Animal Cruelty, Abuse & Torture – Page 20

The Binding by Bridget Collins

The Binding by Bridget Collins

Books are dangerous things in Collins’s alternate universe, a place vaguely reminiscent of 19th-century England. It’s a world in which people visit book binders to rid themselves of painful or treacherous memories. Once their stories have been told and are bound between the pages of a book, the slate is wiped clean and their memories lose the power to hurt or haunt them.

After having suffered some sort of mental collapse and no longer able to keep up with his farm… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Rape & rape of a minor
Incest mentioned
Suicide
Animal cruelty
Animal death
Fire

A Conspiracy of Stars by Olivia Cole

Octavia has only ever had one goal: to follow in the footsteps of her parents and become a prestigious whitecoat, one of the scientists who study the natural wonders of Faloiv. The secrets of the jungle’s exotic plants and animals are protected fiercely in the labs by the Council of N’Terra, so when the rules suddenly change, allowing students inside, Octavia should be overjoyed. But something isn’t right. The newly elected leader of the Council has some extremist views about the way he believes N’Terra should be run and he’s influencing others to follow him. When Octavia witnesses one of the Faloii—the indigenous… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Blood and injury depiction
Grief and loss depiction (minor)
Death of a friend, off-page
Death of a grandmother recounted
Death of a mother, on-page
Imprisonment
Animal death, cruelty and experimentation (theme)
Animal attack.

Torn by Carian Cole

Torn by Carian Cole

When I was five years old I told Toren Grace I was going to marry him when I grew up. When I turned eighteen I made it clear I still felt the same. The problem? He’s fifteen years older than me and he’s my father’s best friend.

Toren Grace. My father’s best friend. My pseudo-uncle. He’s always been my rock. The one I should never, ever want. But I do want him, and I love him. I always have… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parent in a coma
Animal abuse

Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena

Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena

Gul has spent her life running. She has a star-shaped birthmark on her arm, and in the kingdom of Ambar, girls with such birthmarks have been disappearing for years. Gul’s mark is what caused her parents’ murder at the hand of King Lohar’s ruthless soldiers and forced her into hiding to protect her own life. So when a group of rebel women called the Sisters of the Golden Lotus rescue her, take her in, and train her in warrior magic, Gul wants only one thing: revenge… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Sex slavery, implied
Chronic illness
Death of parents
Murder
Animal cruelty

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry

Christopher and Hannah are a happily married surgeon and nurse with picture-perfect lives. All that’s missing is a child. When Janie, an abandoned six-year-old, turns up at their hospital, Christopher forms an instant connection with her, and he convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own.

But Janie is no ordinary child, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents were expecting. Janie is fiercely devoted to Christopher, but she acts out in increasingly disturbing ways… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse
Forced institutionalisation
Animal death & cruelty

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950’s America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Seemingly for good. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny (theme)
Parental abandonment
Emotional & physical child abuse
ALcoholism
Panic attack
Death of a father, off-page
Death of a mother from cancer, on-page
Fire mentioned
Animal cruelty & death

Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews

Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews

In The Broken, people shop at Walmart, and magic only lives in fairy tales; in The Weird, aristocrats still rule and the strength of your magic controls your fate; and The Edge is the borderland where anything can happen…

Audrey Callahan has a unique talent: no door is closed to her; and – thanks to her Edge family, a motley crew of grifters and layabouts – she’s a consummate conwoman. But she’s severed all ties with her past, finally gotten a legitimate job in The Broken, and Audrey couldn’t be happier. But now her dad has swindled her into one last job… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Blood & gore depiction
Death of a friend
Explosions
Kidnapping
Animal death & cruelty

Wayward by Gregory Ashe

Wayward by Gregory Ashe

Emery Hazard is trying to plan his wedding, even though his fiancé, John-Henry Somerset, isn’t exactly making things easy for him. To be fair, Somers has been distracted lately; his father is running for mayor in a hotly contested election, and their hometown is splintering under the weight of divisive politics.

In a matter of hours, those poisonous politics invade Hazard’s life in a way he couldn’t have imagined. Glenn Somerset, Somers’s father, shows up on their doorstep, and he wants two things: first, for Hazard to neutralize a blackmail threat; and second… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexism
Homomisia
Racism
Parent with cancer
Death of a parent
Blackmail
Psychiatrist-patient relationship
Animal abuse mentioned

The Mortal Sleep by Gregory Ashe

The Mortal Sleep by Gregory Ashe

Months have passed since the events at Belshazzar’s Feast. Vie Eliot, reluctant psychic and self-appointed defender of the small Wyoming town called Vehpese, knows that trouble is coming, but for the time being, he wants to spend as many happy days as he can with his boyfriend.

Until one night, two men arrive and blow up a car. They threaten to do more damage unless Vie leaves town. Immediately… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Homomisia
Depression
Attempted suicide
Suicidal ideation
Drug use
Kidnapping
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Animal torture mentioned

A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer Armentrout

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort.

However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well-protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love. … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Forced sex work mentioned
Sexual harassment
Child abuse
Arranged marriage
Depression
Anxiety & panic attacks
Suicide, off-page
Suicidal ideation
Self-mutilation
Death of a parent in childbirth
Blood & gore decapitation
Dead bodies
Decapitation
Amputation
Death of a father from suicide, off-page
Graphic murder & attempted murder
Torture, including restricted access to food
Whipping, on-page
Imprisonment
War themes & battle scenes
Animal abuse