Tag Archives: Child Abuse & Neglect

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of child abuse and neglect, including emotional, verbal, psychological and physical abuse, and gaslighting.

For child sexual abuse, see Paedophilia & CSA.

Ward D by Freida McFadden

Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward. Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital’s inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out. And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger. Amy’s worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D. And now she might never escape...

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child Abuse
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Toxic friendship
  • Hallucinations
  • Drug use & abuse mentioned
  • Drugging
  • Murder

The Crash by Freida McFadden

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard. She never arrives at her destination. Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears. But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is.… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drugging
  • Pregnancy (protagonist)
  • Infertility & miscarriage mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction and hospitalisation
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Car accident

Lights Out by Navessa Allen

Trauma nurse Aly Cappellucci doesn’t need any more kinks. She likes the one she’s landed on just fine. To her, nothing could top the masked men she follows online. Unless one of those men was shirtless, heavily tattooed, and waiting for her in her bedroom. She dreams about being hunted by one in particular, of him chasing her down and doing deliciously dark things to her willing body. She never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become her new reality. I want things most people don’t, craving darkness and depravity instead of light and love. Josh Hammond has spent his life avoiding the…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned (off-page)
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Cannibalism recounted (unintentional)
  • Death of a parent
  • Mass shooting
  • Knife & gun play
  • Car accident recounted
  • Stalking & invasion of privacy

Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour

Eighteen-year-old Mila has been in the foster system since her mother abandoned her. Now that she’s graduating high school, she has nothing to do and nowhere to call home. So when she gets an offer to work as an intern on the Farm, she readily accepts. Her main job is to take care of eight-year-old Lee. At first the Farm seems like an idyllic paradise, a remote place on the cliffs with view of the sea far below. But Mila soon realises there’s something more sinister going on. Lee’s recent trauma causes Mila’s own frightening memories to bubble to the surface…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect (theme)
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Emotional, psychological & financial domestic abuse
  • Gaslighting
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Needles & medical treatment mentioned
  • Car accident mentioned
  • Death of grandmother & grandfather mentioned
  • Fire & death from fire
  • Near-drowning incident

We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca

A precocious young girl with an unusual imagination is sent on an odyssey into the depths of depravity. After her father dies violently, young Mara is surprised to find her mother welcoming a new guest into their home, claiming that he will protect them from the world of devastation and destruction outside their door.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned (brief)
  • Incest
  • Emotional & verbal child abuse
  • Miscarriage & stillbirth
  • Body horror
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Murder
  • Animal death

Theirs for the Night by Katee Robert

Meg Sanders has spent her life playing by the rules—until tonight. It’s her birthday and she’s determined to be a little wild and a whole lot carefree, at least until she has to get back to reality tomorrow. But the last thing she expects is to be seduced by two gorgeous men on the dance floor. Theo and Galen are each incredibly sexy on their own, and potentially devastating as a pair—and they want her. Meg isn’t down for anything resembling complicated when her life is such a mess, but the pair win her over with the promise of a night out of her deepest, darkest fantasy—and that they walk the next morning with no strings attached.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual harassment (groping)
  • Child neglect recounted
  • Scars (protagonist)

A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert

Once upon a time I was a girl who believed in love and happily ever afters. Now the only thing I believe in is revenge. Unfortunately for me, there’s only one man willing to help me. Hook. I should have known it wouldn’t be out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn’t have one. No, Hook wants his ring on my finger and me on my knees before him—and he won’t take no for an answer. I’m willing to pay any price in order to bring Pan down…even if it means I lose my soul in the bargain.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Intimate partner abuse & violence recounted
  • Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Panic attack
  • Scars
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Attempted kidnapping

Electric Idol by Katee Robert

In the ultra-modern city of Olympus, there’s always a price to pay. Psyche knew she’d have to face Aphrodite’s ire eventually, but she never expected her literal heart to be at stake…or for Aphrodite’s gorgeous son to be the one ordered to strike the killing blow. Eros has no problem shedding blood. But when it comes time to take out his latest target, he can’t do it. Confused by his reaction to Psyche, he does the only thing he can think of to keep her safe: he marries her. Psyche vows to make Eros’s life a living hell until they find a way out of this mess. But as lines blur and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Emotional parental abuse
  • Revenge pornography recounted
  • Sexual assault of a minor mentioned
  • Suicide mentioned (off-page)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence

When the Lights Come On by Katia Rose

Paige Rivera doesn’t need to know the rest; she doesn’t intend to end up among the twice-fooled. It’s been six years since Youssef Salah let her down, and not even the shock of his reappearance is enough to make her consider letting him do it again. She learned a lot from that first fall: how to pick herself up, brush herself off, and push away anyone with the ability to knock her off her feet. He’s no longer the teenage boy she knew, but Youssef still possess the powers of a gravitational force, so Paige employs her failsafe strategy: head down, eyes on the prize. The prize in this case is… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Familial estrangement & emotional child abuse
  • Drugging

Your Chorus by Katia Rose

Spending three weeks on a bus with your boyfriend, his rock band, and their entire tour crew: possibly a bad idea. Spending three weeks on a bus with your ex-boyfriend, his rock band, and their entire tour crew: definitely a bad idea. But with the contract signed and the gigs all booked, Roxanne Nadeau finds herself heading out on the road as the accompanying violinist for reigning rock gods Sherbrooke Station, despite being on less than cordial terms with their bassist. Not that the situation comes as a surprise. Roxanne and Cole’s near-constant on/off status has become a longstanding joke among their friends… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Familial estrangement & child neglect
  • Sexual assault of a minor recounted (step-parent/child)
  • Nonfatal heart attack (off-page)