The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Marital rape
  • Child sexual abuse
  • Parental neglect
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Domestic violence
  • Drug abuse
  • Stillbirth
  • Murder
  • Cults
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The Closest I’ve Come by Fred Aceves

The Closest I’ve Come by Fred Aceves

Marcos Rivas wants to find love. He’s sure as hell not getting it at home, where his mom’s racist boyfriend beats him up. Or from his boys, who aren’t exactly the “hug it out” type. Marcos yearns for love, a working cell phone, and maybe a pair of sneakers that aren’t falling apart. But more than anything, Marcos wants to get out of Maesta, his hood—which seems impossible.

When Marcos is placed in a new after-school program for troubled teens with potential, he meets Zach, a theater geek whose life seems great on the surface, and Amy, a punk girl who doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. These new friendships inspire Marcos to open up to his Maesta crew, too, and along the way, Marcos starts to think more about his future and what he has to fight for. Marcos ultimately learns that bravery isn’t about acting tough and being macho; it’s about being true to yourself.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Graphic physical & verbal child abuse
  • Suicide of a gay teenager due to bullying mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Recreational drug use
  • Overdose mentioned
  • Emesis, off-page
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The Hundred Wells of Salaga by Ayesha Harruna Attah

The Hundred Wells of Salaga by Ayesha Harruna Attah

Based on true events, a story of courage, forgiveness, love, and freedom in precolonial Ghana, told through the eyes of two women born to vastly different fates.

Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that transforms her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the willful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father’s court. These two women’s lives converge as infighting among Wurche’s people threatens the region, during the height of the slave trade at the end of the nineteenth century.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Slut shaming
  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Suicide
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Future Girl by Asphyxia

Future Girl by Asphyxia

Piper’s mum wants her to be ‘normal’, to pass as hearing and get a good job. But when peak oil hits and Melbourne lurches towards environmental catastrophe, Piper has more important things to worry about, such as how to get food.

When she meets Marley, a CODA (child of Deaf adult), a door opens into a new world – where Deafness is something to celebrate rather than hide, and where resilience is created through growing your own food rather than it being delivered on a truck… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Abusive relationship
  • Animal death
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The Golden Legend by Cate Ashwood

The Golden Legend by Cate Ashwood

After working with the same partner for almost fifteen years, she ditched me for a cushy teaching job. And I thought things couldn’t get worse. I was wrong. Because walking into the When shots ring out on the Grand Trunk Road, Nargis’s life begins to crumble around her. Her husband, Massud – a fellow architect – is caught in the crossfire and dies before she can confess to him her greatest secret. Under threat from a powerful military intelligence officer, who demands that she pardon her husband’s American killer, Nargis fears that the truth about her past will soon be exposed. For weeks someone has been broadcasting people’s secrets from the minarets of the city’s mosques and, in a country where the accusation of blasphemy is a currency to be bartered, the mysterious broadcasts have struck fear in Christians and Muslims alike.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Religious persecution
  • Suicide
  • Death of a sibling
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a spouse
  • Bombings
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The Same Breath by Gregory Ashe

The Same Breath by Gregory Ashe

Teancum Leon, who goes by Tean, is a wildlife veterinarian. His life has settled into a holding pattern: he loves his job, he hates first dates, and he only occasionally has to deal with his neighbor Mrs. Wish’s cat-related disasters.

All of that changes, though, when a man appears in his office, asking for help to find his brother. Jem is convinced that something bad has happened to Benny, and he thinks Tean might be able to help. Tean isn’t sure, but he’s willing to try. After all, Jem is charming and sweet and surprisingly vulnerable. Oh. And hot… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Fatmisia
  • Racism
  • Homomisia
  • Rape mentioned
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Animal death
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Stray Fears by Gregory Ashe

Stray Fears by Gregory Ashe

Elien Martel is a survivor, but surviving, he’s beginning to discover, isn’t the same thing as living. In the house he shares with his much older boyfriend, Elien spends his days trying to stay as far away from living as possible. Living, he has learned, means that sooner or later you’ll get hurt.

When a member of Elien’s support group dies under strange circumstances, though, Elien finds himself in a web of bizarre coincidences. The responding officer turns out to be another member of Elien’s support group—a man named Mason, who has made no effort to hide his dislike of Elien. Then, just a few days later, Mason tries to kill Elien in front of dozens of witnesses… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Transmisia
  • Homomisia
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Body dysphoria
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Graphic suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Murder
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Viral Airwaves by Claudie Arseneault

Viral Airwaves by Claudie Arseneault

Henry Schmitt wants nothing more than a quiet life and a daily ration of instant noodles. At least until he learns the terrible secret that drove his father away—the Plague that killed his mother and ravaged his country was created by those now in power. He has one chance to help expose the conspiracy: a ragtag band of rebels needs a pilot for their hot air balloon, where they can launch a broadcast revealing the truth. If Henry accepts, he can experience his dream of flight. But he would have to leave his safe, tranquil life behind … and bring the wrath of a corrupt government upon his head.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Suicide
  • Plague
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion
  • Police brutality
  • War & rebellion themes
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Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong

Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong

Bree Finch has fallen on some troubled times: her marriage has ended, she’s separated from her young daughter, Charlotte, and she’s haunted by a past she can’t escape. Routine helps, and every afternoon, during her lunch break, Bree goes for a jog in the park near her office. It’s the same every day: the same route, the same mothers with their children, the same people walking their dogs.

One day, during her jog, she spots a young boy a bit older than Charlotte, a boy she saw just the day before with his mother. But his mother is nowhere to be seen now. Nervous, Bree watches the boy as he wanders into the parking lot… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Toxic relationship
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide recounted
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Blackmail
  • Car accident recounted
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All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Childhood friends Patricia Delfine, a witch, and Laurence Armstead, a mad scientist, parted ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. But as adults they both wind up in near-future San Francisco, where Laurence is an engineering genius and Patricia works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world’s ever growing ailments. But something is determined to bring them back together—to either save the world, or end it.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Parental abuse
  • Suicide
  • Death of a parent
  • Hazing
  • Animal torture
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