capable of still bearing children isn’t something she’s ready to face.

With the help of one of her aunts, she flees the only life she’s ever known, and sets off on a quest to find her long-lost mother (and hopefully a mate of her own choosing). But as she journeys, Ami discovers many new things about the world… and about herself.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism (mentioned) and homomisia
  • Abandonment
  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Stillbirth/s and death during childbirth
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Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner

Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner

Every Friday night, best friends Delia and Josie become Rayne Ravenscroft and Delilah Darkwood, hosts of the campy creature feature show Midnite Matinee on the local cable station TV Six.

But with the end of senior year quickly approaching, the girls face tough decisions about their futures. Josie has been dreading graduation, as she tries to decide whether to leave for a big university and chase her dream career in mainstream TV. And Lawson, one of the show’s guest performers, a talented MMA fighter with weaknesses for pancakes, fantasy novels, and Josie, is making her tough decision even harder.

Scary movies are the last connection Delia has to her dad, who abandoned the family years ago. If Midnite Matinee becomes a hit, maybe he’ll want to be a part of her life again. As the tug-of-war between growing up and growing apart tests the bonds of their friendship, Josie and Delia start to realize that an uncertain future can be both monstrous…and momentous.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Parental abandonment
  • Depression
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Cancer mentioned
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Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance.

At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.

The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Parental abandonment
  • Suicidal ideation, and assisted suicide (euthanasia) by asphyxiation by carbon monoxide poisoning
  • Terminal cancer
  • Death of a mother & wife
  • Death of a pet dog (off-page) recounted
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism, including blackface, and antiziganism (g slur)
  • Anti-semitism and Nazism (theme)
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Parental abandonment & verbal abuse
  • PTSD & nightmares
  • Recreational drug use (smoking)
  • Emesis
  • Starvation
  • Gore depiction (dead bodies)
  • Death of a brother
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a father & uncle mentioned
  • Murder
  • Explosions, including air raids, and fire
  • Death by exposure to the cold
  • War themes* and battle scenes
  • Poverty themes
  • Bullying

*Set during WWII and discussed the Holocaust.

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The Project by Courtney Summers

The Project by Courtney Summers

The Project by Courtney Summers book cover

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo’s sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there’s more to the group than meets the eye. She’s spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it. When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abandonment
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Child abuse & neglect recounted, including emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Infidelity
  • Trauma, panic attacks, nightmares & mentions of hallucinations
  • Suicide by train (on-page) & mentions of suicidal ideation
  • Pregnancy & pregnancy complications (on-page), including traumatic premature childbirth (on-page)
  • Blood & injury depiction, including graphic burns, hospitalisation, comas, broken bones, and facial scars
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father in a car accident (off-page)
  • Death of a mother in a fire mentioned
  • Death of a guardian mentioned
  • Death of a sister by drowning (off-page)
  • Death of a son discussed
  • Murder
  • Torture (on-page)
  • Disappearance of a sibling
  • Car accident (on- & off-page)
  • Blackmail mentioned and mentions of stalking & harassment
  • Cults (theme)
  • Homelessness mentioned