Beasts of Ruin by Ayana Gray

Koffi has saved her city and the boy she loves, but at a terrible price. Now a servant to the cunning god of death, she must use her newfound power to further his continental conquest, or risk the safety of her home and loved ones. As she reluctantly learns to survive amidst unexpected friends and foes, she will also have to choose between the life—and love—she once had, or the one she could have, if she truly embraces her dangerous gifts. Cast out from the only home he’s ever known, Ekon is forced to strike new and unconventional alliances to find and rescue Koffi before it… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Indentured servitude mentioned
  • Caning mentioned
  • Fire
  • Animal attacks (fantastical)

Trial by Fire by Jeff Probst and Christ Tebbetts

Being shipwrecked on a jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific was bad enough. But now that Carter, Vanessa, Buzz and Jane have lost their boat – and almost everything on board – to another violent storm, it’s like starting over. That means finding food and shelter, making fire for the first time, dealing with the wild boars that roam the island – and of course, figuring out how to get along (and not kill each other in the process). Survival is no individual sport in a place like this, but there’s only one way to learn that. The hard way.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical illness & injury
  • Dead body
  • Water & food scarcity
  • Shipwreck
  • Animal attack

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm-as its queen. Along with her former academic rival-now fiancé-the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare, filled with… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction including broken bones (secondary character)
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Murder of a grandfather mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Fatal animal attack mentioned (bees)

The Dryad Storm by Laurie Forest

Black Witch of prophecy Elloren Gardner Grey has unleashed her powers and embraced her legacy as a Dryad and guardian of the Forest. But the losses—of life, of love—have been almost too great to withstand as the Shadow continues to devour the world. With only a tattered shred of hope remaining, the Bearers of the Wand of Myth must battle their way back to each other to mount a final stand. But Elloren and her allies are not only facing Mage Vogel’s advancing forces—the armies of the Eastern Realm will stop at nothing to see the Black Witch struck down. With Elloren’s…. Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Substance addiction recovery
  • Blood & injury depiction including broken bones and the mutilation of an ear
  • Death of a husband recounted
  • Murder by stabbing & decapitation of a sexual assault perpetrator
  • War themes & battle scenes including soldiers being burned or frozen to death and stabbed with magical ice shards
  • Animal death, cruelty & injury
  • Animal attack including a character being crushed by a dragon
  • Forest fires

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Her city is under siege. The zombies are coming back. And all Nona wants is a birthday party. In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona’s not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger’s body, and she’s afraid she might have to give it back. The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicidal ideation & suicide (secondary character)
  • Protagonist with pica & food sensory issues
  • Panic attack
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction including body horror, cancer, jellyfish sting, needles and dead bodies
  • Eugenics recounted
  • Murder by stabbing & shooting
  • Immolation (secondary characters)
  • Physical assault
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • Nuclear bombs
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking (cigarettes)

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver

Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a job for his boss’s biggest client, Lachlan knows he’ll never claw his way out of the underworld. At least, not until songbird Lark Montague offers him a deal: use his skills to hunt down a killer and she’ll find a way to secure his freedom. The catch? He has to marry her first.  And they can’t stand each other. Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child sexual abuse recounted
  • Physical child abuse & parental neglect recounted
  • Infidelty recounted
  • Panic attack, insomnia & claustrophobia
  • Blood, injury & gore depiction including concussion, gunshot wounds, the use of needles to sew mouths shut, and the removal of fingers and eyes from dead bodies
  • Death of a mother & father mentioned
  • Murder of a father in a home invasion
  • Murder of a terminally ill great-aunt from injection
  • Murder (theme) including the use of a car accident to kill someone
  • Torture
  • Home invasion, stalking & kidnapping discussed
  • Animal attack & injury

*Context : The female protagonist’s ex-partner cheated on her and messaged underage girls. A secondary character is also cheating on his partner with his children’s nanny. The female protagonist is a serial killer her targets rapists and paedophilias; the male protagonist is a contract killer. A dog bites the antagonist and recovers from an injury sustained when the antagonist kicks it in retaliation.

James by Percival Everett

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Enslavement & human trafficking (protagonist)
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Child abuse
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Murder
  • Animal death & attack (snake)

Midnight Train by Angie Sage

Alex is pursued by the fiendish Twilight Hauntings, monstrous Enchantments created because a prophecy foretold the king’s death at the hands of an Enchanter’s Child. The Twilight Hauntings are designed to rid the land of all Enchanters and their children, but Alex has other ideas. Why should she be forced to leave the place where she belongs? So now Alex is on a mission to destroy the Twilight Hauntings. And to do so she must find the very thing that created them—a magical talisman called the Tau. But where is it? In her search for the Tau, Alex enlists the reluctant help… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother mentioned
  • Death from a fall off a cliff
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Animal attack (crow, spider)
  • Animal death

Twilight Hauntings by Angie Sage

Alex has a set of Enchanted cards. When she flutters her fingers above them, something magical happens: the cards come alive and create moving pictures of what is now and what is yet to come. But Enchantment is illegal in the city of Luma, and those who practice it are imprisoned forever in the Vaults—dark dungeons deep below the city. When Alex is betrayed by her foster sister Zerra, she knows she is in great danger. With the help of her little foster brother, Louie, she makes a daring escape. But Alex is betrayed by her… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother in incarceration
  • Attempted murder by strangulation
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Animal death by gunshot (bird)
  • Animal attack (hawk, eel)

Bones of the Sun God by Peter Vegas

Sam heads to Belize to continue his investigation into his parents’ mysterious disappearance and to learn more about secret of the pyramids. But after being kidnapped by crocodile cultists, will he ever be able to find the answers he’s looking for?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal attack