Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

When the notorious Black Daniel is carried, badly injured, into Hester Wyatt’s home, there is no question that he will be cared for and protected. Once a slave herself, Hester regularly gives shelter to runaways, yet the man of mysteries she now harbours brings greater danger than she’s ever known. He is Galen Vachon, a member of a unique elite class of pre-Civil War blacks. Handsome, arrogant, and accustomed to lavish living, he fears he’s been betrayed in his work with the underground and wants to move on quickly. Yet the magic healing caresses that flow from Hester’s lovely indigo-stained hands tear at his heart… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, colourism & racial slurs, including discussions of slavery & forced conscription
  • Misogyny & slut-shaming
  • Infidelity*
  • Emotional, verbal & physical child abuse recounted
  • Threats of rape
  • Statutory rape recounted*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death during childbirth mentioned (secondary character’s daughter)
  • Minor physical injury & illness including broken bones, gunshot wounds, & fever
  • Death of an aunt & grandmother mentioned
  • Death of a father from wasting disease mentioned
  • Death of parents & grandfather in a boating accident recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence (secondary character shoots her abusive partner)
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment recounted
  • Death from snakebite mentioned

*Context : The female protagonist was enslaved until she was nine-years-old. The male protagonist had sex with a 28-year-old woman when he was 17-years-old. The male protagonist kisses the female protagonist when she is engaged to someone else; however, it’s intended to be a celibate marriage of convenience and the fiancé turns out to be married. A secondary character’s wife is cheating on him. The male protagonist’s grandfather left his grandmother for his mistress.

Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith

Eleven-year-old Ava Adams is looking for something different. The tall Manhattan buildings around her feel like walls closing in. And what if she doesn’t fit in with her city-loving friends or busybody family who think Black folks “don’t do nature?” But in a twist of fate, Ava is shocked to learn that her parents are actually allowing her to stay with her Aunt Raven in the Adirondacks for the summer. In her Auntie’s simple cabin, living off the land with nature’s beauty filling her senses, the woods feel more like home than Manhattan. As Summer comes to a close and Aunt… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical injuries & illness, including fever from an infected tick bite
  • Animal death & hunting with a bow & arrow mentioned (coyote, rabbit, dogs, on- & off-page)
  • Snowstorm & lightning strike, resulting in property damage

Salt Magic by Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock

When Vonceil’s older brother, Elber, comes home to their family’s Oklahoma farm after serving on the front lines of World War I, things aren’t what she expects. His experiences have changed him into a serious and responsible man who doesn’t have time for Vonceil anymore. He even marries the girl he had left behind. Then a mysterious and captivating woman shows up at the farm and confronts Elber for leaving her in France. When he refuses to leave his wife, she puts a curse on the family well, turning the entire town’s water supply into saltwater. Who is this lady dressed all… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating mentioned
  • Body horror (characters magically turned into gems)
  • Imprisonment
  • Threats of gun violence to a child
  • Animal attack (snake), including death from snakebite

Affiliations, Aliens, and Other Profitable Pursuits by Lyn Gala

A desire for status has brought Ondry and Liam to a human world to trade, but dealing with humans has brought up all the old pain in Liam’s heart. Even though Ondry would do anything to protect his beloved palteia, he doesn’t know how to protect Liam from himself. Worse, Ondry isn’t sure how to shield Liam from the shifting politics on the Rownt ship where the Calti Grandmothers are nothing like the ones they left behind on the planet.With everything in their lives changing, Ondry and Liam have only each other… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Rape (off-page) & child sexual abuse recounted
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & trauma
  • Death of a parent (off-page)
  • War themes
  • Animal attack (off-page)

The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes by Wade Albert White

Anne has spent most of her thirteen years dreaming of the day she and her best friend Penelope will finally leave Saint Lupin’s Institute for Perpetually Wicked and Hideously Unattractive Children. When the big day arrives, a series of very curious happenings lead to Anne being charged with an epic quest. Anne, Penelope, and new questing partner Hiro have only days to travel to strange new locales, solve myriad riddles, and triumph over monstrous foes–or face the horrible consequences.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical injury, including an almost amputated arm
  • Sword violence & stabbing
  • Explosion
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Death from a fall
  • Animal attack

Young World by Soman Chainani

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Adult-minor relationship and sexual assault of a minor by a teacher (17-year-old protagonist kissed by their 27-year-old teacher)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking & drug dealing mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder by explosion and gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal attack (polar bear)

Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

Laila desperately wants to become a mother, but each of her previous pregnancies has ended in heartbreak. This time has to be different, so she turns to the Melancons, an old and powerful Harlem family known for their caul, a precious layer of skin that is the secret source of their healing power. When a deal for Laila to acquire a piece of caul falls through, she is heartbroken, but when the child is stillborn, she is overcome with grief and rage. What she doesn’t know is that a baby will soon be delivered in her family–by her niece, Amara, an ambitious college student–and delivered.. Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & police brutality
  • Graphic miscarriage & teen pregnancy
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Animal attack

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang

Orphaned, raised by wolves, and the proud owner of a horned pig named Merlin, Weylyn Grey knew he wasn’t like other people. But when he single-handedly stopped that tornado on a stormy Christmas day in Oklahoma, he realized just how different he actually was. That tornado was the first of many strange events that seem to follow Weylyn from town to town, although he doesn’t like to take credit. As amazing as these powers may appear, they tend to manifest themselves at inopportune times and places. From freak storms to trees that appear to grow over night… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcoholism
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a spouse
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death & hunting
  • Animal attack
  • Bullying

Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang

Ash has always felt alone. Adults ignore the climate crisis. Other kids Ash’s age are more interested in pop stars and popularity contests than in fighting for change. Even Ash’s family seems to be sleepwalking through life. The only person who ever seemed to get Ash was their Grandpa Edwin. Before he died, he used to talk about building a secret cabin, deep in the California wilderness. Did he ever build it? What if it’s still there, waiting for him to come back…or for Ash to find it? To Ash, that maybe-mythical cabin is starting to feel like the perfect place for a fresh start… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Coming out themes & deadnaming
  • Death of a grandparent recounted
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Animal injury (dog) from a bear attack (on-page)

The Dire King by William Ritter

The fate of the world is in the hands of detective of the supernatural R. F. Jackaby and his intrepid assistant, Abigail Rook. An evil king is turning ancient tensions into modern strife, using a blend of magic and technology to push Earth and the Otherworld into a mortal competition. Jackaby and Abigail are caught in the middle as they continue to solve the daily mysteries of New Fiddleham, New England — like who’s created the rend between the worlds, how to close it, and why zombies are appearing around. At the same time, the romance between Abigail and the shape… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Sword & knife violence
  • Animal attack