Here’s to Us by Elin Hilderbrand

Celebrity chef Deacon Thorpe has always been a force of nature with an insatiable appetite for life. But after that appetite contributes to Deacon’s shocking death in his favourite place on earth, a ramshackle Nantucket summer cottage, his (messy, complicated) family is reeling. Now Deacon’s three wives, his children, and his best friend gather on the island he loved to say farewell. The three very different women have long been bitter rivals, each wanting to claim the primary place in Deacon’s life and his heart. But as they slowly let go of the resentments they’ve held onto for years and remember the good times, secrets are… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Death of an ex-husband & father

An Island Promise by Patricia M Wilson

In 1943, our comfortable family life came to an abrupt end, thanks to Hitler. During the Nazi occupation of Athens, Daphne, a young Greek Jewish artist, finds her life suddenly under threat. She’s in love with her Austrian art teacher, and together they must risk it all to escape his cousin, an SS officer. Pursued across Greece, their journey leads them to the island of Corfu. In 2023 Liverpool, as Daphne’s 100th birthday approaches, she knows time is running out to share her story. Daphne tells Flora, her granddaughter, of a valuable piece of art from her youth. A masterpiece which bought her freedom but cost her.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a husband
  • World War II

Death and Night by Roshani Chokshi

He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Death during childbirth mentioned
  • Death of a husband

A Soul to Heal by Opal Reyne

All Delora ever wanted was to disappear. Thrown into the Veil for a crime she committed, Delora was discarded by the world. Although afraid of her oncoming demise, she accepts it as it would be a worldly escape from her problems. She didn’t expect that she would wake up from her deadly fall, nor that the person who saved her would be a Duskwalker. She’s wary about him at first, but Delora begins to realise there’s more to him than just a faceless monster. All he ever wanted was a name. After discovering that humans can be kept as companions, he begins planning for the day he finds his own bride. He still lacks humanity and… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Spousal infidelity
  • Depression
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Murder of a husband and his mistress

A Duke Worth Fighting For by Christina Britton

To protect the dukedom from an incompetent and greedy cousin, Daniel Hayle, Duke of Carlisle, has promised to find a bride in London this season. But the idea of facing ballrooms and card parties is as intimidating as any battlefield in France, including the fight at Waterloo that left him terribly scarred. Perhaps a month on the Isle of Synne can provide him with the practice necessary to find a wife who can tolerate him enough to give him an heir. Margery Kitteridge has been mourning her husband for four years, and while she’s not ready to consider marriage again, she does miss intimacy with a partner. When Daniel… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Injury & scars sustained during military service at Waterloo
  • Death of a husband during battle

Letting Go by Maya Banks

Josslyn found perfection once, and she knows she’ll never find it again. Now widowed, she seeks the one thing her beloved husband couldn’t give her. Dominance. Lonely and searching for an outlet for her grief and wanting only a brief taste of the perfection she once enjoyed, she seeks what she’s looking for at an exclusive club that caters to people indulging in their most hedonistic fantasies. She never imagined that what she’d find is the one man who’s long been a source of comfort—and secret longing. Her husband’s best friend. Dash has lived in an untenable… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a husband recounted

Duchess of My Heart by Maya Banks

Jillian’s marriage was a nightmare, the news of her husband’s death an answered prayer. She refuses to bow to the ton and pretend to mourn. And her best friend, Case, will be by her side as she defies society’s rules and has her first taste of freedom. Justin, eighth Duke of Whittington, is determined to save his family name from the scandal his brother, Case, is creating, but the lovely Jillian is not the foe he expected. Both vulnerable and vexing, he’s never met another woman like her. But as sparks fly between them, Justin realizes he must help save Jillian from her past before they can ever have a future.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Martial rape and gang rape recounted
  • Domestic abuse
  • Death of a husband, presumed
  • Physical assault, on-page

The Lady’s Champion by Marie Lipscomb

Lady Natalie Blackmere has always dreamed of meeting the renowned champions of Aldland, especially the legendary Brandon the Bear. When at last the Grand Tourney comes to Blackmere, Natalie swaps places with a barmaid and sneaks out to follow her dreams. But when bandits besiege her town, Natalie barely escapes with the surviving champions. Alone in the woods with the man she has always admired, Natalie must keep her identity a secret and step up to become the leader she was born to be, if she is to save her people… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Amputation of a finger, off-page
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a husband recounted
  • Fire

The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett

A magician (with one memorable appearance on the Johnny Carson Show to his credit) takes the name Parsifal. He is gay. He has a Vietnamese lover, Phan. When Phan dies of AIDS, Parsifal marries the woman who has always adored him and who has lived with them both, his assistant Sabine.

Then Parsifal himself dies in California, suddenly and shockingly, of an aneurysm. Parsifal always said that he had no living family and that he came from wealthy upscale Connecticut stock… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • AIDs (theme)
  • Death of a husband from an aneurism
  • Death of a lover recounted