The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop. So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Teen pregnancy recounted
  • Disownment

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler book cover

This Nebula Award-winning sequel to Parable of the Sower continues the story of Lauren Olamina in socially and economically depressed California in the 2030s. Convinced that her community should colonize the stars, Lauren and her followers make preparations. But the collapse of society and rise of fanatics result in Lauren’s followers being enslaved, and her daughter stolen from her. Now, Lauren must fight back to save the new world order.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Classism
  • Hate crimes
  • Victim blaming
  • Misogyny, sexism and gendered slurs
  • Racism and racial slurs
  • White supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
  • Child sexual assault and rape
  • Grooming behaviour and paedophilia
  • Rape and rape by coercion
  • Sex trafficking and sex slavery
  • Abuse, neglect and abandonment
  • Child abuse
  • Emotional abuse
  • Physical abuse
  • Verbal abuse
  • Family estrangement
  • Adult-minor relationships
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide and attempted suicide
  • Infertility themes
  • Pregnancy
  • Non-consensual pregnancy
  • Teenage and child pregnancy
  • Amnesia
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Emesis
  • Physical injuries and wounds
  • Scars
  • Starvation and dehydration depiction
  • Dead bodies and body parts
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a parent/guardians
  • Death of a sibling
  • Death of a partner/spouse
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Grief and loss depiction
  • Flogging and whippings
  • Gun violence
  • Hanging and lynching
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Avalanche
  • Chemical gassing and warfare
  • Cults
  • Home invasion
  • Exile
  • Indentured servitude
  • Imprisonment, incarceration and captivity
  • Kidnapping
  • Persecution for witchcraft
  • Police brutality and violence
  • Religious persecution
  • Terrorism
  • War and military themes
  • Homelessness
  • Poverty themes

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A Dark & Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth

A Dark & Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth

Choose your player: the “ironborn” half-fae outcast of her royal fae family; a tempestuous Fury, exiled to earth from the Immortal Realm hellbent on revenge; a dutiful fae prince, determined to earn his place on the throne; or the prince’s brooding guardian, burdened with a terrible secret.

For centuries, the Eight Courts of Folk have lived among us, concealed by magic and bound by law to do no harm to humans. This arrangement has long kept peace in the Courts—until a series of gruesome and ritualistic murders rocks the city of Toronto and threatens to expose faeries to the human world.

Four queer teens, each who hold a key piece of the truth behind these murders, must form a tenuous alliance in their effort to track down the mysterious killer behind these crimes. If they fail, they risk the destruction of the faerie and human worlds alike. If that’s not bad enough, there’s a war brewing between the Mortal and Immortal Realms, and one of these teens is destined to tip the scales. The only question is: which way?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Toxic relationship
  • Disownment
  • Addiction & drug use
  • Depression & PTSD
  • Suicide recounted (off-page) & suicidal ideation
  • Blood & gore depiction and minor body horror
  • Death of a child
  • Gun violence
  • Fire (arson)
  • Human trafficking
  • Stalking
  • Poverty themes

See the author’s note on the trigger and content warnings here.

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Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo–his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance–“Date Korean”–which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful–and white. Fellow Limbo Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom. Frank thinks it’s the perfect plan, but in the end, Frank and Joy’s fake-dating maneuver leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love–or himself–at all.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racial slurs, specially anti-Asian & anti-Black
  • Cheating
  • Familial estrangement
  • Parent with terminal cancer
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Gun violence
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The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black book cover

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Body shaming
  • Slut-shaming
  • Slavery
  • Physical & psychological child abuse
  • Cheating
  • Disownment
  • Nightmares mentioned
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Coerced self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug use & drugging
  • Self-harm (mithridatism)
  • Death of a pregnant character mentioned*
  • Blood and gore depiction, including dead bodies & emesis
  • Graphic physical injuries
  • Decapitation & dismemberment mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of mother and father, on-page
  • Death of friend
  • Death of a sister & brother
  • Death by a fall mentioned
  • Drowning
  • Murder and attempted murder
  • Knife and sword violence & stabbing
  • Strangulation
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Loss of autonomy (glamour magic)
  • War themes discussed
  • Bullying

*Context: The father of an unborn child poisons his pregnant consort in an attempt to murder her and the unborn child.

The Kings of Clonmel by John Flanagan

The Kings of Clonmel by John Flanagan

The Kings of Clonmel by John Flanagan book cover

Mankind puts its faith in many things–gods, kings, money–anything for protection from the world’s many dangers. When a cult springs up in neighboring Clonmel, promising to quell the recent attacks by lawless marauders, people flock from all over to offer gold in exchange for protection. But this particular group, with which Halt is all too familiar, has a less than charitable agenda. Secrets will be unveiled and battles fought to the death as Will and Horace help Halt in ridding the land of a dangerous enemy.The worldwide phenomenon is back with a gripping new adventure. Yet for these Rangers, the peril is only beginning. . .

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Verbal abuse
  • Alcohol consumption and non-consensual drugging
  • Estrangement
  • Animal death and hunting
  • Building collapse and fire
  • Cults
  • Dead bodies and body parts
  • Death of a sibling
  • Knife violence, regicide, murder and attempted murder
  • Physical injuries
  • Poverty themes
  • War and military themes
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Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighbourhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyper-empathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery
  • Child sexual assault & abuse
  • Rape, including statutory rape
  • Abusive relationship
  • Adult-minor relationships
  • Arranged, forced & coerced marriage
  • Domestic abuse
  • Estrangement
  • Physical child abuse & neglect
  • Addiction
  • Drug abuse
  • Blood and gore depiction including dead bodies and body parts
  • Cannibalism
  • Physical injuries
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a sibling
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Bushfire
  • Earthquake
  • Home invasion
  • Homelessness
  • Poverty themes
  • Hunting

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo book cover

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Persecution for ‘witchcraft’ (theme)
  • Indentured servitude and slavery
  • Forced underaged sex work recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Disownment
  • Substance and gambling addiction
  • Nightmares
  • Coerced suicide (implied)
  • Alcohol consumption, recreational drug use & non-consensual drugging including forced and coerced drug dependency
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction including dead bodies, emesis, medical experimentation, plague, eyeball trauma, and non-consensual body modifications
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father & brother recounted
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Knife and gun violence
  • Torture
  • Strangulation
  • Explosions
  • Kidnapping and captivity
  • Incarceration
  • Drowning
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack & death by an animal attack
  • Bullying

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they’re thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents’ rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.

But Ben’s attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan’s friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Coming out themes (multiple scenes)
  • Disownment from queermisic parents
  • Transmisia & misgendering
  • Homomisia
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Slut-shaming recounted
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Physical, emotional & verbal parental abuse
  • Anxiety & panic attacks, on-page
  • Depression & depressive episode
  • Body dysphoria
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Prescription drug use discussed
  • Pregnancy discussed
  • Emesis
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Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Transmisia
  • Deadnaming & misgendering
  • Gender dysphoria
  • Coming out themes
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Disownment and child homelessness
  • Blood depiction & use of blood for magic and in rituals
  • Dead bodies
  • Serious injury of a loved one
  • Hospital (brief scene)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father & mother recounted
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Gun violence recounted
  • Police racial discrimination mentioned
  • Car accident mentioned
  • Smoking & alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Animal blood used for magic and in rituals
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