Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they’re not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her “Choker” after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe’s on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara’s life changes overnight… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut-shaming
  • Child sexual abuse, implied
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Strangulation
  • Animal death, including the death of a dog, mouse & cast
  • Bullying
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Love of a Bad Man by Kate Worsley

The Love of a Bad Man by Kate Worsley

A schoolgirl catches the eye of the future leader of Nazi Germany. An aspiring playwright writes to a convicted serial killer, seeking inspiration. A pair of childhood sweethearts reunite to commit rape and murder. A devoted Mormon wife follows her husband into the wilderness after he declares himself a prophet.

The twelve stories in ‘The Love of a Bad Man’ imagine the lives of real women, all of whom were the lovers, wives, or mistresses of various ‘bad’ men in history. Beautifully observed, fascinating, and at times horrifying, the stories interrogate power, the nature of obsession, and the lengths some women will go to for the men they love.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Native Son by Richard Wright

Native Son by Richard Wright

Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic.

Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright’s powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Rape
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead body
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Wild Hunger by Suzanne Wright

Wild Hunger by Suzanne Wright

Also known as Patrick Hardy.

When half–wolf shifter Frankie Newman receives an e-mail from a family member she didn’t know existed, a secret is revealed: as a child, Frankie witnessed her father killing her mother…and then himself. Frankie was torn from her pack by her mother’s human relatives, and the trauma was erased from her memory. Realizing that she’s been lied to her entire life, she’s never felt more alone. Until she catches the scent of an old friend—warmly familiar and intoxicating.

Trick Hardy, alpha wolf of the Phoenix Pack, can sense the rush of mutual attraction when he sees Frankie again. He knows immediately that she’s his true mate… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Incest
  • Murder & attempted murder
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

One True Pairing by Cathy Yardley

One True Pairing by Cathy Yardley

Jake Reese needs a decoy girlfriend. Fast. The lead actor of the popular TV show, Mystics, is tired of losing his shirt to overeager fans. Literally. Which is why a chance meeting with gothabilly bookworm-slash-barista Hailey Frost seems almost too perfect to be true. Hailey is not impressed with his TV fame and is desperate to save her family’s bookstore. It’s a match made in Hollywood, but as the two pretend to date, fan fiction becomes reality. Can this OTP become canon?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Child sexual abuse recounted
  • Child physical abuse & neglect recounted
  • Attempted murder
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, their power from the sun peaking in the season of their birth. But now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic. All hope lies with Clara, an Everwitch whose rare magic is tied to every season.

In Autumn, Clara wants nothing to do with her power. It’s wild and volatile, and the price of her magic―losing the ones she loves―is too high, despite the need to control the increasingly dangerous weather… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Spells Trouble by PC Cast and Kristin Cast

Spells Trouble by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Hunter and Mercy Goode are twin witches, direct descendants of the founder of their town of Goodeville. As their ancestors have done before them, it is now time for the twins to learn what it means to be Gatekeepers–the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds, ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and nightmares come to life.

When their mother becomes the first victim in a string of murders, the devastated sisters vow to avenge her death. But it will take more than magic to rein in the ancient mythological monsters who’ve infected their peaceful town. Now Hunter and Mercy must come together and accept their destiny or risk being separated for good.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Waiting on a Bright Moon by Neon Yang

Waiting on a Bright Moon by Neon Yang

Xin is an ansible, using her song magic to connect the originworld of the Imperial Authority and its far-flung colonies— a role that is forced upon magically-gifted women “of a certain closeness”. When a dead body comes through her portal at a time of growing rebellion, Xin is drawn deep into a station-wide conspiracy along with Ouyang Suqing, one of the station’s mysterious, high-ranking starmages.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic execution
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

City of Secrets by Victoria Ying

City of Secrets by Victoria Ying

Ever Barnes is a shy orphan guarding a secret in an amazing puzzle box of a building. Most of the young women who work at the building’s Switchboard Operating Facility, which connects the whole city of Oskar, look the other way as Ever roams around in the shadows. But one of them, Lisa, keeps an eye on the boy. So does the head of the Switchboard, Madame Alexander . . . a rather sharp eye. Enter Hannah, the spunky daughter of the building’s owner. She thinks Ever needs a friend, even if he doesn’t know it yet. Lisa and Madame Alexander are each clearly… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Hospitalisation for injury & blood depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Death from a fall
  • War themes, including a missile strike
  • Child homelessness & poverty

Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Falsely accused of murder, Xiang Xiang’s father is executed, and her mother forced into a Buddhist nunnery. Xiang Xiang, alone and friendless at thirteen years old, is tricked into entering the Peach Blossom Pavilion, where she is given the name Bao Lan – Precious Orchid.

There she is trained in the fine arts of womanhood, studying music, literature, painting, and more importantly, the art of seduction and pleasuring men; and becomes one of China’s most successful courtesans.

However, Precious Orchid is determined to avenge her parents and sets out on a journey to achieve the justice she has sought so long.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic rape
  • Sex work
  • Graphic abuse
  • Suicide
  • Murder
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com