Animal Cruelty, Abuse & Torture – Page 18

Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

After embarking on a journey to bring her papa home from war, Anya discovers a powerful forest creature who attacks travelers with weaponized sound. But she soon learns that he’s not the monster the kingdom should fear. There’s an even greater evil that lurks under Kiev. Can Anya stop the monster, save her papa, and find her way home? Or will the secrets of Kiev leave Anya and her friends trapped beneath the city forever? In Kiev, Anya and her friends find themselves involved with an aggressive elf, an earnest archer, and a bellicose princess. But who is the real monster?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Antisemitism
Sexism
Torture
Animal cruelty

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden. In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive. Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Queermisia
Transmisia
Outing
Slut shaming
Fatmisia & body shaming
Statutory rape mentioned
Sexual assault, on-page
Sexual harassment
Forced sex work mentioned
Forced adult-minor marriage
Hallucinations & delusions
Suicide by drowning, on-page
Childbirth & death from childbirth
Pregnancy & teenage pregnancy
Infertility mentioned
Blood & gore depiction
Dead bodies
Scalping & skinning, off-page
Mutilation & dismemberment mentioned
Cannibalism mentioned
Starvation
Nonconsensual branding
Scars
Death of a wife
Knife & axe violence
Whipping recounted
Lynching, on-page
Animal attack
Animal death, on-page
Animal cruelty mentioned
Bullying

Of Ice and Shadows by Audrey Coulthurst

Of Ice and Shadows by Audrey Coulthurst

Princesses Denna and Mare are in love and together at last–only to face a new set of dangers. Mare just wants to settle down with the girl she loves, which would be easier if Denna weren’t gifted with forbidden and volatile fire magic. Denna must learn to control her powers, which means travelling in secret to the kingdom of Zumorda, where she can seek training without fear of persecution. Determined to help, Mare has agreed to serve as an ambassador as a cover for their journey. But just as Mare and Denna arrive in Zumorda, an attack on a border town… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery mentioned
Animal cruelty

Gilded by Marissa Meyer

Gilded by Marissa Meyer

Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller’s daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue. Or so everyone believes. When one of Serilda’s outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold or be killed for telling falsehoods. In her … Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption mentioned
Attempted non-consensual abortion
Minor body horror
Death of a sister mentioned (secondary character)
Murder
Kidnapping & disppearance of children discussed
Disappearance & presumed death of a parent discussed
Animal cruelty (horse)

Sundial by Catriona Ward

Sundial by Catriona Ward

All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind. She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice. Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely, and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Child abuse, on-page
Intimate partner abuse
Cheating
Alcohol consumption
Drug use
Self-harm
Murder
Animal death
Animal experimentation
Animal abuse

RoseBlood by AG Howard

RoseBlood by AG Howard

Rune Germaine moves to a boarding school outside of Paris, only to discover that at this opera-house-turned-music-conservatory, phantoms really do exist. RoseBlood is a Phantom of the Opera–inspired retelling in which Rune’s biggest talent—her voice—is also her biggest curse. Rune, whose voice has been compared to that of an angel, has a mysterious affliction linked to her talent that leaves her sick and drained at the end of every performance. Convinced creative direction will cure her, her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Antiziganism
Emotional & physical parental abuse
Human & sex trafficking
Stillbirth
Death of a parent from cancer
Kidnapping & hostage situation
Animal cruelty
Bullying
Poverty themes

The Diabolic by SJ Kincaid

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid

Nemesis is a Diabolic, a humanoid teenager created to protect a galactic senator’s daughter, Sidonia. The two have grown up side by side, but are in no way sisters. Nemesis is expected to give her life for Sidonia, and she would do so gladly. She would also take as many lives as necessary to keep Sidonia safe. When the power-mad Emperor learns Sidonia’s father is participating in a rebellion, he summons Sidonia to the Galactic court. She is to serve as a hostage. Now, there is… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape & attempted rape mentioned
Forced self-harm
Forced drug use
Murder
Torture
Animal cruelty

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian

Once beloved by London’s fashionable elite, Hartley Sedgwick has become a recluse after a spate of salacious gossip exposed his most-private secrets. Rarely venturing from the house whose inheritance is a daily reminder of his downfall, he’s captivated by the exceedingly handsome man who seeks to rob him. Since retiring from the boxing ring, Sam Fox has made his pub, The Bell, into a haven for those in his Free Black community. But when his best friend Kate implores him to find and destroy a scandalously revealing painting of her, he agrees. Sam would do anything to protect those he loves, even if it means… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Child sex work mentioned
Pregnancy & childbirth mentioned
Concussion
Death of a father mentioned
Death of a friend recounted
Animal fighting rings mentioned

The Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson

The Great Trouble by Deborah Hopkinson

Eel has troubles of his own: As an orphan and a “mudlark,” he spends his days in the filthy River Thames, searching for bits of things to sell. He’s being hunted by Fisheye Bill Tyler, and a nastier man never walked the streets of London. And he’s got a secret that costs him four precious shillings a week to keep safe. But even for Eel, things aren’t so bad until that fateful August day in 1854—the day the deadly cholera (“blue death”) comes to Broad Street… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse
Cholera epidemic
Dead bodies mentioned
Death of a parent mentioned
Physical assault
Kidnapping & captivity
Animal abuse

The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude

The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude

Those are the rules in Rowan’s Glen, a remote farming community in the Missouri Ozarks where Ivy Templeton’s family has lived for centuries. It’s an old-fashioned way of life, full of superstition and traditions, and sixteen-year-old Ivy loves it. The other kids at school may think the Glen kids are weird, but Ivy doesn’t care—she has her cousin Heather as her best friend. The two girls share everything with each other—or so Ivy thinks. When Heather goes missing after a May Day celebration, Ivy discovers that both her best friend and her beloved hometown are as full of secrets as the woods that surround them.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Bury Your Gays trope
Murder
Physical assault
Animal cruelty