The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf

There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it. He’s eight years old (just like me), but he’s very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn’t like sweets – not even lemon sherbets, which are my favorite! But the truth is, Ahmet really isn’t very strange at all. He’s a refugee who’s run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to be his friend. That’s where my best friends Josie, Michael and Tom come in. Because you see, together we’ve come up with a plan.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a sister mentioned
  • Death of a parent in a car accident mentioned
  • Bombing raid mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Exile mentioned
  • Bullying
  • Death of a pet cat mentioned

The Other Side of Tomorrow by Micalea Smeltzer

Life can change in an instant. For Willa Hansen, this statement couldn’t be truer. One minute she was a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old, and the next her life was turned upside down with only a few words. Three years later, she’s receiving a kidney transplant and can start living again, only now she’s not sure she knows how. Life can end in a moment…Jasper Werth knows this all too well, seeing as a drunk driver killed his little brother. He’s always been a carefree guy, never taking life too seriously, but losing his brother is a major blow, and he finds himself lost until Willa walks into his life, Life can mend the most broken parts… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Chronic kidney illness and mentions of kidney surgery
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother in a drunk-driving accident recounted

The Do-Over by Lynn Painter

After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day. Emilie is stuck in some sort of time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from as she re-watches her boyfriend, Josh, cheat on her day after day. In addition to Josh’s recurring infidelity, Emilie can’t get away from the enigmatic Nick, who she keeps running into—sometimes literally—in unfortunate ways… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental divorce
  • Death of a sibling recounted, off-page
  • Car accident

The Summer of Broken Rules by KL Walther

Meredith Fox has been going to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer as long as she can remember. But this summer is the first one back since the death of Meredith’s sister. It will all be overwhelming, but even more since since the entire extended family will be together for her cousin’s big wedding. Unfortunately, Meredith’s longtime boyfriend unexpectedly dumped her two weeks before the wedding, leaving her dateless. Luckily, she has the perfect distraction. Her family has a tradition of playing the ultimate game of Assassin every summer, and this year it will take place… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister in a drunk-driving car accident

To Steal a Heart by KC Bateman

Forced to do the bidding of a corrupt government minister, Marianne de Bonnard agrees to plant incriminating evidence in the offices of France’s most notorious spymaster. Under cover of night, the tightrope-walking thief puts her skills to good use—until her aerial stunt is foiled when her target appears in the window and, with consummate poise, helps Marianne off the wire and into his lair. The tremors that run through her body are not just from fear; there’s an unwanted frisson of desire there, too. But is it because of her elegant, wickedly handsome host… or his proposition? Nicolas Valette has had plans… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & dubious consent scenes recounted
  • Death of a parent & sibling recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Fire

*Context : The romance is between a nineteen-year-old heroine and a 35-year-old hero.

After the Night by Linda Howard

FAITH DEVLIN: A poor, outcast child in Prescott, Louisiana, she’d always adored the town’s golden boy from afar. But he called her white trash that sultry Southern night when his rich, respected father disappeared, along with her pretty Mom. Now Faith wanted to hate Gray Rouillard…not to feel a powerful surge of desire. But she couldn’t quench her passion, any more than she could hide the truth about the past she had waited so long to unravel. GRAY ROUILLARD: Even when he raised hell, he did it with style. Reckless, charming, and backed by Rouillard money, Gray controlled the town of Prescott and Devlin… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Attempted suicide
  • Paedophilia
  • Parental infidelity*
  • Parent with alcoholism and agoraphobia
  • Death of a sibling & spouse, off-page

*Context : The protagonist’s mother was her father’s mistress.

The After Party by AC Arthur

Three women form an unbreakable bond in a sexy, suspenseful, and adventurous novel about empowerment and sisterhood through thick and thin. Venus McGee, Draya Carter, and Jackie Benson are coworkers with a lot in common. They’re smart, independent, driven, and deserving of recognition, certainly more than they’ve been handed by a demoralizing boss. He’s the topic of conversation at their impromptu get-together after the company holiday party, where the threesome fantasizes about a life without him. There has to be an alternative to taking a deep breath and sucking it up. There is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Disownment mentioned
  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual & workplace harassment
  • Infidelity
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a sibling from a drug overdose
  • Murder, off-page
  • Car accident
  • Stalking

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are Boneless Mercies – death-traders, hired to kill quickly, quietly and mercifully. It is a job for women, and women only. Men will not do this sad, dark work.
Frey has no family, no home, no fortune, and yet her blood sings a song of glory. So when she hears of a monster slaughtering men, women, and children in a northern jarldom, she decides this the Mercies’ one chance to change their fate… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Child abuse
  • Attempted forced child sex work mentioned
  • Suicide & assisted voluntary euthanasia, on-page
  • Suicidal ideation & attempted suicide recounted
  • Self-flagellation, on-page
  • Dead bodies & body parts
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Eyeball trauma
  • Serious physical injury & illness
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child, on-page
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Death of a girlfriend recounted
  • Death of a mentor recounted
  • Death of a parent from illness recounted
  • Death of a friend, on-page
  • Graphic murder & attempted murder (theme)
  • Knife, axe & attempted murder
  • Hanging, off-page
  • Poisoning
  • Graphic drowning
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal attack
  • Graphic animal death
  • Animal abuse

We’ll Never Have Paris by Adriana Anders

Jules aka “World’s most annoying laugher”. It’s Christmas Eve, one of my last nights in Paris, and I get stuck in a tiny elevator with the insufferable, grumpy Welshman from downstairs. I’m wearing nothing but my skimpy PJs and totally inappropriate spike heels. Oh, and the light’s gone out. What could possibly go wrong? Colin aka “Ebenezer McGrumpypants” She’s the neighbour from hell. Loud, brash, and American, with the body of a pin-up and the laugh of a wild hyena. My only wish is that she’ll move out and be done with Paris forever. Fate, apparently, has other ideas because tonight of all nights, when the city’s shut.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental estrangement
  • Sexual assault recounted (groping)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a mother in a car accident recounted
  • Death of a brother in an explosion recounted

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But 18-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette. To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Panic attack
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Cigarette & cigar smoking mentioned
  • Medical treatment including needles
  • Blood, gore and physical injury
  • Emesis
  • Death of a sister from drowning recounted
  • Death of a mother from being hit by a train
  • Military service discussed
  • Graphic war themes & battle scenes including bombings and chemical gassing, on-page
  • Poverty