Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage’s employment status isn’t just important, it’s vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Attempted sexual assault & sexual harassment
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Sword violence

*Context: The protagonist’s mother abandoned her after she accidentally killed her son, the protgaonist’s brother.

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

The brilliant, bespectacled daughter of a double marquess cares more for books than balls, for science than the season, and for laboratories than love. She’s looking forward to marrying her simple fiancé and living out her days quietly with her dogs and her scientific experiments. But before that, Pippa has two weeks to experience all the rest—fourteen days to research the exciting parts of life. It’s not much time, and to do it right she needs a guide familiar with London’s darker corners. She needs Cross, the clever, controlled partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, with a carefully crafted reputation for wickedness. But… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical sexism & ableist language
  • Sexual harassment
  • Gambling & mentions of gambling addiction
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Blackmail

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson

The Lucky Ones by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

May is a survivor. But she doesn’t feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn’t know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through–no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her. Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister… and the one faithful friend who… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance addiction
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • School shooting (theme)
  • Stalking
  • Bullying

The Wedding of Molly O’Flaherty by Sierra Simone

The Wedding of Molly O’Flaherty by Sierra Simone

One empty bed. One bold plan. One tragedy that changes everything. – Silas Cecil-Coke is not a man who is easily dissuaded. So when Molly leaves him without a word of goodbye, he is even more determined to save her from her enemies and claim her as his bride. But neither of them are prepared for the betrayals and tragedies that await them before they can even approach the altar…

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted
  • Sexual harassment of a teenager
  • Grey-area cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Death of a brother & sister-in-law from cholera
  • Erotic asphyxiation

The Awakening of Ivy Leavold by Sierra Simone

The Awakening of Ivy Leavold by Sierra Simone

Yorkshire, 1879. I am alone. When Ivy Leavold is left destitute by her brother’s death, she is taken in by her cousin’s brooding, tortured widower—Julian Markham. Handsome and possessive, it’s not long before Ivy falls for him. But Mr Markham has dark secrets, secrets that may put Ivy in danger. I am afraid. As Ivy unravels the mystery surrounding her cousin’s death, she falls deeper and deeper in love with Julian, who opens her body and her mind to his indomitable will. But even as he draws pleasure and desire from her night after night, Ivy can’t shake the feeling that their… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a brother
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Attempted murder

And The Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando

And The Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando

When fifteen-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart. Al was special. Al was talented. Al was full of passion and light…so why did he do it? Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan begins to retrace his footsteps. And along the way, he meets Megan. Al’s former classmate, who burns with the same fire and hope, who is determined to keep Al’s memory alive. But when Nathan learns the horrifying truth behind his brother’s suicide, one question remains – how do you survive, when you’re growing up in the age of social media?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Depression
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother from suicide
  • Bullying & cyberbullying (theme)
  • Catfishing

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

Two siblings, both missing for 20 years turn up within one day of each other. One dead. One alive. It was an ordinary school day, the day I lost my little brother.
One moment he was on the roundabout and then was gone. Gone. Missing. They all blamed me. I was in charge. Even though I was only ten years old. They sent me away. The hurt, the shame, the questions. The not knowing. I tried to move on. It’s been nineteen years in exile and now somebody wants me back. Someone with a dark secret. They hold the keys, they know the truth. So, I need to return to my childhood village to find out who, because I have a secret, too… I did something bad.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Filicide of an autistic son
  • Murder of a partner
  • Death of a brother
  • Disappearance of a sibling recounted

A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat

The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park and illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng

When a teacher asks her class what one thing they would save in an emergency, some students know the answer right away. Others come to their decisions more slowly. And some change their minds when they hear their classmates’ responses. A lively dialogue ignites as the students discover unexpected facets of one another—and themselves.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a brother from a heart condition
  • House fire

Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega

Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega

Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches. And twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can’t wait to be placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire town, Seven isn’t placed in one of the five covens. She’s a Spare! Spare covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn’t work! … Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned*
  • Death of a brother
  • Bullying

*Context: Valley’s father starved her for two days because of school grades.

Blame It on the Billionaire by Naima Simone

Blame It on the Billionaire by Naima Simone

It was a night filled with secrets, lies…and soul-stealing passion. And now the blackout that turned lowly executive assistant Nadia Jordan and start-up billionaire Grayson Chandler into insatiable lovers leads to a proposal Nadia can’t refuse. As she steps into Grayson’s privileged Chicago world, will his matchmaking mother and vengeful ex destroy her dreams? Or will her fake fiancé make those dreams a reality?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Classism
  • Sexual harassment mentioned
  • Cheating recounted
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Pregnancy
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother from an aneurysm recounted