Tag Archives: Homophobia

American Love Story by Adriana Herrera

American Love Story by Adriana Herrera 

Haitian-born professor and activist Patrice Denis is not here for anything that will veer him off the path he’s worked so hard for. One particularly dangerous distraction: Easton Archer. The Assistant District Attorney who last summer gave Patrice some of the most intense nights of his life, and still makes him all but forget they’re from two completely different worlds.

All-around golden boy Easton forged his own path to success, choosing public service over the comforts of his family’s wealth. With local law enforcement unfairly targeting young men of colour, and his career—and conscience—on the line… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial profiling
  • Homomisia
  • Forced outing recounted
  • Parental abandonment
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Heart surgery mentioned
  • Police brutality
  • Immigration & political asylum

The Anti-Book by Raphael Simon

The Anti-Book by Raphael Simon

Mickey is angry all the time: at his divorced parents, at his sister, and at his two new stepmoms, both named Charlie. And so he can’t resist the ad inside his pack of gum: “Do you ever wish everyone would go away? Buy The Anti-Book! Satisfaction guaranteed.” He orders the book, but when it arrives, it’s blank–except for one line of instruction: To erase it, write it. He fills the pages with all the things and people he dislikes . . .

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Bullying

The Absolutist by John Boyne

The Absolutist by John Boyne

September 1919: Twenty-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a clutch of letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian’s brother Will during the Great War. They trained together. They fought together. But in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield and declared himself a conscientious objector, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family. The letters, however, are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He holds a secret deep within him. One that he is desperate to unburden himself of to Marian, if he can only find the courage.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction & medical content including emesis, needles & hospitalisation
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Bullying

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?

Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.

At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Hate crimes
  • Paedophilia
  • Rape
  • Incest
  • Child abuse
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Bullying

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera

For Nesto Vasquez, moving his Afro-Caribbean food truck from New York City to the wilds of Upstate New York is a huge gamble. If it works? He’ll be a big fish in a little pond. If it doesn’t? He’ll have to give up the hustle and return to the day job he hates. He’s got six months to make it happen—the last thing he needs is a distraction.

Jude Fuller is proud of the life he’s built on the banks of Cayuga Lake. He has a job he loves and good friends. It’s safe. It’s quiet. And it’s damn lonely. Until he tries Ithaca’s most-talked-about new lunch spot and works up the courage to flirt with the handsome owner. Soon he can’t get enough—of Nesto’s food or of Nesto. For the first time in his life, Jude can finally taste the kind of happiness that’s always been just out of reach… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Coming out
  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Disordered food & weight thoughts
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Terminal cancer
  • Heart attack mentioned
  • Death of a parent, off-page

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton

Long ago, a village made a bargain with the devil: to ensure their prosperity, when the Slaughter Moon rises, the village must sacrifice a young man into the depths of the Devil’s Forest. Only this year, the Slaughter Moon has risen early.

Bound by duty, secrets, and the love they share for one another, Mairwen, a spirited witch; Rhun, the expected saint; and Arthur, a restless outcast, will each have a role to play as the devil demands a body to fill the bargain. But the devil these friends find is not the one they expect, and the lies they uncover will turn their town—and their hearts—inside out.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Transmisia
  • Child abuse & neglect mentioned
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Bullying
  • Animal death

Vampires Never Get Old edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie Parker

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bites edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker with contributions by Samira Ahmed, Julie Murphy, Dhonielle Clayton, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, V.E. Schwab and Kayla Whaley

Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices! In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night. Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Seven Nights for Dying by Tessa Gratton– Alcohol consumption
– Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Mirrors, Windows & Selfies by Mark Oshiro– Blood depiction
– Murder
– Captivity mentioned
The House of Black Sapphire by Dhonielle Clayton– Slavery mentioned
– Blood depiction
The Boy from Blood River by Rebecca Roanhorse– Homomisia
– Terminal illness
– Death of a parent
– Murder
– Bullying
Senior Year Sucks by Julie Murphy– Animal abuse mentioned
The Boy and the Bell by Heidi Heilig– Transmisia
– Misgendering
– Threatened outing (blackmail)
– Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
In Kind by Kayla Whaley– Abelsim
– Parental abuse
– Attempted murder by overdosing (filicide)
A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire by Samira Ahmed– Colonialism
– Racism
Bestiary by Laura Ruby– Parental abuse & neglect
– Abandonment
– Alcohol consumption
– Drug abuse
– Murder mentioned
Vampires Never Say Die by Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C. Parker– Blood depiction
First Kill by V.E. Schwab– Anxiety
– Murder mentioned

Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

Patricia “Sweet Pea” DiMarco wasn’t sure what to expect when her parents announced they were getting a divorce. She never could have imagined that they would have the “brilliant” idea of living in nearly identical houses on the same street. In the one house between them lives their eccentric neighbour Miss Flora Mae, the famed local advice columnist behind “Miss Flora Mae I?” Dividing her time between two homes is not easy. And it doesn’t help that at school, Sweet Pea is now sitting right next to her ex-best friend, Kiera, a daily reminder of the friendship that once… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Fatmisia
  • Emesis

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

Waylon Russell Brewer is a fat, openly gay boy stuck in the small West Texas town of Clover City. His plan is to bide his time until he can graduate, move to Austin with his twin sister, Clementine, and finally go Full Waylon, so that he can live his Julie-the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music-Andrews truth. So when Clementine deviates from their master plan right after Waylon gets dumped, he throws caution to the wind and creates an audition tape for his favourite TV drag show, Fiercest of Them All. What he doesn’t count on is the tape accidentally getting shared with the entire… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Lesbomisia & lesbomisic slurs
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Blood & physical injury depiction (broken bone)
  • Physical assault

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia mentioned
  • Fatmisia & body shaming (theme)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Bullying