Queerphobia – Page 62 – Trigger Warning Database

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith

Pony just wants to fly under the radar during senior year. Tired from all the attention he got at his old school after coming out as transgender, he’s looking for a fresh start at Hillcrest High. But it’s hard to live your best life when the threat of exposure lurks down every hallway and in every bathroom.

Georgia is beginning to think there’s more to life than cheerleading. She plans on keeping a low profile until graduation…which is why she promised herself that dating was officially a no-go this year.

Then, on the very first day of school, the new guy and the cheerleader lock eyes. How is Pony supposed to stay stealth when he wants to get close to a girl like Georgia? How is Georgia supposed to keep her promise when sparks start flying with a boy like Pony?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Acemisia
Homomisia
Lesbomisia, including slurs and internalised
Transmisia, including slurs and internalised
Deadnaming
Misgendering
Graphic assault against trans character, including physical assault
Parental abuse
Suicidal ideation
Forced and pressured outing
Hate crime
Bullying

One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism, racism, sexism & slut-shaming
Homophobia & coming out themes
Dubious consent scenarios involving minors discussed, including mentions of nonconsensual voyeurism*
Parental abandonment recounted
Infidelity, recounted & discussed
Alcoholism mentioned
Bipolar Disorder
Suicide & attempted suicide and self-harm
Alcohol consumption & abuse and recreational drug use
Death from anaphylaxis
Cancer mentioned and heart attack
Hospitalisation
Death of a classmate (on-page)
Death of an uncle mentioned
Death of a mother recounted
Murder & attempted murder
School shooting & gun violence discussed
Strangulation
Physical assault
Car accident recounted
Blackmail
Bullying

*Context: Characters under the influence of alcohol recount having sex, and a protagonist recounts coerced ‘consent’ to sex with her boyfriend.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth’s magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires – the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them. After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Homophobia & slut-shaming
Sexual harassment
Teacher-student relationship
Depression & self-harm by cutting (secondary character, on-page)
Alcohol consumption
Blood depiction & blood-drinking (on-page)
Animal death

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Transmisia
Deadnaming
Racism
Parental physical abuse
War themes

Dark Room by Tom Becker

When Darla and her feckless dad, Hopper, move to Saffron Hills, Darla hopes it’ll be a new start for the both of them. But she stands no chance of fitting in with the image-obsessed in-crowd at her new school. Then one of her classmates is brutally killed when taking a photo of herself. A murder Darla herself predicted in a bloody vision. When more teens die in a similar fashion it appears that a serial killer is on the loose – the ‘Selfie Slayer’. Darla alone is convinced that the murderer might not be flesh and blood…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Transphobia
Faked suicide by hanging recounted
Blood & gore depiction
Death of a parent recounted
Death of a friend
Murder (serial killer)

*Context: When a young boy was caught murdering a young girls, his father helped him avoid charges & escape the country by faking his suicide; he had so-called ‘gender reassignment surgery’ so he could return and resume killing in ‘disguise’ (as a woman).

Machine by Elizabeth Bear

Machine by Elizabeth Bear

Meet Doctor Jens. She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good spaceships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee. But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away. Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can’t resist a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Misogyny
Homomisia
Chronic pain

Titanic 2020 by Colin Bateman

‘Lucky’ Jimmy Armstrong stows away on the first voyage of the ‘new’ Titanic – and sails straight into the end of the world. As a plague destroys civilization Jimmy and his friend Claire, the daughter of the ship’s owner, record the downfall of civilization through the on-board newspaper, The Titanic Times and find themselves up to their necks in danger from mutineers and flesh eating dogs.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Homophobia
Plague (theme)
Murder

Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak

Aidan Lockwood lives in a sleepy farming town, day after unremarkable day. But when Jarrod, his former best friend, suddenly moves back home, Aidan begins to see clearly for the first time—not only to feelings that go beyond mere friendship, but to a world that is haunted by the stories of his past. Visions from this invisible world come to him unbidden: a great-grandfather on the field of battle; his own father, stumbling upon an unspeakable tragedy; and a mysterious young boy, whose whispered words may be at the heart of the curse that holds Aidan… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism & homophobia

The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett

The troublemaker. The overachiever. The cheer captain. The dead girl. Like every high school in America, Jefferson-Lorne High contains all of the above. After the shocking murder of senior Emma Baines, three of her classmates are at the top of the suspect list: Claude, the notorious partier; Avery, the head cheerleader; and Gwen, the would-be valedictorian. Everyone has a label, whether they like it or not–and Emma was always known as a good girl. But appearances are never what they seem. And the truth behind what really happened to Emma may just be lying in plain sight… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Biphobia & slut-shaming
Statutory rape & sexual assault, grooming & teacher-student relationship
Disordered food & weight thoughts
Alcohol consumption & drug use
Death of a sibling recounted
Murder & gun violence

He’s Come Undone by Various

He’s Come Undone by Emma Barry, Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang & Cat Sebastian

For him, control is everything…until it shatters, and now he’s come undone.

Appasionata by Emma Barry
Piano technician Brennan Connelly lives to control details: the tension on a piano string or the compression of hammer felt. But he’s never faced demands like those heaped on him by Kristy Kwong, the diva who’s haunted his dreams for two decades. Kristy’s got her own secrets–the debilitating stage fright that’s kept her from performing publicly for years to start–and this concert is the last chance to save her career. But can he locate her lost passion without losing his precious control? … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Sexism
Familial estrangement
Disownment
Domestic abuse
Anxiety
Panic attack, on-page
Depression
Parent with Early-Onset Dementia