Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth-century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.” Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misgendering (accidental)
  • Panic disorder
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Disappearance and implied death of a wife and daughter (theme)
  • Kidnapping 

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

Just when seventeen-year-old Matt thinks he can’t handle one more piece of terrible news, he meets a girl who’s dealt with a lot more—and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down—in this wry, gritty novel from the author of When I Was the Greatest. Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died—although she did, and it sucks. But he wears the suit for his gig at the local funeral home, which pays way better than the Cluck Bucket, and he needs the income since his dad can’t handle the bills (or anything, really) on his own. So while Dad’s snagging bottles of whiskey… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Drug use mentioned (smoking)
  • Death from cancer mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Intimate partner murder by gunshot (on-page)
  • Physical assault recounted (fistfight resulting in bloodied lip)
  • Death from gang violence mentioned
  • Homelessness

Writers and Lovers by Lily King 

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, mouldy room at the side of a garage, where she works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching on to something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Workplace sexual harassment
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attack
  • Cancer (squamous cell carcinoma)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a wife from cancer mentioned
  • Death of a mother from heart disease
  • Death of a sister mentioned

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco 

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine… and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life’s dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Panic attack
  • Drug abuse mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies & autopsies
  • Murder
  • Poisoning
  • Fire

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco 

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practise of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies & autopsies
  • Needles
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug abuse
  • Psychiatric hospital
  • Murder
  • Physical assault

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It’s always there. Always.

Jake once said, “Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can’t fake a thought.”

And here’s what I’m thinking: I don’t want to be here.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Graphic self-harm
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Nightmares
  • Stalking

The Book of Dragons edited by Jonathan Strahan

The Book of Dragons edited by Jonathan Strahan

with contributions from Garth Nix, Scott Lynch, R.F. Kuang, Ann Leckie, Rachel Swirsky, Daniel Abraham, Peter S. Beagle, Beth Cato, Zen Cho, C.S.E. Cooney, Aliette de Bodard, Kate Elliott, Theodora Goss, Ellen Klages, Ken Liu, Patricia A. McKillip, K.J. Parker, Kelly Robson, Michael Swanwick, Jo Walton, Elle Katharine White, Jane Yolen, Kelly Barnhill, Brooke Bolander, Sara Gailey, Neon Yang, and Rovina Cai

From China to Europe, Africa to North America, dragons have long captured our imagination in myth and legend. Whether they are rampaging beasts awaiting a brave hero to slay or benevolent sages who have much to teach humanity, dragons are intrinsically connected to stories of creation, adventure, and struggle beloved for generations.

Bringing together nearly thirty stories and poems from some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers working today, this extraordinary collection vividly breathes fire and life into one of our most captivating and feared magical creatures as never before and is sure to become a treasured keepsake for fans of fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Matriculation by Elle Katharine White– Blood depiction
– Grief & loss
Hikayati Sri Bujang by Zen ChoUnknown.
Yuli by Daniel Abraham– Fatmisia
– PTSD
– War themes
A Whisper of Blue by Ken LiuUnknown.
Where the River Turns to Concrete by Brooke BolanderUnknown.
Habitat by K.J. ParkerUnknown.
Pox by Ellen KlagesUnknown.
The Nine Curves by R.F. KuangUnknown.
Lucky’s Dragon by Kelly BarnhillUnknown.
The Exile by Neon YangUnknown.
Except on Saturdays by Peter S. BeagleUnknown.
La Vitesse by Kelly RobsonUnknown.
The Long Walk by Kate ElliottUnknown.
Cut Me Another Quill, Mister Fitz by Garth NixUnknown.
Hoard by Seanan McGuire– Abuse
The Last Hunt by Aliette de BodardUnknown.
We Continue by Anne Leckie & Rachel SwirskyUnknown.
Small Bird’s Plea by Todd McCaffreyUnknown.
The Dragons by Theodora GossUnknown.
Dragon Slayer by Michael SwanwickUnknown.
We Don’t Talk About the Dragon by Sarah GaileyUnknown.
Camoflague by Patricia A. McKillipUnknown.
Maybe Just Go Up There and Talk to It by Scott LynchUnknown.

What You Wish For by Katherine Center 

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living. But she wasn’t always that way.

Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. But he wasn’t always that way.

And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before—at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him—but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Panic attacks
  • Seizures described
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • School shooting
  • Car accident
  • Disappearance of a child

Broken Knight by LJ Shen

Broken Knight by L.J. Shen

Not all love stories are written the same way. Ours had torn chapters, missing paragraphs, and a bittersweet ending. Luna Rexroth is everyone’s favourite wallflower. Underneath the meek, tomboy exterior everyone loves (yet pities) is a girl who knows exactly what, and who, she wants—namely, the boy from the treehouse who taught her how to curse in sign language. Who taught her how to laugh, to live. To love. Knight Cole is everyone’s favourite football hero. This daredevil hell-raiser could knock you up with his gaze alone, but he only has eyes for the girl across the street… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Child abandonment recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Pregnancy
  • Selective mutism
  • Death of a parent from cystic fibrosis (on-page)

Ruckus by LJ Shen

Ruckus by L.J. Shen

They say that life is a beautiful lie and death a painful truth. They’re right. No one has ever made me feel more alive than the guy who serves as a constant reminder that my clock is ticking. He is my forbidden, shiny apple. The striking fallacy to my blunt, raw, truth. He is also my sister’s ex-boyfriend. One thing you should know before you judge me; I saw him first. I craved him first. I loved him first. Eleven years later, he waltzes into my life, demanding a second chance. Dean Cole wants to be my bronze horseman. But my clock is ticking. See, I’m not like the rest. I have an illness. Sometimes I conquer it. Sometimes it conquers me. My white knight has finally arrived. Hopefully, he isn’t too late.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abandonment recounted
  • Panic attack
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug abuse
  • Infertility (on-page)
  • Cystic fibrosis (on-page)
  • Blackmail (on-page)