We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

Darling is only ten years old, yet she must navigate a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo’s belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen. Before the school closed before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Rape
  • Abortion
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death
  • Animal cruelty
  • War themes
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveller that crosses his path. But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape, implied
  • Child abuse
  • Cannibalism
  • Dismemberment
  • Torture
  • Imprisonment
  • Blackmail
  • War themes
  • Animal death, including attempted drowning of a pet
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza

The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.

The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown

The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown

Shipwrecked on a remote, wild island, Robot Roz learned from the unwelcoming animal inhabitants and adapted to her surroundings–but can she survive the challenges of the civilized world and find her way home to Brightbill and the island?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Animal death
  • Animal attack
  • Gun violence
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is–but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island’s unwelcoming animal inhabitants. As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home–until, one day, the robot’s mysterious past comes back to haunt her.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Dismemberment
  • Gun violence
  • Fire
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack (bear)
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Devolution by Max Brooks

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier’s eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined… until now. But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing – and too earth-shattering in its implications – to be forgotten.

In these pages, Max Brooks brings Kate’s extraordinary account to light for the first time, faithfully… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Panic attack, on-page
  • Dieting discussed & calorie-counting
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a husband, on-page
  • Death of friends, on-page
  • Earthquakes & volcanic eruption, on-page
  • Animal attack & death from animal attack (theme)
  • Animal death
  • Animal dead bodies & butchery, on-page
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Into the River by Mark Brandi

Into the River by Mark Brandi

Also known as Wimmera.

Growing up in a small country town, Ben and Fab spend their days playing cricket, wanting a pair of Nike Air Maxes and not talking about how Fab’s dad hits him, or how the sudden death of Ben’s next-door neighbour unsettled him. Almost teenagers, they already know some things are better left unsaid.

Then a newcomer arrived. Fab reckoned he was a secret agent and he and Ben staked him out. He looked strong. Maybe even stronger than Fab’s dad. Neither… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Paedophilia, child sexual abuse & grooming
  • Domestic violence
  • Suicide
  • Graphic dismemberment
  • Murder
  • Animal death
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite

The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle’s house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.

At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby’s cries, and during the days he is disturbed by a… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Child neglect
  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption, on-page
  • Recreational drug use, on-page
  • COVID-19 (theme)
  • Emesis
  • Physical illness & tribal marking disfigurement of a baby
  • Blood depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of an uncle & husband recounted
  • Animal slaughter, on-page
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright 

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

Valerie’s sister was beautiful, kind, and sweet. Now she is dead. Henry, the handsome son of the blacksmith, tries to console Valerie, but her wild heart beats fast for another: the outcast woodcutter, Peter, who offers Valerie another life far from home.

After her sister’s violent death, Valerie’s world begins to spiral out of control. For generations, the Wolf has been kept at bay with a monthly sacrifice. But now no one is safe. When an expert Wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the creature lives among them–it… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Amputation
  • Torture
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata–a mermaid–collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable–she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods. To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There’s the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail. Danger lurks at every… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery discussed
  • Alcohol consumption (wine)
  • Emesis
  • Blood and injury depiction
  • Sword and axe violence
  • Strangulation, on-page
  • Kidnapping and captivity of children
  • Drowning, on-page
  • Shipwreck and boating accidents, on-page
  • Lightning storms ,on-page
  • Mentions of war
  • Animal death mentioned (cows, goats)
  • Animal attack (hyena, shark, birds)