The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Minor slut-shaming
  • Physical child abuse & neglect, including starvation, captivity, and forcing a child to write righthanded by tying up their left arm (on-page)
  • Protagonist with clubfoot
  • World War II (theme), including plane crashes and bombings (on-page)

A Secret Escape by Alyson Gerber

The game starts now. Jack and Weatherby—the newest members of Last Heir, the most powerful secret society in the world—have landed at an exclusive prep school in the Swiss Alps, ready to win big. Last Heir is offering the chance of a lifetime: millions of dollars, a private island, and a powerful spot in the society’s inner circle. Not everyone has the same reasons for playing, but with money, power, and influence up for grabs, everyone wants to win. Too bad they’re not all playing by the same rules.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Faith and the Dead End Devils by Kathryn Moon

Faith Robins has been torn away from her brother, kept captive by an omega trafficking ring, and auctioned to the highest bidder. But when fate twists a new key in her lock, she finds herself in the care of an alpha named Bear, safe for the first time in ages. She’s lost in this new world, surrounded by strange men, but she has claws now. And she’s prepared to dig them in and hold onto safety, no matter the cost. The Dead End Devils aren’t a pack. They aren’t Boy Scouts. And if their prez, King, has his way, they’re getting rid of this… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & sexual harassment (off-page)
  • Foster care system experiences discussed
  • Flashbacks & panic attacks
  • Drugging recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Captivity (off-page)

The Safe Place by Anna Downes

Emily Proudman has been offered the chance of a lifetime – leave her messy London life, move to a beautiful estate in France and help her boss’s wife take care of their daughter. It seems like the perfect opportunity to start again. But once there, Emily soon starts to suspect that her charismatic new employers aren’t telling her the whole truth. That there are even dangerous secrets hidden beneath the glamorous facade. Why have the family been moved to this isolated house so far from home? Why does her boss’s daughter refuse to speak or be touched?… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Foster care experiences mentioned
  • Child abuse, including one slap scene, faking a child’s chronic illness, and forcing them to live in isolation (etc.)
  • Discussions of childhood trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (c-PTSD)
  • Parent with dementia
  • Panic attacks
  • Self-harm (on-page)
  • Suicide by jumping (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse and implied drug abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a daughter recounted
  • Minor blood & injury depiction and emesis
  • Attempted murder by gun violence
  • Kidnapping and captivity of a child
  • Stalking
  • Financial difficulties discussed

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

In the far future, after human civilization has spread through the galaxy, communications begin to arrive in an apparently alien language. They appear to threaten invasion, but in order to counter the threat, the messages must first be understood.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body shaming, homophobia & misogyny
  • Suicide
  • Psychosis
  • Genocide
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Alchemised by SenLinYu

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive. According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Graphic misogyny
  • Rape & sexual assault (protagonist)*
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Emotional child abuse
  • Infidelity
  • Forced marriage
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Amnesia & memory loss, including non-consensual memory alteration
  • Nightmares
  • Suicidal ideation & self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption (on-page) & mentions of smoking
  • Forced pregnancy & childbirth*
  • Miscarriage & abortion mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction, including eye trauma/ loss of eye, seizures, broken bones, emesis, traumatic brain injury, weight loss & gain due to malnutrition, disembowelment & amputation
  • Medical procedures, human experimentation. needles & surgery, including forced sterilization of a child
  • Cannibalism mentioned (secondary characters)
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Attempted kidnapping
  • Arson & bombing
  • Imprisonment & captivity
  • Torture, including sensory deprivation and solitary confinement
  • War themes including war crimes & eugenics
  • Animal death & cruelty (experimentation)
  • Poverty

* Context: The female protagonist is raped by the male protagonist as part of a breeding program. The male protagonist cheats on his wife, who he was forced to marry and is also cheating on him, with the female protagonist.

The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes by Wade Albert White

Anne has spent most of her thirteen years dreaming of the day she and her best friend Penelope will finally leave Saint Lupin’s Institute for Perpetually Wicked and Hideously Unattractive Children. When the big day arrives, a series of very curious happenings lead to Anne being charged with an epic quest. Anne, Penelope, and new questing partner Hiro have only days to travel to strange new locales, solve myriad riddles, and triumph over monstrous foes–or face the horrible consequences.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical injury, including an almost amputated arm
  • Sword violence & stabbing
  • Explosion
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Death from a fall
  • Animal attack

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris, hoping for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Meredith also hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe’s muse awake, and he’ll be inspired to write again. And he is; after their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. Seems like this trip is just… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cancer
  • COVID-19 pandemic (theme)
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Confinement & stalking

Worse Guy by Ruby Dixon

Crulden the Ruiner is the most dangerous gladiator in the galaxy. I’m his clone – equally ugly, equally dangerous, and just as feared. I’m also being held captive, since no one trusts a creature like me to be let loose. A curvy, determined human named Bee doesn’t think I’m a creature, though. In fact, she thinks I just need a guide. She’s got half the males on this planet eating out of her hand, and she’s confident she can do the same with me. The managing little female has no idea what she’s in for. I’m not some fool to be led around by my tail. But… the champion in me… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sex slavery & sexual assault
  • Self-harm
  • Torture
  • Captivity recounted (on-page)

The Wicked Betrayal by Marion Blackwood

After the events surrounding the Dagger of Orias, Kenna believes that her circumstances could not possibly get any worse. But fortune is a cruel mistress. Unexpected betrayal throws her life into turmoil, and while she is still trying to recover from the shock, she also has to somehow come up with a plan to save her life. The idea is simple. And dangerous beyond belief. In order to get out of the desperate situation she has ended up in, Kenna is going to take on Mordren Darkbringer. But the Prince of Shadows is… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Slut-shaming & victim-blaming
  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Depression & suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging
  • Gambling
  • Blood & injury depiction, including dead bodies
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Attempted kidnapping & captivity
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Strangulation
  • Poisoning
  • Home invasion
  • Blackmail
  • Building collapse
  • Fire
  • Conscription
  • Homelessness