Wonder by Christina C. Jones

It all came down to me. The one who followed the rules, never went looking for trouble – I kept to myself. I just wanted to take care of my family. To not constantly look over my shoulder, worried about the things that went bump in the night. I just wanted to survive. But that wasn’t meant to be. As luck – or fate, or something – would have it, the trouble found me. I followed a rabbit through the wreckage of a half-ruined world to get back what was mine, and wound up at the end of it. In Wonderland. But there’s nothing magical about it.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Forced sterilisation
  • Murder
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Death of a grandmother from renal failure
  • Death of a parent in a terrorist bombing recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Disappearance of a sibling

Cry of Metal and Bone by L Penelope

Six weeks after the fall of the Mantle, centuries-old enemies Elsira and Lagrimar struggle to unite. The will of the goddess is that the two nations become one, but while the war may be over, peace is still elusive. As desperate Lagrimari flee their barren land for a chance at a better life in Elsira, a dangerous faction opposed to the unification rises. When a shadowy group with ties to the Elsiran government takes responsibility for the attack and promises more, an unlikely crew is assembled to investigate. Among them are Lizvette Nirall, a disgraced socialite seeking redemption for past mistakes, and Tai Summerhawk, a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Verbal & emotional child abuse
  • Self-injury for magic & bloodletting
  • Parent with gambling addiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injury & illness
  • Emesis
  • Medical experimentation
  • Attempted assassination by poisoning
  • Torture
  • Terrorism (bombing of a religious institution)
  • Kidnapping
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished. More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie. Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon he suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking. When Ozzie is paired up with the reclusive and secretive Calvin for a physics project, it’s hard for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Child abuse
  • Statutory rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Self-harm
  • Depression
  • Explosion
  • Plane crash

Keep Me Safe by Maya Banks

When Caleb Devereaux’s younger sister is kidnapped, this scion of a powerful and wealthy family turns to an unlikely source for help: a beautiful and sensitive woman with a gift for finding answers others cannot. While Ramie can connect to victims and locate them by feeling their pain, her ability comes with a price. Every time she uses it, it costs her a piece of herself. Helping the infuriatingly attractive and impatient Caleb successfully find his sister nearly destroys her. Even though his sexual intensity draws her like a magnet, she needs to get as far away from him as she can. Deeply remorseful for the pain he’s caused, Caleb… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Physical and psychological torture
  • Bombing
  • Disappearance of a sibling
  • Kidnapping
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf

There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it. He’s eight years old (just like me), but he’s very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn’t like sweets – not even lemon sherbets, which are my favorite! But the truth is, Ahmet really isn’t very strange at all. He’s a refugee who’s run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to be his friend. That’s where my best friends Josie, Michael and Tom come in. Because you see, together we’ve come up with a plan.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a sister mentioned
  • Death of a parent in a car accident mentioned
  • Bombing raid mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Exile mentioned
  • Bullying
  • Death of a pet cat mentioned

At Night All Blood Is Black by David Diop

Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “Chocolat” soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land. Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice. Anxious to avenge the death of his friend and find forgiveness for himself, he begins a macabre ritual: every night he sneaks across enemy lines… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Explosions

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice. It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise? As society comes together and pull apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Suicide
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of both parents in a car accident
  • Bombing
  • Workplace mass shooting
  • Bullying

Truelife by Jay Kristoff

Best friends have become enemies. Lovers have become strangers. And deciding whose side you’re on could be the difference between life and death. For Eve and Lemon, discovering the truth about themselves–and each other–was too much for their friendship to take. But with the country on the brink of a new world war–this time between the BioMaas swarm at CityHive and Daedalus’s army at Megopolis, loyalties will be pushed to the brink, unlikely alliances will form and with them, betrayals. But the threat doesn’t stop there, because the lifelikes are determined to access the program that will set every robot free… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Poisoning
  • Explosion
  • Gun violence

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

We’ll Never Have Paris by Adriana Anders

Jules aka “World’s most annoying laugher”. It’s Christmas Eve, one of my last nights in Paris, and I get stuck in a tiny elevator with the insufferable, grumpy Welshman from downstairs. I’m wearing nothing but my skimpy PJs and totally inappropriate spike heels. Oh, and the light’s gone out. What could possibly go wrong? Colin aka “Ebenezer McGrumpypants” She’s the neighbour from hell. Loud, brash, and American, with the body of a pin-up and the laugh of a wild hyena. My only wish is that she’ll move out and be done with Paris forever. Fate, apparently, has other ideas because tonight of all nights, when the city’s shut.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental estrangement
  • Sexual assault recounted (groping)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a mother in a car accident recounted
  • Death of a brother in an explosion recounted