Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she’s never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society’s failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #metoo and #timesup, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. SHOUT speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice– and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatphobia & body shaming
  • Rape & sexual assault (theme)
  • Child & spousal abuse, including physical abuse & gaslighting
  • Military service-related PTSD
  • Alcohol & drug abuse
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The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Sex worker slurs
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Colourism
  • Segregation discussed
  • Attempted rape recounted (theme)
  • Nightmares & flashbacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Murder
  • Torture recounted
  • Gun violence
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The King’s Men by Nora Sakavic

The King’s Men by Nora Sakavic

The King's Men by Nora Sakavic book cover

Neil Josten is out of time. He knew when he came to PSU he wouldn’t survive the year, but with his death right around the corner he’s got more reasons than ever to live.

Befriending the Foxes was inadvisable. Kissing one is unthinkable. Neil should know better than to get involved with anyone this close to the end, but Andrew’s never been the easiest person to walk away from. If they both say it doesn’t mean anything, maybe Neil won’t regret losing it, but the one person Neil can’t lie to is himself.

He’s got promises to keep and a team to get to championships if he can just outrun Riko a little longer, but Riko’s not the only monster in Neil’s life. The truth might get them all killed—or be Neil’s one shot at getting out of this alive.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Physical & emotional abuse
  • Self-harm
  • Addiction
  • Alcohol & drug use, consensual and non-consensual
  • Graphic blood and gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Knife violence
  • Bullying
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The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

The Foxes are a fractured mess, but their latest disaster might be the miracle they’ve always needed to come together as a team. The one person standing in their way is Andrew, and the only one who can break through his personal barriers is Neil.

Except Andrew doesn’t give up anything for free and Neil is terrible at trusting anyone but himself. The two don’t have much time to come to terms with their situation before outside forces start tearing them apart. Riko is intent on destroying Neil’s fragile new life, and the Foxes have just become collateral damage.

Neil’s days are numbered, but he’s learning the hard way to go down fighting for what he believes in, and Neil believes in Andrew even if Andrew won’t believe in himself.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Physical & emotional abuse
  • Self-harm
  • Addiction
  • Alcohol & drug use, consensual and non-consensual
  • Graphic blood and gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Knife violence
  • Bullying
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The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic book cover

Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential—and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.

Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn’t need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil’s not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil’s new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can’t walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he’s finally found someone and something worth fighting for.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Physical & emotional abuse
  • Self-harm
  • Addiction
  • Alcohol & drug use, consensual and non-consensual
  • Graphic blood and gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Knife violence
  • Bullying
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Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

Summer of Salt by Kartina Leno book cover

A magic passed down through generations . . . Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.

An island where strange things happen . . . No one on the island of By-the-Sea would ever call the Fernwehs what they really are, but if you need the odd bit of help—say, a sleeping aid concocted by moonlight—they are the ones to ask. No one questions the weather, as moody and erratic as a summer storm… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableist language
  • Slut-shaming
  • Victim-blaming
  • Rape, off-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Childbirth & pregnancy mentioned
  • Physical illness
  • Emesis
  • Hospitals
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Gun violence
  • Animal cruelty & death, off-page
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The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The daughter of a union with an outsider that cast her once-proud family into disgrace, Immanuelle does her best to worship the Father, follow Holy Protocol and lead a life of submission, devotion and absolute conformity, like all the women in the settlement.

But a chance mishap lures her into the forbidden Darkwood that surrounds Bethel – a place where the first prophet once pursued and killed four powerful witches. Their spirits are still walking there, and they bestow a gift on Immanuelle: the diary of her dead mother, who Immanuelle is shocked to learn once sought sanctuary in the wood.

Fascinated by secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realises the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her . . .

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism & colourism
  • Misogyny
  • Slut-shaming
  • Ableist language
  • Persecution for witchcraft
  • Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse
  • Sexual assault
  • Rape & statutory rape recounted
  • Paedophilia & child molestation recounted
  • Forced nonconsensual marriage*
  • Exile & ex-communication
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Suicide recounted
  • Self-harm & self-inflicted injuries
  • Pregnancy & child pregnancy (secondary character)
  • Death from childbirth (two on-page scenes), and mentions of miscarriage & stillbirth
  • Graphic blood depiction & menstruation discussed
  • Plague (multiple)
  • Seizures & stroke (side character)
  • Nonconsensual branding
  • Emesis
  • Death of a mother & father recounted
  • Death of a son recounted
  • Death of a best friend (on-page)
  • Strangulation
  • Drowning
  • Being burned alive
  • Earthquake
  • Imprisonment & captivity
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Animal death & sacrifice

Note: This book portrays a cult which uses its beliefs to justify abuse, torture, misogyny, racism & paedophilia, including the marriage, rape (‘bedding’) & impregnation of multiple children (not graphic or on-page, but mentioned & discussed by secondary characters).

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The Weight of the Stars by K Ancrum

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum

Ryann Bird dreams of travelling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism mentioned
  • Sexual assault
  • Parental abandonment discussed
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Hospitalisation for physical injuries (off-page)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Bullying

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

It’s 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over. Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball are forfeit. But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen – she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny (central theme)
  • Racism & queerphobia (specifically lesbophobia & homophobia)
  • Nonconsensual and coerced marriage of teenage girls to adult men (theme), including ‘corrective’ marriage & nonconsensual polygamy
  • Sexual harassment & sexual assault (on-page)
  • Physical & financial domestic abuse (on-page & off-page)
  • Child abuse
  • Implied suicide
  • Food deprivation mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence
  • Explosion & fire
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal death & animal attack

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo book cover

The dashing young king, Nikolai Lantsov, has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war–and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threat-ening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible…. Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Slavery
  • Sexual assault (implied)
  • Substance addiction & drug abuse
  • Suicide
  • Torture
  • Captivity
  • War themes
  • Bullying