Single Malt by Layla Reyne

FBI agent Aidan “Irish” Talley had it all until a harrowing car crash left him with a heap of survivor’s guilt and a hole in his heart where his happily ever after used to be. Aiming to fill the void, he returns to work—and to a new partner. Charming, smart, and athletic, Jamie is the last thing Aidan’s bruised heart needs. Cyber agent Jameson “Whiskey” Walker joined the Bureau three years ago and has pined for Aidan ever since. Working with the Irish expat is a fantasy and a challenge, one Jamie intends to win by earning the surly older agent’s trust and respect. Except there’s no time… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child physical & sexual abuse and stalking by a foster parent mentioned (secondary character)
  • Infidelity mentioned (secondary character)
  • Child trafficking mentioned
  • Early On-Set Alzheimer’s Disease mentioned (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Spouse with terminal cancer mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a brother in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) car bombing recounted
  • Death of a father in a factory fire recounted
  • Graphic hit-and-run car accident as attempted murder, resulting in hospitalisation for coma & head injuries and death of the protagonist’s husband & working partner
  • Bioterrorism discussed

Dine with Me by Layla Reyne

Miller Sykes’s meteoric rise to award-winning chef is the stuff of culinary dreams, but it’s all crashing down around him. He’s been given a diagnosis that could cost him something even more precious than his life: his sense of taste. Rather than risk the very thing that defines him, Miller embarks on a last tour of his favorite meals while he still can.But there’s a catch: he needs a financial backer to make it happen, and he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s sick. Dr. Clancy Rhodes has two weeks to come to terms with putting aside oncology to work at his father’s thriving plastic… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Divorce recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hospitalisation mentioned
  • Protagonist diagnosed with late-stage throat cancer & chooses not to receive medical treatment (theme)
  • Fatal heart attack mentioned
  • Emesis

Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin

Darcy’s life turned out better than she could have ever imagined. She is a librarian at the local branch, while her wife Joy runs a book binding service. Between the two of them, there is no more room on their shelves with their ample book collections, various knickknacks and bobbles, and dried bouquets. Rounding out their ideal life is two cats and a sun-soaked house by the lake. But when Darcy receives the news that her ex-boyfriend, Ben, has passed away, she spirals into a pit of guilt and regret, resulting in a mental breakdown and medical leave from the library. When she… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & transphobia
  • Image based sexual abuse (protagonist is threatened by a secondary character when she accidentally uploads an unintentionally intimate photo)
  • Emotional parental abuse
  • Infidelity recounted (the protagonist cheated on her boyfriend in the past; mentions of a secondary character’s husband cheating)
  • Anxiety, insomnia & panic disorder (protagonist) with mentions of dissociation and panic attacks
  • Parent with postpartum depression recounted
  • Psychiatric hospitalisation for acute stress reaction recounted (protagonist)
  • Disordered eating mentioned & recounted, including attempted purging & dieting
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Abortion recounted
  • Pregnancy & teen pregnancy mentioned (brief, secondary characters)
  • Death of an ex-boyfriend from a brain aneurysm discussed

I Love It When You Lie by Kristen Bird

Just days before her eightieth birthday, Pearl Williams has the gall to up and die on everyone. Now her granddaughters must make plans for a proper send-off…all while their own lives unravel a little more each day. Tara, the pastor’s wife, makes a series of decisions that could scatter his flock. Then there’s June, who would do anything to have a baby of her own, even if her husband won’t. Clementine, the youngest, is entangled in an affair with her professor, desperate to ignore who he really is. Finally, there’s Stephanie, the sister-in-law—an outsider who knows all… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Divorce (protagonist)
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Kidnapping of a newborn
  • Medical treatment & hospitalisation discussed (protagonist is a nurse)
  • Death of a grandmother mentioned
  • Murder

The Burning Season by Caroline Starr Rose

Twelve-year-old Opal is deathly afraid of fire. Still Opal is preparing to become a fourth-generation lookout on Wolf Mountain, deep in the New Mexico wilderness. She, Mom, and Gran live at ten thousand feet in a single room at the top of a fire tower. They are responsible for spotting any hint of smoke before it becomes an uncontrollable blaze. Instead of training for the lonely life of a lookout, Opal wishes she could be starting seventh grade in Silver City, attending real classes with kids her own age and even going to afterschool clubs like FFA. But Wolf Mountain has other ideas. When Mom makes the long trek to town for supplies… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a father recounted
  • Hospitalisation for injury
  • Smoke spotting (theme) with discussions of wildfires

The Lions’ Run by Sara Pennypacker

Petit éclair. That’s what the other boys at the orphanage call Lucas DuBois. Lucas is tired of his cowardly reputation, just as he’s tired of the war and the Nazi occupation of his French village. He longs to show how brave he can be. He gets the chance when he saves a litter of kittens from cruel boys and brings them to an abandoned stable to care for them. There he comes upon a stranger who is none too happy to see Alice, the daughter of a horse trainer, who is hiding her filly from German soldiers. Soon Lucas begins to… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Discussions of Lebensborn hospitals (where unmarried pregnant women were forced to adopt out their children as part of a Nazi-German eugenics program)
  • Death of parents recounted
  • World War II (theme)
  • Bullying
  • Animal cruelty & death mentioned (bullies attempt to drowning a litter of kittens but the protagonist is able to save the majority of them)

Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins

A reporter has come to Wyoming to do a story on doctors for his Black newspaper back east. He thinks Colton Lee will be an interesting subject…until he meets Colton’s sister, Spring. She runs her own ranch, wears denim pants instead of dresses, and is the most fascinating woman he’s ever met. But Spring, who has overcome a raucous and scandalous past, isn’t looking for, nor does she want, love. As their attraction grows, will their differences come between them or unite them for an everlasting love?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny, slut-shaming & racism
  • Slavery recounted (protagonist)
  • Dubious consent scenario recounted (‘dubcon’)
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Hospitalisation & surgery for gunshot wound
  • Gun violence
  • Cheyenne Massacre mentioned

The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly

When twelve-year-old Michael Rosario meets a mysterious boy from the future, his life is changed forever. It’s August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his fifteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby. It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and cold, things… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Hospitalisation for illness
  • Financial difficulties
  • Bullying

Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli

Adriana Russo is figure skating royalty, born to gold-medalist parents and an equally talented sister. Adriana’s dream? To conquer the Junior World Championships and uphold the family legacy. But when the family’s legendary skating rink faces financial ruin, everything she’s worked for is at risk. Training with her new partner, Brayden, sparks an let the world believe their on-ice chemistry isn’t only for show. The fake-dating gains traction, and Adriana realizes maybe she actually is falling for Brayden. But then her past crashes into her present and changes everything… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hospitalisation for sports injury
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent discussed

Hail Mariam by Huda Al-Marashi

Iraqi American Mariam Hassan transfers to a local Catholic school and before her first day her parents remind her that she might be the first Muslim her classmates have ever met. No big deal, right? Just represent an entire religion while making new friends, keeping up with schoolwork, and figuring out who she is. When Mariam’s younger sister, Salma, is diagnosed with a serious lung condition, her family faces endless doctor visits and sleepless nights. Mariam tries to lighten their burden and keep her own problems to herself—including the fact that she’s just… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sibling hospitalised for cancer treatment
  • Minor blood depiction