Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke. Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicidal ideation

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods. While on a camping trip, five high-schoolers bound by an oath to always protect one another discover something in the middle of the forest: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend climbs up but does not come back down. Then the staircase disappears. Twenty years later it reappears, and the friends return to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety & depression
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Self-harm & suicidal ideation
  • Drug use
  • Body horror
  • Emesis
  • Animal abuse

Boys, Beasts and Men by Sam J. Miller

Despite his ability to control the ambient digital cloud, a foster teen falls for a clever con-man. Luring bullies to a quarry, a boy takes clearly enumerated revenge through unnatural powers of suggestion. In the aftermath of a shapeshifting alien invasion, a survivor fears that he brought something out of the Arctic to infect the rest of the world. A rebellious group of queer artists create a new identity that transcends even the anonymity of death.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & racism, including slurs
  • Child abuse
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug abuse
  • AIDS
  • Murder
  • Physical assault (mugging)
  • Animal deaths

Straight as a Wheel by K.A. Merikan

Zolt. Gay. Player. Predator. Fetish: Straight guys. Leo. Straight. Biker. Prey. Fetish: True love. Zolt knows what he wants from life–cold hard cash so that he can enjoy an early retirement in the Carribean as rent boys serve him drinks on the beach. Meanwhile, he’s got his pawn shop as a front for illegal operations, and a baseball bat to deal with troublemakers. When it comes to men, Zolt loves the chase, and his favourite, most elusive prey is curious straight guys. He goes out of his way to seduce and devour them. If he can be their first, all the better. His next mark? A biker. And… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & coming out themes
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Organised crime (outlaw motorcycle club)
  • Gun violence
  • Hostage situation
  • Animal death (pet)

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighbourhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in. As soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence material… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect including child sexual assault and rape recounted (off-page)
  • Human trafficking
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug use & alcohol consumption
  • Murder

Trial by Desire by Courtney Milan

Lady Kathleen Carhart knows all about imperfect marriages. For years, she has secretly helped women escape their violent husbands. She feels she owes it to womankind. After all, her husband is handsome, gentle, amusing…and best of all, he left the country three years ago. She isn’t even bitter about that anymore. Mostly. When Ned Carhart returns in the middle of her most delicate operation to date, her life is thrown into turmoil. She’ll do anything to preserve her secrets…even if it means risking her heart to the man who abandoned her once.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Domestic violence
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation recounted
  • Physical injury (broken leg)
  • Animal abuse

Savage Blooms by S.T. Gibson

Adam has been in love with his best friend Nicola since college, but the closest he can come to admitting his feelings is inviting her to travel with him to Scotland in search of a legendary cave from his grandfather’s bedtime stories. When a storm washes out the road, Adam and Nicola find themselves at the mercy of Eileen, an eccentric aristocrat, and Finley, her brooding groundskeeper. The Americans quickly get more than they bargained for as they become entangled in Eileen and Finley’s world of mind games, kink, and ancient enchantment.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Forced marriage
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Consensual non-consent
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Traumatic childbirth & infertility mentioned
  • Near-drowning incident

The Only Girl in Town by Ally Condie

What would you do if everyone you love disappeared? What if it was your fault? For July Fielding, nothing has been the same since that summer before senior year. Once, she had Alex, her loyal best friend, the one who always had her back. She had Sydney, who pushed her during every cross-country run, and who sometimes seemed to know July better than she knew herself. And she had Sam. Sam, who told her she was everything and left her breathless with his touch. Now, July is alone. Every single person in her small town of Lithia has disappeared. No family. No Alex… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Toxic friendship
  • Minor injury depiction (sprained ankle)
  • Depression & suicidal ideation discussed

Poisoning Ivy by Carly Claire

The mountain was always my safe place… until it wasn’t. It was my refuge from the cold loneliness of the city, from my parent’s loveless marriage, from their anger and chaos. Even when they left me with my creepy uncle, I looked forward to summers at the cabin, especially after I met them. The reapers. Killian, Monty, and Theo. They were my friends, the secret I kept to make my life tolerable. And then one summer, their friendship turned into something sinister. Their hatred kept me alive, fed a part of me that needed it. I thought it turned into something more, but then… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Sex trafficking mentioned (off-page)
  • Child physical & sexual abuse and neglect (implied)
  • Rape & dubious consent (‘dubcon’), including forced voyeurism and gun play
  • Depression & suicidal ideation
  • Domestic abuse
  • Pregnancy discussed
  • Mutilation
  • Murder
  • Home invasion

Leo by Mia Sheridan

Evie and Leo met in foster care as children and formed a bond of friendship. As they grew, their bond turned to love, and they vowed to make a life together when they turned 18 and were no longer a part of the system. When Leo unexpectedly gets adopted as a teen and moves to another city, he promises Evie that he will contact her as soon as he gets there and come back for her in a few short years. She never hears from him again. Now eight years later, in spite of the odds, Evie has made a life for herself. She has a job. She has friends. She’s content. Then a man shows up out of the blue, claiming that her long lost love, Leo,… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Paedophilia recounted
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Experiences in the foster care system recounted
  • Car accident