Tag Archives: Mental Illness

You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural. Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up. Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Eating disorder recovery (secondary character)
  • Bullying

Mirror to Mirror by Rajani LaRocca

Maya is the pragmatic twin. But when her sister threatens to reveal her secret anxiety to their parents, she feels completely betrayed. Chaya is the outgoing twin. With Maya shutting her out, she decides to make a drastic change to give her twin the space she seems to need. The once-close sisters can’t seem to find their rhythm, but they know that something has to give. So they make a bet: they’ll switch places at summer camp, and whoever can keep the ruse going longer will get to decide where they both attend high school—the source of frequent arguments. But stepping into each other’s shoes isn’t as easy as it sounds. Will the twins’ relationship recover?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety (protagonist)
  • Self-harm
  • Blood & injury depiction

You, Me, and Our Heartstrings by Melissa See

Daisy and Noah have the same plan: use the holiday concert to land a Julliard audition. But when they’re chosen to play a duet for the concert, they worry that their differences will sink their chances. Noah, a cello prodigy from a long line of musicians, wants to stick to tradition. Daisy, a fiercely independent disabled violinist, is used to fighting for what she wants and likes to take risks. But the two surprise each other when they play. They fall perfectly in tune. After their performance goes viral, the rest of the country falls for them just as surely as they’re falling for each other… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist slur
  • Anxiety & panic attacks

A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert

Once upon a time I was a girl who believed in love and happily ever afters. Now the only thing I believe in is revenge. Unfortunately for me, there’s only one man willing to help me. Hook. I should have known it wouldn’t be out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn’t have one. No, Hook wants his ring on my finger and me on my knees before him—and he won’t take no for an answer. I’m willing to pay any price in order to bring Pan down…even if it means I lose my soul in the bargain.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Intimate partner abuse & violence recounted
  • Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Panic attack
  • Scars
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Attempted kidnapping

Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas

For hyper-particular publishing heir Jonathan Grief, the day starts like any other—with a strict morning fitness regimen that’ll keep his divorced, easily irritated, cynical, forty-two-year-old self in absolutely flawless physical condition. But all it takes to put a crimp in his routine is one small annoyance. Someone has left a leather-bound day planner with the handwritten title Your Perfect Year in his spot on his mountain bike at his fitness course! Determined to discover its owner, Jonathan opens the calendar to find that someone known only as “H.” has filled it in with suggestions, tasks, and affirmative actions for… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating recounted
  • Suicide
  • Alcoholism
  • Dementia
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Homelessness

Passing Through by Katia Rose

Emily Rivers does not have time for love. Or dating. Or even a one night stand. As the eldest of the Rivers sisters, she’s too focused on keeping her family’s campground running in the wake of a devastating tragedy to even think about romance. When Kim Jefferies shows up at the local small town bar looking like a lesbian snack on a stick, Emily writes her off as yet another tourist just passing through—no matter how much the butterflies in her stomach try to tell her otherwise. Only Kim’s plans of ‘passing through’ fade the second she sees Emily Rivers, despite… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Panic attack
  • Parent with depression
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from breast cancer recounted
  • Hiking accident resulting in serious injury

The Devil Wears Tartan by Katia Rose

Raised as the shining prodigies of warring highland dance schools, the two grew up with blaring bagpipes as the backing track for a feud that took them all the way to the world championships. Moira could never keep Kenzie’s icy glares from getting under her skin, and Kenzie could never hold back an eye-roll as she watched the crowds fawn over her rival’s happy-go-lucky charm. Starting college has forced both women to hang up their kilts, but when their local highland dance association announces a scholarship for a life-changing amount of money, they find themselves back onstage for one last season…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression (secondary character)
  • Substance addiction, drug abuse & overdose (off-page, secondary character)

Glass Half Full by Katia Rose

Back at home with half a college degree after the fiasco of the century sent her packing, it’s safe to say that Renee Nyobé is losing some. She’s a hot mess, and not the cute kind. No, if hot messes had categories, hers would be ‘littering the stairs of the metro station with your sweaty underwear because you were too busy rushing to the job interview you’re already late for to zip up your yoga bag.’ A job—any job—is just what she needs to get her life back on track, and it might as well be at Montreal’s most famous dive bar, Taverne Toulouse. Dylan Trottard is winning some. As Taverne Toulouse’s new manager, he’s got one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Workplace harassment
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Drug use
  • Incarceration recounted

Your Echo by Katia Rose

How do you teach a rock star how to meditate? The number one question on Stéphanie’s mind sounds like the start of a bad joke, and life would be a whole lot easier if she actually knew the punch line. Her meditation coach job description said nothing about private lessons for the most infamous lead singer in Montreal, but somehow Stéphanie still finds herself sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat, right next to a pierced and tattooed music legend who’d rather be anywhere else. Meditation classes are Ace’s final chance to convince his record label that… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement & child abuse mentioned
  • Alcoholism & alcohol abuse
  • Drug use mentioned (cannabis)
  • Serious, life-altering injury of a parent recounted

Your Sound by Katia Rose

Molly Myers is just your average groupie next door. Literally. The rock star whose posters cover her bedroom wall is banging her roommate right on the other side of it. Even for Molly, reigning queen of embarrassing moments, the situation is epically awkward. Every thump of the headboard is just one more reminder that the lead singers of famous bands don’t date bumbling shy girls too anxious to leave their own rooms. JP Bouchard-Guindon wasn’t looking for Molly’s room when he accidentally burst through the door, but the wild-haired girl lying there in her underwear was certainly worth the detour… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Anxiety