Tag Archives: Abandonment

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of abandonment, including spousal and parental abandonment.

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade

Maria’s one-night-stand–the thick-thighed, sexy Viking of a man she left without a word or a note–just reappeared. Apparently, Peter’s her surly Gods of the Gates co-star, and they’re about to spend the next six years filming on a desolate Irish island together. She still wants him…but he now wants nothing to do with her. Peter knows this role could finally transform him from a forgettable character actor into a leading man. He also knows a failed relationship with Maria could poison the set, and he won’t sabotage his career for a woman who’s already walked away from him once. Given time, maybe they can be cooper… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia
  • Sexism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Experiences in the foster care system recounted
  • Depression
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Death of a parent

Down London Road by Samantha Young

Down London Road by Samantha Young

It has always been up to Johanna to care for her family, particularly her younger brother, Cole. With an absent father and a useless mother, she’s been making decisions based on what’s best for Cole for as long as she can remember. She even determines what men to date by how much they can provide for her brother and her, not on whatever sparks may—or may not—fly. But with Cameron MacCabe, the attraction is undeniable. The sexy new bartender at work gives her butterflies every time she looks at him. And for once, Jo is tempted to put her needs first. Cam is just as… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Parent with alcoholism

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan

Love demands sacrifice. Her blood. Her body. Even her life. Singapore, 1927. Verity Edevane needs blood. And not just anyone’s blood. She craves the sweet, salty rush from a young woman’s veins, the heady swirl of desire mixed with fealty—such a rarity in this foreign colony. It’s a lot to ask. But doesn’t she deserve the best? Gean Choo needs money. Mrs. Edevane makes her an offer Gean Choo can’t refuse. But who is her strange, alluring new mistress? What is she? And what will Gean Choo sacrifice to earn her love?… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Child sexual abuse recounted
  • Dubious consent scenarios, including employer-employee relationship
  • Child abandonment
  • Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
  • Abusive relationship
  • Cheating
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm & self-inflicted injury
  • Recreational drug use
  • Death during childbirth mentioned
  • Physical injury, including a broken nose
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Physical assault

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. While other returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution. Tayo’s quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his people. The search itself becomes a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Sexual assault
  • Child abandonment
  • PTSD & trauma
  • Alcoholism
  • Torture
  • War & colonisation themes

The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell by Kate Brauning

The Ballad of Dinah Caldwell by Kate Brauning

Seventeen-year-old Dinah runs her family’s farm in the Ozarks. When she finds her grief-stricken mother dead in the living room with wealthy rancher Gabriel Gates standing over her, Dinah’s life narrows to a single point: kill Gabriel Gates. But Gates has built his wealth giving out bad loans and surrounds himself with bodyguards. Dinah’s mountains are now one giant foreclosure, including her own farm. It all belongs to him. Once he puts a ten-thousand-dollar reward on Dinah’s head, everyone in the starving county wants a piece of her. Homeless and alone in the woods, all she has is Johnny, the moonshining bootlegger at home in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder of a mother
  • Bullying
  • Homelessness

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

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

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot is a people pleaser. Her demanding parents. Her prep school friends. Her long-time boyfriend. It’s exhausting, really, always following the rules. Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first, she must get a college degree at her parent’s insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College. Mac’s had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abandonment
  • Cheating, recounted & in-page
  • Death of a parent, off-page
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Dream by Garrett Leigh

Dream by Garrett Leigh

When unrequited love leaves Dylan Hart sleepless and nursing his wounds, instinct draws him to the one place he’s found mindless respite in the past—Lovato’s. It’s a place for every fantasy — for crazy-hot encounters — where a night of insane NSA sex brings relief to Dylan’s fragile feelings. It should be a perfect escape, and for one magical night it seems that way, but then worlds collide, and reality bites when his hookup desperately needs a friend. Surely Dylan can’t trust his instincts when friendship has bruised his heart so badly before? The deck is stacked against former ballet… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Anxiety
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Pneumonia
  • Death of a father
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Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall

Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home. But not only does he win week one’s challenge—he meets fellow contestant Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also cute and kind, with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have. Still, neither his growing romance with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, homophobia & Islamophobia
  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Protagonist with Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) & hospitalisation for a panic attack (on-page)
  • Cyberbullying