A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Substance addiction
  • Recreational drug use & abuse
  • Blood & physical injury depiction
  • Hospital
  • Needles
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Immolation
  • Torture
  • Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Kidnapping
  • War & rebellion themes, including child soldiers (themes)
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Heroine by Mindy McGinnis

Heroine by Mindy McGinnis

Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That role brings with it violent throw downs and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but the sixteen-year-old grows weary of the life. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city’s benevolent founder and cross the border in a search for a mysterious gang the Ashé Ryders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles other crews and her own doubts, but the closer she gets to her goal, the more she loses sight of everything—and everyone— she… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-harm
  • Substance addiction (theme), including addiction recovery, withdrawal, recreational drug use & abuse, prescription drug abuse & overdose
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Dead bodies mentioned
  • Physical injury
  • Car accident

Complicated by Kristen Ashley

Complicated by Kristen Ashley

Dealing with the fallout of a divorce he never wanted and setting up a new home for his kids, Hix becomes that guy, that one he never wanted to be, and puts a stop to things before they can even start. Protecting his kids, and himself, is his only priority.

Greta, on the other hand, has found the place for her and the brother she adores that’s perfect for them—a sleepy little town in Nebraska. She’s learned from life that there are no hopes and dreams. The only thing to look forward to is peace. And that’s what she works hard to build for herself and her brother. Right up until Hix walks into her life… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Murder, on-page
  • Car accident mentioned
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

When a deadly Fly Flu sweeps the globe, it leaves a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico’s father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted rape
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pandemic
  • Coma
  • Physical illness
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Car accident
  • Animal death
  • Animal injury
  • Hunting mentioned
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews

Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews

After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate—former Beast Lord Curran Lennart—are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Kate and Curran know that separating from the Pack completely is a process that will take time.

But when they learn that their friend Eduardo has gone missing, Kate and Curran shift their focus to investigate his disappearance. As they dig further into the merc’s business, they discover that the Mercenary Guild has gone to hell and that Eduardo’s recent assignments are connected in the most sinister way…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injury
  • Stroke
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Fire
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

Kate Daniels may have quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but she’s still knee-deep in paranormal problems. Or she would be if she could get someone to hire her. Starting her own business has been more challenging than she thought it would be—now that the Order is disparaging her good name, and many potential clients are afraid of getting on the bad side of the Beast Lord, who just happens to be Kate’s mate.

So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead calls to ask for help with a vampire on the loose, Kate leaps at the chance of some paying work. Turns out this is not an isolated incident, and Kate needs to get to the bottom of it—fast, or the city and everyone dear to her might pay the ultimate price . . .

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Terrorism
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injury
  • Murder
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

Drafted into working for the Order of Merciful Aid, mercenary Kate Daniels has more paranormal problems than she knows what to do with these days. And in Atlanta, where magic comes and goes like the tide, that’s saying a lot.

But when Kate’s werewolf friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, she must confront her greatest challenge yet. As her investigation leads her to the Midnight Games—an invitation only, no holds barred, ultimate preternatural fighting tournament—she and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, uncover a dark plot that may forever alter the face of Atlanta’s shapeshifting community…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injury
  • Murder
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta.

Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute—and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer—but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut shaming
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injury
  • Murder
  • Animal death
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Kate Daniels works for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, officially as a liaison with the mercenary guild. Unofficially, she cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to handle—especially if they involve Atlanta’s shapeshifting community.

When she’s called in to investigate a fight at the Steel Horse, a bar midway between the territories of the shapeshifters and the necromancers, Kate quickly discovers there’s a new player in town. One who’s been around for thousands of years—and rode to war at the side of Kate’s father.

This foe may be too much even for Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family… 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut shaming
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injury
  • Emesis
  • Death of a child
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

Atlanta was always a dangerous city. Now, as waves of magic and technology compete for supremacy, it’s a place caught in a slow apocalypse, where monsters spawn among the crumbling skyscrapers and supernatural factions struggle for power and survival.

Eight years ago, Julie Lennart left Atlanta to find out who she was. Now she’s back with a new face, a new magic, and a new name—Aurelia Ryder—drawn by the urgent need to protect the family she left behind. An ancient power is stalking her adopted mother, Kate Daniels, an enemy unlike any other, and a string of horrifying murders is its opening gambit… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape mentioned
  • Blood depiction
  • Eyeball trauma
  • Serious injury of a child
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Animal death
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com