Tag Archives: HIV & AIDS

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome),

See also Hospitalisation, Physical illness & injury, and Terminal illness.

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer

After twelve years of marriage and two kids, Merit has begun to feel like a stranger in her own life. She loves her husband and sons, but she desperately needs something more than sippy cups and monthly sex. So, she returns to her career at Jager + Brandt, where a brilliant and beautiful Danish architect named Jane decides to overlook the “break” in Merit’s resume and give her a shot. Jane is a supernova—witty and dazzling and unapologetically herself—and as the two work closely together, their relationship becomes a true friendship. In Jane, Merit sees the possibility of what a woman could be. And Jane sees Merit… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism mentioned
  • Cheating
  • Divorce mentioned
  • Weight loss
  • Miscarriage
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Recreational drug use
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father from a heart attack
  • Death of a mother from breast cancer recounted
  • Death of a brother from AIDS recounted

Confessions by Kanae Minato

Confessions by Kanae Minato

After calling off her engagement in wake of a tragic revelation, Yuko Moriguchi had nothing to live for except her only child, four-year-old Manami. Now, following an accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation. But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Parental neglect & abandonment
  • Transphobia mentioned & misgendering
  • Depression
  • HIV/AIDs (theme)*
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father in a car accident mentioned
  • Death of a mother from illness mentioned
  • Murder of a daughter from drowning
  • Attempted murder of a child from electrocution
  • Murder of a teen girl from strangulation
  • Mass death of a family from poisoning discussed (mother, father & child)
  • Explosion, off-page
  • Animal death & cruelty mentioned

*Context: A teacher purposefully infects the two teenage boys who murdered her daughter with HIV/AIDs. The aftereffects of being infected are explored in depth. Mentions of HIV+ stigma and how the teacher’s ex-husband is dying of HIV/AIDs.

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance until she falls… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Amisia
  • Deadnaming
  • Racism
  • Fatmisia
  • Suicide by overdose
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Terminal illness
  • Bullying

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back at the relationship he’s never forgotten, a hidden affair with a gorgeous boy named Thomas during their last year of high school. Without ever acknowledging they know each other in the halls, they steal time to meet in secret, carrying on a passionate, world-altering affair.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Homomisia
  • Sexism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Divorce
  • Coming out themes
  • Anxiety attack
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Miscarriage
  • AIDS
  • Car accident
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Hello by Chandler Baker and Wesley King 

Hello (from Here) by Chandler Baker & Wesley King

Maxine and Jonah bump into each other in the canned goods aisle of the grocery store just as the state of California is going into lockdown, when everything changes completely. Could there be a worse time to meet? Max’s part-time job at a supermarket is about to transform into a hellish gauntlet. Jonah’s preexisting anxiety is about to become an epic daily struggle. As Max, Jonah, and their friends live together but apart through hijinks, humanity, and heartbreak,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
  • Panic attacks
  • Emesis
  • AIDS
  • COVID-19 (theme)
  • Death of a parent
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The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. “I nearly missed you, Doctor August,” she says. “I need to send a message.” This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

.Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Suicide
  • Overdose
  • Medical experimentation
  • Cancer
  • AIDS
  • Infanticide
  • Torture, on-page
  • Incarceration

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Death from HIV/AIDS
  • Fire & arson

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Los Angeles, 1992

Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer.

Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Lesbomisia
  • Homomisia
  • Racism & racist slurs
  • Colourism
  • Parental abse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Cheating
  • Sexual harassment
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Recreational drug use & abuse
  • Blood depiction & physical injuries
  • AIDS mentioned
  • Riots
  • Police brutality & racial profiling
  • Gun violence
  • Lynching
  • Physical assault
  • Wildfires

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Andrea Oliver’s mother, Laura, is the perfect small-town mum. Laura lives a quiet but happy life in sleepy beachside Belle Isle. She’s a pillar of the community: a speech therapist, business owner and everybody’s friend. And she’s never kept a secret from anyone. Or so Andrea thinks.

When Andrea is caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognisable to her daughter. It’s like Laura is a completely different person – and that’s because she was. Thirty years ago. Before Andrea. Before Belle Isle… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Domestic abuse
  • Suicide
  • Drug abuse
  • Loss of a pregnancy
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • AIDS
  • Emesis
  • Death of a sibling
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Explosions
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Tilt by Ellen Hopkins

Tilt by Ellen Hopkins

Three teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt….

Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby?

Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language (r slur)
  • Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Slut shaming
  • Rape
  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Attempted child sexual assault recounted
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug abuse
  • AIDS & HIV
  • Bullying
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