Parents' Guide to A Thousand Broken Pieces: A Thousand Boy Kisses, Book 2

Parents need to know that A Thousand Broken Pieces picks up four years after the events in A Thousand Boy Kisses. It tells the story of two teens who have each lost a sibling and are acutely grieving, so they go on a trip around the world designed to help teens cope with grief and loss. Grief is a very strong theme, and characters tell about witnessing death directly from violent means (including suicide) or from long illnesses, and describe some details like holding a dead body and seeing someone take their last breath. A main character has anxiety attacks, which are described in detail. There's a long passage speculating about living with depression before dying by suicide. The author mentions in the acknowledgments that she has chronic anxiety and has personal experience with death, including losing a parent. One teen is the sole survivor of a school shooting and describes it briefly. There's also brief self-harm ideation from a character who wants to hurt instead of feel. Strong language includes "f---ing," "s--t," "pr--k," and "d--k." Lots of kissing, holding hands, and caressing of nonsexual body parts occurs. Some descriptions of kissing with tongue are described in detail. One instance of sex is strongly implied, but nothing is described in detail.