The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis

Seventeen-year-old Evan Panos doesn’t know where he fits in. His strict Greek mother refuses to see him as anything but a disappointment. His quiet, workaholic father is a staunch believer in avoiding any kind of conflict. And his best friend Henry has somehow become distractingly attractive over the summer.

Tired, isolated, scared—Evan’s only escape is drawing in an abandoned church that feels as lonely as he is. And, yes, he kissed one guy over the summer. But it’s his best friend Henry who’s now proving to be irresistible. It’s Henry who suddenly seems interested in being more than friends. And it’s Henry who makes him believe that he’s more than his mother’s harsh words and terrifying abuse.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Hate crimes
  • Physical & emotional child abuse (theme)
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Grief & loss depiction
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Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson

Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson

Kat and Stevie—best friends, theater kids, polar opposites—have snuck away from the suburbs to spend a night in New York City. They have it all planned out. They’ll see a play, eat at the city’s hottest restaurant, and have the best. Night. Ever. What could go wrong?

They’re barely off the train before they’re dealing with destroyed phones, family drama, and unexpected Pomeranians. Over the next few hours, they’ll have to grapple with old flames, terrible theater, and unhelpful cab drivers. But there are also cute boys to kiss, parties to crash, dry cleaning to deliver (don’t ask), and the world’s best museum to explore.

Over the course of a wild night in the city that never sleeps, both Kat and Stevie will get a wake-up call about their friendship, their choices…and finally discover what they really want for their future.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Gun violence
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Docile by KM Szpara

Docile by K.M. Szpara

To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents’ debts and buy your children’s future.

Elisha Wilder’s family has been ruined by debt, handed down to them from previous generations. His mother never recovered from the Dociline she took during her term as a Docile, so when Elisha decides to try and erase the family’s debt himself, he swears he will never take the drug that took his mother from him. Too bad his contract has been purchased by Alexander Bishop III, whose ultra-rich family is the brains (and money) behind Dociline and the entire Office of Debt Resolution. When Elisha refuses Dociline, Alex refuses to believe that his family’s crowning achievement could have any negative side effects—and is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect Docile without it.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery & sex slavery
  • Physical, emotional & psychological abuse
  • Graphic rape (on-page)
  • Attempted suicide (on-page)
  • PTSD & trauma
  • Depression
  • Nonconsensual psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Forced drug use
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Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

Even the Wild Man of Greenhollow can’t ignore a summons from his mother, when that mother is the indomitable Adela Silver, practical folklorist. Henry Silver does not relish what he’ll find in the grimy seaside town of Rothport, where once the ancient wood extended before it was drowned beneath the sea—a missing girl, a monster on the loose, or, worst of all, Tobias Finch, who loves him.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Kidnapping
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Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father. Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Coming out themes
  • Bimisia
  • Child neglect & parental abandonment
  • Recreational drug use
  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Postnatal depression discussed
  • Teen pregnancy (theme)
  • Abortion discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a cousin
  • Death of a sister to sickle cell mentioned
  • Incarceration
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Gang violence
  • Police brutality & violence mentioned
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Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz’s weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times—as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language (r slur)
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Victim blaming
  • Child abuse
  • Manic depression
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Childbirth
  • Paralysis
  • Cancer
  • Epilepsy & seizures
  • Hospital
  • Life-threatening weight loss
  • Needles
  • Asphyxia (choking)
  • Poisoning mentioned
  • Drowning
  • Animal death & abuse

The God Game by Danny Tobey

The God Game by Danny Tobey

You are invited! Come inside and play with G.O.D. Bring your friends! It’s fun! But remember the rules. Win and ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.™ Lose, you die!

With those words, Charlie and his friends enter the G.O.D. Game, a video game run by underground hackers and controlled by a mysterious AI that believes it’s God. Through their phone-screens and high-tech glasses, the teens’ realities blur with a virtual world of creeping vines, smoldering torches, runes, glyphs, gods, and mythical creatures. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them with expensive tech, revenge on high-school tormentors, and cash flowing from ATMs. Slaying a hydra and drawing a bloody pentagram as payment to a Greek god seem harmless at first. Fun even… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Misogyny
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Parental abuse
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm
  • Drug abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a family member
  • Blackmail

Sugar and Spite by Gail D Villanueva

Sugar & Spite by Gail D. Villaneuva

Jolina can’t take Claudine’s bullying any longer! The taunts and teasing are too much. Though Jolina knows she’s still in-training to use her grandfather’s arbularyo magic, she sneaks into his potions lab to get her revenge. Jolina brews a batch of gayuma, a powerful love potion.

And it works. The love potion conquers Claudine’s hateful nature. In fact, Claudine doesn’t just stop bullying Jolina — now she wants to be Jolina’s BFF, and does everything and anything Jolina asks.

But magic comes with a cost, and bad intentions beget bad returns. Controlling another person’s ability to love — or hate — will certainly have consequences. The magic demands payment, and it is about to come for Jolina in the form of a powerful storm…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Internalised colourism
  • Bullying
  • Typhoon
  • Death of a pet
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Come November by Katrin van Dam

Come November by Katrin van Dam

It’s not the end of the world, but for Rooney Harris it’s starting to feel that way. It’s the beginning of senior year and her mom just lost her job. Even worse, she isn’t planning to get another one. Instead, she’s spending every waking moment with a group called the Next World Society, whose members are convinced they’ll be leaving Earth behind on November 17. It sounds crazy to Rooney, but to her mother and younger brother it sounds like salvation. As her mom’s obsession threatens to tear their lives apart, Rooney is scrambling to hold it all together. But will saving her family mean sacrificing her dreams—or theirs?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child neglect & parental abandonment
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide
  • Cults
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The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen

The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen

The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen book cover

Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings that are out of the ordinary for even a teenager, his life moves beyond “typical.”

Caleb is an Atypical, an individual with enhanced abilities. Which sounds pretty cool except Caleb’s ability is extreme empathy—he feels the emotions of everyone around him. Being an empath in high school would be hard enough, but Caleb’s life becomes even more complicated when he keeps getting pulled into the emotional orbit of one of his classmates, Adam. Adam’s feelings are big and all-consuming, but they fit together with Caleb’s feelings in a way that he can’t quite understand.

Caleb’s therapist, Dr. Bright, encourages Caleb to explore this connection by befriending Adam. As he and Adam grow closer, Caleb learns more about his ability, himself, his therapist—who seems to know a lot more than she lets on—and just how dangerous being an Atypical can be.

“What if the X-Men, instead of becoming superheroes, decided to spend some time in therapy?”

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Fatmisia
  • Misogyny
  • Queermisia
  • Aromisic language
  • Depression and depressive episodes
  • Self-harm recounted, off-page
  • Medical experimentation mentioned
  • Bullying
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