Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten 

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten

St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, as ambitious, ruthless and passionate as Peter himself.

Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful generals, finally seducing the Tsar himself. But even amongst the splendor and opulence of her new life—the lavish feasts, glittering jewels, and candle-lit hours in Peter’s bedchamber—she knows the peril of her position…. Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape, on-page
  • Domestic abuse
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Animal cruelty

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf 

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

I am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly. I am your inheritance, your grandmother’s legacy. I am yours to command.

Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable.

But Suraya doesn’t know that pelesits have a dark side—and when Pink’s shadows threaten to consume them both, they must find enough light to survive . . . before they are both lost to the darkness.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Death of a child
  • Bullying

The Blacksmith Queen by GA Aiken

The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken

With the demise of the Old King, there’s a prophesy that a queen will ascend to the throne of the Black Hills. Bad news for the king’s sons, who are prepared to defend their birthright against all comers. But for blacksmith Keeley Smythe, war is great for business. Until it looks like the chosen queen will be Beatrix, her younger sister. Now it’s all Keeley can do to protect her family from the enraged royals. 
 
Luckily, Keeley doesn’t have to fight alone. Because thundering to her aid comes a clan of kilt-wearing mountain warriors called the Amichai. Not the most socially adept group, but soldiers have never bothered Keeley, and rough, gruff Caid, actually seems to respect her. A good thing because the fierce warrior will be by her side for a much longer ride than any prophecy ever envisioned …

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Sexual harassment mentioned
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic decapitation
  • Dead bodies & body parts
  • Death of a cousin, on-page
  • Death of a brother, off-page
  • Death of a child, off-page
  • Graphic murder & attempted murder
  • Genocide & mass murder
  • Graphic sword, hammer & knife violence
  • Fire & arson
  • Attempted hanging, on-page
  • Poisoning
  • Regicide mentioned
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Volcanic eruption
  • Animal abuse
  • Death from an animal attack
  • Graphic animal death

Little Gods by Jenny Ackland

Little Gods by Jenny Ackland

Olive Lovelock has just turned twelve. She is smart, fanciful and brave and on the cusp of something darker than the small world she has known her entire life. When she learns that she once had a baby sister who died — a child unacknowledged by her close but challenging family — Olive becomes convinced it was murder. Her obsession with the mystery and relentless quest to find out what happened have seismic repercussions for the rest of her family and their community. As everything starts to change it is Olive herself who has the most to lose as the secrets she unearths multiply and take on complicated lives of their own.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide
  • Death of a baby sister
  • Nonconsensual adoption

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost.

Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racist language
  • Sexism
  • Ableism
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic dead bodies
  • Body horror
  • Hospitalisation
  • Decapitation, on-page
  • Murder (theme)
  • Gun violence
  • Infanticide by defenestration, on-page
  • Physical assault
  • Fire
  • Riots
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Body shaming
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Infidelity
  • Domestic abuse
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Paedophilia mentioned
  • Emotional and physical abuse
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Dementia
  • Abortion
  • Religious bigotry
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

Pip is not a detective anymore. With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way… and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it’s too late?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape recounted
  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Disappearance of a sibling
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Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy’s body… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Racism
  • Rape
  • Death of a child
  • Kidnapping

The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr

The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr

June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends—high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime—have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case.

But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara’s aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Domestic abuse
  • Suicide
  • Infanticide
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

When a benevolent landowner decides to sell two slaves—Uncle Tom and Eliza—in order to raise funds, the lives of the two slaves follow divergent paths. While Eliza escapes to eventual freedom, Uncle Tom is repeatedly sold until he ends up working on the prosperous Legree plantation, where his very life becomes forfeit to his violent master.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Racism
  • Suicide
  • Death of a child
  • Whipping
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