Tag Archives: Fire & Arson

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui

The room is watching. But Mira and Layla don’t know this yet. When the two best friends are stranded on their spring break college tour road trip, they find themselves at the Wildwood Motel, located in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Mira can’t shake the feeling that there is something wrong and rotten about their room. Inside, she’s haunted by nightmares of her dead brother. When she wakes up, he’s still there. Layla doesn’t see him. Or notice anything suspicious about Room 9. The place may be a little run down, but it has a certain charm she can’t wait to capture on.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobic parents
  • Suicide by overdose & vehicular suicide
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Fire & death from fire
  • Drowning recounted

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania. But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Antisemitism
  • Hate crime
  • Rape & paedophilia recounted
  • Sexual assault
  • Nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction and body horror
  • Hospitalisation & emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Drowning & consensual near-drowning
  • Fire & immolation

Big Tree by Brian Selznick

A mysterious voice has been speaking to Louise in her dreams. She and her brother Merwin are Sycamore seeds, who hope to one day set down roots and become big trees. But when a fire forces them to leave their mama tree prematurely, they find themselves catapulted into the unknown, far from home. Alone and unprepared, they must use their wits and imagination to navigate a dangerous world-filled with dinosaurs, meteors, and volcanoes!-and the fear of never finding a safe place to grow up. As the mysterious voice gets louder, Louise comes to realize their mission in life may be much bigger than either of them imagined.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother in a stampede
  • Fire, volcanic eruption & asteroid strike

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time. Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Terminal illness
  • Death of a parent
  • Stalking
  • Fire

The Escape Room by L.D. Smithson

Everything is a clue. Eight strangers arrive at a remote sea fort off the coast of England. They are here to take part in The Fortress, a mysterious reality TV show in which contestants have to solve a series of complex puzzles. But this is no game, and the consequences of failure are more deadly than anyone anticipated. No one leaves. The show’s sinister purpose becomes clear when the first person is evicted from the competition. Instead of being sent home to their family, they are left to die inside a locked room. The only way out is to win. Under scrutiny from the watching public… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Victim-blaming
  • Fatphobia
  • Domestic violence & child abuse mentioned
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Fire

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace. His patronage offers… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Drug use
  • Forced institutionalisation
  • Chronic migraines
  • Death of parents mentioned
  • Murder
  • Fire
  • Earthquake (1906 San Francisco)

Through the Smoke by Brenda Novak

Riches. Power. An ancient heritage of pride. The Earl of Druridge wanted only for an heir. So when he learned that his wife was carrying another man’s child, he was filled with a thirst for vengeance. But he wasn’t the one who caused Katherine’s death. Or was he? To his horror, he remembers nothing of that dreadful night, when their last confrontation ended in scorching flame and cold blood. A forbidden love… But he wasn’t the one who caused Katherine’s death. Or was he? To his horror, he remembers nothing of that dreadful night, when their last confrontation ended in scorching flame and cold blood. Passionately drawn to the…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Drugging
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a wife in a fire recounted

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements–books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect. All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism mentioned
  • Self-harm for magic
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction including body horror and dead bodies
  • Emesis
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Kidnapping recounted
  • Torture recounted
  • Gun violence
  • Fire

Heroes by Alan Gratz

December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good. Their dads are Navy pilots stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the boys get a front-row view of the huge battleships and the sparkling water. Yes, World War II is raging in Europe and in Asia, but the US isn’t involved in the war, and the boys are free to dream about becoming comic book creators. They’ve even invented a superhero of their own, in the style of Batman, Superman, Captain America, and other stars of the Golden Age of Comics. Maybe they’ll even get their comic published someday. December 7th, 1941: Everything explodes. That morning, Frank and Stanley are aboard the battleship the USS Utah… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racial slurs (anti-Japanese)
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned (secondary characters)
  • Mass hospitalisation for injuries and mentions of dead bodies
  • Naval warfare including ship explosions, shipwrecks, and death from drowning or burning in flaming oil-spills
  • Gun violence
  • Plane crashes & death from explosions upon their impact
  • Attack of Pearl Harbor (theme)
  • Animal attack (dog)

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper and illustrated by Sarah Jane Coleman

Stella lives in the segregated South; in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can’t. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn’t bothered them for years. But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they’re never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. As Stella’s community – her world – is upended, she decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don’t necessarily signify an end.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • White supremacy & Klu Klux Klan
  • Hate crimes
  • Physical child abuse
  • Domestic abuse & violence
  • Death of a father in a lumber mill accident mentioned
  • House fire & arson