Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next. Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fort… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & sexual assault, on-page & discussed
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Graphic animal death
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Dismemberment
  • Loss of autonomy (possession & mental manipulation/control)
  • Murder & mass murder, on-page, discussed in-detail
  • Torture mentioned
  • Gun violence, on-page
  • Knife violence
  • Explosions & bombings, on-page
  • War & rebellion (central theme)
  • Battle scenes & military violence, on-page

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival. Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Blood, gore and injury depiction including dead bodies
  • Death of a wife and child recounted
  • Building collapse
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Whipping
  • Explosions & fire
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal attack
  • Animal hunting & death

The Packing House by G. Donald Cribbs

When 16-year-old Joel Scrivener has a raging nightmare in study hall and someone records it on their phone, he awakens to a living nightmare where everyone knows his secret, one that he’s suppressed for ten years. Reeling as the whole school finds out the truth, Joel takes to the woods, leaving the bullies and his broken home behind. However, life as a runaway isn’t easy, as Joel’s hallucinations and nightmares follow him into the wilderness. To stop them once and for all, he pieces clues together with flashes of the images that play endlessly inside his head – will he figure out the identity of the person who caused his nightmare before it’s too late?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Graphic sexual assault of a child
  • Domestic abuse
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance & gambling addiction
  • Bullying
  • Homelessness

Daughter of the King by Kerry Chaput

La Rochelle France, 1661. Fierce Protestant Isabelle is desperate to escape persecution by the Catholic King. Isabelle is tortured and harassed, her people forced to convert to the religion that rules the land. She risks her life by helping her fellow Protestants, which is forbidden by the powers of France. She accepts her fate – until she meets a handsome Catholic soldier who makes her question everything. She fights off an attack by a nobleman, and the only way to save herself is to flee to the colony of Canada as a Daughter of the King. She can have money, protection, and a new life… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Religious persecution
  • Hate crimes
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Infidelity
  • Death of a mother
  • Attempted murder
  • Torture

Striking Romance by Lindsey Brooks

Sarah Fischer has never relied on anyone but herself. Her father pulled her out of school at 13 to support her family by working in a shirtwaist factory. More than ten years of exploitation have taught her this: No one is coming to her rescue. If she wants labor reform, she’s going to have to organize it herself. She begins a general shirtwaist strike and is determined to see it through no matter the risks. Clifton Stokes is the mayor’s chief of staff and a rising political star. As long as he stays on Tammany Hall’s good side, he may have a shot at being mayor himself. Getting involved with a Jewish labor organizer is the worst thing Cliff could do for his career but the magnetic attraction… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Gun violence

One Great Lie by Deb Caletti

When Charlotte wins a scholarship to a writing workshop in Venice with the charismatic and brilliant Luca Bruni, it’s a dream come true. Writing is her passion, she loves Bruni’s books, and going to that romantic and magical sinking city gives her the chance to solve a long-time family mystery about a Venetian poet deep in their lineage, Isabella Di Angelo, who just might be the real author of a very famous poem. Bruni’s villa on the eerie island of La Calamita is extravagant—lush beyond belief, and the other students are both inspiring and intimidating. Venice itself is beautiful, charming, and seductive, but so is Luca… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual harassment
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Suicide mentioned

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City. Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction

The Change by Kristen Miller

After Nessa James’s husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she’s left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn’t take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead—a gift she’s inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities. On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn’t left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Rape mentioned
  • Sexual assault
  • Sex work mentioned
  • Divorce
  • Eating disorder
  • Suicide
  • Murder

Descent by Sam Mariano

Calvin will do anything for me… except let me go. We were strangers, as far as I knew. He saw me once, but didn’t introduce himself like he could have. Calvin Cutler. Nice to meet you. But there’s nothing nice about Calvin Cutler. He’s ruthless and single-minded, and he zeroed in on me—a hapless target for his dark and twisted appetites. In the depths of Hell, I first looked into his sinful brown eyes, felt the greedy touch of his demanding hands for the first time. Not the last time, though. He wanted more. So much more. He wanted me, whether I wanted him or not.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Improper BDSM practices
  • Drugging
  • Involuntary pregnancy
  • Murder
  • Blackmail

The ShadowHunter by Opal Reyne

When her younger sister is stolen in the dark of night, Valerie infiltrates the northern kingdom to rescue her. Parading around as a human and hiding her Witch scent, she doesn’t realise she’s stepped onto a Dragon’s hunting ground – or that the Dragon has settled his lustful sights on her. She only wanted to save her sister, but she can’t resist the way he sets her heart on fire. Hiding his Dragon linage, Geryon cares little about the gala thrown to find the king a wife. It’s nothing but a means to an end – a trap. That is until a certain, cold-hearted woman enthrals him as she flits around the palace with her unfeeling grace. As every… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping of a child