Category Archives: Horror

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Rape
  • Sexual harassment
  • Familial estrangement
  • Murder

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. A competitive figure skater since she was five years old, a full college scholarship thanks to her place on the Maple Hills skating team, and a schedule that would make even the most driven person weep, Stassie comes to win. No exceptions. Nathan Hawkins has never had a problem he couldn’t solve. As captain of the Maple Hills Titans, he knows the responsibility of keeping the hockey team on the ice rests on his shoulders. When a misunderstanding results in the two teams sharing a rink, and Anastasia’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Sexual assault, on-page
  • Food shaming, dieting & calorie-counting
  • Disordered eating
  • Death of a parent recounted

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

It is known as the Discworld. It is a flat planet, supported on the backs of four elephants, who in turn stand on the back of the great turtle A’Tuin as it swims majestically through space. And it is quite possibly the funniest place in all of creation. The last thing the wizard Drum Billet did before Death laid a bony hand on his shoulder, was to pass on his staff of power to the eighth son of an eighth son. Unfortunately for his colleagues in the chauvinistic (not to say misogynistic) world of magic, he failed to check on the new-born baby’s sex.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Ableism*

*Context: A secondary character’s speech impediment is magically cured.

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death

Flutter by Carrie Aarons

Flutter by Carrie Aarons

Forrest Nash is a smug know-it-all. With his brains, ridiculous good looks and penchant for disobeying the laws of both the police and the dark web, Fawn Hill’s resident genius is cockier than any man Penelope Briggs has ever encountered. It doesn’t help that their six-year age difference makes him completely ineligible in her eyes. Add in the fact that he doesn’t want marriage or babies, and that should eliminate him from the dating pool forever. But it doesn’t mean she can’t sleep with him. Once. Or twice. Or ten times. Against all logic, though, Forrest seems to be sneaking into her heart at the same time he’s sneaking… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a husband during military enlistment

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism (r slur)
  • Fatmisia & body-shaming
  • Child physical, verbal and emotional abuse including gaslighting
  • Grooming and sexually predatory behaviour toward a minor discussed
  • Hoarding
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Eating disorder (bulimia)
  • Graphic disordered eating including food restriction, bingeing, purging and over-exercising (theme)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a mother from terminal breast cancer

Wrong by Adelaide Forrest

Wrong by Adelaide Forrest

She’s the girl I can never have. Everlee likes to torment me, to enrapture me with her innocence at every turn. The games we play skirt the lines of what is appropriate, but I’d never allow myself to cross them. Her father would kill me if I did. He’s my oldest friend, and I’ve watched his daughter blossom into the woman she’s becoming. My tastes are too deviant for her shining light, and I need an outlet even if she’s all I see when I close my eyes. Enter Purgatory — the club that caters to every manner of taste. Arranging a meeting with a stranger to fill my needs, the last thing I expect when I look in the window of our meeting… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Consensual rape play
  • Forced pregnancy
  • Kidnapping

With Love from London by Sarah Jio

With Love from London by Sarah Jio

When librarian Valentina Baker was a teenager, her mother, Eloise, unexpectedly fled to her native London, leaving Val and her father on their own. Now in her thirties and fresh out of a failed marriage, Val feels a nagging disenchantment with her life–and knows she is still heartbroken over her mother’s abandonment. In a bittersweet twist of fate, Val receives word that Eloise has passed away, leaving Val her Primrose Hill apartment and the deed to a bookshop Val never knew she’d owned. Though the news is devastating, Val finds herself more determined than ever to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of a parent from cancer

Delicates by Brenna Thummler

Delicates by Brenna Thummler

Marjorie Glatt’s life hasn’t been the same ever since she discovered a group of ghosts hiding in her family’s laundromat. Wendell, who died young and now must wander Earth as a ghost with nothing more than a sheet for a body, soon became one of Marjorie’s only friends. But when Marjorie finally gets accepted by the popular kids at school, she begins to worry that if anyone learns about her secret ghost friends, she’ll be labelled as a freak who sees dead people. With Marjorie’s insistence on keeping Wendell’s ghost identity a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism mentioned
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Toxic friendships
  • Bullying

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

Walking through his own house at night, a fifteen-year-old thinks he sees another person stepping through a doorway. Instead of the people who could be there, the figure reminds him of his long-gone father, who died mysteriously before his family left the reservation. When he follows it he discovers his house is bigger and deeper than he knew. The house is the kind of wrong place where you can lose yourself and find things you’d rather not have. Over the course of a few nights, the boy tries to map out his house in an effort that puts his little brother in the worst danger, and puts him in the position to save them… at terrible cost.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Seizures
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Animal cruelty
  • Bullying