Animal Death & Death of a Pet – Page 53

Into the River by Mark Brandi

Into the River by Mark Brandi

Also known as Wimmera.

Growing up in a small country town, Ben and Fab spend their days playing cricket, wanting a pair of Nike Air Maxes and not talking about how Fab’s dad hits him, or how the sudden death of Ben’s next-door neighbour unsettled him. Almost teenagers, they already know some things are better left unsaid.

Then a newcomer arrived. Fab reckoned he was a secret agent and he and Ben staked him out. He looked strong. Maybe even stronger than Fab’s dad. Neither… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Paedophilia, child sexual abuse & grooming
Domestic violence
Suicide
Graphic dismemberment
Murder
Animal death

The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite

The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle’s house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.

At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby’s cries, and during the days he is disturbed by a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexism
Child neglect
Cheating
Alcohol consumption, on-page
Recreational drug use, on-page
COVID-19 (theme)
Emesis
Physical illness & tribal marking disfigurement of a baby
Blood depiction
Grief & loss depiction
Death of an uncle & husband recounted
Animal slaughter, on-page

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

Valerie’s sister was beautiful, kind, and sweet. Now she is dead. Henry, the handsome son of the blacksmith, tries to console Valerie, but her wild heart beats fast for another: the outcast woodcutter, Peter, who offers Valerie another life far from home.

After her sister’s violent death, Valerie’s world begins to spiral out of control. For generations, the Wolf has been kept at bay with a monthly sacrifice. But now no one is safe. When an expert Wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the creature lives among them–it… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parent with alcoholism
Amputation
Torture
Animal death
Animal attack

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata–a mermaid–collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable–she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods. To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There’s the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail. Danger lurks at every… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Slavery discussed
Alcohol consumption (wine)
Emesis
Blood and injury depiction
Sword and axe violence
Strangulation, on-page
Kidnapping and captivity of children
Drowning, on-page
Shipwreck and boating accidents, on-page
Lightning storms ,on-page
Mentions of war
Animal death mentioned (cows, goats)
Animal attack (hyena, shark, birds)

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

Catalia “Cat” Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a travelling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the Gods-and her homicidal mother-have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever.

Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm until he realizes he wants her for much more than her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Fatmisia
Child abuse
Intimate partner abuse
Nightmares
Kidnapping
Murder & attempted murder
Torture recounted
Immolation
Death of a pet (puppy)

Unspoken by Marie Brennan

Unspoken by Marie Brennan

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met… a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence
Near-drowning incident
Animal death

If I Disappear by Eliza Jane Brazier

If I Disappear by Eliza Jane Brazier

Sera loves true crime podcasts. They make her feel empowered in a world where women just like her disappear daily. She’s sure they are preparing her for something. So when Rachel, her favourite podcast host, goes missing, Sera knows it’s time to act. Rachel has always taught her to trust her instincts.

Sera follows the clues hidden in the episodes to an isolated ranch outside Rachel’s small hometown to begin her search. She’s convinced her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Depression
Alcoholism
Miscarriage
Animal death

Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Bérubé

Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Bérubé

Sixteen-year-old Skye is done playing the knight in shining armor for her insufferable younger sister, Deirdre. Moving across the country seems like the perfect chance to start over. In their isolated new neighbourhood, Skye manages to fit in, but Deirdre withdraws from everyone, becoming fixated on the swampy woods behind their house and building monstrous sculptures out of sticks and bones. Then Deirdre disappears. And when something awful comes scratching at Skye’s window in the middle of the night, claiming she’s the only one who can save Deirdre, Skye knows she will stop at nothing to bring her sister home.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Self-harm
Blood depiction
Disappearance of a sibling & child
Animal death
Animal cruelty

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle’s wild crows (those idiots), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®.

Then Big Jim’s eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to feel like something isn’t quite right. His most tried-and-true remedies–from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim’s loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis–fail to cure Big Jim’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Body horror, including eye trauma
Animal abuse
Animal death

Semiosis by Sue Burke

Semiosis by Sue Burke

Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet’s sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools. Forced to land on a planet they aren’t prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape–trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Graphic rape
Physical injury & illness
Cannibalism
Death of a child
Murder
Torture
Animal death
Animal abuse