Death of a Parent & Guardian – Page 185

Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf

Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf

In order to protect Prince Lucien d’Malvane’s heart, Zera had to betray him. Now, he hates the sight of her. Trapped in Cavanos as a prisoner of the king, she awaits the inevitable moment her witch severs their magical connection and finally ends her life. But fate isn’t ready to give her up just yet.

With freedom coming from the most unlikely of sources, Zera is given a second chance at life as a Heartless. But it comes with a terrible price. As the king mobilizes his army to march against the witches, Zera must tame an elusive and deadly valkerax trapped in the tunnels underneath the city if she wants to regain her humanity.

Winning over a bloodthirsty valkerax? Hard. Winning back her friends before war breaks out? A little harder. But a Heartless winning back Prince Lucien’s heart? The hardest thing she’s ever done.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
Child abuse recounted
Nightmares
Self-harm (on-page)
Self-sacrifice discussed
Alcohol consumption
Nonconsensual drugging
Graphic blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Cannibalism mentioned
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father recounted
Death of a grandfather mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Knife violence & stabbing
Poisoning
Fire
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Imprisonment
War themes (central theme)
Animal cruelty & torture
Animal injury, blood & body parts
Animal attack
Hunting mentioned

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf

Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly. Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own.

Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, & out for his blood.

So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all. Winner takes the loser’s heart. Literally.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Classism
Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
Fatmisia & body shaming
Child abuse
Arranged marriage
Alcohol consumption
Alcohol abuse & alcoholism recounted
Graphic blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Cannibalism
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sister
Death of a mother & father
Death of a child mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Knife violence & stabbing
Explosions
Fire
Kidnapping
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Death from a fall mentioned
War themes (central theme)
Animal death and dead bodies
Death by animal attack mentioned
Bullying
Poverty themes

Firebolt by Adrienne Woods

Firebolt by Adrienne Woods

Dragons. Right. Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales, and sixteen-year old Elena Watkins was no different.

Until the night a fairy tale killed her father.

Now Elena’s in a new world, and a new school. The cutest guy around may be an evil dragon, a Prince wants Elena’s heart, and a long dead sorcerer may be waking up to kill her. Oh. And the only way Elena’s going to graduate is on the back of a dragon of her own.

Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales. Now it’s time for Elena to believe – in herself.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Antiziganism (g slur)
Death of a father
Murder

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

aurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she’s still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel’s new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past.

When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she’s able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Drug addiction & drug abuse (theme)
Death of a mother recounted
Death of a grandmother recounted
Hurricane Katrina

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat—by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for “A Room to Talk”), they discover it’s safe to talk about what’s bothering them—everything from Esteban’s father’s deportation and Haley’s father’s incarceration to Amari’s fears of racial profiling and Ashton’s adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Death of a parent
Incarceration for vehicular manslaughter
Deportation
Bullying

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo–his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance–“Date Korean”–which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful–and white. Fellow Limbo Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom. Frank thinks it’s the perfect plan, but in the end, Frank and Joy’s fake-dating maneuver leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love–or himself–at all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial slurs, specially anti-Asian & anti-Black
Cheating
Familial estrangement
Parent with terminal cancer
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Gun violence

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Attempted sexual assault
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injuries, including eyeball trauma
Suicide mentioned
Death of a parent recounted
Murder
Torture
War themes
Animal sacrifice

As Many Nows as I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl

As Many Nows as I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl

In one impulsive moment the summer before they leave for college, overachievers Scarlett and David plunge into an irresistible swirl of romance, particle physics, and questionable decisions. Told in non-linear, vivid first-person chapters, As Many Nows As I Can Get is the story of a grounded girl who’s pulled into a lightning-strike romance with an electric-charged boy, and the enormity of the aftermath. Cerebral, accessible, bold, and unconventionally romantic, this is a powerful debut about grief, guilt, and reconciling who you think you need to be with the person you’ve been all along.’

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misgendering
Depression
Substance addiction
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use & overdose
Teen pregnancy
Abortion & miscarriage mentioned
Cancer
Hospitalisation
Death of a parent
Gun violence mentioned
Car accident
Animal death

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Body shaming
Slut-shaming
Slavery
Physical & psychological child abuse
Cheating
Disownment
Nightmares mentioned
Suicide, on-page
Coerced self-harm
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Drug use & drugging
Self-harm (mithridatism)
Death of a pregnant character mentioned*
Blood and gore depiction, including dead bodies & emesis
Graphic physical injuries
Decapitation & dismemberment mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of mother and father, on-page
Death of friend
Death of a sister & brother
Death by a fall mentioned
Drowning
Murder and attempted murder
Knife and sword violence & stabbing
Strangulation
Torture
Kidnapping & captivity
Loss of autonomy (glamour magic)
War themes discussed
Bullying

*Context: The father of an unborn child poisons his pregnant consort in an attempt to murder her and the unborn child.

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern-day Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets. But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together. What could go wrong?

With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.

And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableist language
Lesbomisia
Racism
Islamophobia
Cheating
Anxiety attacks (on-page)
Depression mentioned
Suicide of a parent
Blood depiction & physical injury
Chronic illness (main character, specifically hives)
Hospitalisation mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father & mother recounted
Physical assault
Plane crash mentioned
Animal attacks, specifically snake and bear attacks