Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter is lucky to reach the age of thirteen, since he has survived the murderous attacks of the feared Dark Lord on more than one occasion. His hopes for a quiet school term concentrating on Quidditch are dashed, though, when a maniacal mass-murderer escapes from Azkaban, pursued by the soul-sucking Dementors who guard the prison. It’s assumed that Hogwarts is the safest place for Harry to be. But is it his imagination that is making him feel eyes watching him in the dark, and should he be taking Professor Trelawney’s ghoulish predictions seriously?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Classism
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction & physical injuries
  • Grief & depiction
  • Death of a mother & father mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Explosion recounted
  • Imprisonment & wrongful incarceration
  • Animal attack
  • Animal death & dead bodies
  • Bullying

If you choose to support this novel or author, please reconsider. You can read about the harmful cultural appropriation here, about how she is endangering trans people here, and donate to the queer Indigenous charity Black Rainbow here.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter can’t wait for his holidays with the dire Dursleys to end. But a small, self-punishing house-elf warns Harry of mortal danger awaiting him at Hogwarts. Returning to the castle nevertheless, Harry hears a rumour about a Chamber of Secrets, holding unknown horrors for wizards of Muggle parentage. Now someone is casting spells that turn people to stone, and a terrible warning is found painted on the wall. The chief suspect – always in the wrong place – is Harry. But something much more terrifying has yet to be unleashed.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Classism
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Slavery
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Blood depiction & physical injuries
  • Beheading discussed
  • Infirmary
  • Emesis
  • Death of a mother & father mentioned
  • Attempted murder
  • Car accident
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • Animal attack
  • Animal illness (pet cat)
  • Animal death & dead bodies
  • Bullying

If you choose to support this novel or author, please reconsider. You can read about the harmful cultural appropriation here, about how she is endangering trans people here, and donate to the queer Indigenous charity Black Rainbow here.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling

Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he’s the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord’s curse when Harry was just a baby, and which he somehow survived. Leaving his unsympathetic aunt and uncle for Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments, Harry stumbles upon a sinister mystery when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers which could be valuable, dangerous – or both. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Classism
  • Racism
  • Graphic emotional, verbal & physical child abuse
  • Child neglect
  • Nightmares
  • Self-sacrifice
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Minor blood depiction & physical injuries
  • Infirmary
  • Blood drinking
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Explosion
  • Car accident mentioned
  • Genocide and war themes recounted
  • Animal cruelty
  • Animal death
  • Bullying

If you choose to support this novel or author, please reconsider. You can read about the harmful cultural appropriation here, about how she is endangering trans people here, and donate to the queer Indigenous charity Black Rainbow here.

Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam

Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam

Trixie Nguyen is determined to make her sex toy business a success, proving to her traditional Vietnamese parents that she can succeed in a nontraditional career. She’s made a fresh start in Washington DC, and her first pop-up event is going well—until she runs into the ex who dumped her. With a Post-it note.

The last person Andre Walker expected to see in his soul food restaurant was the woman he left behind in New Orleans. Their chemistry is still scorching, but he’s desperately trying to save his family restaurant from gentrifying developers. The solution? Partnering with his ex to turn Mama Hazel’s into a vibrator pop-up shop for hungry and horny clients.

Thanks to their steamy truce, both businesses start to sizzle and their red-hot desire soon reignites deeper feelings. But when Trixie receives an incredible career opportunity, will pride ruin their second chance at happiness?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grief & depiction
  • Death of a mother from cancer mentioned
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The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

If you have not read anything about the Baudelaire orphans, then before you read even one more sentence, you should know this: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are kindhearted and quick-witted; but their lives, I am sorry to say, are filled with bad luck and misery. All of the stories about these three children are unhappy and wretched, and this one may be the worst of them all. If you haven’t got the stomach for a story that includes a hurricane, a signalling device, hungry leeches, cold cucumber soup, a horrible villain, and a doll named Pretty Penny, then this book will probably fill you with despair. I will continue to record these tragic tales, for that is what I do. You, however, should decide for yourself whether you can possibly endure this miserable story.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Drowning
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The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I’m afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don’t be fooled. If you know anything at all about the unlucky Baudelaire children, you already know that even pleasant events lead down the same road to misery.

In fact, within the pages you now hold in your hands, the three siblings endure a car accident, a terrible odor, a deadly serpent, a long knife, a large brass reading lamp, and the appearance of a person they’d hoped never to see again.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted adult-minor marriage recounted
  • Child abuse
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Blackmail
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Sleight by Jennifer Sommersby

Sleight by Jennifer Sommersby

Growing up in the Cinzio Traveling Players circus, Genevieve Flannery is accustomed to a life most teenagers could never imagine. Her mother Delia’s ghostly hallucinations never seemed all that strange . . . until the evening Geni and her mother are performing an aerial routine they’ve done hundreds of times, and Delia falls to her death.

That night, a dark curtain in Geni’s life opens. Everything has changed. As they reel from the tragedy, the Cinzio Traveling Players are also grappling with the circus’s new owner: a generous, mysterious man whose connection to the circus—Geni suspects—has a dark history. And suddenly, Geni is stumbling into a new reality of her own, her life interrupted daily by the terrors only Delia used to see.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language,
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Graphic physical injuries
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder
  • Torture mentioned
  • Car accident
  • Imprisonment
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal cruelty
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One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones

When Ruby’s mother dies, she’s dragged three thousand miles away from her gorgeous boyfriend, Ray, to live in LA with her father, who she’s only ever seen in movies. He’s a mega-famous actor who divorced her mom before Ruby was even born, and while the rest of the world may love him, Ruby definitely does not.

But as time passes and pages turn, Ruby comes to understand that circumstances are far more complicated than they seem, and sometimes forgiveness is found where you least expect it.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Coming out themes*
  • Parental abandonment
  • Cheating
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother

*Note: Coming out is used as a plot twist.

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The Opposite of Innocent by Sonya Sones

The Opposite of Innocent by Sonya Sones

Luke has been away for two endless years, but he’s finally returning today. Lily was only twelve when he left. But now, at fourteen, she feels transformed. She can’t wait to see how Luke will react when he sees the new her. And when her mother tells her that Luke will be staying with them for a while, in the bedroom right next to hers, her heart nearly stops.

Having Luke back is better than Lily could have ever dreamed. His lingering looks set Lily on fire. Is she just imagining them? But then, when they’re alone, he kisses her. Then he kisses her again. Lily’s friends think anyone his age who wants to be with a fourteen-year-old must be really messed up. Maybe even dangerous. But Luke would never do anything to hurt her…would he?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Victim blaming
  • Paedophilia, grooming & child sexual abuse
  • Graphic rape by coercion (on-page)
  • Child abuse
  • Abusive relationship
  • Dissociation
  • Alcohol consumption, including forced alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Stalking
  • Car accident recounted
  • Animal attack & death mentioned
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Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria

Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria

In the city of Eldra, people are ruled by ancient prophecies. For centuries, the high council has stayed in power by virtue of the prophecies of the elder seers. After the last infallible prophecy came to pass, growing unrest led to murders and an eventual rebellion that raged for more than a decade.

In the present day, Cassa, the orphaned daughter of rebels, is determined to fight back against the high council, which governs Eldra from behind the walls of the citadel. Her only allies are no-nonsense Alys, easygoing Evander, and perpetually underestimated Newt, and Cassa struggles to come to terms with the legacy of rebellion her dead parents have left her — and the fear that she may be inadequate to shoulder the burden. But by the time Cassa and her friends uncover the mystery of the final infallible prophecy, it may be too late to save the city — or themselves.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Memory loss
  • Suicide (on-page)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Death of a friend
  • Physical injuries depiction
  • Medical experimentation
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Fire recounted
  • Blackmail
  • Poisoning
  • Poverty themes
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