Tag Archives: Alcoholism

Beneath the Stands by Emily McIntire

Elliot Carson left Sugarlake and has never looked back. Revered as the next big thing in basketball, Eli’s a star until an injury ends his career, sending him spiralling with no direction. But he won’t go home. He can’t Instead, he accepts a coaching gig at Florida Coast University, determined to leave his past behind. But fate has other plans when Becca, his sister’s best friend, shows up as a student and, even worse, becomes the new team manager. Rebecca Sanger is the preacher’s daughter and the town’s disappointment. When she ignores her family’s demands to come… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcoholism

Redeeming 6 by Chloe Walsh

With his world unravelling around him, and pressure rising at home, Joey Lynch’s life has never been in more turmoil. Desperate to prove himself worthy of the only person he’s ever put his trust in, Joey fights to stay away from a world that threatens to destroy everything. But with the odds stacking against him by the day, can he keep his head above water? Unwilling to give up on the boy she loves, Aoife Molloy fights to save her best friend from the edge of self-destruction. Drowning in a world she doesn’t understand, with only her heart to guide her, Aoife refuses to turn her back on Joey, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against them.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Foster care system experiences recounted
  • Parental infidelity
  • Substance addiction & parent with alcoholism
  • Suicidal ideation & attempted suicide
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Arson
  • Graphic bullying (on-page)

Saving 6 by Chloe Walsh

The second born son in a broken marriage, Joey Lynch has spent a lifetime picking up the pieces of a family unravelling. When his older brother Darren skips town, twelve-year-old Joey finds himself thrown into the role of protector to his younger siblings and mother. Plagued by self-loathing, and furious with the world, he grapples with teenage life, his unwavering sense of duty to his family, while balancing precariously close to a life of addiction that threatens to swallow him whole. The only light in his sea of darkness is his boss’s firecracker of a daughter who refuses to back down. A girl who just so happens to be his classmate. Aoife Mol… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Foster care system experiences recounted
  • Parental infidelity
  • Postnatral depression
  • Substance addiction & parent with alcoholism
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Teen pregnancy (14-year-old)
  • Graphic bullying (on-page)

Keeping 13 by Chloe Walsh

Following a devastating injury that has left him sidelined and stripped of his beloved number 13 jersey, Johnny Kavanagh is struggling to hold onto his dreams. Lost, insecure, and desperately seeking comfort, he sets his sights on unravelling the mystery of the girl with the midnight-blue eyes, who haunts his every waking hour. Keeping secrets has never been a problem for Shannon Lynch. The life she was born into demands nothing less. She knows that demons and evil men don’t just exist in fairytales. They exist in her world, too. Traumatized beyond repair after her return from Dublin, and desperate to protect her little brothers… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect by a parent with alcoholism (on-page)
  • Foster care system experiences recounted
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Substance addiction (secondary character)
  • Unplanned teen pregnancy & miscarriage mentioned
  • Physical injury & illness and hospitalisation for surgery recounted
  • Murder by arson
  • Attempted murder by knife
  • Drowning
  • Graphic bullying (on-page)

Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh

They are from opposites sides of the track – but when their two worlds collide, nothing will ever be the same again. Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him. On the rugby pitch, he’s a force to be reckoned with. Primed for stardom, he’s heading straight for the top. Nothing can possibly get in his way, right? Not even the shy new girl at Tommen College. The one with the sad eyes and hidden bruises. The one that distracts him like no one ever has. Life has never been easy for Shannon Lynch. Bullied and tortured, she arrives at Tommen College mid-way through the school year.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect by a parent with alcoholism (on-page)
  • Foster care system experiences recounted
  • Sexual assault of a minor (side character, off-page)
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Teen pregnancy & miscarriage mentioned
  • Hospitalisation for surgery
  • Physical injury & illness including cyclic vomiting syndrome (on-page)
  • Physical assault
  • Graphic bullying (on-page)

Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada

Stonebridge High’s resident bad boy, Wesley “Big Mac” Mackenzie, is failing senior year—thanks to his unchecked anger, rowdy friends, and a tendency to ditch his homework for skateboarding and a secret photography obsession. So when his mom drags him to a production of The Nutcracker, Wes isn’t interested at all . . . until he sees Tristan Monroe. Mr. Nutcracker himself. Wes knows he shouldn’t like Tristan; after all, he’s a ballet dancer, and Wes is as closeted as they come. But when they start spending time together, Wes can’t seem to get Tristan out of his head… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Internalised homophobia & mentions of disownment by homophobic parents
  • Domestic violence & child abuse recounted
  • Alcoholism & alcohol abuse
  • Attempted murder

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling

They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong. When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he’s been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he’ll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector. Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff’s deputy, Packard is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Rape
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Substance addiction & alcoholism
  • Drug use
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J.D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead— very dead —on the hotel’s tea room floor. When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to who killed J.D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & harassment
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Death of a parent & guardian mentioned
  • Blackmail
  • Murder
  • Poisoning
  • Animal death (rat)

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumours, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now phenomenally huge hit true crime… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Infidelity
  • Alcoholism
  • Intimate partner abuse (on-page)
  • Graphic murder (on-page)

The Teacher by Freida McFadden

Lesson #1: Trust no one. Eve has a good life. She wakes up each day, kisses her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Except… Last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center. But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye. Addie can’t be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that’s what everyone says. But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Teacher-student relationship & grooming
  • Statutory rape
  • Domestic abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Blood & injury including concussion
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder by strangulation