White Lines by Armand Baltazar

White Lines by Armand Baltazar

In 1980s New York City, seventeen-year-old Caitlin tries to overcome her mother’s abuse and father’s abandonment by losing herself in nights of clubbing and drugs, followed by days of stumbling aimlessly through school.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Parental abandonment
  • Physical parental abuse recounted
  • Adult-minor relationship mentioned
  • Substance addiction
  • Attempted suicide by overdose mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Graphic drug use & abuse
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Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic by Armand Baltazar

Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic by Armand Baltazar

The world did not end. At least not permanently. The Time Collision came from beyond the stars, a cosmic event that fractured time and space, tearing apart the earth and reshaping it into something entirely new. This is the world Diego Ribera was born into. The past, present, and future coexisting together. Timeless.

In New Chicago, Diego’s middle school hallways buzz with kids from all eras of history and from cultures all over the world. The pieces do not always fit together neatly, but this is the world he loves. There are those, however, who do not share his affection… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Murder of a brother mentioned
  • Sword violence
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Near-drowning incident
  • War themes & battle scenes
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The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King

The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King

John Carver has three rules: Don’t drink in the daytime, don’t gamble when the luck has gone, and don’t talk to the dead people who come to visit.

It has been almost five years since the incident in Kabul. Since the magic stirred within him and the stories began. Fleeing the army, running from the whispers, the guilt, and the fear he was losing his mind, Carver fell into addiction, dragging himself through life one day at a time.

Desperation has pulled him back to Afghanistan, back to the heat, the dust, and the truth he worked so hard to avoid. But there are others, obsessed with power and forbidden magics… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Drugging
  • Hallucinations
  • Medical experimentation
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Gun violence
  • Torture
  • Immolation
  • Kidnapping
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The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold

The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold

This is Noah Oakman → sixteen, Bowie believer, concise historian, disillusioned swimmer, son, brother, friend.

Then Noah → gets hypnotized.

Now Noah → sees changes: his mother has a scar on her face that wasn’t there before; his old dog, who once walked with a limp, is suddenly lithe; his best friend, a lifelong DC Comics disciple, now rotates in the Marvel universe. Subtle behaviors, bits of history, plans for the future–everything in Noah’s world has been rewritten. Everything except his Strange Fascinations . . .

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use mentioned
  • Coma
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Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

One morning, Jessa-Lynn Morton walks into the family taxidermy shop to find that her father has committed suicide, right there on one of the metal tables. Shocked and grieving, Jessa steps up to manage the failing business, while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make aggressively lewd art with the taxidermied animals. Her brother Milo withdraws, struggling to function. And Brynn, Milo’s wife—and the only person Jessa’s ever been in love with—walks out without a word. As Jessa seeks out less-than-legal ways of generating income, her mother’s art escalates—picture a figure of her dead husband and a stuffed buffalo in an uncomfortably sexual pose—and the Mortons reach a tipping point. For the first time, Jessa has no choice but to learn who these people truly are, and ultimately how she fits alongside them. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Depression
  • Self harm
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Drug abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father from suicide
  • Graphic animal death
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We Are All That’s Left by Carrie Arcos

We Are All That’s Left by Carrie Arcos

Zara and her mother, Nadja, have a strained relationship. Nadja just doesn’t understand Zara’s creative passion for, and self-expression through, photography. And Zara doesn’t know how to reach beyond their differences and connect to a closed-off mother who refuses to speak about her past in Bosnia. But when a bomb explodes as they’re shopping in their local farmers’ market in Rhode Island, Zara is left with PTSD–and her mother is left in a coma. Without the opportunity to get to know her mother, Zara is left with questions–not just about her mother, but about faith, religion, history, and her own path forward.

As Zara tries to sort through her confusion, she meets Joseph, whose grandmother is also in the hospital, and whose exploration of religion and philosophy offer comfort and insight into Zara’s own line of thinking.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted rape
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • SMoking
  • Blood & physical injury depiction
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions
  • Physical assault
  • Bosnian War
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Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit. Set against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado–a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite–these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force.

Sabrina & Corina is a moving narrative of unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and an eternal sense of home.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic violence
  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcoholism
  • Drug abuse
  • Murder
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The Magician’s Bird by Emily Fairlie

The Magician’s Bird by Emily Fairlie and illustrated by Antonio Javier Caparo

In The Magician’s Bird, the mystery Bud and Laurie must solve is much more serious than a treasure hunt—their beloved school founder, Maria Tutweiler, has been accused of murdering Marchetti the Magician!

Can Bud and Laurie—with the help of enthusiastic Misti and evil but useful Calliope—prove Maria Tutweiler’s innocence? Or will Tuckernuck Hall be closed down for good?

Emily Fairlie once again blends lists, notes, and classic prose to tell a story that sings with humor, suspense, and magic.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Smoking mentioned
  • Murder recounted
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The Education of Ivy Blake by Ellen Airgood

The Education of Ivy Blake by Ellen Airgood

Ivy has loved living with her best friend, Prairie, and being part of Prairie’s lively, happy family. But now Ivy’s mom has decided to take her back. Ivy tries to pretend everything is fine, but her mom’s neglect and embarrassing public tantrums often make Ivy feel ashamed and alone. Fortunately, Ivy is able to find solace in art, in movies, and from the pleasure she finds in observing and appreciating life’s small, beautiful moments. And when things with her mom reach the tipping point, this ability gives her the strength and power to push on and shape her own future.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Hospitalisation mentioned
  • Gun violence recounted
  • Incarceration of a parent
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The New David Espinoza by Fred Aceves

The New David Espinoza by Fred Aceves

David Espinoza is tired of being messed with. When a video of him getting knocked down by a bully’s slap goes viral at the end of junior year, David vows to use the summer to bulk up— do what it takes to become a man—and wow everyone when school starts again the fall.

Soon David is spending all his time and money at Iron Life, a nearby gym that’s full of bodybuilders. Frustrated with his slow progress, his life eventually becomes all about his muscle gains. As it says on the Iron Life wall, What does not kill me makes me stronger... Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Body & muscle dysmorphia (theme)
  • Drug use and steroid abuse
  • Bullying
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