Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai

Accused of a crime he didn’t commit, Jackson Kane fled his home, his name, and his family. Ten years later, he’s come back to town: older, wiser, richer, tougher—and still helpless to turn away the one woman he could never stop loving, even after she married his brother.

Sadia Ahmed can’t deal with the feelings her mysterious former brother-in-law stirs, but she also can’t turn down his offer of help with the cafe she’s inherited. While he heats up her kitchen, she slowly discovers that the boy she adored has grown into a man she’s simply unable to resist.

An affair is unthinkable, but their desire is undeniable. As secrets and lies are stripped away, Sadia and Jackson must decide if they’re strong enough to face the past…and step into a future together.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide mentioned
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attack
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Fire recounted
  • Incarceration recounted

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia
  • Racism
  • Sexual assault
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug use
  • Physical injuries
  • Cancer
  • Police brutality
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal death
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As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars.

Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle . . .and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears. . .

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape mentioned
  • Drugging
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Wrongful incarceration
  • Stalking
  • Animal death
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Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger

Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger

Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend’s house every night because she has nowhere else to go.
Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.

Ryder’s the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can’t stand — a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed. But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually like him. Only there’s one small catch: he thinks he’s been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she’s the girl he’s really wanted all along.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Incarceration of a parent
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Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name. The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister’s. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted rape mentioned
  • Parental abandonment & child abuse discussed
  • Suicide recounted
  • Alcohol consumption (on-page, protagonist) & mentions of smoking
  • Blood & injury depiction, including magical healing by drinking blood after a near-fatal fall into freezing water
  • Death of a fiancé mentioned
  • Death of a grandmother mentioned
  • Murder
  • Physical assault & assault with a knife
  • Imprisonment

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.

These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself “”stuck”” back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Colourism
  • Sexism
  • Hate crimes
  • Cancer
  • Death
  • Grief depiction
  • Confinement
  • Imprisonment
  • War themes, specifically WW2 & Japanese internment camp
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An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

Sophie Beckett never dreamed she’d be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton’s famed masquerade ball—or that “Prince Charming” would be waiting there for her! Though the daughter of an earl, Sophie has been relegated to the role of servant by her disdainful stepmother. But now, spinning in the strong arms of the debonair and devastatingly handsome Benedict Bridgerton, she feels like royalty. Alas, she knows all enchantments must end when the clock strikes midnight.

Ever since that magical night, a radiant vision in silver has blinded Benedict to the attractions of any other—except, perhaps this alluring and oddly familiar beauty dressed in housemaid’s garb whom he feels compelled to rescue from a most disagreeable situation. He has sworn to find and wed his mystery miss, but this breathtaking maid makes him weak with wanting her. Yet, if he offers his heart, will Benedict sacrifice his only chance for a fairy tale love?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Death from anaphylaxis recounted
  • Death of a parent discussed
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The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

The King is dead, murdered by an unusual poison.

While evidence is gathered, and the land of Delain mourns, Flagg the King’s magician, unscrupulous, greedy and powerful, plots. Soon the King’s elder son, Peter, is imprisoned in the needle, the top of a high tower, for his father’s murder. And Thomas inherits the throne.

Only Peter knows the truth of his innocence, and the true evil that is Flagg. Only Peter can save Delain from the horror the magician has in store. He has a plan, but it is rife with danger. And if he fails, he won’t get a second chance…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Murder of a pregnant wife
  • Murder of a father by poisoning
  • Wrongful incarceration
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Different Seasons by Stephen King

Different Seasons by Stephen King

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption–the most satisfying tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape since The Count of Monte Cristo.

Apt Pupil–a golden California schoolboy and an old man whose hideous past he uncovers enter into a fateful and chilling mutual parasitism.

The Body–four rambunctious young boys venture into the Maine woods and in sunlight and thunder find life, death, and intimations of their own mortality.

The Breathing Method–a tale told in a strange club about a woman determined to give birth no matter what.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape, including prison rape
  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Dismemberment
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Animal abuse
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Cemetery Girl by David Bell

Cemetery Girl by David Bell

Tom and Abby Stuart had everything: a perfect marriage, successful careers, and a beautiful twelve-year-old daughter, Caitlin. Then one day Caitlin vanished without a trace. For a while they grasped at every false hope and followed every empty lead, but the tragedy ended up changing their lives, overwhelming them with guilt and dread, and shattering their marriage.

Four years later, Caitlin is found alive but won’t discuss where she was or what happened. And when the police arrest a suspect connected to her disappearance, she refuses to testify. Taking matters into his own hands, Tom tries to uncover the truth–and finds that nothing that has happened yet can prepare him for what he is about to discover.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Paedophilia
  • Domestic violence
  • Cheating
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal euthansia
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