Kala by Colin Walsh

Kala by Colin Walsh

In the seaside village of Kinlough, on Ireland’s west coast, three old friends meet for the first time in years. They—Helen, Joe and Mush—were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lanann at its white-hot centre. But later that year, Kala disappeared without a trace. Now remains have been discovered in the woods—including a skull with a Polaroid photo tucked inside—and the town is both aghast and titillated at reopening this old wound. One the eve of this gruesome discovery, Helen had reluctantly… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Sexual assault
  • Incest
  • Child abuse

Undone by Cat Clarke

Undone by Cat Clarke

Jem Halliday is in love with her gay best friend. Not exactly ideal, but she’s learning to live with it. Then the unspeakable happens. Kai is outed online … and he kills himself. Jem knows nothing she can say or do will bring him back. But she wants to know who was responsible. And she wants to take them down.

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Outing
  • Slut-shaming
  • Child pornography
  • Suicide of a friend
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Cyberbullying

*Context : The main character’s best friend dies from suicide after a video of him having sex circulates and outs him to the whole school.

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Parent in a coma
  • Chronic muscle disease mentioned
  • Death of a parent from suicide
  • Death of parents in a house fire (arson)
  • Death of a father from multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Death of a mother from childbirth
  • Death of a mother, father & sibling from drowning in a car accident
  • Death of an aunt from an ectopic pregnancy
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion
  • Physical assault
  • Incarceration of a parent
  • Animal death

Feast of Sparks by Sierra Simone

Feast of Sparks by Sierra Simone

I’m an outcast and a loner, named for death itself. Fate wasn’t supposed to have plans for me. But then she came back—the girl I once kissed in a thorn-covered chapel in the woods. She came back, and I could no more resist her than I could pry out my own heart. And by some trick of fate, she wants me as much as I want her. The only problem? She also wants the man who owns Thornchapel, Auden Guest. And so do I. Eight years ago, I did something to Auden, something terrible. He hurt me back the only way he knew how, and so here we are: our hatred seasoned with pain… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Coming out mentioned
  • Rape & attempted gang rape recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Blood drinking
  • Hospitalisation mentioned
  • Death of a mother & father recounted

Come Closer by Sara Gran

Come Closer by Sara Gran

A recurrent, unidentifiable noise in her apartment. A memo to her boss that’s replaced by obscene insults. Amanda—a successful architect in a happy marriage—finds her life going off-kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she’s doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea.. The new voice in Amanda’s head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Rape
  • Incest
  • Child abuse
  • Infidelity
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Body horror
  • Emesis
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Drowning
  • Animal attack

Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden

Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden

Luca is ready to audition for the Australian Ballet School. All it takes to crush his dreams is one missed step . . . and a broken foot. Jordan is the gorgeous rowing star and school captain of Luca’s new school. Everyone says he’s straight – but Luca’s not so sure . . . As their unlikely bond grows stronger, Luca starts to wonder: who is he without ballet? And is he setting himself up for another heartbreak?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Outing
  • Racism
  • Islamomisia
  • Hate crimes
  • Toxic friendships
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Bullying

So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon

So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Desperate times call for desperate measures… And desperate is the only way to describe Kayla Davis’s current situation. Out of work and almost out of money to cover her bills, Kayla finally caves to her roommate’s nagging and follows her to Arrangements, an online dating site that matches pretty young women with older men of a certain tax bracket.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia
  • Homomisia mentioned
  • Slut shaming
  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual harassment
  • Parent with dementia
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Financial difficulties (theme)

True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan

True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan

If you asked anyone in his small Vermont town, they’d tell you the facts: James Liddell, star athlete, decent student and sort-of boyfriend to cute, peppy Theresa, is a happy, funny, carefree guy. But whenever James sits down at his desk to write, he tells a different story. As he fills his drawers with letters to the people in his world — letters he never intends to send — he spills the truth: he’s trying hard, but he just isn’t into Theresa. It’s a boy who lingers in his thoughts. He feels trapped by his parents, his teammates, and the lies they’ve helped him tell, and he has no idea how to escape. Is he destined to live a life of fiction?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Bimisia
  • Coming out themes
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying

The Sweetness of Waterby Nathan Harris

The Sweetness of Waterby Nathan Harris

In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. The… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Racism

Love from Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill

Love from Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill

This summer, Reese Camden is trading sweet tea and Southern hospitality for cold brew and crisp coastal air. She’s landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern–and her main competition for the fall job. Reese’s plan to keep work a No Feelings Zone crumbles like a day-old muffin when she and Benny are thrown together for a video shoot that goes viral, making them the internet’s newest ship. Audiences are… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Slut -shaming
  • Homomisia mentioned
  • Sexual harassment
  • Cyberbullying & online harassment