Contemporary – Page 127 – Trigger Warning Database

Digging Up Love by Chandra Blumberg

Digging Up Love by Chandra Blumberg

Alisha Blake works her magic in the kitchen, creating delectable desserts for her grandfather’s restaurant in rural Illinois. Though Alisha relishes the close relationship she has with her family, she can’t help but dream about opening a cookie shop in Chicago. She may be a small-town baker, but Alisha has big ambitions.

Then a dinosaur bone turns up in her grandparents’ backyard. When paleontologist Quentin Harris arrives to see the discovery for himself, he’s hoping… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment recounted
Death of a parent recounted

Big Rock by Lauren Blakely

Big Rock by Lauren Blakely

It’s not just the motion of the ocean, ladies. It’s definitely the SIZE of the boat too. And I’ve got both firing on all cylinders. In fact, I have ALL the right assets. Looks, brains, my own money, and a big c*&k. You might think I’m an a*&hole. I sound like one, don’t I? I’m hot as sin, rich as heaven, smart as hell and hung like a horse.

Guess what? You haven’t heard my story before. Sure, I might be a playboy, like the NY gossip rags call me. But I’m the playboy who’s actually a great guy… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cheating recounted

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring Blake

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring Blake

Hazel Bly used to live in the perfect house with the perfect family in sunny California. But when a kayaking trip goes horribly wrong, Mum is suddenly gone forever and Hazel is left with crippling anxiety and a jagged scar on her face. After Mum’s death, Hazel, her other mother, Mama, and her little sister, Peach, needed a fresh start. So for the last two years, the Bly girls have lived all over the country, never settling anywhere for more than a few months… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Depression
Anxiety
Attempted suicide. on-page
Facial scars
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Death of a spouse
Death of a child
Death of a sibling
Bullying

Us by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Five months in, NHL forward Ryan Wesley is having a record-breaking rookie season. He’s living his dream of playing pro hockey and coming home every night to the man he loves—Jamie Canning, his longtime best friend turned boyfriend. There’s just one problem: the most important relationship of his life is one he needs to keep hidden, or else face a media storm that will eclipse his success on the ice.

Jamie loves Wes. He really, truly does. But hiding sucks. It’s not the life Jamie envisioned for himself… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Outing
Racism
Parental abandonment mentioned
Hospitalisation
Medical crisis

Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia & homomisic slurs

The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen

The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen

Five years ago, Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he’s made an art of hiding his sexuality from everyone. Including himself.

So it’s a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenceless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team’s new left-wing could… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Hate crimes
Disownment
Hospitalisation

The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen

She expected to start Harkness College as a varsity ice hockey player. But a serious accident means that Corey Callahan will start school in a wheelchair instead.

Across the hall, in the other accessible dorm room, lives the too-delicious-to-be real Adam Hartley, another would-be hockey star with his leg broken in two places. He’s way out of Corey’s league. Also, he’s taken… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Misogyny
Child neglect
Substance addiction mentioned
Paralysis

Pretending by Holly Bourne

Pretending by Holly Bourne

April is kind, pretty and relatively normal—yet she can’t seem to get past date five. Every time she thinks she’s found someone to trust, they reveal themselves to be awful, leaving her heartbroken. And angry. Until she realizes that what men are really looking for is Gretel.

Gretel is perfect—beautiful but low maintenance, sweet but never clingy, sexy but not a slut. She’s your regular, everyday Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl-Next-Door with no problems… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slut shaming
Victim blaming
Rape
Sexual assault
Catfishing

It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

Audrey is over romance. While dealing with her parents’ contentious divorce, a breakup of her own, and shifting friendship dynamics, she has every reason to feel cynical. But then she meets Harry, her fellow coworker at the local cinema. He’s brash, impulsive, and a major flirt. And even though Audrey tries to resist, she finds herself falling for his charms. But in this funny, insightful, and ultimately empowering novel, love—and life—isn’t what it’s like in the movies.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Depression
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm
Recreational drug use

How Do You Like Me Now by Holly Bourne

How Do You Like Me Now? by Holly Bourne

Everyone wants to be Tori Bailey. A straight-talking, bestselling author, she’s inspired millions of women around the world with her self-help memoir and uplifting Instagram posts. What’s more, her perfect relationship with her long-term boyfriend is the envy of all their friends. But Tori isn’t being honest.

While everyone around her is getting engaged and having babies, Tori’s boyfriend will barely look at her, let along talk about marriage. And when her best friend Dee unexpectedly falls in love, suddenly Tori’s in danger of being left behind.Tori’s built a career out of telling women how to live their best life. But is she brave enough to admit that her own isn’t working?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Fatmisia
Emotionally abusive relationship & gaslighting