The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods

The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods

Violet is a smart, funny, brown-eyed, brown-haired girl in a family of blonds. Her mom is white, and her dad, who died before she was born, was black. She attends a mostly white school where she sometimes feels like a brown leaf on a pile of snow. She’s tired of people asking if she’s adopted. Now that Violet’s eleven, she decides it’s time to learn about her African American heritage. And despite getting off to a rocky start trying to reclaim her dad’s side of the family, she can feel her confidence growing as the puzzle pieces of her life finally start coming together. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father in a car accident
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The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

When a deadly Fly Flu sweeps the globe, it leaves a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico’s father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted rape
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pandemic
  • Coma
  • Physical illness
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Car accident
  • Animal death
  • Animal injury
  • Hunting mentioned
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Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Misogyny
  • Sexual harassment
  • Self harm
  • Nightmares
  • Blood depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Emesis
  • Nonconsensual psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Death of a mother, father & guardian recounted
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Explosion
  • Poisoning
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • Imprisonment
  • Homelessness
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The Academy by Quinn Anderson

The Academy by Quinn Anderson

Nick Steele just wants a normal life, cliché or not. He had one once, back in Chicago. Before his father died and he took a year off from college to grieve. Now, he’s starting fresh at a prestigious—but tiny—Catholic university. Adjusting to small-town life will be a challenge, along with making friends and keeping his scholarship. All he wants to do is blend in, get his diploma, and go back home. But Sebastian Prinsen—campus heartthrob and a notorious player—has other plans. He notices Nick right away and makes a bet with his two best friends: Who can kiss the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

When fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan deep in the forbidden woods of Neverland, the two form an unbreakable bond. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland’s inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. And yet, she is willing to risk everything—her family, her future—to be with him.

Then an English girl named Wendy Darling arrives on the island. With dangers tightening around them, Tiger Lily soon finds out how far she is willing to go to keep Peter with her in Neverland… and discovers that the deadliest enemies lurk inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Queermisia
  • Transmisia
  • Death of a father to suicide by drowning
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Connection Error by Annabeth Albert

Connection Error by Annabeth Albert

It’s typical of video game programmer Josiah Simmons to be the last one on the plane on the way to the biggest meeting of his career. Though he’s (mostly) coping with his ADHD, he can’t handle another distraction. But he also can’t ignore his rugged seatmate—especially once he learns the military man’s a fan of his game.

Ryan Orson refuses to let his severe injuries pause his career as a navy SEAL. He’s got hours of grueling physical therapy ahead of him, and no time for anything that might get in the way of his return to active duty. But that doesn’t mean he’s above a little first-class flirtation with geeky-cute Josiah… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism, internalised ableism & ableist language
  • Protagonist in therapy for a double leg amputation
  • Hospitalisation
  • Surgery mentioned
  • Death of a father from lymphoma mentioned
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Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai

Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai

When eleven-year-old Jingwen moves to a new country, he feels like he’s landed on Mars. School is torture, making friends is impossible since he doesn’t speak English, and he’s often stuck looking after his (extremely irritating) little brother, Yanghao.

To distract himself from the loneliness, Jingwen daydreams about making all the cakes on the menu of Pie in the Sky, the bakery his father had planned to open before he unexpectedly passed away. The only problem is his mother has laid down one major rule: the brothers are not to use the oven while she’s at work. As Jingwen and Yanghao bake elaborate cakes, they’ll have to cook up elaborate excuses to keep the cake making a secret from Mama.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Bullying
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Heartbreak for Hire by Lauren Layne

Heartbreak for Hire by Lauren Layne

Brinkley Saunders has a secret. To everyone in the academic world she left behind, she lost it all when she dropped out of grad school. Once a rising star following in her mother’s footsteps, she’s now an administrative assistant at an insurance agency—or so they think.

In reality, Brinkley works at Heartbreak for Hire, a secret service that specializes in revenge for jilted lovers, frenemies, and long-suffering coworkers with a little cash to spare and a man who needs to be taken down a notch. It might not be as prestigious as academia, but it helps Brinkley save for her dream of opening an art gallery and lets her exorcise a few demons, all while helping to empower women… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
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To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne

To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father from lung cancer
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A New Kind of Everything by Richard Yaxley

A New Kind of Everything by Richard Yaxley

After their father’s reckless death, the Gallagher family must find new directions. Dinny’s mum finds a new form of freedom, but the paths the boys are choosing are pointing them in dangerous directions.

Fourteen-year-old Dinny is in danger of repeating his father’s behaviour, and his older brother Carl sees an opportunity for independence. But when Carl becomes involved in the aggressive agenda of an anti-immigration group, a different crisis develops—leading the family to tragedy, insight, and rebirth.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Suicide
  • Recreational drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Car accident
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