Contemporary – Page 57 – Trigger Warning Database

Bound by Duty by Cora Reilly

Bound by Duty by Cora Reilly

Dante Cavallaro’s wife died four years ago but her memory still haunts him. On the verge of becoming the youngest head in the history of the Chicago Outfit, Dante needs to remarry or risk appearing weak. Valentina is chosen for the role. She, too, lost her husband, but her first marriage has always been for show. Even after her husband’s death, Valentina carries the weight of his secrets with her— to protect the honour of a dead man and herself. With her wedding to Dante, her castle of lies threatens to crash. Valentina fears the wedding night might reveal her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Unplanned pregnancy & pregnancy complications
Death of a wife recounted

The Liar’s Daughter by Megan Cooley Peterson

The Liar’s Daughter by Megan Cooley Peterson

Seventeen-year-old Piper knows that Father is a Prophet. Infallible. The chosen one. She would do anything for Father. That’s why she takes care of all her little sisters. That’s why she runs end-of-the-world drills. That’s why she never asks questions. Because Father knows best. Until the day he doesn’t. Until the day the government raids the compound and separates Piper from her siblings, from Mother, from the Aunts, from all of Father’s followers–even from Caspian, the boy she loves. Now Piper is living Outside… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse
Kidnapping
Cults (theme)

Remember Me by Estelle Laure

Remember Me by Estelle Laure

If you could erase all of your painful memories, would you? Blue Owens wakes up one day with the strangest feeling that something is very wrong. Everyone’s acting weird and she’s found a note in her closet telling her to get on the Little Blue Bus at 7:45, which she does, meeting up with the exact person she was supposed to avoid: Adam Mendoza. Even though she has no idea who he is, something about him is so familiar. When the two are discovered by their families, the truth is revealed—Blue has paid to have her memories removed, and Adam is one of those memories. What transpires is Blue’s journey to get her memories back… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Suicide mentioned
Grief & loss depiction

This Raging Light by Estelle Laure

This Raging Light by Estelle Laure

Can the best thing happen at the worst time? Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-year-old Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she’s about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend’s brother.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Psychiatric hospitalisation of a parent
Attempted uxoricide mentioned

Girls in Boys’ Cars by Felicity Castagna

Girls in Boys’ Cars by Felicity Castagna

A complicated friendship. A road trip in a stolen car. The stories that define us. And two funny, sharp, adventurous young women who refuse to be held back any longer. Rosa was never really trying to hurt anyone, no matter what they said in court. But she’s ended up in juvenile jail anyway, living her life through books and wondering why her best mate Asheeka disappeared.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Fatmisia
Revenge pornography
Physical assault
Incarceration
Bushfire

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Today is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather’s P-38 pistol. But first, he must say goodbye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart-obsessed next-door neighbour, Walt; his classmate, Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school’s class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches….. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Sexual assault
Depression
Suicide & suicidal ideation
Gun violence

Because of You by Pip Harry

Because of You by Pip Harry

Tiny is homeless. Nola has everything she could ask for. They meet when Nola is forced into volunteer work for the writers’ group at the homeless shelter where Tiny is staying, and at first, it seems impossible that two people who are so different could ever be friends. But despite her initial prejudice, Nola quickly learns that there isn’t much separating her from the people who live on the streets. And Tiny begins to see that falling down doesn’t mean you never get back up. Because of You is a story about homelessness, prejudice and the power of words to provide a little hope… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Post-natal depression
Substance addiction
Suicidal ideation
Drug abuse
Death of a friend
Homelessness

You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith

You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith

Adam Stillwater is in over his head. At least, that’s what his best friend would say. And his mom. And the guy who runs the hardware store down the street. But this pinball arcade is the only piece of his dad that Adam has left, and he’s determined to protect it from Philadelphia’s newest tech mogul, who wants to turn it into another one of his cold, lifeless gaming cafés. Whitney Mitchell doesn’t know how she got here. Her parents split up. She lost all her friends. Her boyfriend dumped her. And now she’s spending her senior year running social media for her dad’s chain… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father

Jagged Little Pill by Eric Smith

Jagged Little Pill by Eric Smith

Adopted Frankie struggles to see eye-to-eye with her mother—who would rather ignore a problem and preserve their “perfect” life than stand up for what’s right. Jo just wants her mom to accept her queer identity—and is totally crushed when Frankie, the only person who really gets her, finds herself infatuated with someone new. Phoenix tries to find his place at the new school and balance wanting to spend time with Frankie but knowing he also has to help out with his sick sister at home. Bella wants to enjoy the end of high school and just head off to college without a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Drug abuse
Chronic illness

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It’s supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can’t imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen’s well-behaved life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming where she will survive mosquito infestations, a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Divorce recounted
Miscarriage recounted
Attempted suicide
Death of a sibling