The Dying Game by Åsa Avdic

The Dying Game by Åsa Avdic

On the remote island of Isola, seven people have been selected to compete in a 48-hour test for a top-secret intelligence position. One of them is Anna Francis, a workaholic with a nine-year-old daughter she rarely sees, and a secret that haunts her. Her assignment is to stage her own death and then observe, from her hiding place inside the walls of the house, how the other candidates react to the news that a murderer is among them. Who will take control? Who will crack under pressure?

But as soon as Anna steps on to the island she realises something isn’t quite right. And then a storm rolls in, the power goes out, and the real game begins… 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Substance addiction
  • Murder
  • War themes
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Nevada Days by Bernardo Atxaga

Nevada Days by Bernardo Atxaga

After unwillingly inheriting all of the Night Witch’s Conjure Nevada Days is a fictionalised account of Atxaga’s nine months’ stay as writer-in-residence at the Centre for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada. He is accompanied by his wife, Ángela, who is also doing research there, and by their two daughters. During their first few weeks, the family encounter a strange mapache (racoon), which is always staring at them from the garden, a flight of helicopters immediately overhead, a black widow spider, a warning about bears, a party of prisoners in the desert, a lake that is somehow far too calm and too blue, and, not long into their stay, the kidnap and murder of a young girl living in the house right next door.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape mentioned
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder mentioned
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Curse of the Forgotten City by Alex Aster

Curse of the Forgotten City by Alex Aster

After unwillingly inheriting all of the Night Witch’s abilities, Tor Luna is the most powerful person on Emblem Island—though he doesn’t want power at all. Fresh from their last adventure, a girl from a forgotten underwater city named Vesper, with the same water-breathing emblem as Tor, washes ashore—with a warning. Pirates are coming to attack Emblem Island.

Using the Night Witch’s enchanted ship, Tor, Melda, Engle, and Vesper set off on a dangerous journey to find the only thing that can save Emblem Island from the cursed Calavera pirates—a pearl, with the power to control the sea. But just like their first, this quest won’t be easy. In a race against time, they will face… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injury
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Attempted murder recounted
  • Shipwreck
  • Drowning
  • Death from a fall
  • Animal attack (shark)
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Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

There’s nothing like a Black salesman on a mission.

An unambitious twenty-two-year-old, Darren lives in a Bed-Stuy brownstone with his mother, who wants nothing more than to see him live up to his potential as the valedictorian of Bronx Science. But Darren is content working at Starbucks in the lobby of a Midtown office building, hanging out with his girlfriend, Soraya, and eating his mother’s home-cooked meals. All that changes when a chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & white supremacy
  • Murder
  • Bullying
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We Are All That’s Left by Carrie Arcos

We Are All That’s Left by Carrie Arcos

Zara and her mother, Nadja, have a strained relationship. Nadja just doesn’t understand Zara’s creative passion for, and self-expression through, photography. And Zara doesn’t know how to reach beyond their differences and connect to a closed-off mother who refuses to speak about her past in Bosnia. But when a bomb explodes as they’re shopping in their local farmers’ market in Rhode Island, Zara is left with PTSD–and her mother is left in a coma. Without the opportunity to get to know her mother, Zara is left with questions–not just about her mother, but about faith, religion, history, and her own path forward.

As Zara tries to sort through her confusion, she meets Joseph, whose grandmother is also in the hospital, and whose exploration of religion and philosophy offer comfort and insight into Zara’s own line of thinking.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted rape
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • SMoking
  • Blood & physical injury depiction
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions
  • Physical assault
  • Bosnian War
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Beware the Power of the Dark Side by Tom Angleberger

Beware the Power of the Dark Side! by Tom Angleberger

Acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author Tom Angleberger delivers a captivating retelling of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi like you’ve never experienced before, infusing the iconic, classic tale of good versus evil with a unique perspective and narrative style that will speak directly to today’s young readers while enhancing the Star Wars experience for core fans of the saga.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Explosion
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They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder.

Every year, she searches for the worst man at Gorman University and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself—but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge, Dr. Mina Pierce. Everything’s going according to her master plan… until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Victim blaming
  • Rape
  • Nonconsensual voyeurism mentioned
  • Cheating
  • Domestic abuse mentioned
  • Anxiety
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Murder
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Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit. Set against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado–a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite–these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force.

Sabrina & Corina is a moving narrative of unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and an eternal sense of home.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic violence
  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcoholism
  • Drug abuse
  • Murder
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The Magician’s Bird by Emily Fairlie

The Magician’s Bird by Emily Fairlie and illustrated by Antonio Javier Caparo

In The Magician’s Bird, the mystery Bud and Laurie must solve is much more serious than a treasure hunt—their beloved school founder, Maria Tutweiler, has been accused of murdering Marchetti the Magician!

Can Bud and Laurie—with the help of enthusiastic Misti and evil but useful Calliope—prove Maria Tutweiler’s innocence? Or will Tuckernuck Hall be closed down for good?

Emily Fairlie once again blends lists, notes, and classic prose to tell a story that sings with humor, suspense, and magic.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Smoking mentioned
  • Murder recounted
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The Memory Thief by Jodi Lynn Anderson

The Memory Thief by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Twelve-year-old Rosie Oaks’s mom is missing whatever it is that makes mothers love their daughters. All her life, Rosie has known this…and turned to stories for comfort. Then, on the night Rosie decides to throw her stories away forever, an invisible ally helps her discover the Witch Hunter’s Guide to the Universe, a book that claims that all of the evil in the world stems from thirteen witches who are unseen…but also unstoppable. One of these witches—the Memory Thief—holds an insidious power to steal our most precious treasures: our memories. And it is this witch who has cursed Rosie’s mother.

In her quest to save her mom—and with her wild, loyal friend “Germ” by her side… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Murder
  • Hanging mentioned
  • Kidnapping & presumed death of a newborn
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