Queer Lit – Page 31 – Trigger Warning Database

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Bergensdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Northern town of Vardø must fend for themselves. Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband’s authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Period-typical misogyny
Anti-indigenous racism
Colonialism
Religious bigotry and persecution for witchcraft (theme) including the on-page depiction of witch trials and burning women at the stake
Graphic martial rape and sexual assault
Infidelity*
Forced marriage
Pregnancy and pregnancy from rape discussed including childbirth
Miscarriage
Alcohol consumption
Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
Death of a friend, on-page
Death of a father, husband and brother mentioned
Mass death by boating accident
Murder, on-page
Torture, implied
Imprisonment mentioned
Near-drowning incident
Animal death

*Context : The protagonist falls in love with a woman but is in a forced arranged marriage with a man.

The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu

The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu

In the near future water falls from the sky whenever someone lies (either a mist or a torrential flood depending on the intensity of the lie). This makes life difficult for Matt as he maneuvers the marriage question with his lover and how best to “come out” to his traditional Chinese parents.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Sibling abuse

Cancer Ships Aquarius by Anyta Sunday

Cancer Ships Aquarius by Anyta Sunday

Dumped by the fifth girl in two years and abandoned by his best friends, Reid Glover is alone and in need of a home. Desperate, he interviews to become a live-in manny aboard widowed Sullivan Bell’s yacht, the Aquarian. The job? Not to look after thirteen-year-old Joanna. No, this child-mastermind needs Reid to befriend her dad, urge him to participate more in family life, encourage him to date, oh, and become his closest confidant and help him unleash his bottled emotions.
No pressure. At least he’s not entirely out of his depth. Okay, so he may have a slight aversion to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment mentioned
Alcohol consumption, accidental
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a spouse recounted
Homelessness mentioned

Keep Me Close by RM Virtues

Keep Me Close by R.M. Virtues

She is the closest thing Khaos Falls has to a goddess… And Aphrodite is feared and worshipped in equal measure. She has dedicated her life to being a saviour for the lost regardless of the risk, but when unknown enemies nearly assassinate her in her own club, she realizes her reckless vigilante tactics won’t cut it anymore. He is the furthest thing Khaos Falls has from a hero In fact, Hephaestus is who you call when all the heroes have fallen. Still, he is the best at what he does, strengthening the city’s weaknesses and keeping his feelings out of it. When tasked with…Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sex trafficking
Gun violence

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He’s won skiing prizes. He likes to write. And, oh yeah, he’s gay. He’s been out since 8th grade, and he isn’t teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that’s important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time. So when he transfers to an all-boys’ boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret — not so much going back in the closet as start … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia & internalised homomisia
Ableism
Outing
Depression mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Death of a relative from cancer

The Navigator’s Touch by Julia Ember

The Navigator’s Touch by Julia Ember

After invaders destroyed her village, murdered her family, and took her prisoner, shield-maiden Ragna is hungry for revenge. A trained warrior, she is ready to fight for her home, but with only a mermaid and a crew of disloyal mercenaries to aid her, Ragna knows she needs new allies. Guided by the magical maps on her skin, battling storms and mutiny, Ragna sets sail across the Northern Sea. She petitions the Jarl in Skjordal for aid, but despite Ragna’s rank and fighting ability, the Jarl sees only a young girl, too inexperienced to lead, unworthy of help. To prove herself to the Jarl and win her crew’s respect, Ragna undertakes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Blood & graphic injury depiction
Murder of a child
Torture discussed
Physical assault
Kidnapping of a child
Imprisonment
Animal death

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

In BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, Luc and Oliver met, pretended to fall in love, fell in love for real, dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and family and friends…and somehow figured out a way to make it work. Now it seems like everyone around them is getting married, and Luc’s feeling the social pressure to propose. But it’ll take more than four weddings, a funeral, and a bowl full of special curry to get these two from I don’t know what I’m doing to I do. Good thing Oliver is such perfect HUSBAND MATERIAL.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia & internalised homomisia
Eating disorder mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent from a heart attack, off-page

How the Wallflower was Won by Eva Leigh

How the Wallflower was Won by Eva Leigh

Finn Ransome is an expert on Lady Luck, which is why he refuses to take a chance on love. Experience has taught him that he’s happier at a gaming table than around people he will, inevitably, disappoint. However, the clock is ticking on his father’s matrimonial demands. But the only woman to catch his eye is a bluestocking who would never consider a rogue like him. After a disastrous first Season, Tabitha Seaton decided to focus on books instead of ballrooms. She hopes to join the Sterling Society, a collective of the most brilliant, influential minds in London. Except, they will never admit an unmarried lady. Now… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse recounted
Bullying

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds, becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit. Rosie—owner of Monk’s Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner—caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drink at Monk’s back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who seek to employ them. Angel—ex-marine and head of a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Suicide
Torture
Gun violence
Colonialism
Animal death

Melt My Heart by Bethany Rutter

Melt My Heart by Bethany Rutter

Lily Rose is used to people paying attention to her gorgeous twin sister, Daisy. But even though Lily loves her own fat body, she can’t shake the idea that no one would ever choose her over Daisy – not when they could have the thin twin. .That is, until she meets Cal, the gorgeous, sweet guy from New Zealand who can’t seem to stay away. The gorgeous, sweet guy who also happens to be Daisy’s summer crush. Lily can’t seem to figure out why she isn’t as into him as she should be. She should be head-over-heels in love, not missing time at the ice-cream shack with her life-long… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Bimisia
Fatmisia & body shaming
Alcohol consumption
Cheating