The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. But when she is betrayed and escapes into a German… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical Nazism & antisemitism
  • Eugenics
  • Infidelity
  • Death of an infant
  • Murder mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • World War II (theme)

The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children. Their adventures take them on a chase through France: they are taken captive by knights, sit alongside a king, and save the land from a farting dragon. On the run to escape prejudice and persecution and save precious and holy texts from being burned, their quest drives them forward to a final showdown at Mont Saint-Michel, where all will come to question if these children can perform the miracles of… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical antisemitism & misogyny, including the destruction & arson of a Jewish village by Christians, and a woman burned at the stake

Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz

Max Bretzfeld doesn’t want to move to London. Leaving home is hard and Max is alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that he’s been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein. Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home, and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. It merely involves accomplishing the impossible – becoming a British spy.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Eugenics discussed
  • Period-typical Nazism, racial slurs & antisemitism
  • Suicide discussed
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking mentioned
  • Physical assault of a child by a teacher (protagonist)
  • World War Two (theme) including depiction of the Holocaust, Kristallnacht, the Kindertransport & the Blitz
  • Bullying

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Her city is under siege. The zombies are coming back. And all Nona wants is a birthday party. In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona’s not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger’s body, and she’s afraid she might have to give it back. The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicidal ideation & suicide (secondary character)
  • Protagonist with pica & food sensory issues
  • Panic attack
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction including body horror, cancer, jellyfish sting, needles and dead bodies
  • Eugenics recounted
  • Murder by stabbing & shooting
  • Immolation (secondary characters)
  • Physical assault
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • Nuclear bombs
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking (cigarettes)

Master Class by Christina Dalcher

Every child’s potential is regularly determined by a standardized measurement: their quotient (Q). Score high enough, and attend a top tier school with a golden future. Score too low, and it’s off to a federal boarding school with limited prospects afterwards. The purpose? An improved society where education costs drop, teachers focus on the more promising students, and parents are happy. Elena Fairchild is a teacher at one of the state’s elite schools. When her nine-year-old daughter bombs a monthly test and her Q score drops to a disastrously low level, she is immedia… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Abortion
  • Eugenices
  • The Holocaust mentioned
  • Bullying

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire. They did the impossible – deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Hallucinations
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm
  • Forced pregnancy
  • Eugenics
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • War themes
  • Animal cruelty

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

An intricate tale of love, haunting memories, and renewal, Second Glance begins in current-day Vermont, where an old man puts a piece of land up for sale and unintentionally raises protest from the local Abenaki Indian tribe, who insist it’s a burial ground. When odd, supernatural events plague the town of Comtosook, a ghost hunter is hired by the developer to help convince the residents that there’s nothing spiritual about the property. Enter Ross Wakeman, a suicidal drifter who has put himself in mortal danger time and again. He’s driven his car off a bridge into a lake. He’s been mugged in New York City and struck by lightning… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Eugenics

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

29-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet, Xiao-Wen Chou, and never read about “Chinese-y” things again. But after four years of painstaking research, she has nothing but anxiety and stomach pain to show for her efforts. When she accidentally stumbles upon a strange and curious note in the Chou archives, she convinces herself it’s her ticket out of academic hell. ut Ingrid’s in much deeper than she thinks. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note’s message lead to an explosive discovery, one that upends her…Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Eugenics
  • Drug abuse, including the use of hallucinogenic drugs
  • Physical assault
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Blameless by Gail Carriger 

Blameless by Gail Carriger

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London’s vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Fatmisia & body-shaming
  • Classism
  • Racism
  • Cheating discussed
  • Disownment
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drugging
  • Pregnancy (theme)
  • Miscarriage discussed in-depth
  • Forced ‘breeding’ programs discussed
  • Physical injuries, including graphic eyeball trauma
  • Blood & gore depiction, including on-page blood-drinking
  • Emesis
  • Dead bodies & body parts
  • Forced human medical experiments recounted
  • Eugenics discussed
  • Death of a father mentioned
  • Death of a girlfriend recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Hostage situation
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Alpha Night by Nalini Singh

Alpha Night by Nalini Singh

Alpha wolf Selenka Durev’s devotion to her pack is equalled only by her anger at anyone who would harm those under her care. That currently includes the empaths who’ve flowed into her city for a symposium that is a security nightmare, a powder keg just waiting for a match. Ethan Night is an Arrow who isn’t an Arrow. Numb and disengaged from the world, he’s loyal only to himself. Assigned as part of the security force at a world-first symposium, he carries a dark agenda tied to the power-hungry and murderous Consortium. Then violence erupts and Ethan finds himself crashing into the heart and soul of an alpha wolf. Mating… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Eugenics recounted
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Psychological & physical child abuse recounted
  • Suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture recounted, including involuntary sensory deprivation
  • Attempted arson
  • Imprisonment of a child recounted