Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising by Pierce Brown book cover

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slavery
  • Sexism
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Self harm
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Surgery
  • Cannibalism
  • Starvation
  • Torture
  • Hanging
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Beauty Queens by Libby Bray

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray book cover

The 50 contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras.

But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program – or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan – or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Transmisia
  • Physical injuries
  • Murder
  • Explosions
  • Plane crash
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Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake book cover

“I need Owen to explain this. Because yes, I do know that Owen would never do that, but I also know Hannah would never lie about something like that.”

Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn’t know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn’t help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend and best friend since childhood, Charlie.

As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Coming out themes
  • Bimisia
  • Internalised enbymisia
  • Slut-shaming
  • Victim blaming, discussed
  • Misogyny
  • Racist microaggressions
  • Rape, central theme
  • Sexual assault
  • Paedophillia*
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Panic attacks, multiple occurrences on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Minor injury, mentioned
  • Hospital visit, mentioned
  • Medical procedure including a rape kit, recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying

*Main character, who is a minor, is sexually abused by her teacher

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Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

After seven years as an assistant, 29-year-old Evie Summers is ready to finally get the promotion she deserves. But now the TV and film agency she’s been running behind the scenes is in trouble, and Evie will lose her job unless she can convince the agency’s biggest and most arrogant client, Ezra Chester, to finish writing the script for a Hollywood romantic comedy.

The catch? Ezra is suffering from writer’s block–and he’ll only put pen to paper if singleton Evie can prove to him that you can fall in love like they do in the movies. With the future of the agency in jeopardy, Evie embarks on a mission to meet a man the way Sally met Harry or Hugh Grant met Julia Roberts.

But in the course of testing out the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedies IRL, not only will Evie encounter one humiliating situation after another, but she’ll have to confront the romantic past that soured her on love.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Ableism
  • Nonconsensual (“surprise”) kiss
  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a wife recounted
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The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Today is my last day as Violet Lasting. Tomorrow I become Lot 197.

Sold for six million diamantes, Violet is now Surrogate of the House of the Lake in the centre of the Lone City, the Jewel. Her sole purpose is to produce a healthy heir for the Duchess – a woman Violet fears and despises.

Violet is trapped in a living death, her name and body no longer her own. She fights to hold on to her own identity and sanity, uncertain of the fate of her friends, isolated and at the mercy of the Duchess.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny (theme)
  • Child abuse
  • Forced child sex work
  • Suicide
  • Forced child & teenage pregnancy (theme)
  • Death of a friend
  • Non-consensual medical procedures
  • Needles
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A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

After burying her spinster aunt, orphaned Veronica Speedwell is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as with fending off admirers, Veronica intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

But fate has other plans when Veronica thwarts her own attempted abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron, who offers her sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker, a reclusive and bad-tempered natural historian. But before the baron can reveal what he knows of the plot against her, he is found murdered—leaving Veronica and Stoker on the run from an elusive assailant as wary partners in search of the villainous truth. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Slut shaming
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Eyeball trauma recounted
  • Death of an aunt
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Home invasion
  • Attempted kidnapping
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Animal attack recounted
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Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh

Smoke in the Sun by Renée Ahdieh

Smoke in the Sun by Renee Adieh book cover

For weeks, seventeen-year-old Mariko pretended to be a boy to infiltrate the notorious Black Clan and bring her would-be murderer to justice. She didn’t expect to find a place for herself among the group of fighters—a life of usefulness—and she certainly didn’t expect to fall in love. Now she heads to the imperial castle to resume a life she never wanted to save the boy she loves.

Ōkami has been captured, and his execution is a certainty. Mariko will do what she must to ensure his survival—even marry the sovereign’s brother, saying goodbye to a life with Ōkami forever.

As Mariko settles into her days at court—making both friends and enemies—and attempting Ōkami’s rescue at night, the secrets of the royal court begin to unravel as competing agendas collide. One arrow sets into motion a series of deadly events even the most powerful magic cannot contain. Mariko and Ōkami risk everything to right past wrongs and restore the honor of a kingdom thrown into chaos by a sudden war, hoping against hope that when the dust settles, they will find a way to be together.

Set against the backdrop of feudal Japan, Smoke in the Sun is the breathless, romantic, not-to-be-missed fiery conclusion to a spell-binding adventure.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Classism
  • Marital rape, implied and discussed
  • Body modifications without consent
  • Grief depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a husband
  • Death of a girlfriend
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a public figure
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Torture
  • Explosion, recounted
  • Imprisonment
  • Blackmail
  • Loss of autonomy
  • Kidnapping
  • Poisoning, recounted
  • Fire
  • Drowning
  • Exile
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We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book cover

What does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists, a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.

With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences—in the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad—offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike.

Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Cisnormative language
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The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin book cover

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy has been accused of raping a high school student. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago.

The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Victim blaming (discussed in-depth)
  • Rape culture (theme)
  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual harassment
  • Paedophilia mentioned
  • Graphic rape & gang rape of a minor discussed
  • Physical child abuse recounted
  • PTSD
  • Panic attacks
  • Night terrors
  • Attempted suicide by drowning mentioned
  • Suicide of a parent by overdose discussed
  • Addiction mentioned
  • Drug & alcohol abuse mentioned
  • Terminal cancer
  • Hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Death of a sister & child (off-page)
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Drowning
  • Hostage situation
  • Stalking
  • Car accident & motorcycle accident recounted
  • Animal injury mentioned (minor)
  • Bullying & hazing
  • Grave desecration
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The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis book cover

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut-shaming
  • Misogyny and sexism
  • Victim blaming
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Paedophilia
  • Child pornography
  • Substance addiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder/s
  • Death of a sibling
  • Animal death
  • Animal abuse and cruelty
  • Fire, specifically arson
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