The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

Angrboda’s story begins where most witches’ tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin’s all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Family separation
  • Toxic relationship
  • Child birth
  • Near-pregnancy
  • Miscarriage
  • Medical procedure, specifically sutures
  • Death of a child
  • Burning alive
  • Torture
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Fire
  • Animal death

Paper Cranes Don’t Fly by Peter Vu

Paper Cranes Don’t Fly by Peter Vu

For Adam Auttenberg, the hospital is like a second home. Despite the ever-growing tumour in his head, he just wishes he was normal. This is until his latest operation when everything seems like a lost hope, and he knows he isn’t normal. He doesn’t know what to do, because there is nothing he can do. Facing the toughest challenge of his life, all Adam has to help him are his friends. But will they be enough?

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Medical procedures
  • Hospitalisation
  • Terminal brain cancer (theme)
  • Death of a friend

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government’s emergency protocols are faltering.

Dr. Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Pregnancy
  • Medical procedures
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a partner
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Home invasion
  • Animal injury
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack

We Are the Fire by Sam Taylor

We Are the Fire by Sam Taylor

In the cold, treacherous land of Vesimaa, children are stolen from their families by a cruel emperor, forced to undergo a horrific transformative procedure, and serve in the army as magical fire-wielding soldiers. Pran and Oksana―both taken from their homeland at a young age―only have each other to hold onto in this heartless place.

Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both.

When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Pran and Oksana vow to escape his tyranny once and for all… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Forced medical procedures
  • Kidnapping
  • Torture
  • Whipping
  • Death by fire

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.

But then a window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Misogyny
  • Amisia
  • Racism
  • Forced marriage
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Drug abuse
  • Blood depiction
  • Medical procedures & surgery
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Explosion
  • Colonialism
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The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Bimisia
  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Blood & physical injury depiction
  • Epilepsy
  • Needles
  • Medical procedures
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Torture mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
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Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission–and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Dead bodies
  • Medical treatment & procedures
  • Comas
  • Death of colleagues, off-page
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The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Victim blaming discussed
  • Rape recounted
  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Depression & psychotic depression
  • Panic attacks, on-page
  • Abortion recounted
  • Infertility mentioned
  • Needles
  • Graphic dead bodies, on-page
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Amputation of fingers, off-page
  • Medical experimentation & inhumane procedures discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from cancer recounted
  • Death of a mother in a hit-and-run accident mentioned
  • Death of a brother by drowning recounted
  • Death of a colleague by drowning
  • Murder & attempted murder, on-page
  • Drowning & attempted drowning
  • Knife violence & stabbing, on-page
  • Kidnapping, on-page
  • Physical assault
  • Disappearance of a wife
  • Avalanche, on-page
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Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn

Honoria Smythe-Smith is a) a really bad violinist, b) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child, c) not in love with her older brother’s best friend, d) all of the above.

Marcus Holroyd is a) the Earl of Chatteris, b) regrettably prone to sprained ankles, c) not in love with his best friend’s younger sister, and d) all of the above.

Together they: a) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake, b) survive a deadly fever and the world’s worst musical performance, c) fall quite desperately in love…. or d) all of the above.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic medical procedures
  • Physical illness
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Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder

Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder

Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder

Part poignant cancer memoir and part humorous reflection on a motherless life, this debut graphic novel is extraordinarily comforting and engaging.

From before her mother’s first oncology appointment through the stages of her cancer to the funeral, sitting shiva, and afterward, when she must try to make sense of her life as a motherless daughter, Tyler Feder tells her story in this graphic novel that is full of piercing–but also often funny–details. She shares the important post-death firsts, such as celebrating holidays without her mom, the utter despair of cleaning out her mom’s closet, ending old traditions and starting new ones, and the sting of having the “I’ve got to tell Mom about this” instinct and not being able to act on it. This memoir, bracingly candid and sweetly humorous, is for anyone struggling with loss who just wants someone to get it.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Panic attacks
  • Medical trauma
  • Cancer
  • Death of a parent
  • Hospitals & hospitalisation
  • Grief depiction
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