How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it’s a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn’t spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna’s reluctance… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Drug abuse
  • Infertility
  • Physical injury
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.” But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Paedophilia
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Police brutality
  • Gun violence

Glass Houses by Louise Penny

Glass Houses by Louise Penny

When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines one cold November day, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead. From the moment the creature’s shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Quebec suspects it has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized. But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Drug abuse
  • Abortion
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Drug abuse
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

The shadows have risen, and the line is law. All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped. Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Slavery recounted
  • Rape by enslaver recounted & mentioned, off-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging
  • Drug use mentioned (sc)
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Coma mentioned (sc)
  • Medical experimentation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder of a father mentioned
  • Death of a mother in a car accident recounted
  • Murder& attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Knife violence
  • Immolation
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

But the clock is ticking, and every moment Tommo spends remembering how things used to be, means another moment closer to something which will change his life forever. But the clock is ticking, and every moment Tommo spends remembering how things used to be, means another moment closer to something which will change his life forever.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consimption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Gun violence
  • Whipping
  • Military deployment in World War One (theme)
  • Animal death (dog)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of lifee… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Paedophilia & sexual assault of a child recounted
  • Physical child abuse recounted
  • Intimate partner violence*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use & smoking
  • Abortion (sc)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of an aunt in a car accident
  • Death of a friend from suicide (theme)
  • Physical assault (fistfights)

*Context : The protagonist’s sister is physically abused by her boyfriend who she continues to date. The protagonist also accompanies her to have an abortion.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale. Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted
  • Suicide discussed
  • Drug abuse
  • Drugging mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Torture mentioned
  • Murder
  • Loss of autonomy (demonic possession)
  • Blackmail
  • Graphic animal death (rabbit)
  • Animal cruelty

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable. While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse, including emotional abuse & gaslighting, on-page
  • Intimate partner violence & abuse, on-page
  • Cheating recounted
  • Suicidal ideation recounted
  • Depression & depressive episodes
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Childbirth, on-page
  • Death of a grandfather from a heart attack recounted
  • Death of a grandmother
  • Death of a great-aunt
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Drowning mentioned

The Memory of Light by Francisco Stork

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

16-year-old Vicky Cruz wakes up in a hospital’s mental ward after a failed suicide attempt. Now she must find a path to recovery – and perhaps rescue some others along the way. When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn’t be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she’s never… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Drug abuse
  • Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Kidnapping