Black Girl Unlimited

by Echo Brown

YA FIC BROWN

Echo Brown is a young girl from Cleveland’s east side where apartments are small and parents suffer from drug addictions. Everyday Echo attends a rich white school on the west side. But, there are dangers to leaving behind the place that made you. Content warnings for: rape, sexual assault, death of a parent, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, child abuse, poverty, hit-and-run.

Kneel

by Candace Buford

YA FIC BUFORD

For guys like Russell Boudreaux, football is the only way out of their small Louisiana town. Rus has a singular goal: to get a scholarship and play on the national stage. When his best friend is unfairly arrested and kicked off the team, Rus faces an impossible choice: speak up or live in fear. Desperate for change, Rus kneels during the national anthem, becoming a target for hatred. Content warnings for: racism, violence.

Plan A

by Deb Caletti

YA FIC CALETTI

One in four women will get an abortion in their lives. 16-year-old Ivy, is that one in four. Ivy lives in conservative, staunchly anti-abortion Texas, where abortions are illegal after six weeks. Ivy confides in her Mom and boyfriend, Lorenzo, and they plan to drive from Texas to Oregon, where Ivy’s grandmother lives. The trio drives cross-country to get Ivy the abortion she needs, and along the way they meet women who share their own experiences with abortion. Content warning: sexual assault, rape, abortion, bullying.

You Know I‘m No Good

by Jessie Ann Foley

YA FIC FOLEY

Mia gets bad grades, drinks too much, and has probably gone too far with too many guys. But she doesn’t realize how out of control she is until she is sent away to a therapeutic girls boarding school where Mia is forced to confront her painful past at the same time she questions why she’s there in the first place. Content warnings for: sexual assault, drug and alcohol use, anxiety disorders, self harm, suicide, stalking.

Girl in Pieces

by Kathleen Glasgow

YA FIC GLASGOW

17-year-old Charlie is in a mental health facility that specializes in the treatment of girls who have self-injury disorders. When Charlie is released prematurely because of a lack of insurance coverage and her mother will not take her back home, she must find her own way in a world she is unprepared to deal with. Content warnings for: self-harm, suicide, drug use, addiction.

Grown

by Tiffany D. Jackson

YA FIC JACKSON

Enchanted, a 17-year-old aspiring singer, gets noticed by a big time R&B artist. Her dreams of stardom are within reach, but the dream gradually turns into a nightmare, and one morning, she wakes up with blood on her hands next to his dead body. Content warnings for: sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping, addiction to opioids.

Heartbreak Symphony

by Laekan Zea Kemp

YA FIC KEMP

Aaron and Mia have both lost a parent and are using music to help them through their sadness. When they both run away from a music school audition, they begin talking and realize they can help each other heal, even when ICE raids are tearing their community apart. Content warnings for: alcoholism. parental abandonment, grief, anxiety/depression.

Heroine

by Mindy McGinnis

YA FIC MCGINNIS

When a car crash sidelines star catcher Mickey just before softball season, she has to find a way to hold on to her spot on the team - and the painkillers she’s been prescribed can help her get there. The pills do more than take away pain; they make her feel good. Less about pain and more about want, will Mickey’s life start to spiral out of control? Content warnings for: drug use, drug abuse, opioid addiction.

The Mirror Season

by Anna-Marie McLemore

YA FIC MCLEMORE

Ciela’s world comes crashing down one night when she and a boy she doesn’t know get assaulted at the same time in rooms mirroring each other. While she helps him to the hospital, she carries the burden of knowing his attackers. Together they try and come to terms with their traumas. Content warming: rape, sexual assault, PTSD, homophobia.

Through no fault of their own, siblings Isaac and Ivy find themselves in need of medication more and more, just to get through the day. They become addicted. Roxy and Addison are happy they’re addicted, that is their job, anyway. Content warnings for: drug use, drug abuse, addiction, overdose, suicide.

The Project

by Courtney Summers

YA FIC SUMMERS

Lo Denham wants to expose the Unity Project as a cult and reconnect with her indoctrinated sister, Bea. As she immerses herself in the group with no signs of Bea, Lo begins to question everything she thought was true. Content warnings for: suicide, domestic abuse, torture.

Concrete Rose

by Angie Thomas

YA FIC THOMAS

Maverick Carter, son of a former gang legend, takes care of his family the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison. Suddenly, his girlfriend is pregnant and leaves Mav to care for the child. It’s not easy to deal, finish school, and raise a child. Content warnings for: gang violence, gun violence, drug dealing, racism.