The Lost Sisters by Holly Black

The Lost Sisters by Holly Black

Sometimes the difference between a love story and a horror story is where the ending comes . . .

While Jude fought for power in the Court of Elfhame against the cruel Prince Cardan, her sister Taryn began to fall in love with the trickster, Locke.

Half-apology and half-explanation, it turns out that Taryn has some secrets of her own to reveal.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Coerced marriage discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
  • Murder discussed
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Bullying
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Antisemitism & Nazism
  • Rape
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Bullying
  • War themes*

*The book is set in France during World War 2.

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All Systems Red by Martha Wells

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide attempt, on-page
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Physical injuries
  • Death of colleagues, off page
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • ‘Animal’ attack
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Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

Gumiho: Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret. She’s a gumiho–a nine-tailed fox who survives by consuming the energy of men. But she’s also half-human and has a soft spot for people. So she won’t kill indiscriminately. With the help of a shaman, Miyoung only takes the lives of men who have committed terrible crimes. Devouring their life force is a morbid kind of justice… or so she tells herself.

But killing men no one would ever miss in bustling modern-day Seoul also helps Miyoung keep a low profile. She and her mother protect themselves by hiding in plain sight. That is until Miyoung crosses paths with a handsome boy her age as he’s being attacked by a goblin in the woods… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Classism
  • Ableist language
  • Physical, emotional & verbal parental abuse
  • Parental neglect & abandonment
  • Nightmares
  • Suicide & attempted suicide discussed
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Seizures, multiple on-page scenes
  • Coma
  • Hospital (setting)
  • Medical procedures, including blood tests & surgery mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother, on-page
  • Death of a grandmother, on-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Attempted infanticide recounted
  • Hostage situation
  • Drowning recounted
  • Loss of autonomy (theme)*
  • Bullying

*Note: The main character is a gumiho, and people are able to control her actions and force her to follow their instructions when they possess her fox bead.

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Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny & racism
  • Eugenics
  • Sexual assault & attempted rape (on-page)
  • Incest
  • Forced breeding mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking
  • Drugging
  • Hallucinations
  • Infertility & miscarriages mentioned
  • Medical treatment for tuberculosis discussed
  • Blood & gore depiction including body horror & cannibalism
  • Death of an infant mentioned
  • Death of a father discussed
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence

All That Impossible Space by Anna Morgan

All That Impossible Space by Anna Morgan

15-year-old Lara Laylor feels like a supporting character in her own life. She’s Ashley’s best friend, she’s Hannah’s sister she’s never just Lara. When new history teacher Mr Grant gives her an unusual assignment: investigating the mystery of the Somerton Man. Found dead in on an Adelaide beach in 1948, a half-smoked cigarette still in his mouth and the labels cut out of his clothes, the Somerton Man has intrigued people for years. Was he a spy? A criminal? Year 10 has plenty of mysteries of its own: boys, drama queen friends, and enigmatic new students… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Grooming behaviour & discussions of a teacher-student relationship
  • Toxic friendship (theme)
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Asthma attacks (on-page)
  • Murder & dead bodies discussed
  • Drowning recounted
  • Bullying (rumour spreading)

The Adventure Zone, Vol. 1: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy & Carey Pietsch

EJoin Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided (“guided”) by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it’s based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-sacrifice & self-injury
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a cousin & uncle
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Fire & explosion
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Graphic animal dead bodies

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn’t happened yet.

Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture – being kept apart, overhearing each other’s anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There’s no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It’s from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that’s about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut-shaming
  • Disorder food thoughts & restrictive eating (dieting)
  • Internalised body shaming
  • Nightmares & flashbacks
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Blood depiction & physical injuries, including serious injury of a loved one
  • Hospital
  • Needles
  • Surgery
  • Comas
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of both parents
  • Death of a brother
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture & psychological torture
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Incarceration
  • Fire
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Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

It’s 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.

An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fat shaming
  • Slut-shaming
  • Attempted rape
  • Domestic violence
  • Child abuse
  • Abortion and death due to a ‘backstreet’ abortion
  • Medical procedures
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into aeroplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travellers are stranded. Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Coming out themes
  • Blood & injury depiction including scars and comas
  • Hospital (setting)
  • Nonconsensual medical treatment, including surgery & blood tests
  • Death of a teacher
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions
  • Car accident
  • Plane crashes (theme)
  • Fire
  • Animal death & dead bodies