Sugar by Bernice McFadden

Sugar by Bernice L. McFadden

Young and confident, with a swagger in her step, Sugar arrives in the southern town of Bigelow hoping to start over. Soon Bigelow is alight with gossip and suspicion, and Sugar fears her past is catching up with her. Then she meets Pearl, a woman trying to forget her own traumas. As these next-door neighbours become unlikely friends, they wonder if their lives could finally be changing for the better. But small towns have long memories…

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Sex work
  • Murder

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

For the Wolf by Hannah F. Whitten

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental emotional abuse & neglect
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Audio & visual hallucinations
  • Self-harm for magic (cutting)
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire. But Akaran has its own secrets… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Sexual assault by coercion
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Arranged marriage
  • Forced attempted suicide
  • Stillbirth mentioned
  • Blood & genital mutilation mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a mother
  • Torture mentioned
  • Captivity
  • Bullying
  • War themes

Dark Horses by Susan Mihalic

Dark Horses by Susan Mihalic

Fifteen-year-old equestrian prodigy Roan Montgomery has only ever known two worlds: inside the riding arena, and outside of it. Both, for as long as she can remember, have been ruled by her father, who demands strict obedience in all areas of her life. The warped power dynamic of coach and rider extends far beyond the stables, and Roan’s relationship with her father has long been inappropriate. She has been able to compartmentalize that dark aspect of her life, ruthlessly focusing on her ambitions as a rider heading for the Olympics, just as her father had… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Incest
  • Rape
  • Paedophilia
  • Child abuse
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Panic attack
  • Emesis (purging)
  • Car accident

Heir by Katee Robert

Heir by Katee Robert

My father’s trap failed, but I’m no closer to freedom than when he declared me sacrifice. Now, thanks to the seraphim blood running through my veins, I’m bonded to Malachi, Rylan, and Wolf. Our connection forces us into intimacy that none of us want, but the price of resisting will cost us our very lives. There’s only one path out of this. I have to get pregnant so I can become my father’s heir, and kill him before he assassinates me. I need time. Time to figure out things with my men. Time to come up with a better plan. Just flat-out time. I’ve spent my entire life avoiding confrontation and running instead of fighting… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Pregnancy
  • Scars
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Hostile Ground by LA Witt and Aleksandr Voino

Hostile Ground by L.A. Witt & Aleksandr Voino

After the deaths of three undercover cops investigating a drug ring in a seedy strip club in Seattle, Detective Mahir Hussain has been sent to finish the job. He joins the club’s security team in the hopes of finding enough evidence to bust the operation before the men in charge find a reason to put him in a shallow grave. To protect the strippers, only gay men can work the club. Ridley, the cold and intimidating head of security, knows exactly how to test potential new hires-including Mahir. From the minute they meet, Mahir and Ridley engage in a dangerous dance of sex and mind games. Mahir needs to find his evidence before Ridley figures… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Homomisia
  • Human trafficking
  • Child abuse
  • Nonconsensual recreational drug use
  • Murder
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Smash It by Francina Simone

Smash It! by Francina Simone

Olivia “Liv” James is done with letting her insecurities get the best of her. So she does what any self-respecting hot mess of a girl who wants to SMASH junior year does After Liv shows up to a Halloween party in khaki shorts–why, God, why?–she decides to set aside her wack AF ways. She makes a list–a F*ck-It list. 1. Be bold–do the thing that scares me. 2. Learn to take a compliment. 3. Stand out instead of back. She kicks it off by trying out for the school musical, saying yes to a date and making new friends. Life is great when you stop punking yourself! However, with change comes a lot of missteps, and being bold means… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Colourism
  • Physical child abuse
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
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After Sundown edited by Mark Morris

After Sundown edited by Mark Morris

This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window. It is the first of what will hopefully become an annual, non-themed horror anthology of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Rape & gang rape
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Alcohol & drug abuse
  • Torture
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Desolation Road by Christine Feehan

Desolation Road by Christine Feehan

Torpedo Ink is Aleksei “Absinthe” Solokov’s whole life. They’re his brothers, his family—his everything. But that doesn’t stop him from wanting something that only belongs to him. That’s why the tough biker has spent the last six weeks at the library, reading every book he can get his hands on and watching the prim and proper librarian who makes his blood rush.  For the past six weeks, Scarlet Foley has been fantasizing about the handsome, tattooed man whose eyes follow her every move. She senses he’s dangerous. She wants him to get close enough to touch. She wishes she… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Emotional & physical child abuse
  • PTSD & trauma
  • Suicide
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Physical assault
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The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Coming out themes
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Racism
  • Attempted sexual assault of a child by an uncle, on-page
  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse
  • Domestic violence recounted, off-page
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Hospitalisation for attempted suicide recounted
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic body horror
  • Emesis
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • School shooting
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Car accident
  • Loss of autonomy (ghost possession)
  • Animal death (insects)
  • Animal abuse & torture (insects)
  • Bullying
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