The House That Wasn’t There by Elana K Arnold

The House That Wasn’t There by Elana K. Arnold 

Alder has always lived in his cozy little house in Southern California. And for as long as he can remember, the old, reliable, comforting walnut tree has stood between his house and the one next door. That is, until a new family—with a particularly annoying girl his age—moves into the neighboring house and, without warning, cuts it down.

Oak doesn’t understand why her family had to move to Southern California. She has to attend a new school, find new friends, and live in a new house that isn’t even ready—her mother had to cut down a tree on their property line in order to make room for a second floor. And now a strange boy next door won’t stop staring at her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Death of a father recounted
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Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

One morning, Jessa-Lynn Morton walks into the family taxidermy shop to find that her father has committed suicide, right there on one of the metal tables. Shocked and grieving, Jessa steps up to manage the failing business, while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make aggressively lewd art with the taxidermied animals. Her brother Milo withdraws, struggling to function. And Brynn, Milo’s wife—and the only person Jessa’s ever been in love with—walks out without a word. As Jessa seeks out less-than-legal ways of generating income, her mother’s art escalates—picture a figure of her dead husband and a stuffed buffalo in an uncomfortably sexual pose—and the Mortons reach a tipping point. For the first time, Jessa has no choice but to learn who these people truly are, and ultimately how she fits alongside them. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Depression
  • Self harm
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Drug abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father from suicide
  • Graphic animal death
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The Easy Way by May Archer

The Easy Way by May Archer

Camden Seaver had it easy – a loving family, plenty of money, and the freedom to follow his dreams while his older brother, Sebastian, took charge of the family business. But when a tragic plane crash killed his parents, all the responsibilities he never wanted landed firmly on his shoulders. Now saddled with his crazy, grief-stricken brother and his dad’s multimillion dollar company, Cam doesn’t trust in dreams anymore. He’s forgotten what “easy” feels like.

FBI Agent Kendrick “Cort” Cortland learned the hard way that he couldn’t depend on anyone but himself. Before joining the FBI, the one constant in his life was his foster brother, Damon – and then Damon disappeared... Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Disappearance of a sibling
  • Plane crash
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Hopeless Romantic by Marina Adair

Hopeless Romantic by Marina Adair

As caregiver for her autistic brother, Beckett Hayes knows how meaningful a little extra help can be when life happens. Which is why she runs Consider It Done, a personal concierge service in her small town. Her job also gives her the flexibility to follow her passion, being Rome, Rhode Island’s unofficial special needs advocate, training emotional support companions in her spare time. There’s not much of that, though, and certainly not enough for serious dating. It’s always been family first for Beck. But one unquestionably gorgeous, good-natured man is suddenly a temptation that’s getting tougher to resist…

Sixteen years ago, Levi Rhodes was ready to sail off into the sunset–literally…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a sister in a car accident
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Genuine Fraud by E Lockhart

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat. Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.
An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two. A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains.
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape of a minor mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a mother from a drug overdose mentioned
  • Death of a father from suicide
  • Death of parents from gun violence mentioned
  • Death of a husband from heart failure mentioned
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
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The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman book cover

Lost in a new world, Lyra finds Will—a boy on the run, a murderer—a worthy and welcome ally. For this is a world where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and witches share the skies with troops of angels. Each is searching—Lyra for the meaning of Dark Matter, Will for his missing father—but what they find instead is a deadly secret, a knife of untold power. And neither Lyra nor Will suspects how tightly their lives, their loves, and their destinies are bound together… until they are split apart.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Amputation (loss of fingers)
  • Death of a father
  • Murder

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. 

Goodreads • The 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. 

Goodreads • The 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.

Goodreads • The 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