Tag Archives: Child Abuse & Neglect

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates—a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewellery off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie­ Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie—not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual harassment
  • Domestic abuse
  • Cheating
  • Child neglect mentioned
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Murder
  • Fire
  • Confinement

Dreamfall by Amy Plum

Dreamfall by Amy Plum

Dreamfall by Amy Plum

Cata Cordova suffers from such debilitating insomnia that she agreed to take part in an experimental new procedure. She thought things couldn’t get any worse…but she was terribly wrong.

Soon after the experiment begins, there’s a malfunction with the lab equipment, and Cata and six other teen patients are plunged into a shared dreamworld with no memory of how they got there. Even worse, they come to the chilling realization that they are trapped in a place where their worst nightmares have come to life. Hunted by creatures from their darkest imaginations and tormented by secrets they’d rather keep buried, Cata and the others will be forced to band together to face their biggest fears. And if they can’t find a way to defeat their dreams, they will never wake up.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Mental health stigmatization
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Depression
  • Narcolepsy
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Eating disorders
  • Psychosis
  • Suicidal tendencies
  • Self sacrifice
  • Sleep disorders, specifically chronic insomnia
  • Nightmares
  • Medical experimentation
  • Coma
  • Scars
  • Gore depiction
  • Genocide
  • War themes

The Love Con by Seressia Glass

The Love Con by Seressia Glass

Sometimes Kenya Davenport believes she was switched at the hospital–how else could a lover of anime, gaming, and cosplay come from STEM parents? Still, Kenya dreams of being able to turn her creative hobby into a career. She finally has a chance to make it big when she joins the reality show competition Cosplay or No Way.

There’s just one catch: the challenge for the final round is all about iconic pairs, and the judges want the contestants’ significant others to participate. Unfortunately, Kenya is as single as can be at the moment. Luckily her best friend, Cameron Lassiter, agrees to be her fake boyfriend for the show.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Child neglect recounted
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Bullying

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton

Long ago, a village made a bargain with the devil: to ensure their prosperity, when the Slaughter Moon rises, the village must sacrifice a young man into the depths of the Devil’s Forest. Only this year, the Slaughter Moon has risen early.

Bound by duty, secrets, and the love they share for one another, Mairwen, a spirited witch; Rhun, the expected saint; and Arthur, a restless outcast, will each have a role to play as the devil demands a body to fill the bargain. But the devil these friends find is not the one they expect, and the lies they uncover will turn their town—and their hearts—inside out.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Transmisia
  • Child abuse & neglect mentioned
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Bullying
  • Animal death

Vampires Never Get Old edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie Parker

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bites edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker with contributions by Samira Ahmed, Julie Murphy, Dhonielle Clayton, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, V.E. Schwab and Kayla Whaley

Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices! In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night. Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Seven Nights for Dying by Tessa Gratton– Alcohol consumption
– Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Mirrors, Windows & Selfies by Mark Oshiro– Blood depiction
– Murder
– Captivity mentioned
The House of Black Sapphire by Dhonielle Clayton– Slavery mentioned
– Blood depiction
The Boy from Blood River by Rebecca Roanhorse– Homomisia
– Terminal illness
– Death of a parent
– Murder
– Bullying
Senior Year Sucks by Julie Murphy– Animal abuse mentioned
The Boy and the Bell by Heidi Heilig– Transmisia
– Misgendering
– Threatened outing (blackmail)
– Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
In Kind by Kayla Whaley– Abelsim
– Parental abuse
– Attempted murder by overdosing (filicide)
A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire by Samira Ahmed– Colonialism
– Racism
Bestiary by Laura Ruby– Parental abuse & neglect
– Abandonment
– Alcohol consumption
– Drug abuse
– Murder mentioned
Vampires Never Say Die by Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C. Parker– Blood depiction
First Kill by V.E. Schwab– Anxiety
– Murder mentioned

Secret by Brigid Kemmerer

Secret by Brigid Kemmerer

Nick Merrick is stretched to breaking point. He’s trying to keep his grades sky-high or he won’t get into college. He’s trying to keep his brother’s business afloat or the Merricks will be out on the street. He’s trying to keep the secret of where he’s going in the evenings from his twin brother Gabriel – or he fears he’ll lose his family. And he’s trying to keep his mind off the hot, self-assured dancer who is his ‘girlfriend’s’ partner.

And then Quinn takes to hanging around his sworn enemy, and an Elemental Guide is counting the hours until he can try again to kill the Merrick brothers. Storms are brewing. On all sides.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child abuse
  • Coming out themes
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Grief & loss depiction

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.

Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle.

When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they’re both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they’ve built. But when Maegan learns of Rob’s plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Classism (theme)
  • Queermisia & homomisia mentioned
  • Conversion therapy recounted
  • Cheating
  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Teacher-student relationship
  • Disownment recounted
  • Panic attacks
  • Suicide discussed
  • Graphic attempted suicide of a parent recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Pregnancy
  • Abortion discussed
  • Emesis (multiple scenes)
  • Blood & graphic physical injuries depiction
  • Stroke mentioned
  • Attempted murder by strangulation, off-page
  • Physical assault, on-page
  • Gun violence recounted
  • Imprisonment of a parent
  • Bullying
  • Poverty (theme)

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

Rev Fletcher is battling the demons of his past. But with loving adoptive parents by his side, he’s managed to keep them at bay…until he gets a letter from his abusive father and the trauma of his childhood comes hurtling back.

Emma Blue spends her time perfecting the computer game she built from scratch, rather than facing her parents’ crumbling marriage. She can solve any problem with the right code, but when an online troll’s harassment escalates, she’s truly afraid

When Rev and Emma meet, they both long to lift the burden of their secrets and bond instantly over their shared turmoil. But when their situations turn dangerous, their trust in each other will be tested in ways they never expected….. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Rape mentioned
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Self-harm
  • Miscarriage recounted
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking
  • Catfishing
  • Cyberbullying & online harassment
  • Bullying

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

When Apple’s mother returns after eleven years away, Apple feels whole again. But just like the stormy Christmas Eve when she left, her mother’s homecoming is bittersweet. It’s only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as they really are.

A story about sad endings.
A story about happy beginnings.
A story to make you realise who is special.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Abandonment
  • Child neglect
  • Alcohol abuse

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Sex work mentioned
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse, implied
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Murder
  • Gun violence