The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Skyler, Ellie, Scarlett and Amelia Grace are forced to spend In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape
  • Domestic abuse
  • Child abuse
  • Substance addiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Pregnancy from rape
  • Graphic abortion
  • Autopsy
  • Decapitation
  • Death of a sister
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Car accident
  • Imprisonment
  • Earthquake
  • Death of a pet
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The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

As the United States celebrates the nation’s “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status–much like their grandparents before them.

In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Slavery discussed
  • Drug abuse
  • Incarceration (theme)
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The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away-by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother’s stories are set.

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother’s tales began.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide discussed
  • Self harm
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Attempted murder
  • Kidnapping
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Danced Close by Annabeth Albert

Danced Close by Annabeth Albert

Newly clean and sober, Todd’s taken a shine to his job at Portland’s most talked about bakery. It’s not just the delicious desserts they sell, but the tasty treats who keep walking through the door. That certainly includes Kendall Rose, a wedding planner. Todd doesn’t try to hide his attraction to Kendall’s elegant confidence, even as he worries about exposing the secrets of his past.

For Kendall, the attention is just part of the anything-goes Portland he’s grown to love. But he’s still looking for that special someone who will embrace all of him—including his gender fluidity. So he takes a chance and asks Todd to be his partner in a dance class leading to a fundraiser. When the music starts and he takes Todd in his arms, Kendall is shocked at how good it feels.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Transmisia
  • Addiction recovery (theme)
  • Drug abuse
  • Death of a friend from an overdose
  • Homelessness mentioned
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Baked Fresh by Annabeth Albert

Baked Fresh by Annabeth Albert

Vic Degrassi is a baker on the rise, and it’s all thanks to his rare ability to make—and keep—his New Year’s resolutions. Whether it’s losing weight, giving up smoking, or graduating from culinary school, Vic goes after what he wants—and gets it. This year? He wants Robin Dawson, the sweet-hearted hottie who volunteers with him at the local homeless shelter.

When he learns that Robin is suddenly single after being unceremoniously dumped, Vic is more than happy to offer a shoulder to cry on. But it’s been a long time since Vic’s gone on a date, and he’s nervous about risking his friendship with Robin. So when their flirtation turns into a steamy night together, Vic and Robin have to figure out if they’re friends with benefits or lovers in the making, and if Robin is ready for something more than just a rebound, there’s only one way to find out…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Body image issues
  • Weight loss & dietary restriction discussed
  • Lap band surgery recounted
  • Drug abuse
  • Death from a drug overdose, on-page
  • Homelessness
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Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

It is August in Paris and budding art historian Khayyam should be having the time of her life – but even in the City of Lights she can’t stop worrying about the mess she left back home in Chicago. Only when she meets a dashing young Parisian – who happens to be a distant relative of the novelist Alexandre Dumas – do things start to get interesting.

Two hundred years earlier in the Ottoman empire, Leila is the most favoured woman in the Pasha’s harem. Her position is meant to be a gift; but for her it is a curse, as she fights to keep her true love hidden from her jealous captor. Echoing across centuries, as Khayyam uncovers the scintillating truth of Leila’s long-forgotten life, her own destiny is transformed forever.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Nonconsensual polygyny
  • Recreational drug use
  • Drowning
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Breaking Drake by Joel Abernathy

Breaking Drake by Joel Abernathy

Sterling Crane is my idol, my inspiration, and my rival—and I’m determined to be the one who brings him to his knees. He has other ideas, of course, and I keep going back for more.

I’m horrified when the news breaks that the bands we manage are merging, and we’re all going to share a home like one big happy family. Horrified because I hate Sterling more than anything in this world—and because I know I’m not going to be able to stay away from him.

He’s a god amongst men, and the worst part is, he knows it. Am I ever going to stop worshiping him?… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Parental abuse mentioned
  • Recreational drug use
  • Blackmail (theme)
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The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Gifty is a fifth-year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star glass and cedar palace on an island in British Columbia. Jonathan Alkaitis works in finance and owns the hotel. When he passes Vincent his card with a tip, it’s the beginning of their life together. That same day, Vincent’s half-brother, Paul, scrawls a note on the windowed wall of the hotel: “Why don’t you swallow broken glass.” Leon Prevant, a shipping executive for a company called Neptune Logistics, sees the note from the hotel bar and is shaken to his core. Thirteen years later Vincent mysteriously disappears from the deck of the Neptune Cumberland. 

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Heroin addiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Overdose
  • Drowning
  • Imprisonment
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The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough

The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough

It’s a hot summer, and life’s going all right for Jackson and his family on the Mish. It’s almost Christmas, school’s out, and he’s hanging with his mates, teasing the visiting tourists, avoiding the racist boys in town. Just like every year, Jackson’s Aunty and annoying little cousins visit from the city – but this time a mysterious boy with a troubled past comes with them… As their friendship evolves, Jackson must confront the changing shapes of his relationships with his friends, family and community. And he must face his darkest secret – a secret he thought he’d locked away for good

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Coming out themes
  • Outing
  • Parental abandonment
  • Physical child abuse recounted
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Emesis
  • Minor physical injuries, including broken bones & snake bite
  • Police violence & racial profiling
  • Incarceration
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Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list…

But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad. And if Evie can’t even tell her new friends Amber and Lottie the truth about herself, how will she cope when she falls in love?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Anxiety
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Intrusive thoughts
  • Self harm
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Drug abuse
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