Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz

Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz

Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel M. Moniz book cover

Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story in Milk Blood Heat delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning. These intimate portraits of people and relationships scour and soothe and blast a light on the nature of family, faith, forgiveness, consumption, and what we may, or may not, owe one another.

A thirteen-year-old meditates on her sadness and the difference between herself and her white best friend when an unexpected tragedy occurs; a woman recovering from a miscarriage finds herself unable to let go of her daughter—whose body parts she sees throughout her daily life; a teenager resists her family’s church and is accused of courting the devil; servers at a supper club cater to the insatiable cravings of their wealthy clientele; and two estranged siblings take a road-trip with their father’s ashes and are forced to face the troubling reality of how he continues to shape them.

Wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive, Milk Blood Heat forms an ouroboros of stories that bewitch with their truth.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Parental abandonment
  • Adult-minor relationship between a teacher and student
  • Paedophilia, implied
  • Parental sexual abuse, implied
  • Abortion, mentioned
  • Pregnancy
  • Terminal cancer
  • Physical assault
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Suicide
  • Strangulation
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a father
  • Death from a fall
  • Drowning
  • Graphic near-drowning
  • Robbery
  • Cannibalism, implied
  • Hanging, mentioned
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Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept.

Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness.

But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.

In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist language
  • Attempted rape recounted (chp. 23)
  • Child abuse recounted, including being locked in the attics for extended periods of tie
  • Agoraphobia
  • Panic attack (chp. 24)
  • Death of a mother to suicide recounted
  • Recreational drug use (on-page in chp. 5 & mentioned otherwise)
  • Hospital (chp. 5 & 24)
  • Grief & loss (theme)
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a stepfather (off-page)
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Gun violence (chp. 28)
  • Police violence (chp. 28)
  • Hanging mentioned (chp. 9)
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Car accident (on-page, chp. 23-24)
  • Death of a child to a wasp attack recounted
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And I Darken by Kiersten White

And I Darken by Kiersten White

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted rape & sexual assault
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence
  • Strangulation
  • Torture (off-page)
  • Near-drowning
  • Whipping
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Nailbiter Vol. 2: Bloody Hands by Joshua Williamson & Mike Henderson

Nailbiter, Vol. 2: Bloody Hands by Joshua Williamson & Mike Henderson

Army interrogator Nicholas Finch is hot on the trail for why sixteen of the world’s worst serial killers are all from the same small town, but his path to answers is lettered with deadly intentions. There are dark forces that don’t want the secrets of Buckaroo and it’s murderous past to be revealed. And the Nailbiter himself has to deal with being thrown in the spotlight again!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Teacher-student relationship
  • Cheating
  • Pregnancy & childbirth (secondary character)
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Hospital
  • Death of a son
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & Stabbing
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire recounted
  • Attempted drowning
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Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona

Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City — until she’s suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she’s comin’ for you, Jersey!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Islamophobia
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Gun violence
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Bullying
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Yesternight by Cat Winters

Yesternight by Cat Winters

In 1925, Alice Lind steps off a train in the rain-soaked coastal hamlet of Gordon Bay, Oregon. There, she expects to do nothing more difficult than administer IQ tests to a group of rural schoolchildren. A trained psychologist, Alice believes mysteries of the mind can be unlocked scientifically, but now her views are about to be challenged by one curious child. Seven-year-old Janie O’Daire is a mathematical genius, which is surprising. But what is disturbing are the stories she tells: that her name was once Violet, she grew up in Kansas decades earlier, and she drowned at age nineteen. Alice delves into these stories… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Sexual assault*
  • Hallucinations & delusions
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Drowning

*Context : The protagonist consents to sex if the love interest does not ejaculate inside her. He does without her permission.

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Contagion by Erin Bowman

Contagion by Erin Bowman

Contagion by Erin Bowman book cover

It got in us
After receiving an urgent SOS from a work detail on a distant planet, a skeleton crew is dispatched to perform a standard search-and-rescue mission.

Most are dead.
But when the crew arrives, they find an abandoned site, littered with rotten food, discarded weapons…and dead bodies.

Don’t set foot here again.
As they try to piece together who—or what—could have decimated an entire operation, they discover that some things are best left buried—and some monsters are only too ready to awaken.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide by gun (on-page in prologue)
  • Graphic blood and gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Physical illness & injuries, including eyeball trauma
  • Plague, central theme
  • Needles and syringes
  • Medical procedures, including blood test and surgery
  • Medical emergency & serious (terminal) illness of a loved one
  • Comas
  • Emesis
  • Death of parents
  • Death of cousin
  • Death of friend
  • Death of colleague
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Strangulation mentioned
  • Knife violence
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Death from electrocution
  • Blizzards & severe storms
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Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh

Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh

Smoke in the Sun by Renee Adieh book cover

For weeks, seventeen-year-old Mariko pretended to be a boy to infiltrate the notorious Black Clan and bring her would-be murderer to justice. She didn’t expect to find a place for herself among the group of fighters—a life of usefulness—and she certainly didn’t expect to fall in love. Now she heads to the imperial castle to resume a life she never wanted to save the boy she loves.

Ōkami has been captured, and his execution is a certainty. Mariko will do what she must to ensure his survival—even marry the sovereign’s brother, saying goodbye to a life with Ōkami forever.

As Mariko settles into her days at court—making both friends and enemies—and attempting Ōkami’s rescue at night, the secrets of the royal court begin to unravel as competing agendas collide. One arrow sets into motion a series of deadly events even the most powerful magic cannot contain. Mariko and Ōkami risk everything to right past wrongs and restore the honor of a kingdom thrown into chaos by a sudden war, hoping against hope that when the dust settles, they will find a way to be together.

Set against the backdrop of feudal Japan, Smoke in the Sun is the breathless, romantic, not-to-be-missed fiery conclusion to a spell-binding adventure.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Classism
  • Marital rape, implied and discussed
  • Body modifications without consent
  • Grief depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a husband
  • Death of a girlfriend
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a public figure
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Torture
  • Explosion, recounted
  • Imprisonment
  • Blackmail
  • Loss of autonomy
  • Kidnapping
  • Poisoning, recounted
  • Fire
  • Drowning
  • Exile
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The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin book cover

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy has been accused of raping a high school student. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago.

The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Victim blaming (discussed in-depth)
  • Rape culture (theme)
  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual harassment
  • Paedophilia mentioned
  • Graphic rape & gang rape of a minor discussed
  • Physical child abuse recounted
  • PTSD
  • Panic attacks
  • Night terrors
  • Attempted suicide by drowning mentioned
  • Suicide of a parent by overdose discussed
  • Addiction mentioned
  • Drug & alcohol abuse mentioned
  • Terminal cancer
  • Hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Death of a sister & child (off-page)
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Drowning
  • Hostage situation
  • Stalking
  • Car accident & motorcycle accident recounted
  • Animal injury mentioned (minor)
  • Bullying & hazing
  • Grave desecration
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The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black book cover

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.

GoodreadsThe 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.