Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee

Sebin, a young tiger spirit from the Juhwang Clan, wants nothing more than to join the Thousand World Space Forces and, like their Uncle Hwan, captain a battle cruiser someday. But when Sebin’s acceptance letter finally arrives, it’s accompanied by the shocking news that Hwan has been declared a traitor. Apparently, the captain abandoned his duty to steal a magical artifact, the Dragon Pearl, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Sebin hopes to help clear their hero’s name and restore honour to the clan. Nothing goes according to plan, however. As soon as Sebin arrives…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abandonment
  • Drugging
  • Physical injuries
  • Hostage situation

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City. Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction

Descent by Sam Mariano

Calvin will do anything for me… except let me go. We were strangers, as far as I knew. He saw me once, but didn’t introduce himself like he could have. Calvin Cutler. Nice to meet you. But there’s nothing nice about Calvin Cutler. He’s ruthless and single-minded, and he zeroed in on me—a hapless target for his dark and twisted appetites. In the depths of Hell, I first looked into his sinful brown eyes, felt the greedy touch of his demanding hands for the first time. Not the last time, though. He wanted more. So much more. He wanted me, whether I wanted him or not.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Improper BDSM practices
  • Drugging
  • Involuntary pregnancy
  • Murder
  • Blackmail

House of Marionne by J. Elle

17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Teen pregnancy mentioned
  • Attempted drugging
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-injury for magic
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging (protagonist)
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder by stabbing & knife violence
  • Torture mentioned
  • Protagonist is kidnapped, bound, pushed into a well, magically stripped of her memories, and nearly killed with a knife
  • Animal death (fox by arrow)

Songs of Irie by Asha Shanti Bromfield

It’s 1976 and Jamaica is on fire. The country is on the eve of important elections and the warring political parties have made the divisions between the poor and the wealthy even wider. And Irie and Jilly come from very different backgrounds: Irie is from the heart of Kingston, where fighting in the streets is common. Jilly is from the hills, where mansions nestled within lush gardens remain safe behind gates. But the two bond through a shared love of Reggae music, spending time together at Irie’s father’s record store, listening to so-called rebel music that opens Jilly’s mind to a sound and a way of thinking she’s never heard… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Homomisia
  • Colonialism
  • Drugging
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion (bombing)
  • Kidnapping

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Slavery mentioned
  • Attempted incest mentioned (secondary characters)
  • Depressive episode
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Drugging
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Car accident

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.

Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Drugging
  • Death during childbirth
  • Emesis
  • Blood & Gore depiction
  • Captivity
  • Kidnapping
  • Murder
  • Torture

To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins

Lying and cheating may be sins to some people, but for Raven Moreaux, it is a way of life. She comes from a long line of grifters and couldn’t be prouder…Until she’s forced to help the government. A former Confederate official is suspected of stealing the Declaration of Independence, and Raven, posing as his housekeeper, is tasked with getting it back. Her partner is the too handsome Braxton Steel. Masquerading as a valet/driver, Brax is also supposed to be her “husband.” He has his own reasons for doing this job, but when their pretend marriage ignites into fiery… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery recounted
  • Racism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging
  • Pregnancy & childbirth, off-page
  • Yellow Fever epidemic, off-page
  • Murder, off-page
  • Lynching mentioned
  • Imprisonment recounted
  • Blackmail

Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

Everything’s changing for our friendly neighbourhood serial killer. As if getting married wasn’t enough to complete his nice-guy persona, Dexter is now the proud father of a baby girl. And disconcertingly, he actually seems to care. But even if fatherhood is distracting Dexter from his midnight excursions to rid Miami of a few more lowlifes, there’s no let-up at work. Two young girls are missing – and it’s not long before one of the bodies turns up, partially eaten. But as Dexter and Miami PD’s finest investigate, Dexter can’t shake the feeling that somebody’s watching him…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism (r slur)
  • Antiziganism (g slur)
  • Fatmphobic language
  • Rape mentioned
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping