Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

‘It came from the woods. Most strange things do.’

Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss. These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll. Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Dismemberment
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a brother
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death & dead bodies
  • Animal hunting

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well-guarded secret—but it’s not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they’ve needed to keep others out. And now they’re worried they’re keeping a murderer in. Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & slurs
  • Hate crimes, including gay bashing
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Animal death & hunting (rabbit)

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

It’s something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it’s a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn’t do as she’s told, the boy will die. “You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last.” Rachel is now part of The Chain… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug abuse & use, on-page
  • Protagonist with cancer
  • Death and resuscitation of a child for anaphylactic shock
  • Murder
  • Gun violence & threats of gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity of children, on-page (theme)
  • Disappearance of a daughter
  • Stalking
  • Physical assault with a wrench and physical assault of a child
  • Animal hunting

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Seventeen-year-old Aderyn (“Ryn”) only cares about two things: her family, and her family’s graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don’t always stay dead. The risen corpses are known as “bone houses,” and legend says that they’re the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Classism
  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies & body parts (theme)
  • Physical injury
  • Emesis
  • Chronic pain
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father
  • Death of an uncle
  • Murder
  • Axe violence
  • Strangulation
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Animal death & dead bodies
  • Death of a pet goat
  • Hunting mentioned
  • War themes recounted
  • Poverty & eviction
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The Castaways by Lucy Clarke

You wake on a beautiful, remote island. Sparkling blue seas, golden sunsets, barely a footprint in the sand. Yet this is no ordinary escape. Next to the wreck of a plane, a stranger paces. Another sharpens a knife, scoring a list of the dead onto a palm tree. Others watch from the shadows of a campfire – all with untold stories, and closely-guarded secrets. This is no ordinary holiday. This is no ordinary island. This is no ordinary beach read….

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Spousal & parental abandonment
  • Attempted rape (on-page)
  • Sexual assault (unwanted non-consensual kiss, on-page)
  • Spousal infidelity discussed
  • Suicidal ideation, including an on-page scene where the protagonist begins an attempt by jumping
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug use and abuse mentioned
  • Parent with alcoholism mentioned
  • Starvation and food scarcity
  • Infertility discussed
  • Blood & gore depiction including physical injuries and dead bodies
  • Death of a lover by shark attack (off-page)
  • Disappearance of a sibling (theme)
  • Murder by drowning in self-defence from attempted rape
  • Attempted murder by strangulation
  • Near-death of an infant from choking
  • Plane crash (theme)
  • Animal hunting & butchering (mostly fish)

Midnight in Everwood by Maria Kuzniar

Midnight in Everwood by Maria M.A. Kuzniar

There’s nothing Marietta Stelle loves more than ballet, but after Christmas, her dreams will be over as she is obligated to take her place in Edwardian society. While she is chafing against such suffocating traditions, a mysterious man purchases the neighbouring townhouse. Dr Drosselmeier is a charming but calculating figure who wins over the rest of the Stelle family with his enchanting toys and wondrous mechanisms. When Drosselmeier constructs an elaborate set for Marietta’s final ballet performance, she discovers it carries a magic all of its own… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Body shaming
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Claustrophobia
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Animal hunting

Luminous by Mara Rutherford

Luminous by Mara Rutherford

Liora has spent her life in hiding, knowing discovery could mean falling prey to the king’s warlock, Darius, who uses mages’ magic to grow his own power. But when her worst nightmare comes to pass, Darius doesn’t take her. Instead, he demands that her younger sister return to the capital with him. To make matters worse, Evran, Liora’s childhood friend and the only one who knows her secret, goes missing following Darius’s visit, leaving her without anyone to turn to. To find Evran and to save her sister, Liora must embrace the power she has always feared. But the greatest danger she’ll face is yet to come, for Darius has… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Persecution for magic & witchcraft (theme)
  • Blood depiction
  • Dead body
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother in a fire recounted
  • Knife violence
  • Imprisonment mentioned
  • Blackmail
  • Animal attack
  • Animal hunting
  • Animal death, on-page
  • Animal dead bodies mentioned
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The Cove by Alice Clark-Platts

The Cove by Alice Clark-Platts

Welcome to Turtle Cove. A luxury resort surrounded by pristine sea and the dense beauty of the jungle, it is the perfect escape from the stresses of life and work. For couples Lou and Adam, Eliza and Noah, a few days spent relaxing on the beach, while their kids are happily distracted, is exactly what they need. But appearances can be deceiving. There’s a strange tension brewing at the resort, with relations between the hotel and the locals threatening to spill over into violence. This is nothing though compared to the strained atmosphere between the two families. They haven’t been friends for long and they are starting to realise they… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Child neglect recounted
  • Spousal and parental infidelity mentioned
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse, on-page
  • Recreational drug use
  • Minor physical injury including mentions of burns
  • COVID-19 pandemic mentioned (epilogue)
  • Graphic dead bodies
  • Death of a husband
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a mother from suicide by hanging recounted
  • Murder
  • Disappearance of a spouse & child
  • Explosion
  • Gun violence mentioned
  • Fire
  • Animal death mentioned (wild pig, fish)
  • Mentions of cruel animal hunting practices
  • Discussions of loss of business/livelihoods and traditional ways of life due to climate change
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In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish

In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish

Daniel Mulligan is tough, snarky, and tattooed, hiding his self-consciousness behind sarcasm. Daniel has never fit in—not at home in Philadelphia with his auto mechanic father and brothers, and not at school where his Ivy League classmates looked down on him. Now, Daniel’s relieved to have a job at a small college in Holiday, Northern Michigan, but he’s a city boy through and through, and it’s clear that this small town is one more place he won’t fit in. Rex Vale clings to routine to keep loneliness at bay: honing his muscular body, perfecting his recipes, and making custom furniture. Rex has lived in Holiday for years, but his… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & outing
  • Hate crime (‘gay bashing’) leading to the death of the protagonist’s ex-partner and his hospitalisation for injuries
  • Nightmares
  • Protagonists with a speech impediment & chronic migraines
  • Attempted suicide recounted
  • Death of a father from a heart attack
  • Death of a mother from pancreatic cancer
  • Death of a brother from suicide mentioned (secondary character)
  • Car accident resulting an injured dog (no death)

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home. They hope to find the answers they seek while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Animal death (fish), on-page
  • Animal hunting & fishing