Dirty Headlines by LJ Shen

Dirty Headlines by L.J. Shen

I could have impressed him, if not for last month’s unforgettable one-night stand. I left it with more than orgasms and a pleasant memory–namely, his wallet. Now he’s staring me down like I’m the dirt under his Italian loafers, and I’m supposed to take it. But the thing about being Judith “Jude” Humphry is I have nothing to lose. Brooklyn girl. Infamously quirky. Heir to a stack of medical bills and a tattered couch. When he looks at me from across the room, I see the glint in his eyes, and that makes us rivals. He knows it. So do I. Every day in the newsroom is a battle. Every night in his bed, war. But it’s my heart at stake, and I fear I’ll be raising the white flag. 

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating mentioned
  • Boss-employee relationship
  • Parent with cancer (on-page)

Vicious by LJ Shen

Vicious by L.J. Shen

They say love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances, and it’s true. The man who comes to me in my dreams also haunts me in my nightmares. He is a brilliant lawyer. A skilled criminal. A bully. A saviour. Ten years ago, he made me run away from the small town where we lived. Now, he came for me, and he isn’t leaving until he takes me with him. She is a starving artist. Ten years ago, she barged into my life unannounced and turned everything upside down. She paid the price. Emilia LeBlanc is completely off-limits, my best friend’s… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Chronic illness
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Bullying

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram Kendi 

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism—and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colours to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Queermisia
  • Cancer

One Week to Claim It All by Adriana Herrera

One Week to Claim It All by Adriana Herrera

She’s on track to be the new CEO. Her ex is the only one standing in the way.

When Esmeralda Sambrano-Peña unexpectedly inherits her father’s media empire, it ruffles more than a few feathers. And no one is more conflicted about it than Rodrigo Almanzar. Esmeralda knows her father’s longtime protégé—and her ex-lover—wants the executive job for himself. Making matters worse, their renewed passion grows undeniable with every late-night meeting. Will Rodrigo prove to be the perfect partner in business and pleasure…or her professional undoing?

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a mother from cancer recounted

American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera

American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera

New York City social worker Camilo Santiago Briggs grew up surrounded by survivors who taught him to never rely on anything you didn’t earn yourself. He’s always dreamed of his own happily-ever-after, but he lives in the real world. Men who seem too good to be true…usually are. And Milo never ever mixes business with pleasure…until the mysterious man he had an unforgettable hookup with turns out to be the wealthy donor behind his agency’s new, next-level funding.

Thomas Hughes built a billion-dollar business from nothing: he knows what he wants and isn’t shy about going after it. When the enthralling stranger… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Cheating recounted
  • Domestic violence & abuse (theme)
  • Suicide joke
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Parent with depression
  • Murder of an aunt by intimate partner violence recounted
  • Death of a father from cancer recounted

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumours of murder. But what they don’t… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Recreational drug use
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Overdose
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder, on- & off-page
  • Gun violence

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera

For Nesto Vasquez, moving his Afro-Caribbean food truck from New York City to the wilds of Upstate New York is a huge gamble. If it works? He’ll be a big fish in a little pond. If it doesn’t? He’ll have to give up the hustle and return to the day job he hates. He’s got six months to make it happen—the last thing he needs is a distraction.

Jude Fuller is proud of the life he’s built on the banks of Cayuga Lake. He has a job he loves and good friends. It’s safe. It’s quiet. And it’s damn lonely. Until he tries Ithaca’s most-talked-about new lunch spot and works up the courage to flirt with the handsome owner. Soon he can’t get enough—of Nesto’s food or of Nesto. For the first time in his life, Jude can finally taste the kind of happiness that’s always been just out of reach… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Coming out
  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Disordered food & weight thoughts
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Terminal cancer
  • Heart attack mentioned
  • Death of a parent, off-page

Vampires Never Get Old edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie Parker

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bites edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker with contributions by Samira Ahmed, Julie Murphy, Dhonielle Clayton, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, V.E. Schwab and Kayla Whaley

Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices! In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night. Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Seven Nights for Dying by Tessa Gratton– Alcohol consumption
– Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Mirrors, Windows & Selfies by Mark Oshiro– Blood depiction
– Murder
– Captivity mentioned
The House of Black Sapphire by Dhonielle Clayton– Slavery mentioned
– Blood depiction
The Boy from Blood River by Rebecca Roanhorse– Homomisia
– Terminal illness
– Death of a parent
– Murder
– Bullying
Senior Year Sucks by Julie Murphy– Animal abuse mentioned
The Boy and the Bell by Heidi Heilig– Transmisia
– Misgendering
– Threatened outing (blackmail)
– Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
In Kind by Kayla Whaley– Abelsim
– Parental abuse
– Attempted murder by overdosing (filicide)
A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire by Samira Ahmed– Colonialism
– Racism
Bestiary by Laura Ruby– Parental abuse & neglect
– Abandonment
– Alcohol consumption
– Drug abuse
– Murder mentioned
Vampires Never Say Die by Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C. Parker– Blood depiction
First Kill by V.E. Schwab– Anxiety
– Murder mentioned

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

After having just graduated with a degree in shoe design, and trying to get her feet on the ground, Cindy is working for her stepmother, who happens to be the executive producer of America’s favourite reality show, Before Midnight. When a spot on the show needs filling ASAP, Cindy volunteers, hoping it might help jump-start her fashion career, or at least give her something to do while her peers land jobs in the world of high fashion. Turns out being the only plus-size woman on a reality dating competition makes a splash, and soon Cindy becomes a body positivity… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Terminal cancer mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent, off-page
  • Car accident mentioned

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend, Harvey, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge as it is about hope. But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission, and now she must face the consequences of all she’s said and done.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cancer (leukemia)