Tag Archives: Drug Use & Abuse

A War of Wyverns by S.F. Williamson

Who is Vivien Featherswallow? Is she The Swallow, the most wanted rebel in all of Britannia? Is she a Brasstongue on the cusp of translating a new language? Or is she just Viv, the girl who lost the love of her life after playing spy? Though this war might have begun with bombs and teeth, it will be fought with tongues. And Viv will soon learn that everything she thought she knew—even about herself—might be a lie.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption mentioned & smoking (on-page)
  • Blood & injury depiction, including amputation
  • Imprisonment mentioned
  • War themes & battle scenes, including chemical gassing, knife & crossbow violence, and stabbing
  • Mythical animal attacks, injuries & cruelty, including torture and death of a dragon from a poisonous bullet

The Moon Without Stars by Chanel Miller

At the end of sixth grade, Luna knows who she a small, quiet girl who loves writing and making zines with her best friend, Scott. But when one of their zines takes off, somehow Luna is swept up into the popular group and learns just how much of herself she’s going to have to compromise to stay there. Will she give up her writing? Her best friend? What about her own beliefs about who she is and what she stands for?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Vaping mentioned (on-page, secondary character)
  • Drunk-driving car accident mentioned (a teen crashes into a store & an employee’s hand is injured by broken glass)
  • Biking accident mentioned, resulting in minor nose injury
  • Bullying & vandalism discussed

Room to Breathe by Kasie West

When the walls close in, the truth comes out. When Indy’s life came crashing down, she made a no one could know. To the world, she’s still the same Indy—cool, calm, unshaken. But behind the scenes? It’s chaos. Her tight-knit crew—Beau, Caroline, and Ava—were once her everything. Now they’re strangers she can’t seem to reach—especially Beau. And the only person she talks to these days is Cody, a skater-boy she used to think was so not her type. Funny how everything changes when your world flips upside down. And then… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault mentioned (unwanted kiss, secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking mentioned (secondary characters)
  • Bullying mentioned (secondary character)

This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman

They call it Faction Wars. The ninth floor. Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, and, of course, betrayal… It all makes for great fun and even greater television. After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war. Except this time. This time, winner takes all. Those who fall, stay in the ground. As the AI continues its rapid decline, Carl and company take advantage of the chaos. For the first time ever, the crawlers are fighting back. They… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Drug abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a child

The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children. Their adventures take them on a chase through France: they are taken captive by knights, sit alongside a king, and save the land from a farting dragon. On the run to escape prejudice and persecution and save precious and holy texts from being burned, their quest drives them forward to a final showdown at Mont Saint-Michel, where all will come to question if these children can perform the miracles of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical antisemitism & misogyny, including the destruction & arson of a Jewish village by Christians, and a woman burned at the stake

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to alter Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community at the brink.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & racism
  • Substance addiction & drug abuse
  • Dementia discussed
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Animal abuse & death (on-page)

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobic slurs
  • Child abuse & neglect mentioned
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Rape mentioned & recounted
  • Suicide, suicidal ideation & self-harm mentioned
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use including overdose
  • Death of a child (off-page)
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Fatal car acciedne tmentioned
  • Animal death (dog)

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk

A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago’s divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic, or all of the above. An exiled auspex who sold her soul to save her brother’s life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can’t resist―the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves. To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago’s most notorious serial killer. If… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical homophobia, specifically lesbophobia, & misogyny, including incarceration, institutionalisation of disabled and queer women, and mentions of electroshock therapy (as conversion therapy)
  • Graphic alcohol consumption & smoking (on-page)
  • Blood & gore depiction and mentions of emesis
  • Death of parents in a car accident recounted
  • Murder & mentions of human sacrifice
  • Gun violence
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman

It is bedlam on the eighth floor. As management reels from the unexpected conclusion of the seventh level, the surviving crawlers stumble onto the eighth and find themselves scattered. It’s a map based on Earth’s final days before the collapse, where ethereal, intangible ghosts of humanity go about their lives, oblivious of the impending doom. Living amongst these ghosts are monsters based in Earth lore. “Legendary” creatures tied to the geographical location they inhabit. Each team of crawlers is given a task: find and capture six of these beasts. The captured monsters will be turned into cards. Cards that can be summoned into… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Parental abandonment & child abuse recounted
  • Self-sacrifice & suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption, smoking & drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & mass death
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions & fire
  • Animal death (turkeys)

The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman

A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade.” The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds. As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside tourists are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are here and ready to hunt. Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career. But their prey is far from harmless, and this season they are fighting back.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Parental abandonment & child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption, smoking & drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction and emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & mass death
  • Explosions & fire
  • Car accident recounted
  • Animal death (dog)