Speed Grieving by Allison Ellis

Speed Grieving by Allison Ellis

When Allison Ellis’s husband died of an unexpected heart attack, there was no playbook for a thirty-three-year-old widow with a breastfeeding infant. In her grief, she devised a practical strategy: find a new husband within twelve months. What transpired was a year of mourning, manic dating, and breaking hearts across Seattle on a deadline mission to heal her own.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction (theme)
  • Death of a husband from a heart attack

The Season by Sarah MacLean

The Season by Sarah MacLean

Seventeen year old Lady Alexandra is strong-willed and sharp-tongued; in a house full of older brothers and their friends, she had to learn to hold her own. Not the best makings for an aristocratic lady in Regency London. Yet her mother still dreams of marrying Alex off to someone safe, respectable, and wealthy. But between ball gown fittings, dances, and dinner parties, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get herself into what may be her biggest scrape yet. When the Earl of Blackmoor is… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Threats of murder

Six Goodbyes We Never Said by Candace Ganger

Six Goodbyes We Never Said by Candace Ganger

Naima Rodriguez doesn’t want your patronizing sympathy as she grieves her father, her hero—a fallen Marine. She’ll hate you forever if you ask her to open up and remember him “as he was,” though that’s all her loving family wants her to do in order to manage her complex OCD and GAD. She’d rather everyone back the-eff off while she separates her Lucky Charms marshmallows into six, always six, Ziploc bags, while she avoids friends and people and living the life her father so desperately wanted for her. Dew respectfully requests a little more time to process the… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Fatmisia
  • Depression
  • Social anxiety
  • Panic attacks, on-page
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Intrusive thoughts
  • Attempted suicide recounted
  • Suicidal ideation recounted
  • Death during childbirth mentioned
  • Anaphylaxis mentioned
  • Hospitalisation recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Car accident recounted

The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe

The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe

To escape the shackles of marriage, Nellie Young purposely ruined her reputation a long time ago. Now she dedicates herself to hedonistic pleasures only, like kissing a handsome stranger in the ocean under the moonlight. To save his estate, the proper Duke of Lockwood must marry the perfect bride–wealthy, with an unblemished reputation. While in New York he’s the perfect gentleman, and no one knows he’s suppressing his darkest desires. The last thing he needs is another scandal. Except Nellie sees through Lockwood’s charade, straight to the real man under… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny & slut-shaming
  • Domestic violence, off-page (sc)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Police corruption
  • Imprisonment

Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian

Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian

Since Ava lost Kelly, things haven’t been going so well. Even before she gets thrown out of school for shouting at the principal, there’s the simmering rage and all the weird destructive choices. The only thing going right for Ava is her job at Magic Kebab. Which is where she meets Gideon. Skinny, shy, anxious Gideon. A mad poet and collector of vinyl records with an aversion to social media. He lives in his head. She lives in her grief. The only people who can help them move on with their lives are each other.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Self-harm recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend recounted

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega

Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega and illustrated by Rose Bousamra

Marlene loves three things: books, her cool Tía Ruby and hanging out with her best friend Camila. But according to her mother, Paola, the only thing she needs to focus on is school and “growing up.” That means straightening her hair every weekend so she could have “presentable, good hair”. But Marlene hates being in the salon and doesn’t understand why her curls are not considered pretty by those around her. With a few hiccups, a dash of embarrassment, and the much-needed help of Camila and Tia Ruby—she slowly starts a journey to learn to appreciate and proudly wear her curly hair.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Racism & colourism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Bullying

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

For Lucely Luna, ghosts are more than just the family business. Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join forces with Syd’s witch grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby, Chunk, to fight the haunting head-on and reverse the curse to save the town and Lucely’s firefly spirits before it’s too late.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Physical injury
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Bullying mentioned

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson

Dino doesn’t mind spending time with the dead. His parents own a funeral home, and death is literally the family business. He’s just not used to them talking back. Until Dino’s ex-best friend July dies suddenly—and then comes back to life. Except not exactly. Somehow July is not quite alive, and not quite dead. As Dino and July attempt to figure out what’s happening, they must also confront why and how their friendship ended so badly, and what they have left to understand about themselves, each other, and all those grand mysteries of life.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Transmisia
  • Depression
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Dead bodies
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Car accident

Flawless by Elsie Silver

Flawless by Elsie Silver

The rules were simple. Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble. But now I’m stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken. I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.” But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running. A mouth I can’t stop thinking… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Toxic relationship & grooming*
  • Child abuse
  • Divorce
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Congenital heart defect recovery including heart surgery mentioned
  • Heart attack of a parent
  • A bull-riding accident resulting in broken ribs and a severe concussion
  • Dieting & food shaming mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother in childbirth recounted
  • Stalking*

*Context : The heroine was in a secret relationship with her surgeon, at age eighteen, for two years until he became engaged to her sister. There were elements of grooming and manipulation that advance to stalkerish behaviour in the current plotline. The protagonist is also her love interest’s sports agent

The Hive by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden

The Hive by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden

Cassie McKinney has always believed in the Hive. Social media used to be out of control, after all. People were torn apart by trolls and doxxers. Even hackers – like Cassie’s dad – were powerless against it. But then the Hive came. A better way to sanction people for what they do online. Cause trouble, get too many “condemns,” and a crowd can come after you, teach you a lesson in real life. It’s safer, fairer and perfectly legal. Entering her senior year of high school, filled with grief over an unexpected loss, Cassie is primed to lash out. Egged on by new friends, she makes an… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Threats of rape
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Doxxing
  • Bullying