Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle-class peers. After a messy break-up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Workplace harassment
  • Depression
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then a weird zombie guy crashes the first party of the season. Sierra’s near-comatose abuelo begins to say “Lo siento” over and over. And when the graffiti murals in Bed-Stuy start to weep…. Well, something stranger than the usual New York mayhem is going on.

Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. Her grandfather once shared the order’s secrets with an anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Wick, who turned the Caribbean magic to his own foul ends. Now Wick wants to become the ultimate Shadowshaper… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Colourism
  • Sexism
  • Ableism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Stroke recounted
  • Dead bodies

The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai

The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai

Rhiannon Hunter may have revolutionized romance in the digital world, but in real life she only swipes right on her career—and the occasional hookup. The cynical dating app creator controls her love life with a few key rules: Nude pics are by invitation only, if someone stands you up, block them with extreme prejudice, and protect your heart.

Only there aren’t any rules to govern her attraction to her newest match, former pro-football player Samson Lima. The sexy and seemingly sweet hunk woos her one magical night… and disappears.

Rhi thought she’d buried her hurt over Samson ghosting her, until he suddenly surfaces months later… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual harassment
  • Cyberbullying & harassment
  • Emotionally abuse relationship recounted
  • Chronic illness discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction

The Blacksmith Queen by GA Aiken

The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken

With the demise of the Old King, there’s a prophesy that a queen will ascend to the throne of the Black Hills. Bad news for the king’s sons, who are prepared to defend their birthright against all comers. But for blacksmith Keeley Smythe, war is great for business. Until it looks like the chosen queen will be Beatrix, her younger sister. Now it’s all Keeley can do to protect her family from the enraged royals. 
 
Luckily, Keeley doesn’t have to fight alone. Because thundering to her aid comes a clan of kilt-wearing mountain warriors called the Amichai. Not the most socially adept group, but soldiers have never bothered Keeley, and rough, gruff Caid, actually seems to respect her. A good thing because the fierce warrior will be by her side for a much longer ride than any prophecy ever envisioned …

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Misogyny
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Sexual harassment mentioned
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic decapitation
  • Dead bodies & body parts
  • Death of a cousin, on-page
  • Death of a brother, off-page
  • Death of a child, off-page
  • Graphic murder & attempted murder
  • Genocide & mass murder
  • Graphic sword, hammer & knife violence
  • Fire & arson
  • Attempted hanging, on-page
  • Poisoning
  • Regicide mentioned
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Volcanic eruption
  • Animal abuse
  • Death from an animal attack
  • Graphic animal death

Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks

Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks

Eveline Armstrong is fiercely loved and protected by her powerful clan, but outsiders consider her “touched.” Beautiful, fey, with a level, intent gaze, she doesn’t speak. No one, not even her family, knows that she cannot hear. Content with her life of seclusion, Eveline has taught herself to read lips and allows the outside world to view her as daft. But when an arranged marriage into a rival clan makes Graeme Montgomery her husband, Eveline accepts her duty—unprepared for the delights to come. Graeme is a rugged warrior with a voice so deep and powerful that his new bride can hear it, and hands and kisses so tender and… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Threats of rape & sexual harassment
  • Forced marriage
  • Loss of hearing in an horse-riding accident recounted, off-page
  • Death of a parent
  • Attempted murder, on-page
  • Kidnapping

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Physical abuse
  • Forced drug use
  • Forced institutionalisation
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Fifty Shades Darker by EL James

Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James

Young people on the Midwich Estate don’t have much Daunted by the singular sexual tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house. But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven, and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront her anger and envy of the women who came before her and make the most important decision of her life. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Statutory rape recounted
  • Workplace sexual harassment
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Gun violence
  • Home invasion
  • Stalking
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Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

Life and a dismal last name are the only two things Beyah Grim’s parents ever gave her. After carving her path all on her own, Beyah is well on her way to bigger and better things, thanks to no one but herself.

With only two short months separating her from the future she’s built and the past she desperately wants to leave behind, an unexpected death leaves Beyah with no place to go during the interim. Forced to reach out to her last resort, Beyah has to spend the remainder of her summer on a peninsula in Texas with a father she barely knows. Beyah’s plan is to keep her head down and let the summer slip by seamlessly, but her new neighbor Samson throws a wrench in that plan… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual harassment
  • Drug overdose
  • Death of a parent
  • Poverty themes
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Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft

Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft

Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy Bancroft

He says he loves you. So…why does he do that?

You’ve asked yourself this question again and again. Now you have the chance to see inside the minds of angry and controlling men—and change your life. In Why Does He Do That? you will learn about:

• The early warning signs of abuse
• The nature of abusive thinking
• Myths about abusers
• Ten abusive personality types
• The role of drugs and alcohol
• What you can fix, and what you can’t
• And how to get out of an abusive relationship safely

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism & misogyny
  • Body shaming & fatmisia
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Slut-shaming
  • Victim blaming
  • Sex worker shaming & slurs
  • Rape, including by coercion
  • Sexual abuse
  • Sexual harassment
  • Abusive relationships
  • Age-gap relationships, including adult-minor
  • Cheating, including grey-area cheating
  • Child abuse, including sexual abuse
  • Domestic abuse & violence
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Emotional abuse
  • Paedophilia & grooming
  • Parental abuse & neglect
  • Physical abuse
  • Verbal abuse
  • Mental illness
  • Substance addiction, including alcoholism
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Intrusive thoughts
  • Physical assault
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Recreational drug use
  • Medical treatment & procedures
  • Death of a parent or guardian
  • Gun violence
  • Disappearance of a loved one
  • Poverty themes
  • Blackmail
  • Bullying
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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients’ lives — a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can’t stop hooking up with the wrong guys — she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Sexism & misogyny
  • Victim blaming
  • Sexual harassment
  • Workplace harassment
  • Abuse, neglect & abandonment
  • Abusive relationships
  • Verbal abuse
  • Intimate partner abuse & violence
  • Estrangement & disownment
  • Child abuse
  • Mental illness
  • Intrusive thoughts
  • Addiction
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Medical treatment & procedures
  • Terminal illness
  • Cancer
  • Heart disease & heart attack
  • Physical injuries & wounds
  • Amputation/Loss of limb
  • Hospital & hospitalisation
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a sibling
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Physical assault
  • Stalking
  • Car accident
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