Bullying & Hazing – Trigger Warning Database

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Ever Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire book cover

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Transmisia
Misgendering
Deadnaming
Acemisia
Ableist language
Misogyny
Dieting mentioned
Blood and gore depiction
Dead bodies
Graphic anatomy descriptions
Death of a parent
Death of a friend
Death of a teacher
Murder
Hostage situation
Animal death mentioned
Bullying

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson

In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, a quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned.

Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her—even as she sleeps. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads. Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. They are dreaming heightened dreams—but of what?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racist language
Suicide
Epidemic
Animal death
Bullying

Stargazing by Jen Wang

Stargazing by Jen Wang

When Moon’s family moves in next door to Christine’s, Moon goes from unlikely friend to best friend―maybe even the perfect friend. The girls share their favorite music videos, paint their toenails when Christine’s strict parents aren’t around, and make plans to enter the school talent show together. Moon even tells Christine her deepest secret: that she sometimes has visions of celestial beings who speak to her from the stars. Who reassure her that earth isn’t where she really belongs.

But when they’re least expecting it, catastrophe strikes. After relying on Moon for everything, can Christine find it in herself to be the friend Moon needs?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Colourism
Sexism
Hallucinations & delusions
Hospital
Brain tumour
Surgery
Death of a father
Bullying

Lover Awakened by JR Ward

Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion, and terror is his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful aristocrat from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for one another begins to overtake them both, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now, Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past, and find a future with her…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Slavery & sex slavery
Rape
Domestic violence recounted
Nonconsensual drugging
Pregnancy
Blood depiction, including blood-drinking
Kidnapping & captivity
Torture
Murder
Gun violence
Whipping
Bullying

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C. G. Drews

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C. G. Drews

Can two broken boys find their perfect home?

Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he’s ever known. Now Sam’s trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he’s caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing – each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie.

But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism and ableist language
Child abuse
Physical and verbal abuse
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use mentioned
Blood depiction
Physical injuries
Serious injury to a loved ones
Physical assault
Bullying
Homelessness
Incarceration of a parent

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews

Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music – because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.

When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Physical child abuse, central theme
Emotional and verbal child abuse, central theme
Neglect
Domestic violence
Self-harm ideation
Blood depiction
Physical injuries
Hospitalisation mentioned
Animal death mentioned
Bullying

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself – but first she has to make it there, alive.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & colourism
Panic attack (on-page)
Nonconsensual body modifications
Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Death of a friend
Mass murder
Animal death mentioned
War themes
Bullying

One by One by Ruth Ware

One by One by Ruth Ware

Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?

When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Panic attack & flashback
Sexual assault recounted (described)
Suicide by overdose discussed
Alcohol consumption
Minor blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Physical injuries
Emesis mentioned
Death of a brother recounted
Death of a friend & colleague (multiple, on-page)
Murder & attempted murder
Asphyxia (suffocation)
Poisoning
Death from a fall (off-page)
Disappearance of a friend & colleague
Avalanche (on-page & recounted, theme)
Bullying recounted

Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan

Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson & Ellen Hagan

Jasmine and Chelsea are sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women’s Rights Club. They post everything online—poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine’s response to the racial macroaggressions she experiences—and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by online trolls. When things escalate, the principal shuts the club down. Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices—and those of other young women—to be heard.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Fatmisia & body shaming
Sexism
Racism, including cultural appropriation & anti-Blackness
Sexual harassment
Grey-area cheating
Death of a parent to cancer
Hospital
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father & husband
Bullying

Cracked Kingdom by Erin Watt

Cracked Kingdom by Erin Watt

Ever since Hartley Wright met Easton Royal, her life hasn’t been the same. There are enemies behind every corner and dangers beyond each door. When tragedy strikes and steals her memories, she can’t trust anyone, not even the blue-eyed boy who promises her that everything will be alright.

Because while Hartley’s memory is full of gaps, her instincts tell her Easton is dangerous. She doesn’t know if he’s the snake in the garden or her chance at salvation. The chaos he brings wherever he goes is too much to handle, the intense feelings he evokes are too confusing to unravel.

Easton wants her to remember. Hartley thinks it’s better to forget. He has to face the facts—in this world, you can’t escape the Royals.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Physical, emotional & verbal parental abuse
Incest (half-siblings)
Sexual harassment
Amnesia
Hospital
Alcohol consumption
Overdose mentioned
Bullying