Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

After twelve years of marriage and two kids, Merit has begun to feel like a stranger in her own life. She loves her husband and sons, but she desperately needs something more than sippy cups and monthly sex. So, she returns to her career at Jager + Brandt, where a brilliant and beautiful Danish architect named Jane decides to overlook the “break” in Merit’s resume and give her a shot. Jane is a supernova—witty and dazzling and unapologetically herself—and as the two work closely together, their relationship becomes a true friendship. In Jane, Merit sees the possibility of what a woman could be. And Jane sees Merit… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism mentioned
  • Cheating
  • Divorce mentioned
  • Weight loss
  • Miscarriage
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Recreational drug use
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father from a heart attack
  • Death of a mother from breast cancer recounted
  • Death of a brother from AIDS recounted

Confessions by Kanae Minato

Confessions by Kanae Minato

After calling off her engagement in wake of a tragic revelation, Yuko Moriguchi had nothing to live for except her only child, four-year-old Manami. Now, following an accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation. But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Parental neglect & abandonment
  • Transphobia mentioned & misgendering
  • Depression
  • HIV/AIDs (theme)*
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father in a car accident mentioned
  • Death of a mother from illness mentioned
  • Murder of a daughter from drowning
  • Attempted murder of a child from electrocution
  • Murder of a teen girl from strangulation
  • Mass death of a family from poisoning discussed (mother, father & child)
  • Explosion, off-page
  • Animal death & cruelty mentioned

*Context: A teacher purposefully infects the two teenage boys who murdered her daughter with HIV/AIDs. The aftereffects of being infected are explored in depth. Mentions of HIV+ stigma and how the teacher’s ex-husband is dying of HIV/AIDs.

Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman

Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman

For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret. After her mother takes a housekeeping job at a lighthouse off the tip of Cape Ann, a local woman vanishes. The key to the mystery lies with Adeline, the silent witness. New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman crafts a beautiful, heart-wrenching short story.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental infidelity
  • Death of a father
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The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children. If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company. There are no strangers in the town of Near. These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life. But when an actual stranger, a boy who seems to fade like smoke, appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true. The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. As the hunt for… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a father off-page
  • Death of a mother, on-page
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • Animal death
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You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith

You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith

Adam Stillwater is in over his head. At least, that’s what his best friend would say. And his mom. And the guy who runs the hardware store down the street. But this pinball arcade is the only piece of his dad that Adam has left, and he’s determined to protect it from Philadelphia’s newest tech mogul, who wants to turn it into another one of his cold, lifeless gaming cafés. Whitney Mitchell doesn’t know how she got here. Her parents split up. She lost all her friends. Her boyfriend dumped her. And now she’s spending her senior year running social media for her dad’s chain… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
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Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and she’s also the prince’s bodyguard. A demon slayer and an outcast, she’s hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And she’s their only hope Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the saviour predicted in the Dragon King’s prophecy, but the legendary lost ruby treasure just might be the true key to victory. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, an evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost while raising a prince into a king.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Nightmares
  • Mass suicide mentioned
  • Decapitation, on-page
  • Death of a father from sword stabbing, on-page
  • Death of a mother from self-sacrifice, on-page
  • Death of a wife & baby son in childbirth mentioned
  • Death of a wife & children in an influenza epidemic mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife & sword violence
  • Death from a fall
  • Near drowning
  • Strangulation
  • Kidnapping
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal death
  • Animal hunting
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Horrid by Katrina Leno

Horrid by Katrina Leno

Following her father’s death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor’s doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone…and more tormented. As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident “bad seed,” struggling to tamp down her own worst… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Suicide attempt & suicide, off-page
  • Hospitalisation
  • Panic attacks
  • Nightmares
  • Flashbacks & blackouts
  • Pica (central theme)
  • Blood depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father & husband from a heart attack recounted
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Death of a child recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Vivisepulture (being buried alive), on-page & recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Home invasion & vandalism
  • Death of a pet kitten mentioned
  • Bullying

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously. But someone… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical sibling abuse recounted (protagonist)
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted (protagonist)
  • Alcohol consumption (on-page)
  • Minor physical injury and depiction of dead bodies
  • Death of parents from cancer, illness and fire mentioned
  • Death of a father recounted (protagonist)
  • Parent with depression mentioned (protagonist)

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Burn scars
  • Medical experimentation
  • Death of a grandmother
  • Death of a mother, father & brother in a fire
  • Graphic murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Explosion
  • Arson

Wild Invitation by Nalini Singh

Wild Invitation: A Psy-Changeling Collection by Nalini Singh

Wild Invitation is a collection of four astonishing novellas set in the Psy-Changeling world from New York Times bestseller Nalini Singh. Beat of Temptation – Tamsyn has always had a special place in her heart for the dominant leopard in her pack, Nate. He doesn’t want to trap her with the fierceness of a mating bond before she’s ready but Tamsyn has her heart set on him, and what she wants, she’s determined to get. Stroke of Enticement – meet Zach, an irresistable DarkRiver soldier, and Annie, the human woman who finds herself drawn into entanglement with this… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Beat of Temptation :

  • Parent with alcoholism recounted
  • Death of a father from suicide by car accident
  • Death of a mother from suicide recounted
  • Murder mentioned

Stroke of Enticement :

  • Ableism
  • Fatmisia
  • Chronic leg injury from a train accident recounted

Declaration of Courtship :

  • Facial scar
  • Nightmares
  • Murder of both parents recounted
  • Death of parents in a car accident recounted

Texture of Intimacy :

  • Suicide mentioned
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Pregnancy (secondary character)