Disability Lit – Trigger Warning Database

Painted Scars by Neva Altaj

Nina: Charming, captivating, and seductive, and a cold-blooded killer. But I married the Pakhan of the Russian Bratva anyway. I had to. It was part of the deal. Now, I’m faking marital bliss, As I tremble with fear, And I cannot wait to be out of the clutches of this ruthless man. Roman: I get anything I desire. And I want this perfectly imperfect little manipulator. The way she can deceive anyone into believing she’s crazy in love with me, just makes me want her even more. She doesn’t know it yet, but I am not letting her go. The deal – is off.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual assault recounted (off-page)
Arranged marriage
Organised crime (bratva/mafia)
Severe physical injury (leg)*
Murder & attempted murder

*Context: The protagonist uses a wheelchair while he is in physical therapy/recovery for a severe leg injury sustained during an attempted assassination.

Maybe This Time by Cara Bastone

Romance can be a little complicated when you get sucked into a wormhole. Just ask high school English teacher June Flint. One little solar flare happens and suddenly you find yourself 85 years in the future. Eighty-five years from your dream job. Your ailing mother whose only companion in this world is you. Your favorite stuffed-crust pizza from DeLucia… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Workplace homophobia & racism recounted
Anxiety
Parent with degenerative memory issues
Death of a parent recounted

No Matter What by Cara Bastone

Roz and Vin can’t look each other in the eyes anymore, let alone share a bed. It’s been a year since they survived a life-altering accident, and their marriage hasn’t been the same. But Roz has held out hope that they can fix things, until she discovers Vin has signed a new lease. So she does what any soon-to-be-divorced Manhattanite would do: sign up for a figure-drawing class. Between Roz’s determined attempts to improve her artistic skills and her adventures with her best friend, Raffi, she can almost ignore Vin’s impending move-out date and his footsteps in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption & drug use
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & panic attacks
Grief & loss depiction
Scars & injuries sustained in a car accident

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim

Clock mechanic Danny Hart knows he’s being watched. But by whom, or what, remains a mystery. To make matters worse, clock towers have begun falling in India, though time hasn’t Stopped yet. He’d hoped after reuniting with his father and exploring his relationship with Colton, he’d have some time to settle into his new life. Instead, he’s asked to investigate the attacks. After inspecting some of the fallen Indian towers, he realizes the British occupation may be sparking more than just attacks. And as Danny and Colton unravel… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Homophobia & ableism
Parent in psychiatric care
Death of a father mentioned
Murder & torture
Explosion
Police brutality mentioned
Attempted kidnapping
Plane crash (airship)
Animal cruelty

Dine with Me by Layla Reyne

Miller Sykes’s meteoric rise to award-winning chef is the stuff of culinary dreams, but it’s all crashing down around him. He’s been given a diagnosis that could cost him something even more precious than his life: his sense of taste. Rather than risk the very thing that defines him, Miller embarks on a last tour of his favorite meals while he still can.But there’s a catch: he needs a financial backer to make it happen, and he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s sick. Dr. Clancy Rhodes has two weeks to come to terms with putting aside oncology to work at his father’s thriving plastic… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse mentioned
Divorce recounted
Alcohol consumption
Hospitalisation mentioned
Protagonist diagnosed with late-stage throat cancer & chooses not to receive medical treatment (theme)
Fatal heart attack mentioned
Emesis

Amen Maxine by Faith Gardner

Welcome to Silicon Valley, where the weather is perfect, the income is high … and Rowena Snyder is miserable. A transplant from New York, Rowena moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. But suburbia isn’t Rowena’s cup of Starbucks. And she’s got serious anxiety and depression to boot. Jacob, worried about their marriage, scores a new product currently in beta testing from his tech job: Maxine, a “digital friend” that bonds with an individual by continually gathering their personal data. Along with functioning like an upscale digital assist… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Infidelity
Domestic emotional abuse & gaslighting
Postpartum anxiety & depression (protagonist, on-page)

Beard in Mind by Penny Reid

Beau Winston is the nicest, most accommodating guy in the world. Usually. Handsome as the devil and twice as charismatic, Beau lives a charmed life as everyone’s favorite Winston Brother. But since his twin decided to leave town, and his other brother hired a stunning human-porcupine hybrid as a replacement mechanic for their auto shop, Beau Winston’s charmed life has gone to hell in a handbasket. Shelly Sullivan is not nice and is never accommodating. Ever. She mumbles to herself, but won’t respond when asked a question. She glares at everyone, especially babies. She… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic violence recounted
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Depression
Self-harm (cutting)

Sparrow by Sarah Moon

Sparrow has always had a difficult time making friends. She would always rather have stayed home on the weekends with her mother, an affluent IT Executive at a Brooklyn bank, reading, or watching the birds, than playing with other kids. And that’s made school a lonely experience for her. It’s made LIFE a lonely experience. But when the one teacher who really understood her — Mrs. Wexler, the school librarian, a woman who let her eat her lunch in the library office rather than hide in a bathroom stall, a woman who shared her passion for novels and knew just the ones she’d love… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Protagonist with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
Psychiatric hospitalisation for attempted suicide by fall discussed
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a teacher in a car accident discussed

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Alexander C. Eberhart

My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong. So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection. My clues are even… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Substance addiction mentioned
Gun violence

Lock & West by Alexander C. Eberhart

Lock is awkward. He can’t make eye contact, counts when he’s nervous and has to remind himself several times a day how ‘normal’ teens behave. Homeschooled most of his life, he’s resigned himself to a friendless existence at his new Atlanta high school. Until he meets West. List Of Reasons Why My Life Is A Mess: How Much Time Do You Have? West has everything. Looks. Talent. Money. And secrets… so many secrets. Beneath the surface of West’s perfect existence is a pain he’s buried so deep a million therapists couldn’t unearth it and he’s determined to keep it that way. He’s an… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Homophobia
Attempted rape & sexual assault
Child abuse
Anxiety
Eating disorder & purging
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Attempted suicide