Song of Blood and Stone by L Penelope

Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope

The kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar have been separated for centuries by the Mantle, a magical veil that has enforced a tremulous peace between the two lands. But now, the Mantle is cracking and the True Father, ruler of Lagrimar and the most powerful Earthsinger in the world, finally sees a way into Elsira to seize power. All Jasminda ever wanted was to live quietly on her farm, away from the prying eyes of those in the nearby town. Branded an outcast by the colour of her skin and her gift of Earthsong, she’s been shunned all her life and has learned to steer clear from the townsfolk until a group of Lagrimari sold… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Attempted rape
  • Threats of rape
  • War themes

Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June

Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June

There’s one thing Jay Collier knows for sure—he’s a statistical anomaly as the only out gay kid in his small rural Washington town. While all these friends can’t stop talking about their heterosexual hookups and relationships, Jay can only dream of his own firsts, compiling a romance to-do list of all the things he hopes to one day experience—his Gay Agenda. Then, against all odds, Jay’s family moves to Seattle and he starts his senior year at a new high school with a thriving LGBTQIA+ community. For the first time ever, Jay feels like he’s found where he truly… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Homomisia
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Cheating
  • Emesis

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

In 1982, Evelyn’s daughter, Jackie, is a frazzled single mother grappling with her absent husband’s drug addiction. Just as she comes to terms with his abandoning the family, he returns, ready to resume their old life. Jackie must decide if the promise of her husband is worth the near certainty he’ll leave again. Jackie’s son, T.C., loves the creative process of growing marijuana more than the weed itself. He finds something hypnotic about training the seedlings, testing the levels, trimming the leaves, and drying the buds. He was a square before Hurricane Katrina, but the New Orleans he knew didn’t survive the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Domestic violence
  • Substance addiction
  • War themes

Fevre Dream by George RR Martin

Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin

Abner Marsh, a struggling riverboat captain, suspects that something’s amiss when he is approached by a wealthy aristocrat with a lucrative offer. The hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet; nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York’s reasons for traversing the powerful Mississippi are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious York’s actions may prove. Not until the maiden voyage of Fevre Dream does Marsh realize that he has joined a mission both more sinister… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Rape
  • Infanticide

Ben and Beatriz by Katalina Gamarra

Ben and Beatriz by Katalina Gamarra

Beatriz Herrera is a fierce woman who will take you down with her quick wit and keen intellect. And after the results of the 2016 election worked hard to erase her identity as a queer biracial woman, she’d be right to. Especially if you come for her sweet BFF cousin, Hero. Beatriz would do anything for her, a loyalty that lands Beatriz precisely where she doesn’t want to be: spending a week at the ridiculous Cape Cod mansion of stupid-hot playboy Ben Montgomery. The same Ben Montgomery she definitely shouldn’t have hooked up with that one time. The things we do for… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Colourism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcoholism
  • Substance addiction
  • Attempted suicide, off-page
  • Psychiatric hospitalisation

The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot

The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot

Lottie collects dead creatures and lovingly cares for them, hoping to preserve them, to save them from disintegration. Her father understands—Lottie has a scientific mind, he thinks. Her aunt wants it to stop, and she goes to cruel lengths to make sure it does. And her mother? Lottie’s mother died long ago. And Lottie is searching for a way to be close to her.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Sexism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Hostage situation
  • Blackmail
  • Fire
  • Drowning
  • Building collapse
  • Colonialism
  • Graphic animal death & dead bodies (theme)

Crota by Owl Goingback

Crota by Owl Goingback

It is called Crota… and it has awakened. Sheriff Skip Harding is called out to investigate a double homicide unlike any he has seen before: the bodies are torn to pieces in the woods. Some think it’s a bear. But others whisper something different. It’s the Crota, they say. The great beast of legend that one day will reawaken. And that day has arrived.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Body horror
  • Animal death
  • Anima torture

Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

In this book, the impact of wildfire, a wayward priest, or a mysterious disappearance ricochet across communities, threading through stories. Here, ordinary actions such as ice skating or going to church reveal hidden truths. One choice threatens a lifelong friendship. Siblings save each other. Rescue and second chances are possible, and so is revenge. On the surface, it seems that nothing ever happens in these towns. But Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock shows that underneath that surface, teenagers’ lives blaze with fury, with secrets, and with love so strong it burns a path to the future.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & queerphobia
  • Sexual assault
  • Pedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Cheating
  • Alcoholism
  • Drug use
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Car accident
  • Wildfire

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed. Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Islamomisia
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Death of a sibling
  • Suicide bombing
  • Beheading
  • Drive-by shooting
  • Terrorism
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Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert

Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert

After an assault, bigender seventeen-year-old Aleks/Alexis is looking for a fresh start―so they voluntarily move in with their uncle, a Catholic priest. In their new bedroom, Aleks/Alexis discovers they can overhear parishioners in the church confessional. Moved by the struggles of these “sinners,” Aleks/Alexis decides to anonymously help them, finding solace in their secret identity: a guardian angel instead of a victim. But then Aleks/Alexis overhears a confession of another priest admitting to sexually abusing a parishioner. As they try to uncover the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Ableism
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Slut shaming
  • Homomsia & homomisic slurs
  • Transmisia & internalised transmisia
  • Misgendering
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse mentioned
  • Disordered eating & body image
  • Body dysmorphia
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Physical injury
  • Hospital
  • Murder
  • Fire
  • Stalking and invasion of privacy
  • Bullying
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