The Fake Out by Stephanie Archer

The best way to get back at my horrible ex? Fake date Rory Miller–my ex’s rival, the top scorer in pro hockey, and the arrogant, flirtatious hockey player I tutored in high school. Faking it is fun and addictive, though, and beneath the bad boy swagger, Rory’s sweet, funny, and protective. He teaches me to skate and spends way too much money on me. He sleeps in my bed and convinces me to break my just-one-time hookup rule. He kisses me like it’s real. And now I wonder if Rory was ever faking it to begin with.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional child abuse (off-page)
  • Parental abandonment & divorce recounted
  • Cheating recounted (ex-partner)
  • Parent with body dysmorphia & mention of her disordered eating
  • Alcohol consumption

Just the Tipsy by Audrey Vaughn

My new neighbor, Waylon Stryker is Jepsen’s most eligible bachelor – gorgeous, built, and kindhearted. I stick out like an LA-shaped thumb in this small town after inheriting a dilapidated house and tiny dog. But when I need my ex to back off and he needs his family to stop pressuring him to settle down, Waylon comes up with the perfect solution — a fake relationship. It would have been perfectly transactional if I hadn’t drunkenly told him about my spicy bucket list. I prayed he’d forget about it. Instead, he vows to help me check off each task. Turns out the kind veterinarian who… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Toxic relationship recounted
  • Cheating recounted (secondary characters)
  • Alcohol consumption

The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco by Talia Hibbert

For millionaire footballer Nikolas Christou, one look is all it takes. The minute he sees Aria Granger, he’s a goner. Playboy Nik knows lust—intimately—but his need for Aria goes far beyond that. Of course, the plus-sized beauty isn’t interested in romance… but Nik isn’t interested in giving up. Aria Granger has sworn off relationships for her own good. After all, her ex nearly murdered her best friend, so clearly her taste is questionable. When charming, gorgeous Nik bounds into her life, Aria can’t decide if he’s as innocent as he seems… or if her bullshit-ometer is… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Biphobia
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use recounted
  • Kidnapping & stalking mentioned
  • Explosion recounted

Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer

Can you love someone to death? Some would say Becky Gerard is a devoted mother and would do anything for her only child. Others claim she’s obsessed and can’t stop the vicious circle of finding a cure at her daughter’s expense. Fifteen-year-old Meghan has been in and out of hospitals with a plague of unexplained illnesses. But when the ailments take a sharp turn, doctors intervene and immediately suspect Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare behavioural disorder where the primary caretaker, typically the mother, seeks… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Domestic violence & child abuse
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hospitalisation for medical treatment
  • Child with a terminal illness

Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh

Manny Dogra is the beautiful young CEO of Breakup, a highly successful company that helps people manage their relationship breakups. As preoccupied as she is with her business, she’s also planning her wedding to handsome architect Adam Jamieson while dealing with the loss of her beloved parents. For reasons Manny has never understood, her mother and father, who were both born in India, always wanted her to become an “All-American” girl. So that’s what she did. She knows next to nothing about her South Asian heritage, and that’s never been a problem—until her… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Alcohol consumption

Saint Iggy by K.L. Going

When Iggy Corso gets kicked out of high school, there’s no one for him to tell. His mother has gone off, his father is stoned on the couch, and the phone’s been disconnected, so even the social worker can’t get through. Leaving his public housing behind, Iggy ventures into the world to make something of his life. It’s not easy when you’re sixteen, have no skills, and your only friend is mixed up with the dealer who got your mom hooked. But Iggy is . . . Iggy, and he has the kind of wisdom that lets him see what no one else can.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Infidelity
  • Parent with substance addiction
  • Alcohol consumption and recreational drug use & abuse
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Police brutality

The Safe Place by Anna Downes

Emily Proudman has been offered the chance of a lifetime – leave her messy London life, move to a beautiful estate in France and help her boss’s wife take care of their daughter. It seems like the perfect opportunity to start again. But once there, Emily soon starts to suspect that her charismatic new employers aren’t telling her the whole truth. That there are even dangerous secrets hidden beneath the glamorous facade. Why have the family been moved to this isolated house so far from home? Why does her boss’s daughter refuse to speak or be touched?… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Foster care experiences mentioned
  • Child abuse, including one slap scene, faking a child’s chronic illness, and forcing them to live in isolation (etc.)
  • Discussions of childhood trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (c-PTSD)
  • Parent with dementia
  • Panic attacks
  • Self-harm (on-page)
  • Suicide by jumping (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse and implied drug abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a daughter recounted
  • Minor blood & injury depiction and emesis
  • Attempted murder by gun violence
  • Kidnapping and captivity of a child
  • Stalking
  • Financial difficulties discussed

Safe Place by Jay Northcote

Where do you go when your home is no longer a safe place? Alex is about to turn eighteen and is firmly in the closet. He’s been biding his time, waiting to escape to uni, and finally come out away from the oppressive influence of his homophobic father. When he flunks his exams, he’s stuck in the small town of Porthladock—and what’s worse is that he’s working for his dad. The only thing that makes it bearable is Cam. Cam’s comfortable with his bisexuality, but he doesn’t broadcast it. Young, free, and single, his social life revolves… Read more

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Transphobia & deadnaming
  • Adult-minor relationship & dubious consent scenario (‘dubcon’)*
  • Alcohol consumption

Context : Relationship between a 17-year-old, who turns 18 during of the book, and a 23-year-old.

A Safe Girl to Love: Stories by Casey Plett

Eleven unique short stories that stretch from a rural Canadian Mennonite town to a hipster gay bar in Brooklyn, featuring young trans women stumbling through loss, sex, harassment, and love. These stories, shiny with whiskey and prairie sunsets, rattling subways and neglected cats, show growing up as a trans girl can be charming, funny, frustrating, or sad, but never will it be predictable.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & transphobia
  • Sexual assault
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide recounted & self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption, drug use & smoking