RomeAntically Challenged by Marina Adair

RomeAntically Challenged by Marina Adair

Growing up the lone Asian in a community of WASPs, Annie has always felt out of place. Her solution? Start a family of her own. Not easy when every man she’s dated, including her ex-fiancé, finds “his person” right after breaking up with Annie. Even worse than canceling the wedding eight weeks beforehand? Learning the “other woman” plans to walk down the aisle wearing her wedding gown. New plan—find a fresh, man-free start. Too bad her exit strategy unexpectedly lands her working at a hospital in Rome, Rhode Island, rather than Rome, Italy, and sharing a cabin with a big, brooding, and annoyingly hot male roommate… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Transmisia
  • Depression
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent, on-page
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Car accident recounted
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Normal People by Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from very different worlds. When they both earn places at Trinity College in Dublin, a connection that has grown between them lasts long into the following years.

This is an exquisite love story about how a person can change another person’s life – a simple yet profound realisation that unfolds beautifully over the course of the novel. It tells us how difficult it is to talk about how we feel and it tells us – blazingly – about cycles of domination, legitimacy and privilege. Alternating menace with overwhelming tenderness, Sally Rooney’s second novel breathes fiction with new life.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic violence
  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Recreational drug use
  • Bullying
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This Train Is Being Held by Ismée Amiel Williams

This Train Is Being Held by Ismée Amiel Williams

When private school student Isabelle Warren first meets Dominican-American Alex Rosario on the downtown 1 train, she remembers his green eyes and his gentlemanly behavior. He remembers her untroubled happiness, something he feels all rich kids must possess. That, and her long dancer legs. Over the course of multiple subway encounters spanning the next three years, Isabelle learns of Alex’s struggle with his father, who is hell-bent on Alex being a contender for the major leagues, despite Alex’s desire to go to college and become a poet. Alex learns about Isabelle’s unstable mother, a woman with a prejudice against Latino men. But fate—and the 1 train—throw them together when Isabelle needs Alex most.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racial profiling
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Attempted suicide off-page
  • Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Overdose
  • Police brutality
  • Gang violence
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The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Your neighbour told you that she didn’t want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn’t stand her crying. Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You’ll have the baby monitor and you’ll take it in turns to go back every half hour. Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She’s gone. You’ve never had to call the police before. But now they’re in your home, and who knows what they’ll find there. What would you be capable of, when pushed past your limit?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Post-partum depression
  • Murder

Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera

Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera

Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That role brings with it violent throw downs and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but the sixteen-year-old grows weary of the life. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city’s benevolent founder and cross the border in a search for a mysterious gang the Ashé Ryders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles other crews and her own doubts, but the closer she gets to her goal, the more she loses sight of everything—and everyone— she cares about… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Familial abandonment
  • Child abuse
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use mentioned
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Knife violence
  • Use of a taser
  • Attempted drowning
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Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas

Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas

In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed. It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.

Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am. We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it? … Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut shaming
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Depression
  • Drug abuse
  • Death of a sibling
  • Bullying
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When Forever Ended by Cara Dee

When Forever Ended by Cara Dee

At ten years old, Kelly and I were two rambunctious boys who carved our initials into a tree in the forest and promised to be best friends forever. At forty-three, it’d been twenty-four years since I’d last seen him—after I’d foolishly kissed him—and depression was threatening to suffocate me.

Not even my wife and two children could lift the fog. I was riddled with guilt and self-hatred, and I knew I was slowly but surely fading away.

Then one day, Kelly was back in town.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Internalised homomisia
  • Cheating
  • Depression
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To Drink Coffee with a Ghost by Amanda Lovelace

To Drink Coffee with a Ghost by Amanda Lovelace

This book poses the ever-lingering question: What happens when someone dies before they’re able to redeem themselves?

From the bestselling & award-winning poetess, amanda lovelace, comes the finale of her illustrated duology, “things that h(a)unt.” In the first installment, to make monsters out of girls, lovelace explored the memory of being in a toxic romantic relationship. In to drink coffee with a ghost, lovelace unravels the memory of the complicated relationship she had with her now-deceased mother.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Cheating
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Abusive relationship
  • Eating disorder
  • Depression
  • Self harm
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Forced hospitalisation
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Shine your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace

Shine your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace

“Make them rue the day they underestimated you.”

This is a story about not letting society dictate the limits of your potential. it’s time to take back your power & realize that you don’t need a king in order to be a queen.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • F
  • Sexism
  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Toxic relationship
  • Eating disorder
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Self harm
  • Bullying
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Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi

After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too.

Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari’s right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy’s wrath. With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Depression
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Amputation
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Death of a friend
  • Torture
  • Riots
  • War themes
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