Madam by Phoebe Wynne

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

For 150 years, above the Scottish cliffs, Caldonbrae Hall has sat as a beacon of excellence in the ancestral castle of Lord William Hope. A boarding school for girls, it promises a future where its pupils will emerge ‘resilient and ready to serve society’.

Rose Christie, a 26-year-old Classics teacher, is the first new hire for the school in over a decade. At first, Rose feels overwhelmed in the face of this elite establishment, but soon after her arrival she begins to understand that she may have more to fear than her own ineptitude… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Lesbomisia
  • Paedophilia & grooming
  • Sexual harassment
  • Teacher-student relationship
  • Child abuse
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Transphobia & misgendering
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Rape & rape of a child
  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Child neglect & abandonment
  • Intimate partner violence & abuse
  • Eating disorder
  • Graphic attempted suicide, suicidal ideation & self-harm
  • Drug abuse
  • Graphic death of a child

One True Pairing by Cathy Yardley

One True Pairing by Cathy Yardley

Jake Reese needs a decoy girlfriend. Fast. The lead actor of the popular TV show, Mystics, is tired of losing his shirt to overeager fans. Literally. Which is why a chance meeting with gothabilly bookworm-slash-barista Hailey Frost seems almost too perfect to be true. Hailey is not impressed with his TV fame and is desperate to save her family’s bookstore. It’s a match made in Hollywood, but as the two pretend to date, fan fiction becomes reality. Can this OTP become canon?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Child sexual abuse recounted
  • Child physical abuse & neglect recounted
  • Attempted murder
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Ember of Night by Molly E Lee

Ember of Night by Molly E. Lee

Unloved by my abusive, alcoholic dad. Unwanted by my classmates. Unnoticed by everyone else. But I’d suffer anything to give my kid sister a better life—the minute I turn eighteen, I’m getting us the hell out of here. And some hot stranger telling me I am the key to stopping a war between Heaven and Hell isn’t going to change that. Let the world crumble and burn, for all I care.

Draven is relentless, though. And very much a liar. Every time his sexy lips are moving, I can see it—in the dip of his head, the grit of his jaw—even if my heart begs me to ignore the signs… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Physical child abuse
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Parent with alcoholism
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A New Kind of Everything by Richard Yaxley

A New Kind of Everything by Richard Yaxley

After their father’s reckless death, the Gallagher family must find new directions. Dinny’s mum finds a new form of freedom, but the paths the boys are choosing are pointing them in dangerous directions.

Fourteen-year-old Dinny is in danger of repeating his father’s behaviour, and his older brother Carl sees an opportunity for independence. But when Carl becomes involved in the aggressive agenda of an anti-immigration group, a different crisis develops—leading the family to tragedy, insight, and rebirth.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Suicide
  • Recreational drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Car accident
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Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip

Falsely accused of murder, Xiang Xiang’s father is executed, and her mother forced into a Buddhist nunnery. Xiang Xiang, alone and friendless at thirteen years old, is tricked into entering the Peach Blossom Pavilion, where she is given the name Bao Lan – Precious Orchid.

There she is trained in the fine arts of womanhood, studying music, literature, painting, and more importantly, the art of seduction and pleasuring men; and becomes one of China’s most successful courtesans.

However, Precious Orchid is determined to avenge her parents and sets out on a journey to achieve the justice she has sought so long.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic rape
  • Sex work
  • Graphic abuse
  • Suicide
  • Murder
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Master of One by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett

Master of One by Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett

Rags is a thief—an excellent one. He’s stolen into noble’s coffers, picked soldier’s pockets, and even liberated a ring or two off the fingers of passersby. Until he’s caught by the Queensguard and forced to find an ancient fae relic for a sadistic royal sorcerer. But Rags could never have guessed this “relic” would actually be a fae himself—a distractingly handsome, annoyingly perfect, ancient fae prince called Shining Talon. Good thing Rags can think on his toes, because things just get stranger from there…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Physical child abuse
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Infertility mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

Vanessa Mazur knows she’s doing the right thing. She shouldn’t feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary. But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she’s beyond shocked. For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn’t find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He’s asking for the unthinkable.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Child neglect & abandonment
  • Intimate partner abuse

Unseen by Karin Slaughter

Unseen by Karin Slaughter

Will Trent is a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent whose latest case has him posing as Bill Black, a scary ex-con who rides a motorcycle around Macon, Georgia, and trails an air of violence wherever he goes. The cover has worked and he has caught the eye of a wiry little drug dealer who thinks he might be a useful ally. But undercover and cut off from the support of the woman he loves, Sara Linton, Will finds his demons catching up with him.

Although she has no idea where Will has gone, or why, Sara herself has come to Macon because of a cop shooting: Her stepson, Jared, has been gunned down in his own home… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Forced sex work
  • Sex trafficking
  • Paedophilia
  • Rape mentioned
  • Suicide
  • Drug abuse
  • Miscarriage
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
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The Last Window by Karin Slaughter

The Last Window by Karin Slaughter

On a hot summer night, a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control is grabbed by unknown assailants in a shopping center parking lot. Vanished into thin air, the authorities are desperate to save the doctor.

One month later, the serenity of a sunny Sunday afternoon is shattered by the boom of a ground-shaking blast—followed by another seconds later. One of Atlanta’s busiest and most important neighborhood’s has been bombed—the location of Emory University, two major hospitals, the FBI headquarters, and the CDC… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Antisemitism
  • Homomisia
  • Misogyny
  • Racism & white supremacy
  • Rape
  • Paedophilia
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Blood depiction
  • Bioterrorism & terrorism
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Explosion
  • Mass shooting
  • Suffocation
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping
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