Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Beartown by Fredrik Backman book cover

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Rape
  • Suicide and self-harm
  • Gun violence
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Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined by Danielle Younge-Ullman

Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined by Danielle Younge-Ullman

Then. Ingrid traveled all over Europe with her opera star mother, Margot-Sophia. Life was beautiful and bright, and every day soared with music.

Now. Ingrid is on a summertime wilderness survival trek for at-risk teens: addicts, runaways, and her. She’s fighting to survive crushing humiliations, physical challenges that push her to her limits, and mind games that threaten to break her.

Then. When the curtain fell on Margot-Sophia’s singing career, they buried the past and settled into a small, painfully normal life. But Ingrid longed to let the music soar again. She wanted it so much that, for a while, nothing else mattered.

Now. Ingrid is never going to make it through this summer if she can’t figure out why she’s here . . . and why the music really stopped.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Sexual assault
  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Bullying
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Midnight Radio by Iolanda Zandardino

Midnight Radio by Iolanda Zandardino

An intriguingly interwoven tale of four lives changed by a mysterious late-night radio broadcast that wakes them up from their mundane existences. Each tale speaks to different social issues without pandering to a political agenda: LGBT+ rights, racism, social network addiction, and the difficult decision between settling down versus following your dreams. Each tale is told in a vivid, polychromatic illustration style that flows from one character to another and back again in a uniquely identifiable fashion.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia & transmisia
  • Parental abuse
  • Mass shooting mentioned
  • Gun violence
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Counterpoint by Anna Zabo

Counterpoint by Anna Zabo

Twisted Wishes lead guitarist Dominic “Domino” Bradley is an animal onstage. But behind his tight leather pants and skull-crusher boots lies a different man entirely, one who needs his stage persona not only to perform, but to have the anonymity he craves. A self-imposed exile makes it impossible to get close to anyone outside the band, so he’s forced to get his sexual fix through a few hot nights with a stranger.

When computer programmer Adrian Doran meets Dominic, he’s drawn to the other man’s quiet voice and shy smile. But after a few dirty, demanding nights exploring Dominic’s need to be dominated, Adrian wants more than a casual distraction. He has no idea he’s fallen for Domino Grinder—the outlandish, larger-than-life rock god.

Dominic is reluctant to trust Adrian with his true identity. But when the truth is revealed prematurely, Dominic is forced to reevaluate both his need for Adrian and everything he believes about himself.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Workplace homomisia & racism
  • Anxiety & panic attacks (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Bullying mentioned
  • Doxxing
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A Meeting of Two Prophets by Judah Tasa

A Meeting of Two Prophets by Judah Tasa

Moishe, an eighteen-year-old Chasidic Jew from London, has always known where his life will lead. As he studies religious texts in Jerusalem, he eagerly awaits the day he will marry and start a family, but tough questions force him to confront what’s he’s long ignored and to consider an alternative path in life.

When a chance meeting introduces Mo and Moishe, their separate journeys to self-discovery collide in unimaginable ways and with unavoidable consequences that force them to traverse political, religious, and social barriers.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Islamophobia
  • Homomisia & internalised homomisia
  • Depression
  • Cancer
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Don’t Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Don’t Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout book cover

Samantha is a stranger in her own life. Until the night she disappeared with her best friend, Cassie, everyone said Sam had it all – popularity, wealth, and a dream boyfriend.

Sam has resurfaced, but she has no recollection of who she was or what happened to her that night. As she tries to piece together her life from before, she realizes it’s one she no longer wants any part of. The old Sam took “mean girl” to a whole new level, and it’s clear she and Cassie were more like best enemies. Sam is pretty sure that losing her memories is like winning the lottery. She’s getting a second chance at being a better daughter, sister, and friend, and she’s falling hard for Carson Ortiz, a boy who has always looked out for her-even if the old Sam treated him like trash.

But Cassie is still missing, and the truth about what happened to her that night isn’t just buried deep inside of Sam’s memory – someone else knows, someone who wants to make sure Sam stays quiet. All Sam wants is the truth, and if she can unlock her clouded memories of that fateful night, she can finally move on. But what if not remembering is the only thing keeping Sam alive?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia and body shaming, ableism, racism and homomisia
  • Amnesia and hallucinations
  • Death and loss
  • Disappearance of a loved one
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Swipe Right by Mia Archer

Swipe Right by Mia Archer

Swipe Right by Mia Archer book cover

Eve played it safe. Keep quiet. Keep your head down. Graduate top of the class. That was the plan. Now if only she’d stuck with that plan.

Because the plan didn’t involve signing up for a hot new app for LGBT teens. It didn’t involve discovering her former best friend on that app. It certainly didn’t involve falling in love before she got to college where it was safer to come out!

Lily was popular. Lily was high school royalty. Lily had it all, and she hated her life.

More specifically she hated Lisa and the crowd of mean girls she called friends. Sure she was with the popular crowd, but it came at a price. Like being forced to play along when Lisa forced her to join some new gay dating app so they could find and out anyone using it.

Only what started as a prank becomes a whole lot more as Lily realizes there are more important things than being popular. Even if she is risking the only life she knows for feelings that are strange, new, and more than a little scary!

Two girls from different worlds. Two girls afraid of what they’re feeling. Two girls who will have to risk it all for a chance at love!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist slurs, homomisia and forced outing
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The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley

The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley

The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas  Alley book cover

Raised in isolation at Heavenly Shepherd, her family’s trailer-dealership-turned-survival compound, Ami Miles knows that she was lucky to be born into a place of safety after the old world ended and the chaos began. But when her grandfather arranges a marriage to a cold-eyed stranger, she realizes that her “destiny” as one of the few females capable of still bearing children isn’t something she’s ready to face.

With the help of one of her aunts, she flees the only life she’s ever known, and sets off on a quest to find her long-lost mother (and hopefully a mate of her own choosing). But as she journeys, Ami discovers many new things about the world… and about herself.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism (mentioned) and homomisia
  • Abandonment
  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Stillbirth/s and death during childbirth
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True DIary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie book cover

Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, is determined to take his future into his own hands. He leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heart-breaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author’s own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character’s art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Homophobic & ableist slurs
  • Alcoholism
  • Disordered eating
  • Death of a family member
  • Bullying

Arctic Sun by Annabeth Albert

Arctic Sun by Annabeth Albert

Arctic Sun by Annabeth Albert book cover

Ex-military mountain man Griffin Barrett likes his solitude. It keeps him from falling back into old habits. Bad habits. He’s fought too hard for his sobriety to lose control now. However, his gig as a wildlife guide presents a new kind of temptation in superhot supermodel River Vale. Nothing the Alaskan wilderness has to offer has ever called to Griffin so badly. And that can only lead to trouble… River has his own methods for coping. Chasing adventure means always moving forward. Nobody’s ever made him want to stand still—until Griffin. The rugged bush pilot is the very best kind of distraction, but the emotions he stirs… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & homophobia
  • Coerced sexual assault
  • Eating disorder recovery & disordered eating
  • Intrusive thoughts
  • Alcoholism & substance addiction recovery
  • Substance addiction recovery
  • Grief depiction and death of mother (recounted)