Tag Archives: Death of a Friend

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

In words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid–and Caitlin herself.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Graphic self-harm
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend from suicide (theme)

Runebinder by Alex Kahler

Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler

When magic returned to the world, it could have saved humanity, but greed and thirst for power caused mankind’s downfall instead. Now once-human monsters called Howls prowl abandoned streets, their hunger guided by corrupt necromancers and the all-powerful Kin. Only Hunters have the power to fight back in the unending war, using the same magic that ended civilization in the first place. But they are losing. Tenn is a Hunter, resigned to fight even though hope is nearly lost. When he is singled out by a seductive Kin named Tomás and the enigmatic Hunter Jarrett…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Homomisia
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a friend
  • Graphic murder
  • Torture
  • Animal death & hunting

The Godparent Trap by Rachel Van Dyken

The Godparent Trap by Rachel Van Dyken

Colby’s living her best life: as a popular food blogger, she gets to fulfill her dreams of exploring the globe. But her world comes crashing down when a tragic accident leaves her co-guardian of her best friend’s two adorable children. Not only does she need to put down roots—fast—but she’ll be sharing custody with the one man she can’t stand sharing a continent with, let alone a house. Accountant-extraordinaire Rip values rules and plans. But when he loses his sister and his best friend and becomes an insta-guardian all in one night, Rip sees his organized life imploding. What he really doesn’t need is his sister’s irresponsible, flighty… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents and sibling in a car accident, off-page
  • Death of a friend, off-page

The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

Rory and her friends are reeling from a series of sudden and tragic events. While racked with grief, Rory tries to determine if she acted in time to save a member of the squad. If she did, how do you find a ghost? Also, Rory’s classmate Charlotte has been kidnapped by Jane and her nefarious organization. Evidence is uncovered of a forty-year-old cult, ten missing teenagers, and a likely mass murder. Everything indicates that Charlotte’s in danger, and it seems that something much bigger and much more terrible is coming. Time is run… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation recounted
  • Nonconsensual drugging, on- & off-page
  • Hospital
  • Coma
  • Blood depiction & blood-drinking
  • Minor physical injuries
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Kidnapping
  • Cults
  • Mass murder by poison
  • Explosion
  • Car accident recounted
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The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship driven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers. Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counselling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Suicide (euthanasia)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Cancer
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a spouse
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Stalking
  • Homelessness
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Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

She’s a soldier — Noemi Vidal is willing to risk anything to protect her planet, Genesis, including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel. He’s a machine — Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel’s advanced programming has begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination. Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fight… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a friend
  • Explosion
  • War themes
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We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco. Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted. Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps. In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Misogyny
  • Hate crimes
  • Death of a friend
  • Fire
  • Imprisonment
  • Internment camps
  • War themes
  • Poverty themes
  • Animal death, on-page
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The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane

The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane

For Clementine Haas, finding herself is more than a nice idea. Ever since she woke up in an Irish hospital with complete amnesia, self-discovery has become her mission. They tell her she’s the lone survivor of a plane crash. They tell her she’s lucky to be alive. But she doesn’t feel lucky. She feels…lost. With the relentless Irish press bearing down on her, and a father she may not even recognize on his way from America to take her home, Clementine assumes a new identity and enlists a blue-eyed Irish stranger, Kieran O’Connell, to help her escape her forgotten life…and start a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent scenario*
  • Retrograde amnesia
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a boyfriend
  • Plane crash, off-page

*Context : The two main characters, who are in a sexual relationship, are lying about their identities and manipulating each other.

The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye

The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye

Russia is on the brink of great change. Pasha’s coronation approaches, and Vika is now the Imperial Enchanter, but the role she once coveted may be more difficult—and dangerous—than she ever expected. Pasha is grappling with his own problems—his legitimacy is in doubt, the girl he loves loathes him, and he believes his best friend is dead. When a challenger to the throne emerges—and with the magic in Russia growing rapidly—Pasha must do whatever it takes to keep his position and protect his kingdom. For Nikolai, the ending of the Crown’s Game stung deeply… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Persecution for witchcraft
  • Rape, implied
  • Sexual harassment
  • Nightmares
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Amputation
  • Physical injury
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a mother & guardian
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Explosion
  • Gun violence
  • Incarceration & captivity
  • Avalanche
  • War, revolt & rebellion themes
  • Poverty themes

People Like Us by Dana Mele

People Like Us by Dana Mele

Kay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet, but the past is past, and she’s reinvented herself entirely. Now she’s a star soccer player whose group of gorgeous friends run their private school with effortless popularity and acerbic wit. But when a girl’s body is found in the lake, Kay’s carefully constructed life begins to topple. The dead girl has left Kay a computer-coded scavenger hunt, which, as it unravels, begins to implicate suspect after suspect, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of a murder investigation… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Classism
  • Teacher-student relationship
  • Parent with depression mentioned
  • Suicide, recounted & on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use & doping mentioned
  • Dead body
  • Death of a friend, recounted & on-page
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Murder
  • Drowning
  • Death of a pet cat
  • Bullying