Animal Cruelty, Abuse & Torture – Page 7

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

Fitz has survived his first hazardous mission as king’s assassin, but is left little more than a cripple. Battered and bitter, he vows to abandon his oath to King Shrewd, remaining in the distant mountains. But love and events of terrible urgency draw him back to the court at Buckkeep, and into the deadly intrigues of the royal family. Renewing their vicious attacks on the coast, the Red-Ship Raiders leave burned-out villages and demented victims in their wake. The kingdom is also under assault from within, as treachery threatens the throne of the ailing king. In this time of great danger, the fate of the kingdom may rest in Fitz’s hands—and his role in its salvation may require the ultimate sacrifice.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexism
Classism
Elder abuse
Child abuse recounted
Infidelity mentioned
Forced political marriage
Depressive episode recounted
Suicidal ideation mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Drug use
Pregnancy & miscarriage discussed
Graphic injuries & illness
Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
Emesis
Seizures
Chronic illness
Death of a father from medical complications due to chronic alcoholism recounted
Murder & attempted murder
Infanticide
Poisoning
Physical assault
Knife, arrow and axe violence
Imprisonment
Loss of autonomy (mind control & invasion)
War themes & battle scenes
Naval warfare
Regicide
Animal abuse (wolf)
Animal death mentioned, including the death of a pet dog.

The Queen of Everything by Deb Caletti

High school junior Jordan MacKenzie’s life was pretty typical: fractured family, new boyfriend, dead-end job. She’d been living with her father (the predictable optometrist) since her mother (the hippie holdover) had become too embarrassing to be around. Jordan felt that she finally had as normal a life as she could. Then came Gayle D’Angelo. ordan knew her father was dating Gayle and that Gayle was married. Jordan knew it was wrong and that her father was becoming someone she didn’t recognise anymore but what could she do about it?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexism
Infidelity
Animal death & cruelty, on-page

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

Three generations of Taiwanese American women are haunted by the myths of their homeland in this spellbinding, visceral debut about one family’s queer desires, violent impulses, and buried secrets.

One evening, Mother tells Daughter a story about a tiger spirit who lived in a woman’s body. She was called Hu Gu Po, and she hungered to eat children, especially their toes. Soon afterwards, Daughter awakes with a tiger tail. And more mysterious events follow: Holes in the backyard spit up letters penned by her grandmother; a visiting aunt arrives with snakes in her belly… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism
Misogyny
Homomisia
Domestic violence
Child abuse
Dementia
Suicide & mass suicide mentioned
Miscarriage
Blood & gore depiction
Amputation
Animal abuse

The Vines by Shelley Nolden

In the shadows of New York City lies forbidden North Brother Island, where the remains of a shuttered hospital hide the haunting memories of century-old quarantines and human experiments. The ruins conceal the scarred and beautiful Cora, imprisoned by contagions and the doctors who torment her. When Finn, a young urban explorer, arrives on the island and glimpses an enigmatic beauty through the foliage, intrigue turns to obsession as he seeks to uncover her past—and his own family’s dark secrets. By unraveling these mysteries, will he be able to save Cora? Will Cora meet the same tragic ending as the thousands who’ve already perished on the island?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexist and racist language
Nazism
Rape
Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
Overdose
Cancer
Nonconsensual human & animal experimentation

After the Forest by Kell Woods

1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg. Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war. Greta has a secret, the witch’s grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious – and addictive – gingerbread. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat. But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Animal cruelty (baiting)

Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

Fritzi is a witch. A survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only surviving family member and bring the hexenjägers—zealot witch hunters—to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader—Kommandant Dieter Kirch. Otto is a hexenjäger and a captain, the second in command to Dieter Kirch—but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjagers burned his innocent mother alive and since then, he has been planning a move against the witch hunters that tore his family apart. And now the time has come for… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic & child abuse recounted
Murder
Physical & psychological torture
Imprisonment
Loss of autonomy (magical coercion)
Animal abuse recounted

The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta

Indir is a Dreamer, descended from a long line of seers; able to see beyond reality, she carries the rare gift of Dreaming truth. But when the beloved king dies, his son has no respect for this time-honored tradition. King Alcan wants an opportunity to bring the Dreamers to a permanent end—an opportunity Indir will give him if he discovers the two secrets she is struggling to keep. As violent change shakes Indir’s world to its core, she is forced to make an impossible choice: fight for her home or fight to survive… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Animal cruelty
Animal injury (dog)

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse
Postpartum depression
Alcohol consumption
Emesis
Death of a child
Murder
Kidnapping of a child
Physical assault
Animal cruelty

The Sky is Mine by Amy Beashel

No one has ever asked Izzy what she wants. She’s about to change all that…

In a house adept at sweeping problems under the carpet, seventeen-year-old Izzy feels silenced. As her safety grows uncertain, Izzy know three things for sure. She knows not to tell her mother that Jacob Mansfield has been threatening to spread those kinds of photos around college. She knows to quiet the grief that she’s been abandoned by her best friend Grace… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Slut-shaming
Rape
Sexual assault
Domestic abuse
Animal abuse mentioned

After She Falls by Carmen Schober

Strong-willed Adri Rivera always dreamed of becoming a professional mixed martial artist, but then she fell in love with a man who smashed everything to pieces. When their tumultuous relationship finally comes to a head, Adri flees with their young daughter to her small hometown in the mountains of Pennsylvania. There, she must face the people she left behind and put her broken life back together as a single mother. Adri struggles to regain her independence after so many years under the oppressive influence of her ex, but a job opportunity at a local gym gives her hope that she’ll be able to stand on her own two feet. The… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic violence
Physical assault
Animal abuse