A New Kind of Everything by Richard Yaxley

A New Kind of Everything by Richard Yaxley

After their father’s reckless death, the Gallagher family must find new directions. Dinny’s mum finds a new form of freedom, but the paths the boys are choosing are pointing them in dangerous directions.

Fourteen-year-old Dinny is in danger of repeating his father’s behaviour, and his older brother Carl sees an opportunity for independence. But when Carl becomes involved in the aggressive agenda of an anti-immigration group, a different crisis develops—leading the family to tragedy, insight, and rebirth.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Suicide
  • Recreational drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Car accident
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Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Falsely accused of murder, Xiang Xiang’s father is executed, and her mother forced into a Buddhist nunnery. Xiang Xiang, alone and friendless at thirteen years old, is tricked into entering the Peach Blossom Pavilion, where she is given the name Bao Lan – Precious Orchid.

There she is trained in the fine arts of womanhood, studying music, literature, painting, and more importantly, the art of seduction and pleasuring men; and becomes one of China’s most successful courtesans.

However, Precious Orchid is determined to avenge her parents and sets out on a journey to achieve the justice she has sought so long.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic rape
  • Sex work
  • Graphic abuse
  • Suicide
  • Murder
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The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Los Angeles, 1992

Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer.

Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Lesbomisia
  • Homomisia
  • Racism & racist slurs
  • Colourism
  • Parental abse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Cheating
  • Sexual harassment
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Recreational drug use & abuse
  • Blood depiction & physical injuries
  • AIDS mentioned
  • Riots
  • Police brutality & racial profiling
  • Gun violence
  • Lynching
  • Physical assault
  • Wildfires

Float Plan by Trish Doller

Float Plan by Trish Doller

Since the loss of her fiancé, Anna has been shipwrecked by grief—until a reminder goes off about a trip they were supposed to take together. Impulsively, Anna goes to sea in their sailboat, intending to complete the voyage alone.

But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help. Much like Anna, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned. As romance rises with the tide, they discover that it’s never too late to chart a new course.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Depression
  • Suicide
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a fiancé

Hushed by Kelley York

Hushed by Kelley York

Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he’s never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another—Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.

Then along comes Evan, the only person who’s ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Homomisia
  • Rape
  • Sexual abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Forced suicide
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Drug abuse
  • Murder
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The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyanne Young

The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyanne Young

The day Raquel has been dreading for months has finally arrived. Sasha, her best friend in the whole world — the best friend in the whole world — has died of cancer. Raquel can’t imagine life without her. She’s overwhelmed and brokenhearted.

And then a letter from Sasha arrives. Has she somehow found a way to communicate from the afterlife?

In fact, Sasha has planned an elaborate scavenger hunt for Raquel, and when she follows the instructions to return to Sasha’s grave… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Terminal cancer
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a best friend
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My Beautiful Failure by Janet Ruth Young

My Beautiful Failure by Janet Ruth Young

Billy is a sophomore in high school, and twice a week, he volunteers at Listeners, a suicide hotline. Jenney is an “incoming,” a caller, a girl on the brink.

As her life spirals out of control, Jenney’s calls become more desperate, more frequent. Billy, struggling with the deteriorating relationship with his depressed father, is the only one who understands. Through her pain, he sees hope. Through her tears, he feels her heart. And through her despair, he finds love. But is that enough?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide & suicidal ideation (theme)
  • Depression
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Eidolon by ES Yu

Eidolon by E.S. Yu

Vax is an assassin without a past, working for a corporation without a conscience. When bioaugmentation giant Cyrex Corp sends him to assassinate journalist Zai Lumero, he thinks it’ll be a straightforward job. With his bioaugments, he’s never botched a job before. But then Vax unexpectedly fails his assignment and realizes he’s become the newest addition to Cyrex’s hit list.

The last thing Vax wants is to partner with a justice crusader who hates his profession, but he doesn’t have a choice… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Rape, off-page
  • Depression
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Nonconsensual medical treatment
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Explosions
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The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate 

It’s an ordinary assignment, nothing more. The cargo? Fifty boxes filled with Transylvanian soil. The route? From Varna to Whitby. The Demeter has made many trips like this. The captain has handled dozens of crews.

He dreams familiar dreams: to taste the salt on the skin of his men, to run his hands across their chests. He longs for the warmth of a lover he cannot have, fantasizes about flesh and frenzied embraces. All this he’s done before, it’s routine, a constant, like the tides.

Yet there’s something different, something wrong. There are odd nightmares, unsettling omens and fear. For there is something in the air. Someone stalking the ship.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Antiziganism (g slur)
  • Homomisia & internalised homomisia
  • Hate crimes
  • Suicide
  • Blood & gore depiction
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Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss. She wouldn’t have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn’t have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn’t have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place. She’d know about her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future.

But Naomi picked heads.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Amnesia & memory loss
  • Graphic attempted suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
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