We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal book cover

The battle on Sharr is over. The dark forest has fallen. Altair may be captive, but Zafira, Nasir, and Kifah are bound for Sultan’s Keep, determined to finish the plan he set in motion: restoring the hearts of the Sisters of Old to the minarets of each caliphate, and finally returning magic to all of Arawiya. But they are low on resources and allies alike, and the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return.

As the zumra plots to overthrow the kingdom’s darkest threat, Nasir fights to command the magic in his blood. He must learn to hone his power into a weapon, to wield not only against the Lion but against his father, trapped under the Lion’s control. Zafira battles a very different darkness festering in her through her bond with the Jawarat—a darkness that hums with voices, pushing her to the brink of her sanity and to the edge of a chaos she dare not unleash. In spite of the darkness enclosing ever faster, Nasir and Zafira find themselves falling into a love they can’t stand to lose…but time is running out to achieve their ends, and if order is to be restored, drastic sacrifices will have to be made.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grooming
  • Coerced sexual assault*
  • Child abuse
  • Parental abuse
  • Starvation mentioned
  • Eye horror
  • Gore depiction
  • Murder
  • Imprisonment
  • Mind control
  • War themes
  • Chemical warfare

*Kissing under the disguise of someone else

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We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal book cover

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya–but neither wants to be. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & misogyny
  • Child emotional and verbal abuse & neglect
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction including dead bodies
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a cousin
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Imprisonment & captivity
  • Kidnapping & blackmail
  • War themes discussed
  • Animal death & hunting

The Disasters by M. K. England

The Disasters by M. K. England

The Disasters by M. K. England book cover

Hotshot pilot Nax Hall has a history of making poor life choices. So it’s not exactly a surprise when he’s kicked out of the elite Ellis Station Academy in less than twenty-four hours.

But Nax’s one-way trip back to Earth is cut short when a terrorist group attacks the Academy. Nax and three other washouts escape—barely—but they’re also the sole witnesses to the biggest crime in the history of space colonization. And the perfect scapegoats.

On the run and framed for atrocities they didn’t commit, Nax and his fellow failures execute a dangerous heist to spread the truth about what happened at the Academy.

They may not be “Academy material,” and they may not get along, but they’re the only ones left to step up and fight.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Transmisia recounted
  • Ableism recounted
  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety
  • Anxiety/panic attacks, on-page
  • Nightmares
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Blood depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Serious injury to a loved one
  • Hospital
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Plane crash
  • Car crash
  • Wrongful imprisonment
  • Colonialism themes
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Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi book cover

There are no more monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. With doting parents and a best friend named Redemption, Jam has grown up with this lesson all her life. But when she meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colours and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question — How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist language
  • Coming out themes mentioned
  • Child sexual abuse (central theme, not on-page or described)
  • Child abuse
  • Surgery mentioned
  • Hormone replacement therapy mentioned
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Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa­­–a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past. Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks–alone, except for her fox companion–searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers. But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Malaria & fevers
  • Dead bodies
  • Body horror
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother
  • Death of a mother & father, off-page
  • Death of a grandmother mentioned
  • Death of a child in a pedestrian-car accident, on- & off-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Mass death
  • Gun violence
  • Physical assault
  • Stoning
  • Carjacking mentioned
  • Animal death (insects, repeated scenes)

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

When she stumbles across the advert, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss: a live-in nanny position, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten by the luxurious ‘smart’ home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare – one that will end with a child dead and her in a cell awaiting trial for murder.

She knows she’s made mistakes. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty – at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual harassment
  • Dubious consent scenario*
  • Physical, emotional & verbal child abuse
  • Child neglect
  • Cheating
  • Panic attack (on-page)
  • Suicide & self-harm mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction and physical injuries
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a sister
  • Murder
  • Poisoning (on- & off-page)
  • Death from a fall
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Incarceration

*Note: A fade-to-black sex scene where the protagonist is under the influence of alcohol.

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The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware

The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the centre of it.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Sex work discussed
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Disownment & familial estrangement
  • Cheating
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • PTSD
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Alcohol abuse recounted
  • Dubious consent to medication
  • Teen pregnancy
  • Miscarriage & abortion mentioned
  • Infertility mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Hospital
  • Minor blood & gore depiction and physical injuries
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Death of a grandmother
  • Death of a sister
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Strangulation
  • Car accident
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Blackmail
  • Captivity recounted
  • Poverty themes & eviction
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Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept.

Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness.

But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.

In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist language
  • Attempted rape recounted (chp. 23)
  • Child abuse recounted, including being locked in the attics for extended periods of tie
  • Agoraphobia
  • Panic attack (chp. 24)
  • Death of a mother to suicide recounted
  • Recreational drug use (on-page in chp. 5 & mentioned otherwise)
  • Hospital (chp. 5 & 24)
  • Grief & loss (theme)
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a stepfather (off-page)
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Gun violence (chp. 28)
  • Police violence (chp. 28)
  • Hanging mentioned (chp. 9)
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Car accident (on-page, chp. 23-24)
  • Death of a child to a wasp attack recounted
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Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley book cover

As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.

The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Misogyny
  • Fatmisia
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Sexual harassment
  • Sexual assault, on-page
  • Rape, on-page
  • Cheating recounted
  • Child abuse & neglect mentioned
  • Substance addiction discussed
  • Nightmares
  • Suicide by a gunshot to the head, on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use & abuse (theme)
  • Overdose mentioned
  • Teen pregnancy recounted
  • Grandparent recovering from a stroke
  • Physical injuries, including nerve damage & chronic shoulder injury
  • Hospitalisation for internalised bleeding & liver damage
  • Surgery mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of an uncle
  • Death of a father
  • Murder of a friend & teenager by gun violence, on-page
  • Car accident, on- & off-page
  • Bullying
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On the Fence by Kasie West

On the Fence by Kasie West

For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows—including her longtime neighbour and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn’t know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she’s spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game. To cope with the stress of faking… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Death of a mother from suicide by car accident