The Cousins by Karen McManus

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. … Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racist microaggressions
  • Sexism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Cheating
  • Parental abuse & neglect
  • Parental abandonment
  • Familial disownment & estrangement (central theme)
  • Pregnancy discussed
  • Miscarriage recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Death of a father & grandfather mentioned
  • Death of a mother & grandmother mentioned
  • Death of a son mentioned
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Death in a car accident mentioned
  • Murder recounted
  • Gun violence
  • Hostage situation
  • Housefire & death from smoke inhalation mentioned
  • Financial struggles & bankruptcy discussed

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo 

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story–their story–at the very beginning. Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated–perhaps they’ll find life’s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • 9/11 discussed

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death. A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires. What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Parental abandonment & disownment
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Domestic abuse
  • Abusive dom-sub relationship
  • Psychosis
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Attempted suicide
  • Graphic self-harm
  • Pregnancy
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Death of an infant
  • Animal death & cruelty

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

Angrboda’s story begins where most witches’ tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin’s all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Family separation
  • Toxic relationship
  • Child birth
  • Near-pregnancy
  • Miscarriage
  • Medical procedure, specifically sutures
  • Death of a child
  • Burning alive
  • Torture
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Fire
  • Animal death

Playboy Pilot by Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland

Playboy Pilot by Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland

Money or love? Which would you choose? You probably just answered the question in your head thinking it’s an easy decision. For me, it’s not. Did I mention it’s a lot of money? A hell of a lot. I needed to go far away to think it through. As I embarked on an impulsive trip, I hit a detour when I met sexy Carter in the airport lounge. We struck up a heated conversation.

Then, he left. I thought I’d never see him again. But fate had other plans. Surprise! He was the pilot of my flight. The bigger surprise was the adventure that followed after the plane landed. Carter was dangerous and always on the move but I was addicted. Nothing else mattered anymore. And I was going to get hurt. Because a part of me wanted to be the one to finally ground the playboy pilot. All good things must come to an end, right? Except our ending was one I didn’t see coming.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Pregnancy mentioned

RoomHate by Penelope Ward

RoomHate by Penelope Ward

When my grandmother died and left me half of the house on Aquidneck Island, there was a catch: the other half would go to the boy she helped raise. The same boy who turned into the teenager whose heart I broke years ago. The same teenager who’s now a man with a hard body and a hardass personality to match. I hadn’t seen him in years, and now we’re living together because neither one of us is willing to give up the house. The worst part? He didn’t come alone.

I’d soon realize there’s a thin line between love and hate. I could see through that smug smile. Beneath it all…the boy is still there. So is our connection. The problem is…now that I can’t have Justin, I’ve never wanted him more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut-shaming
  • Child neglect recounted
  • Cheating
  • Unplanned pregnancy

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government’s emergency protocols are faltering.

Dr. Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Pregnancy
  • Medical procedures
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a partner
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Home invasion
  • Animal injury
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack

Stutter by A Zavarelli 

Stutter by A. Zavarelli

I’m trapped in a black hole of darkness I can’t seem to crawl out of. My twin and my lover want each other dead and I’m pregnant with a baby I don’t know how to protect. Ryland says he will do anything to get me back, but how do you trust the man who almost killed you? When every option before you comes at a cost, how do you choose the right path?

People say that history has a way of repeating itself. Six years after the fact, my father’s actions are still haunting me. When I learn about an old debt yet to be settled, everything changes. It might not matter who I trust anymore when my every breath brings me one step closer to the end of this twisted game. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Kidnapping
  • Pregnancy

Ghost by A Zavarelli 

Ghost by A. Zavarelli

I have always been a bird. Caged by one prison or another. Then the only thing I ever wanted was to fly away. Sold. Beaten. Starved. Drugged. Nothing scares me anymore. Until him. He makes the numbness go away. He is hazardous to me. It has nothing to do with his mafia lifestyle, and everything to do with what he offers. A gilded prison. A retreat from everything that I once knew. The reality I have no desire to return to. He thinks he’s caged me, but soon… I’m going to fly.

I live by a code. The Vory code. In this mafiya world, there are traditions. Expectations. She does not care for these things. She does not care about anything. She thinks she has me fooled with her haunted eyes. What she can’t know is that I see her better than most. She wants to fly but I’m going to clip her wings. And make her my wife.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Human sex trafficking
  • Rape
  • Child sexual abuse by a foster parent recounted
  • Cheating recounted
  • Pregnancy
  • Drug use
  • Death of a parent from suicide, off-page
  • Death of a sibling
  • Murder & attempted murder

Reaper by A Zavarelli 

Reaper by A. Zavarelli

He’s dark and mysterious. Quiet and lethal. An Irish mobster. Pure sin wrapped up in a beautiful package. But there’s also something off about him. He doesn’t feel anything. He shows no emotions. Sometimes I question his humanity. He hasn’t spoken to me in two years. Not a single word. But we share a secret, he and I. And if it ever comes out, I have no doubt in my mind… He won’t have a problem killing me too.

Ronan: I’ve slain for her. I’ll do it again. When it comes to Sasha, there isn’t a line I won’t cross. I watch her. She doesn’t know it. She thinks I hate her. Sometimes, I think I might too.
But I’m always there, lurking in the shadows. Craving her. Trying to keep the beast within at bay. I’ll keep her safe. I’ll slaughter anyone who tries to hurt her. The only thing I can’t do… is protect her from myself.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Murder
  • Gun violence