Category Archives: Contemporary

Swept Away by Beth O’Leary

Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn’t she? Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he’ll break his rules… Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together. The next morning, hungover and shaken by an amazing night together, Lexi is more than ready for Zeke to leave. There’s just one small problem . . . the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea. As their supplies start to run dangerously low, and the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Minor physical injuries (knife wound. head trauma)
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Lost at sea with threat of sinking and food & water scarcity (theme, on-page)

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her fiancé waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. Mainly because Joe died five months ago… The gift is simple – twelve books from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him. Tilly sets out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to vlog her journey, her story becomes more than her own. With help… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction (theme)
  • Death of a father from a heart attack
  • Death of a husband from cancer recounted

The Island Home by Libby Page

Lorna’s world is small but safe. She loves her daughter, and the two of them is all that matters. But after nearly twenty years, she and Ella are suddenly leaving London for the Isle of Kip, the tiny remote Scottish island where Lorna grew up. Alice’s world is tiny but full. She loves the community on Kip, her yoga classes drawing women across the tiny island together. Now Lorna’s arrival might help their family finally mend itself – even if forgiveness means returning to the past… So with two decades, hundreds of miles and a lifetime’s worth of secrets between Lorna and the island, can coming home mean starting again?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Hypothermia
  • Cancer
  • Near-drowning incident

The Vintage Shop of Second Chances by Libby Page

Among the cobbled streets of the Somerset town of Frome, Lou is embarking on the start of something new. After the death of her beloved mother, she takes a deep breath into the unknown and is opening her own vintage clothes shop. In upstate New York, Donna has just found out some news about her family which has called into question her whole upbringing. The only clue she has to unlock her past is a picture of a yellow dress, and the fact it is currently on display in a shop in England. For Maggy, she is facing life as a 70-something divorcee and while she got the house, she… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Divorce recounted (protagonist)

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

Sixteen-year-old Iris itches constantly for the strike of a match. But when she’s caught setting one too many fires, she’s whisked away to London before she can get arrested—at least that’s the story her mother tells. Mounting debt actually drove them out of LA, and it’s greed that brings them to a home Iris doesn’t recognize, where her millionaire father—a man she’s never met—lives. Though not for much longer. Iris’s father is dying, and her mother is determined to claim his life’s fortune, including his priceless art collection. Forced to live with him as part of an exploitive scheme, Iris soon realizes her father is far different… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted rape (on-page)
  • Pyromania & fire (theme, protagonist)
  • Parent with terminal ilness

Under Your Spell by Laura Wood

Dumped by her cheating ex, fired from her dream job, about to lose her flat: Clementine Monroe is not having a good day. So when her sisters get her drunk and suggest reviving a childhood ritual called the breakup spell, she doesn’t see the harm in it. But now Clemmie has accidentally ruined a funeral, had her first one-night stand, and she’s stuck with a new job she definitely doesn’t want – spending six weeks alone with the gorgeous and very-off-limits rock star, Theo Eliott. He’s the most famous man on the planet. Her life’s a disaster. When it comes to love, Clemmie is learning you should be careful what you wish for…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Statutory rape & teen pregnancy mentioned*
  • Image-based sexual abuse (paparazzi publish intimate photos of them)
  • Harassment & loss of privacy from paparazzi (on-page & recounted)
  • Parental abandonment & neglect recounted
  • Infidelity (ex-partner) & mentions of parental infidelity*
  • Minor physical injury & emesis
  • Dieting (protagonist)
  • Death of a grandparent from a heart attack
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death

*Context : The protagonist’s 40-year-old father cheated on her mother and impregnated three women, including a 17-year-old teenage girl.

Let’s Make a Scene by Laura Wood

When Cynthie Taylor gets her first real acting job, starring in a small British movie, she is over the moon. There is only one problem…Cynthie’s arrogant and annoyingly handsome costar Jack hates her, and the feeling is definitely mutual. While they may be at war behind the scenes, their on-screen chemistry is palpable, and the studio sees an opportunity—have the two young stars fake a romance that will charm fans and draw crowds. Thirteen years later, Cynthie and Jack have successfully kept their promise to stay far away from one another, until a surprising offer… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Workplace sexual harassment
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
  • Intimate partner violence (secondary characer)
  • Infidelity (accidental, protagonist believed her boyfriend was seperated from his pregnant wife)
  • Parental infidelity & divorce mentioned
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Fainting spell (on-page)
  • Pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)

Merry and Bright by Ali Rosen

Miriam Brody is dreading Hanukkah with her overbearing family in Charleston. Ditto for dreamy pro football player Cal Durand and Christmas. After sharing a few flirty drinks on the flight there, the strangers conspire to tackle the holidays together, posing as a couple. But as shenanigans unfold, Miriam realizes her feelings are anything but fake. Uh-oh. Are they headed for a holiday miracle—or a holiday disaster?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Dieting (athletic)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Minor physical injuries (ACL injury, oil burn)
  • Death of a wife in a skiing accident recounted

Blood and Marriage by K.A. Merikan

As the daughter of a mafia boss, I knew that keeping my head down meant staying alive. So when my father arranged my marriage to a Sicilian mafioso, I smiled and nodded, hoping for a kind man. But then my future husband’s cousin, Santo Villani, appears to pick me up for the wedding, and my life turns upside down, shattered by a kiss that shouldn’t have happened. Arrogant, cocky, and yet irresistibly charming, he’s exactly the kind of man I shouldn’t be reaching out for. A dangerous mafioso . I am torn between duty and passion, but my wedding is set in stone, so no matter which one of them wins, I will fall on their battlefield.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & biphobia
  • Sexual assault & child sexual assault recounted

Straight as a Wheel by K.A. Merikan

Zolt. Gay. Player. Predator. Fetish: Straight guys. Leo. Straight. Biker. Prey. Fetish: True love. Zolt knows what he wants from life–cold hard cash so that he can enjoy an early retirement in the Carribean as rent boys serve him drinks on the beach. Meanwhile, he’s got his pawn shop as a front for illegal operations, and a baseball bat to deal with troublemakers. When it comes to men, Zolt loves the chase, and his favourite, most elusive prey is curious straight guys. He goes out of his way to seduce and devour them. If he can be their first, all the better. His next mark? A biker. And… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & coming out themes
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Organised crime (outlaw motorcycle club)
  • Gun violence
  • Hostage situation
  • Animal death (pet)