The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi

In love they breathed. In destiny they believed. In the end, will divinity be their demise? After Séverin’s seeming betrayal, the crew is fractured. Armed with only a handful of hints, Enrique, Laila, Hypnos and Zofia must find their way through the snarled, haunted waterways of Venice, Italy to locate Séverin. Meanwhile, Séverin must balance the deranged whims of the Patriarch of the Fallen House and discover the location of a temple beneath a plague island where the Divine Lyre can be played and all that he desires will come to pass. With only ten days until Laila expires, the crew will face plague pits and deadly masquerades, un… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Antisemitism recounted
  • Racism
  • Colonialism discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Terminal illness
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder
  • Explosion
  • Animal sacrifice mentioned

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon

Gem Echols is a nonbinary Seminole teen living in the tiny town of Gracie, Georgia. Known for being their peers’ queer awakening, Gem leans hard on charm to disguise the anxious mess they are beneath. The only person privy to their authentic self is another trans kid, Enzo, who’s a thousand long, painful miles away in Brooklyn. But even Enzo doesn’t know about Gem’s dreams, haunting visions of magic and violence that have always felt too real. So how the hell does Willa Mae Hardy? The strange new girl in town acts like she and Gem are old companions, and seems to know things about them they’ve never told anyone.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, slavery & genoicde mentioned
  • Transphobia
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse, off-page
  • Hallucinations
  • Self-harm recounted
  • Blood, gore & body horror
  • Emesis
  • Torture
  • Animal death

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon. Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raisi… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Misogyny & sexism
  • Slavery
  • Hate crime
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Police brutality
  • Genocide & colonialism discussed

New from Here by Kelly Yang

When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans’s mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move—and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work. At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he’s from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn’t even know when he’ll see them again, since the flights have been…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • COVID-19

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare — poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Child abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Military enlistment & deployment (theme)

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Set in 1776, against the backdrop of the American struggle for independence, this powerful novel is also an incredible adventure about one girl’s struggle for freedom in a society in which she is considered someone else’s property. Isabel and her sister, Ruth, are slaves. Sold from one owner to the next, they arrive in New York as the Americans are fighting for their independence, and the English are struggling to maintain control. Soon Isabel is struggling too. Struggling to keep herself and her sister safe in a world in which they have no control.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Slavery
  • Torture
  • Branding & whipping
  • War themes

The Marquis Who Mustn’t by Courtney Milan

One good fraud deserves another… Miss Naomi Kwan has long wanted to take ambulance classes so that she can save lives. But when she tries to register, she’s told she needs permission from the man in charge of her. It would be incredibly wrong to claim that the tall, taciturn Chinese nobleman she just met is her fiancé, but Naomi is desperate, and desperate times call for fake engagements. To her unending surprise, Liu Ji Kai goes along with her ruse. It’s not that Kai is nice. He’s in Wedgeford to practice his family business, and there’s no room for “nice” when you’re out to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Racism
  • Child abuse & parental abandonment recounted

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Sexism
  • Slavery
  • Sex-trafficking & slavery mentioned
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Trauma
  • Intrusive thoughts & panic attacks
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug abuse
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Physical injuries including amputation (off-page)
  • Medical experimentation mentioned
  • Famine & starvation
  • Emesis
  • Cannibalism
  • Decapitation
  • Mutilation & genital mutilation (castration)
  • Murder & mass death
  • Torture
  • Sword violence
  • Poisoning
  • Bombings
  • Animal abuse & death
  • Graphic war themes & battle scenes (theme)
  • Colonialism (theme)

Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter

Lena Adams has spent her life struggling to forget her childhood in Reece, the small town which nearly destroyed her. She’s made a new life for herself as a police detective in Heartsdale, a hundred miles away – but nothing could prepare her for the violence which explodes when she is forced to return. A vicious murder leaves a young woman incinerated beyond recognition. And Lena is the only suspect. When Heartsdale police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, Lena’s boss, receives word that his detective has been arrested, he has no choice but to go to Lena’s aid – taking with him his wife, medical examiner Sara Linton. But soon after…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & white supremacy
  • Rape recounted
  • Drug abuse
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Explosion
  • Car accident
  • Fire & immolation

Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander

Eli Ward hasn’t been back to his suffocating hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, in ages. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person from the one who left years ago. But when a scandal threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, he has no choice but to return home for the holidays. He can only hope he’ll survive his boisterous, loving, but often misguided family and hide the fact that his dream of comedy success has become a nightmare. ust when he thinks this trip couldn’t get any worse, Eli bumps into his high school ex, Nick Wu, who’s somehow hotter than ever. Divorced and in his forties, Nick’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Homomisia & transmisia
  • Divorce recounted
  • Alcoholism recounted
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Car accident recounted