First, Become Ashes by KM Szpara

First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara

Lark spent the first twenty-four years, nine months, and three days of his life training for a righteous quest: to rid the world of monsters. Alongside his partner Kane, he wore the cage and endured the scourge in order to develop his innate magic. He never thought that when Kane left, he’d next see him in the company of FBI agents and a SWAT team. He never dreamed that the leader of the Fellowship of the Anointed would be brought up on charges of abuse and assault.

He never expected the government would tell him that the monsters aren’t real–that there is no magic, and all the pain was for nothing.

Lark isn’t ready to give up. He is determined to fulfill his quest, to defeat the monsters he was promised. Along the way he will grapple with the past, confront love, and discover his long-buried truth.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Graphic rape, including consent violations & nonconsensual BDSM (multiple scenes)
  • Self-harm (self-inflicted burns)
  • Cults
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 2 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi

Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 2 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi & illustrated by Hikaru Miyoshi

Before he was Sherlock’s rival, Moriarty fought against the unfair class caste system in London by making sure corrupt nobility got their comeuppance. But even the most well-intentioned plans can spin out of control—will Moriarty’s dream of a more just and equal world turn him into a hero…or a monster?

After successfully establishing a foothold in Durham and cleansing the city of some of its corruption, William James Moriarty sets his sights on London. To make headway there, he needs the aid of his brother Albert. But while on his way to London, William is kidnapped by a gang of criminals! Will Albert be able to save him in time?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 1 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi

Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 1 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi & illustrated by Hikaru Miyoshi

Before he was Sherlock’s rival, Moriarty fought against the unfair class caste system in London by making sure corrupt nobility got their comeuppance. But even the most well-intentioned plans can spin out of control—will Moriarty’s dream of a more just and equal world turn him into a hero…or a monster?

In the late 19th century, Great Britain rules over a quarter of the world. Nobles sit in their fancy homes in comfort and luxury, while the working class slaves away at their jobs. When young Albert James Moriarty’s upper-class family adopts two lower-class orphans, the cruelty the boys experience at his family’s hands cements Albert’s hatred of the nobility he was born into. He asks the older of the two boys—who has a genius mind and a killer instinct—to help him rid the world of evil, starting with Albert’s own family! 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Self-harm
  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Drug abuse
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Poisoning
  • Arson
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler book cover

Fledgling, Octavia Butler’s new novel after a seven year break, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly inhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted – and still wants – to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of “otherness” and questions what it means to be truly human.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Implied paedophilia
  • Dismemberment
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist & fat-shaming language
  • Parental abandonment
  • Suicide
  • Physical injuries
  • Attempted murder
  • Gun violence recounted
  • Fire
  • Death by a fall
  • Stalking mentioned
  • War themes
  • Animal hunting
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.

When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Mild blood depiction & physical injuries
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Kidnapping
  • Disappearance of a loved one
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Abeism & ableist language
  • Classism
  • Racism & racial profiling
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug use
  • Death of a parent
  • Gun violence
  • Incarceration
  • Police brutality mentioned
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father. Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Coming out themes
  • Bimisia
  • Child neglect & parental abandonment
  • Recreational drug use
  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Postnatal depression discussed
  • Teen pregnancy (theme)
  • Abortion discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a cousin
  • Death of a sister to sickle cell mentioned
  • Incarceration
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Gang violence
  • Police brutality & violence mentioned
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Physical child abuse & domestic abuse mentioned
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use mentioned
  • Teen pregnancy recounted
  • Death of a friend & child (on-page & recounted)
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Gang violence
  • Incarceration recounted
  • Police brutality & violence, including the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black teen

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas

England, 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they’re not the only ones looking for Rose. The reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true—and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Sex worker shaming
  • Slut-shaming
  • Attempted rape, on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Chronic illness
  • Physical injury
  • Human medical experimentation
  • Hospital
  • Death of a brother reounted
  • Death of a mother mentioned
  • Death of a father mentioned
  • Mugging with a knife
  • Gun violence
  • Murder
  • Attempted murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Disappearance of a sibling
  • Fire
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com