Abandonment – Page 26 – Trigger Warning Database

This Is Not a Ghost Story by Andrea Portes

This Is Not a Ghost Story by Andrea Portes

Daffodil Franklin has plans for a quiet summer before her freshman year at college, and luckily, she’s found the job that can give her just that: housesitting a mansion for a wealthy couple. But as the summer progresses and shadows lengthen, Daffodil comes to realize the house is more than it appears. The spacious home seems to close in on her, and as she takes the long road into town, she feels eyes on her the entire way, and something tugging her back. What Daffodil doesn’t yet realize is that her job comes with a steep price. The house has a long-ago grudge it needs to settle . . . and Daffodil is the key to settling it.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Fire mentioned
Car accident

Lizard’s Tale by Weng Wai Chan

Lizard’s Tale by Weng Wai Chan

It’s Singapore in 1940, war is just around the corner—but twelve-year-old Lizard doesn’t know that. He lives in Chinatown above a tailor’s shop, surviving on his wits and hustling for odd jobs. When he steals a small teak box containing a Japanese code book from a Raffles Hotel suite, he finds himself in a dangerous world of wartime espionage. Lizard doesn’t know who to trust. How is the mysterious book inside the box connected to his friend Lili, a girl full of secrets and fighting skills? Can he trust her, or will she betray him in the end?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Parental abandonment
Murder
Kidnapping
Disappearance of a relative
War World Two
Colonialism

Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa

Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa

Guatemala, 1954. The military coup perpetrated by Carlos Castillo Armas and supported by the CIA topples the government of Jacobo Árbenz. Behind this violent act is a lie passed off as truth, which forever changes the development of Latin America: the accusation by the Eisenhower administration that Árbenz encouraged the spread of Soviet Communism in the Americas. Harsh Times is a story of international conspiracies and conflicting interests in the time of the Cold War, the echoes of which are still felt today.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Child abandonment
Adult-minor relationship
Murder
Torture
Gun violence

The Cove by Alice Clark-Platts

The Cove by Alice Clark-Platts

Welcome to Turtle Cove. A luxury resort surrounded by pristine sea and the dense beauty of the jungle, it is the perfect escape from the stresses of life and work. For couples Lou and Adam, Eliza and Noah, a few days spent relaxing on the beach, while their kids are happily distracted, is exactly what they need. But appearances can be deceiving. There’s a strange tension brewing at the resort, with relations between the hotel and the locals threatening to spill over into violence. This is nothing though compared to the strained atmosphere between the two families. They haven’t been friends for long and they are starting to realise they… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment mentioned
Child neglect recounted
Spousal and parental infidelity mentioned
Suicide, on-page
Alcohol consumption & abuse, on-page
Recreational drug use
Minor physical injury including mentions of burns
COVID-19 pandemic mentioned (epilogue)
Graphic dead bodies
Death of a husband
Death of a father recounted
Death of a mother from suicide by hanging recounted
Murder
Disappearance of a spouse & child
Explosion
Gun violence mentioned
Fire
Animal death mentioned (wild pig, fish)
Mentions of cruel animal hunting practices
Discussions of loss of business/livelihoods and traditional ways of life due to climate change

Candy Hearts by Erin McLellan

Candy Hearts by Erin McLellan

Mechanic Benji Holiday is so over Valentine’s Day and men who don’t get him. A weekend getaway with friends to escape the holiday hubbub is exactly what he needs. But William O’Dare—a stern and silent nightclub owner with “Be My Valentine” practically stamped on his forehead—throws a wrench into Benji’s plans. William has spent years focused on his career, and it has cost him friendships and love. Inexperienced in the business of romance, he’s on the hunt for the perfect partner, and he’s armed with specific criteria to guide him. But William didn’t expect a hunky mechanic wrapped in satin and lace to show up on his doorstep… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment recounted
Cheating mentioned

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas

Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking—for lack of a better word—on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parent abandonment mentioned, off-page
PTSD & trauma
Panic attack, off-page
Nightmares

The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh

The Boy Toy by Nicola Marsh

For almost a decade, successful 37-year-old Samira Broderick has used her bustling LA practice as an excuse to avoid a trip home to Australia. She still resents her meddling Indian mother for arranging her marriage to a man who didn’t stick around when the going got tough, but now with a new job Down Under, she’s finally ready to reconnect with her. And while she’s there, a hot international fling might be just what she needs to get out of her recent funk. Aussie stuntman, Rory Radcliffe, has been hiding his stutter for years by avoiding speaking roles. When a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Cheating
Infertility
Bullying

Clues to the Universe by Christina Li

Clues to the Universe by Christina Li

The only thing Rosalind Ling Geraghty loves more than watching NASA launches with her dad is building rockets with him. When he dies unexpectedly, all Ro has left of him is an unfinished model rocket they had been working on together. Benjamin Burns doesn’t like science, but he can’t get enough of Spacebound, a popular comic book series. When he finds a sketch that suggests that his dad created the comics, he’s thrilled. Too bad his dad walked out years ago, and Benji has no way to contact him. Though Ro and Benji were only supposed to be science class partners, the pair become unlikely friends: Benji helps Ro finish her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Parental abandonment
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Bullying

Raze by Roan Parrish

Raze by Roan Parrish

For the last ten years, Huey has built his life around his sobriety. If that means he doesn’t give a damn about finding love or companionship for himself, well, it’s probably better that way. After all, the last thing he wants is to hurt anyone else. Until Felix Rainey walks into his bar, fresh-faced, unbearably sweet—and, for some reason Huey can’t fathom, interested in him. As the eldest of five kids, Felix Rainey spent his childhood cooking dinner, checking homework, and working after-school jobs. Now in his twenties, he’s still scrambling to make ends meet and wondering what the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Alcohol consumption
Substance addiction recovery (theme)
Parent with depression mentioned
Emesis mentioned
Death of a parent recounted

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

The multiverse business is booming, but there’s just one catch: no one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying–from diseases, from turf wars, from vendettas they couldn’t outrun. But on this earth, Cara’s survived. And she’s reaping the benefits, thanks to the well-heeled Wiley City scientists who ID’d her as an outlier and plucked her from the dirt. Now she’s got a new job collecting offworld data, a path to citizenship, and a near-perfect Wiley City accent. Now she can pretend… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Child abandonment & neglect mentioned
Domestic abuse
Death on an infant mentioned
Murder
Gang violence
Strangulation
Physical assault
Drowning