Stars and Smoke, Book 1

Sydney is White and Winter is Chinese American. When Winter and his mother talk, they switch back and forth between English and Mandarin. Sydney finds his music "unconventional," as he uses Chinese drums with hip-hop. Winter's manager Claire is gay. His backup dancers and best friends are Dameon Carter, who's Black and gay, and Leonardo "Leo" Medina Santiago, who's introduced as "brown-skinned." Leo gave up an offer to attend attend Stanford to pursue a dream of being onstage. Panacea Group agent Sauda Nazari wears a hijab.

Violence or the threat of violence is ever present in the story. A man's death from poisoning is graphically described. People are stabbed, shot, shot at, threatened with knives, and violently kidnapped. A hit man murders a businessman and leaves behind nothing for the police to find but a neat row of limbs. There are fights involving guns, fists, and knives. A character remembers her father physically abusing her mother, while another knows her father murdered her mother in a rage.

Winter and Sydney have an intimate moment that ends up being interrupted before it progresses to sex. "A faint groan emerged from his throat, a sound of relief and pleasure and deep want. It was the sexiest thing she'd ever heard …. As if from a distance, she sensed herself straddling him, her thighs pressed against his torso …" There's a mention of a brief and secret same-gender affair.

Occasional strong language: "bastard," "s--t," "hell," "goddamn."

Sydney's father was an alcoholic, and one character is a known drug trafficker. Winter and his backup dancers celebrate with champagne after a concert. Adults drink at a party and Winter drinks whiskey at the birthday party in London, where the legal drinking age in 18.