Category Archives: Horror

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their worries about the wedding night to come. Edward, eager for rapture, frets over Florence’s response to his advances and nurses a private fear of failure, while Florence’s anxieties run deeper: she is overcome by… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Incestuous child sexual abuse, implied

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Infidelity mentioned (sc)
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Sports injury
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent

It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil co-parenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date. But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child neglect & abandonment
  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Homelessness recounted

I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre

I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre

Emma is a die-hard romantic. She loves a meet-cute Netflix movie, her pet, Lady Catulet, and dreaming up the Gay Rom Com of her heart for the film festival competition she and her friends are entering. If only they’d listen to her ideas. Sophia is pragmatic. She’s big into boycotts, namely 1) relationships, 2) teen boys and their BO (reason #2347683 she’s a lesbian), and 3) Emma’s nauseating ideas. Forget starry-eyed romance, Sophia knows what will win: an artistic film with a message. Cue the drama. The movie is doomed before they even start shooting until a real-life… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Bimisia
  • Homomisia
  • Coming out themes

Southern Storms by Brittainy C. Cherry

Southern Storms by Brittainy C. Cherry

All I wanted to do was run away, I never expected to crash into his arms… After leaving the city life behind to escape my loveless marriage, I moved to small town Havenbarrow for a fresh start. What I didn’t expect was to find myself drawn to the town’s black sheep. They called him troubled. Cold. A man with a dark past. What everyone seemed to miss about Jax was the splashes of light in his eyes. The random acts of kindness he performed when no one was watching. The way he made me smile and laugh. Jax helped unpack the baggage I’d been carrying around with me… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual harassment
  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Depression
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent
  • Gun violence
  • Bullying

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

In words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid–and Caitlin herself.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Graphic self-harm
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend from suicide (theme)

Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indriðason

Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indriðason

The loner Erlendur has recently joined the police force as a young officer. The beat on the streets in Reykjavik is busy: traffic accidents, theft, domestic violence, contraband… And an unexplained death. When a tramp he met regularly on the night shift is found drowned in a ditch no one seems to care. But his fate haunts Erlendur and drags him inexorably into the strange and dark underworld of the city.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence
  • Alcoholism
  • Drug abuse

Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman

Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman

The seven Shaw siblings have long been haunted by two early and profoundly consequential events. Told in turn back and forth over time, from the early twentieth century through the 1950s, each sibling relays their own version of the memories that surround both their mother’s mysterious death and the circumstances leading up to and beyond one sister’s scandalous teenage pregnancy. As they move into adulthood, the siblings assume various new roles: caretaker to their aging father, addict, enabler, academic, decorated veteran, widow, and mothers and fathers… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Teen pregnancy
  • Death of a mother

The Summer We Forgot by Caroline George

The Summer We Forgot by Caroline George

Darby and Morgan haven’t spoken for two years, and their friend group has splintered. But when the body of their former science teacher is found in the marsh where they attended camp that summer, they realize they have more questions than answers . . . and even fewer memories. The group of reunited friends suspects that a murderer is stalking the coastal highway 30A, and they are desperate to recover their memories as quickly as possible . . . before their history they can’t remember repeats itself. As tensions rise… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Statutory rape
  • Attempted rape of a minor
  • Memory loss
  • Car accident
  • Kidnapping & hostage situtation
  • Blackmail
  • Death of a pet mentioned

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse recounted
  • Parental abandonment
  • Panic attack
  • Suicide recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging mentioned
  • Stillbirth recounted
  • Blood & physical injuries depiction
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father in a fire recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Explosion
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Blackmail
  • Colonialism & slavery discussed
  • Animal death mentioned