What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a show stopping romance when you least expect it. Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things. But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them? Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated. Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited… But what if it is?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & coming out themes
  • Racism
  • Cheating recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hospitalisation for a panic attack (secondary character)

Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent

Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent

Nobody in Beckett’s life seems to be telling the whole story. Her boyfriend Jake keeps hiding texts and might be cheating on her. Her father lied about losing his job before his shocking death. And everyone in school seems to be whispering about her and her family behind her back.

But none of that compares to the day Beckett finds the body of a newborn baby in a gym bag-Jake’s gym bag -on the floor of her high school locker room. As word leaks out, rumors that Beckett’s the mother take off like wildfire in a town all too ready to believe the worst of her. And as the police investigation unfolds, she discovers that everyone has a secret to hide and the truth could alter everything she thought she knew.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • PTSD & panic attacks
  • Substance addiction & alcoholism
  • Alcohol & drug abuse, including overdose
  • Child pregnancy, childbirth & stillbirth
  • Physical injuries
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father to suicide by a drug & alcohol overdose recounted
  • Death of an infant*
  • Bullying & cyberbullying, including death threats

*Note: the book’s plot centres around the protagonist discovering the dead body of a newborn in her school’s gym.

Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Perfect Assassin by KA Doore

The Perfect Assassin by K.A. Doore

Or so Amastan has been taught. As a new assassin in the Basbowen family, he’s already having second thoughts about taking a life. A scarcity of contracts ends up being just what he needs. Until, unexpectedly, Amastan finds the body of a very important drum chief. Until, impossibly, Basbowen’s finest start showing up dead, with their murderous jaan running wild in the dusty streets of Ghadid. Until, inevitably, Amastan is ordered to solve these murders, before the family gets blamed. Every life has its price, but when the tables are turned, Amastan must find this perfect assassin or be their next target.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Blood, injury & gore depiction, including dead bodies
  • Death of an uncle & brother (off-page)
  • Death of a mother, wife & stepmother recounted
  • Murder & assassination (theme)
  • Poisoning
  • Attempted murder by fire
  • Knife violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Dehydration & death from dehydration mentioned

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston book cover

Sophie wants one thing for Christmas-a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship. Cue devastation.

Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents’ house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That’s when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grey-area cheating
  • Pregnancy complications and premature birth
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay

After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay

Bunny and Nasir have been best friends forever, but when Bunny accepts an athletic scholarship across town, Nasir feels betrayed. While Bunny tries to fit in with his new, privileged peers, Nasir spends more time with his cousin, Wallace, who is being evicted. Nasir can’t help but wonder why the neighborhood is falling over itself to help Bunny when Wallace is in trouble.

When Wallace makes a bet against Bunny, Nasir is faced with an impossible decision—maybe a dangerous one.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction & physical injuries
  • Gun violence
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender

Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender

Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and 12-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She’s hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas, a spirit only she can see won’t stop following her, and, worst of all, Caroline’s mother left home one day & never came back.

But when a new student named Kalinda arrives, Caroline’s luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, becomes Caroline’s first and only friend — and maybe her first crush. Together, Caroline and Kalinda must set out in a hurricane to find Caroline’s missing mother — before Caroline loses her forever.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Lesbomisia
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Parental abandonment (theme)
  • Physical child abuse
  • Cheating recounted
  • Suicide attempt recounted (chp. 10)
  • Depression
  • Hospitalisation (on-page & recounted)
  • Bullying (on-page)
  • Near-drowning incident (chps. 1 & 11)
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Against the Odds by Danielle Steel

Against All Odds by Danielle Steel

Kate Madison’s stylish boutique has been a big success in New York, supporting her and her four kids since her husband’s untimely death. Now, her children have grown up and are ready to forge lives of their own.

Isabelle, a dedicated attorney, falls for a client in a criminal case. She tells herself she can make a life with him – but can she? Julie, a young designer, meets a man who seems too good to be true. She gives up her job and moves to LA to be at his side, ignoring the danger signs. Justin is a struggling writer who pushes his partner for children before they’re financially or emotionally ready… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Cheating
  • Spousal abuse
  • Drug use
  • Death of a husband recounted
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Lost Sisters by Holly Black

The Lost Sisters by Holly Black

Sometimes the difference between a love story and a horror story is where the ending comes . . .

While Jude fought for power in the Court of Elfhame against the cruel Prince Cardan, her sister Taryn began to fall in love with the trickster, Locke.

Half-apology and half-explanation, it turns out that Taryn has some secrets of her own to reveal.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Coerced marriage discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
  • Murder discussed
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Bullying
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Damsel by Elana K Arnold

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold

The rite has existed for as long as anyone can remember: when the prince-who-will-be-king comes of age, he must venture out into the gray lands, slay a fierce dragon, and rescue a damsel to be his bride. This is the way things have always been.

When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory, however, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before she was captured by the dragon, or what horrors she has faced in its lair. She knows only this handsome prince, the story he tells of her rescue, and her destiny to sit on the throne beside him. Ama comes with Emory back to the kingdom of Harding, hailed as the new princess, welcomed to the court.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Physical & emotional abuse, including gaslighting
  • Graphic sexual assault
  • Graphic rape & rape threats
  • Bestiality
  • Suicide
  • Graphic self-harm
  • Grey-area cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Imprisonment
  • Graphic animal abuse & animal cruelty
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

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
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com