Tag Archives: Child Abuse & Neglect

Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly

Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly

Once upon a time, a girl named Sophie rode into the forest with the queen’s huntsman. Her lips were the colour of ripe cherries, her skin as soft as new-fallen snow, her hair as dark as midnight. When they stopped to rest, the huntsman pulled out his knife and took Sophie’s heart. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Sophie had heard the rumours, the whispers. They said she was too kind and foolish to rule — a waste of a princess. A disaster of a future queen. And Sophie believed them. She believed everything she’d heard about herself, the poisonous words people… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide

The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos

The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos

Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school’s magic club—to see him through to graduation. But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs. With so many fault lines threatening to derail his hopes for the year, Sam is forced to face…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Child abuse
  • Cults

Sweet Rome by Tillie Cole

Sweet Rome by Tillie Cole

It makes me laugh when I hear folks think Molly and I rushed into things too fast, spouting that we couldn’t possibly have felt what we did for each other in such a short space of time. I say, how the hell would they know? We made it, didn’t we? She became my whole life, didn’t she? And as for my folks not being real, being true? Tell that to me aged ten, eleven, twelve—damn, all my bastard life—when I was never enough when I was beaten until I bled for being too good at football and not being everything they’d dreamed: the perfectly dutiful son. Tell that to thousands of kids around the world getting wailed on by asshole parents for… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Suicide
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of parents

Jegudiel by Tillie Cole

Jegudiel by Tillie Cole

They are the Fallen. A brotherhood of murderers whose nature compels them to kill. But guided by their leader, Gabriel, the Fallen have learned to use their urges to rid the world of those it is better off without. .Control. Diel has spent his entire life under it. His childhood years were spent in the sadistic captivity of the Brethren. Now the Fallen are free, but the monster that lives inside Diel is not—can not be. The darkness within is curbed by an electric collar, the only thing that stops Diel from killing everyone in his path. Diel’s monster yearns for freedom—the freedom to tear apart Brethren priests, as many as possible, one after the other in a frenzied.⁣⁣⁣.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping

Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole

Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole

A few long weeks after being reluctantly ripped from the comforting embrace of her sacred prophet’s religious commune—the only life she has ever known—a terrified Delilah is thrust into a world enveloped by evil and swimming in sin. Steadfastly devout in her faith, and retaining the deep belief that her soul is innately tarnished as a branded ‘Cursed woman of Eve’, Delilah is determined to find her way home to her people in The Order and away from the corrupt and damned outlaw motorcycle club—The Hades Hangmen—who hold her at their secluded compound for her protect..⁣⁣⁣.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Paedophilia & grooming recounted
  • Sexual assault
  • Gang rape
  • Child abuse
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-mutilation
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Cult

The Fallen: Genesis by Tillie Cole

The Fallen: Genesis by Tillie Cole

They told them they were evil. They told them they were possessed by demons. They told them that darkness ran in their veins. Holy Innocents Home for Children is a haven for orphaned boys who have nothing and no one. The priests watch over them, educate them, and raise them in the family of the church. Except for some. Seven of the orphans are no ordinary boys. They attract the attention of the priests for their acts of violence, of bloodlust. The priests realize these boys are drawn to the darkness. And the priests are no ordin.⁣⁣⁣.. And the priests are no ordinary priests. .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Rape of a child
  • Physical & emotional child abuse

Darkness Embraced by Tillie Cole

Darkness Embraced by Tillie Cole

Born to sit on opposing thrones.⁣ They were never meant to fall.⁣ Tanner Ayers is the heir of the Texas Ku Klux Klan. Fed nothing but hate, violence, and intolerance from the day he was born, Tanner kills for his cause without remorse.⁣ Until he meets Adelita Quintana, the daughter of the most brutal cartel boss in Mexico. Adelita and Tanner hate each other instantly. But there is something between them that neither can explain nor deny. Hate turns to desire, desire turns to love, and for the first time, Tanner sees how wrong his whole life has been. Adelita and Tanner hate each other instantly. But there is something between them that.⁣⁣⁣.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking, off-page
  • Racism
  • Rape of a child, off-page
  • Child abuse, on-page
  • Murder, on-page
  • Kidnapping, on-page

Off the Ice by Julie Cross

Off the Ice by Julie Cross

Claire O’Connor is back in Juniper Falls, but that doesn’t mean she wants to be. One semester off, that’s what she promised herself. Just long enough to take care of her father and keep the family business—a hockey bar beside the ice rink—afloat. After that, she’s getting the hell out. Again. Enter Tate Tanley. What happened between them the night before she left town resurfaces the second they lay eyes on each other. But the guy she remembers has been replaced by a total hottie. When Tate is unexpectedly called in to take over for the hockey team’s star goalie, suddenly he’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse

Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh

Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh

Awakening wounded in a darkened cell, their psychic abilities blocked, Aden and Zaira know they must escape. But when the lethal soldiers break free from their mysterious prison, they find themselves in a harsh, inhospitable landscape far from civilization. Their only hope for survival is to make it to the hidden home of a predatory changeling pack that doesn’t welcome outsiders. And they must survive. A shadowy enemy has put a target on the back of the Arrow squad, an enemy that cannot be permitted to succeed in its deadly campaign. Aden will cross any line to keep his people safe for this new future, where even an… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Threats of sexual assault
  • Child physical abuse
  • Drugging
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Brain damage mentioned
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping of a child

Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh

Quiet in Her Bones by Nalini Singh

When socialite Nina Rai disappeared without a trace, everyone wrote it off as another trophy wife tired of her wealthy husband. But now her bones have turned up in the shadowed green of the forest that surrounds her elite neighbourhood, a haven of privilege and secrets that’s housed the same influential families for decades. The rich live here, along with those whose job it is to make their lives easier. And somebody knows what happened to Nina one rainy night ten years ago. Her son Aarav heard a chilling scream that night, and he’s determined to uncover the ugly truth that lives beneath the moneyed elegance but no one is read… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental emotional abuse
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Statutory rape
  • Depression
  • Alcoholism
  • Suicide
  • Overdose
  • Hospitalisation
  • Murder