Tag Archives: Racism

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of racism.

See also White supremacy, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Antiziganism.

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia’s family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess–a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner. For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She’s endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside. Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Racism
  • Rape mentioned
  • Sexual harassment
  • Medical experimentation
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Poisoning
  • Whipping
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death
  • War & rebellion

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace’s drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder. Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, Jennifer Donnelly’s debut novel weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving and real.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder by drowning

Color Outside the Lines edited by Sangu Mandanna

Color Outside the Lines edited by Sangu Mandanna with contributions from Anna-Marie McLemore, Elsie Chapman, Karuna Riazi, Lydia Kang, L.L. McKinney, Lauren Giabaldi, Tara Sim, Caroline Tung Richmond, Kelly Zekas, Tarun Shanker, Samira Ahmed, Adam Silvera, Eric Smith, Lori M. Lee and Michelle Ruiz Keil

When people ask me what this anthology is about, I’m often tempted to give them the complicated answer: it’s about race, and about how being different from the person you love can matter but how it can also not matter, and it’s about Chinese pirate ghosts, black girl vigilantes, colonial India, a flower festival, a garden of poisons, and so, so much else. Honestly, though? I think the answer’s much simpler than that. Color outside the Lines is a collection of stories about young, fierce, brilliantly hopeful people in love.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism, racism & antisemitism
  • Dieting & disordered eating
  • Hospitalisation
  • Police brutality
  • Explosion
  • Bullying

Darkness Embraced by Tillie Cole

Darkness Embraced by Tillie Cole

Born to sit on opposing thrones.⁣ They were never meant to fall.⁣ Tanner Ayers is the heir of the Texas Ku Klux Klan. Fed nothing but hate, violence, and intolerance from the day he was born, Tanner kills for his cause without remorse.⁣ Until he meets Adelita Quintana, the daughter of the most brutal cartel boss in Mexico. Adelita and Tanner hate each other instantly. But there is something between them that neither can explain nor deny. Hate turns to desire, desire turns to love, and for the first time, Tanner sees how wrong his whole life has been. Adelita and Tanner hate each other instantly. But there is something between them that.⁣⁣⁣.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking, off-page
  • Racism
  • Rape of a child, off-page
  • Child abuse, on-page
  • Murder, on-page
  • Kidnapping, on-page

Crux Untamed by Tillie Cole

Crux Untamed by Tillie Cole

A broken woman. A damaged man. A free spirit intent on saving them both. Elysia ‘Sia’ Willis lives a solitary life. The only person in it is her big brother, Ky, vice-president of the infamous Hades Hangmen. She loves him, but she has absolutely no love for the outlaw MC he belongs to. Raised in secret by her mother, Sia grew up separated from her brother and distant father. No one knew she even existed. After the tragic murder of her mother, Sia spiralled into a rebellion against the rules of the Hangmen. A rebellion with dire consequences that now, years later, she… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking, on-page
  • Racism & white supremacy, on-page
  • Klu Klux Klan
  • Epilepsy
  • Murder of parents recounted

Endangered by Lamar Giles

Endangered by Lamar Giles

The one secret she cares about keeping—her identity—is about to be exposed. Unless Lauren “Panda” Daniels—an anonymous photoblogger who specializes in busting classmates and teachers in compromising positions—plays along with her blackmailer’s little game of Dare or . . . Dare. But when the game turns deadly, Panda doesn’t know what to do. And she may need to step out of the shadows to save herself . . . and everyone else on the Admirer’s hit list.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Ableism
  • Slut shaming
  • Public outing recounted
  • Statutory rape
  • Nonconsensual voyeurism
  • Adult-minor relationship*
  • Cheating
  • Attempted suicide
  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Hospitalisation
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Strangulation
  • Fire
  • Stalking
  • Blackmail
  • Car accident
  • Kidnapping mentioned
  • Bullying & cyberbullying (theme)

*Context : Adult-minor relationship between an underage female student and a male teacher.

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance until she falls… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Amisia
  • Deadnaming
  • Racism
  • Fatmisia
  • Suicide by overdose
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Terminal illness
  • Bullying

The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian

The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian

Beth Kramer is a “townie” who returns to her sophomore year after having endured a year of judgment from her roommate, Sarah. But Sarah Brunson knows there’s more to that story. Amanda Priya “Spence” Spencer is the privileged daughter of NYC elites, who is reeling from the realization that her family name shielded her from the same fate as Sarah. Ramin Golafshar arrives at Chandler as a transfer student to escape the dangers of being gay in Iran, only to suffer brutal hazing under the guise of tradition in the boys’ dorms. And Freddy Bello is the senior who’s no longer sure of his future but has fallen… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Homomisia
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Sexual assault
  • Trichotillomania
  • Self-harm
  • Bullying & hazing

The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian

The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian

Daria Esfandyar is Iranian-American and proud of her heritage, unlike some of the “Nose Jobs” in the clique led by her former best friend, Heidi Javadi. Daria and her friends call themselves the Authentics, because they pride themselves on always keeping it real. But in the course of researching a school project, Daria learns something shocking about her past, which launches her on a journey of self-discovery. It seems everyone is keeping secrets. And it’s getting harder to know who she even is any longer. With infighting among the Authentics, her mother planning an over… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Miscarriage
  • Stillbirth

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Burn scars
  • Medical experimentation
  • Death of a grandmother
  • Death of a mother, father & brother in a fire
  • Graphic murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Explosion
  • Arson