In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.

But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.

After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • False pregnancy
  • Terminal cancer
  • Death of a loved one
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A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow book cover

Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Never mind she’s also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secrets, and unrequited crushes.

But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation; the girls’ favorite Internet fashion icon reveals she’s also a siren, and the news rips through their community. Tensions escalate when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice during a police stop. No secret seems safe anymore—soon Portland won’t be either.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racist microaggressions
  • Racial profiling
  • Misogyny & misogynoir
  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety & anxiety attacks
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide attempt recounted, on-page
  • Scars
  • Death of a mother by cancer recounted
  • Death of a child implied
  • Disappearance of a friend
  • Murde, off-page
  • Kidnapping & confinement
  • Police brutality & violence
  • Bullying
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All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M Johnson

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism, racial slurs & anti-Blackness
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Transmisia
  • Incestuous child molestation &and sexual assault, on-page
  • Trauma
  • Physical assault
  • Blood depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Hospital
  • Cancer

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Terminal cancer (theme)
  • Loss of vision (secondary character)
  • Medical treatments & procedures including hospitalisation
  • Death of a boyfriend

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance – and Papi’s secrets – the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Coming out themes
  • Sexual harassment
  • Sexual assault & attempted rape of a minor, on-page
  • Sex trafficking & coerced sex work of a minor discussed
  • Cheating
  • Pregnancy discussed
  • Premature childbirth scene & resuscitation of a newborn
  • Emesis
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from dengue fever recounted
  • Death of a father & husband (theme)
  • Death of a sister mentioned
  • Stalking
  • Plane crash, off-page but discussed throughout the novel
  • Poverty themes
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Act Like It by Lucy Parker

Act Like It by Lucy Parker

Richard Troy used to be the hottest actor in London, but the only thing firing up lately is his temper. We all love to love a bad boy, but Richard’s antics have made him Enemy Number One, breaking the hearts of fans across the city. Have the tides turned? Has English rose Lainie Graham made him into a new man?

Sources say the mismatched pair has been spotted at multiple events, arm in arm and hip to hip. From fits of jealousy to longing looks and heated whispers, onlookers are stunned by this blooming romance. Could the rumors be right? Could this unlikely romance be the real thing? Or are these gifted stage actors playing us all?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism and slut-shaming discussed
  • Sexual assault
  • Cheating recounted*
  • Suicide recounted
  • Cancer
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Building collapse

*Note: The main character has recently broken up with her boyfriend after finding out her cheated on her.

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A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope. Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & sexism
  • Threats of rape & sexual assault (on-page)
  • Cheating recounted
  • Nightmares
  • Suicidal ideation, attempted suicide & suicide, discussed & recounted (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood and gore depiction including dead bodies & emesis
  • Graphic physical injuries including recounts of an amputation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from cancer (on-page)
  • Death of a sister & father recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Graphic torture (multiple scenes)
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Kidnapping & attempted kidnapping
  • Death from a fall recounted
  • Death from drowning recounted
  • War themes & military violence, including battle scenes
  • Attempted regicide
  • Poverty themes & debt collection discussed

My Fake Canadian Wife by M Hollis

When Dora receives a letter from the immigration service in Canada saying she will be deported soon, as her visa is expiring, a friend suggests she marry a woman. Since she doesn’t currently have a girlfriend, faking a relationship might be her only option since she can’t muster the desire to return to school for advanced photograph studies. Abby is a reserved librarian who seems enthusiastic about helping with the marriage plan. As the two girls get to know each other through dates in snowy Toronto and meeting Abby’s family for Christmas, Dora starts to wonder how much of this relationship they are faking and how much is real.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableist language
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Cancer recounted
  • Coming out themes
  • Death of an uncle recounted
  • Deportation (theme)