Tag Archives: Anxiety Disorders

When She’s Gone by Sara Sligar

Cora Valentine has her whole life—and a shot at the Olympics—ahead of her. But when she’s kidnapped on Halloween, her name is splashed across headlines not as an athlete but as a victim. Not even her safe return changes that, especially since no one is caught for the crime. Hounded by the public, Cora’s time as a missing girl and member of the Magnificent Eight has its consequences. Years later, when Cora has her own daughter, she’s determined to leave the past behind for a better life. Her daughter will never face those fears. And Cora will never face them again… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Kidnapping & mentions of stalking
  • Gun violence

Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson

Ellie Engle doesn’t stand out. Not at home, where she’s alone with her pet fish since her dad moved away and her mom has to work around the clock. Not at the bakery, where she helps out old Mr. Walker on the weekends. And definitely not at school, where her best friend, Abby—the coolest, boldest, most talented girl in the world—drags Ellie along on her never-ending quest to “make her mark.” To someone else, a life in the shadows might seem boring, or lonely. But not to Ellie. As long as she has Abby by her side and a comic book in her hand, she’s quite content. Too bad life… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Anxiety (protagonist)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a grandparent recounted
  • Earthquake
  • Animal death
  • Bullying

Bree Boyd is a Legend by Leah Johnson

7th grader Bree Boyd loves rules, order, and knowing what’s going to happen next. It’s why she likes reading the same books over and over; it’s why she’s the school’s reigning spelling bee champ; and, most importantly, it’s why she’s never minded the high expectations her father has always had for her and her sisters. After all, if you’re always the best, life can’t throw many surprises at you. But for the first time, Bree has no idea what the future holds. Because when a huge storm delivers a bolt of lightning straight into Bree, it leaves behind something she never prepared for: the power to move things with her mind… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety (protagonist)

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century. When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity mentioned (secondary characters)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Health-related anxiety discussed
  • Body image & weight discussed
  • Pregnancy & miscarriage
  • Serious childhood illness discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent in a car accident mentioned
  • Blackmail
  • Bullying recounted

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods. While on a camping trip, five high-schoolers bound by an oath to always protect one another discover something in the middle of the forest: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend climbs up but does not come back down. Then the staircase disappears. Twenty years later it reappears, and the friends return to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety & depression
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Self-harm & suicidal ideation
  • Drug use
  • Body horror
  • Emesis
  • Animal abuse

Love at First Fright by Nadia El-Fassi

Rosemary is a successful horror author with a secret: she can see ghosts. So when the set of her hit novel’s film adaptation turns out to be a haunted countryside manor, she’s unfazed. What she’s less prepared for is the maddeningly handsome, completely miscast actor playing her leading man. Ellis is a Hollywood heartthrob tired of his action-hero persona. Instead, he dreams of being a serious actor, and having free time to spend gardening with his dog. Landing the lead in a historical horror movie is his chance to start fresh… until he discovers the author tried to have him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Internalised homophobia & biphobia
  • Anxiety
  • Alcohol consumption & mentions of smoking
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from cancer recounted
  • Death of a pet dog recounted (off-page)
  • Blackmail

Finders Keepers by Sarah Adler

Last week, Nina Hunnicutt was a professor about to move into a gorgeous new apartment with her long-term boyfriend. Now, she’s single, unemployed, and living with her parents. Even more surprising is the fact that Quentin Bell, her childhood neighbor (and okay, fine, crush), is also back in town—and wants to resume the treasure hunt that ended their friendship almost two decades ago. Hoping the reward promised to whoever finds the rumored riches left behind by the town’s eccentric turn-of-the-century seltzer magnate will help her get her life back on… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental divorce recounted (off-page)
  • Infidelity recounted (protagonist’s ex-fiancé)
  • Anxiety & depression (protagonist)

Desire and the Deep Blue Sea by Olivia Dade

Thomas McKinney has never wanted a woman the way he wants Callie Adesso. Since she started working alongside him at the Colonial Marysburg Research Library, he’s spent his desk shifts fumbling pencils, tripping over his own feet, and struggling to remember both the Dewey Decimal System and the existence of her inconvenient boyfriend. Now, however, Callie is suddenly single–and in need of a last-minute faux-boyfriend for an episode of HATV’s Island Match. Thomas is more than happy to play the part…and in the process, convince Callie that a week together isn’t nearly long enough. Callie has never… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Alcohol consumption

Hold Me by Courtney Milan

Jay na Thalang is a demanding, driven genius. He doesn’t know how to stop or even slow down. The instant he lays eyes on Maria Lopez, he knows that she is a sexy distraction he can’t afford. He’s done his best to keep her at arm’s length, and he’s succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Maria has always been cautious. Now that her once-tiny, apocalypse-centered blog is hitting the mainstream, she’s even more careful about preserving her online anonymity. She hasn’t sent so much as a picture to the commenter she’s interacted with for eighteen months—not even… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Transphobia
  • Parental abandonment
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Suicide
  • Death of a sibling

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with Porfiry, a suspicious detective, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical antisemitism, misogyny & classism
  • Rape
  • Domestic violence & child abuse
  • Anxiety
  • Schizophrenia & psychosis
  • Suicide & self-harm
  • Murder