The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin book cover

What do a future ambassador, an overly ambitious Francophile, a hospital-volunteering Girl Scout, the new girl from Cleveland, the junior cheer captain, and the vice president of the debate club have in common? It sounds like the ridiculously long lead-up to an astoundingly absurd punchline, right? Except it’s not. Well, unless my life is the joke, which is kind of starting to look like a possibility given how beyond soap opera it’s been since I moved to Lancaster. But anyway, here’s your answer: we’ve all had the questionable privilege of going out with Lancaster High School’s de facto king. Otherwise known as my best friend. Otherwise known as the reason I’ve already helped steal a car, a jet ski, and one hundred spray-painted water bottles when it’s not even Christmas break yet. Otherwise known as Henry. Jersey number 8.

Meet Cleves. Girlfriend number four and the narrator of The Dead Queens Club, a young adult retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. Cleves is the only girlfriend to come out of her relationship with Henry unscathed—but most breakups are messy, right? And sometimes tragic accidents happen…twice…

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Misogyny and sexism
  • Ableism
  • Slut-shaming
  • Victim blaming
  • Body shaming
  • Sexual assault, recounted
  • Revenge pornography
  • Cheating
  • Gaslighting
  • Abusive relationship/s
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a mother, mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Building collapse
  • Fire
  • Stalking
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The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray book cover

SOMETHING DARK AND EVIL HAS AWAKENED… Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho is hiding a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • White supremacy, including the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
  • Slut-shaming
  • Rape
  • Domestic violence
  • Child abuse
  • Assisted suicide of a disabled character
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Abortion
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Medical treatment
  • Death of a sibling
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Cults
  • Animal cruelty
  • Animal sacrifice
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Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray book cover

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to “read” objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners’ abilities…
Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Death of a loved one
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Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray book cover

After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough lies. They’re more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror. Out on Ward’s Island, far from the city’s bustle, sits a mental hospital haunted by the lost souls of people long forgotten–ghosts who have unusual and dangerous ties to the man in the stovepipe hat, also known as the King of Crows.

With terrible accounts of murder and possession flooding in from all over and New York City on the verge of panic, the Diviners must band together and brave the sinister ghosts invading the asylum, a fight that will bring them face-to-face with the King of Crows. But as the explosive secrets of the past come to light, loyalties and friendships will be tested, love will hang in the balance, and the Diviners will question all that they’ve ever known. All the while, malevolent forces gather from every corner in a battle for the very soul of a nation–a fight that could claim the Diviners themselves. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Attempted rape
  • Domestic violence
  • Death of a loved one
  • Murder
  • Explosions
  • War themes
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Dead Space by Kali Wallace

Dead Space by Kali Wallace

Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She’s surprised to hear from a fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life–and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history.

Before Hester can learn more, her friend is violently murdered at a remote asteroid mine. Hester joins the investigation to find the truth, but catching a killer is only the beginning of Hester’s worries.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • PTSD & claustrophobia
  • Panic attacks
  • Suicide
  • Blood depiction, body horror & medical trauma
  • Sterilization
  • Famine
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • War themes & attempted genocide
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Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon

Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon

ZIggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon book cover

The year is 1973. The Watergate hearings are in full swing. The Vietnam War is still raging. And homosexuality is still officially considered a mental illness. In the midst of these trying times is sixteen-year-old Jonathan Collins, a bullied, anxious, asthmatic kid, who aside from an alcoholic father and his sympathetic neighbor and friend Starla, is completely alone. To cope, Jonathan escapes to the safe haven of his imagination, where his hero David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and dead relatives, including his mother, guide him through the rough terrain of his life. In his alternate reality, Jonathan can be anything: a superhero, an astronaut… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Conversion therapy
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Hate crimes
  • Sexual assault
  • Alcoholism
  • Anxiety
  • Suicide, mentioned
  • Death of a parent, recounted
  • Police brutality
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Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman book cover

A half-Japanese teen grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school in this debut novel.

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.

But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist slurs
  • Racism
  • Fatmisia
  • Paedophilia
  • Child sexual abuse
  • Emotional child abuse
  • Abandonment
  • Anxiety and panic attacks
  • Suicide attempt
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Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake book cover

“I need Owen to explain this. Because yes, I do know that Owen would never do that, but I also know Hannah would never lie about something like that.”

Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn’t know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn’t help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend and best friend since childhood, Charlie.

As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Coming out themes
  • Bimisia
  • Internalised enbymisia
  • Slut-shaming
  • Victim blaming, discussed
  • Misogyny
  • Racist microaggressions
  • Rape, central theme
  • Sexual assault
  • Paedophillia*
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Panic attacks, multiple occurrences on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Minor injury, mentioned
  • Hospital visit, mentioned
  • Medical procedure including a rape kit, recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying

*Main character, who is a minor, is sexually abused by her teacher

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Three Keys by Kelly Yang

Three Keys by Kelly Yang

Mia Tang thinks she’s going to have the best year ever.

She and her parents are the proud owners of the Calivista Motel, Mia gets to run the front desk with her best friend, Lupe, and she’s finally getting somewhere with her writing! But as it turns out, sixth grade is no picnic…
1. Mia’s new teacher doesn’t think her writing is all that great.
2. The motel is struggling, and Mia has to answer to the Calivista’s many, many worried investors.
3. A new immigration law is looming and if it passes, it will threaten everything—and everyone—in Mia’s life.

It’s a roller coaster of challenges, and Mia needs all of her determination to hang on tight. But if anyone can find the key to getting through turbulent times, it’s Mia Tang!

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Death of a grandmother (off-page)
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Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.

Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they’ve been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.

Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?

It will take all of Mia’s courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & anti-Blackness
  • Police brutality
  • Hospital
  • Physical assault
  • Poverty themes
  • Bullying
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