Death of a Husband – Page 5 – Trigger Warning Database

The Proposal by Mary Balogh

The Proposal by Mary Balogh

Gwendoline, Lady Muir, has seen her share of tragedy, especially since a freak accident took her husband much too soon. Content in a quiet life with friends and family, the young widow has no desire to marry again. But when Hugo, Lord Trentham, scoops her up in his arms after a fall, she feels a sensation that both shocks and emboldens her. Hugo never intends to kiss Lady Muir, and frankly, he judges her to be a spoiled, frivolous–if beautiful–aristocrat. He is a gentleman in name only: a soldier whose bravery earned him a title; a merchant’s son who inherited his wealth. He is happiest when working the land, but duty and title… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault
Panic attacks
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Bipolar Disorder
Suicide
Infertility
Miscarriage
Death of a husband recounted
Military service in the Napoleonic Wars recounted

The Final Hunt by Audrey Cole

The Final Hunt by Audrey J. Cole

Alone in a hunting cabin, off-grid in an untamed wilderness. How does a marriage come to this? After John disappeared while hunting-presumed dead from a bear attack-Cameron found the crime photos. His role in the recent Seattle serial murders was discovered. The media destroyed her reputation. She lost her dental practice, is on the brink of losing her home. Everyone has a secret. But if her husband could hide the unimaginable from her, who’s to say he’s truly dead?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a husband in a hunting accident
Murder

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous. One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic violence
Graphic alcohol consumption & abuse (on-age, theme)
Alcoholism & recovery discussed (protagonist & secondary character)
Recreational drug use mentioned (off-page)
Self-sacrifice (on-page)
Minor injury & illness, including emesis & fainting spells
Grief & loss depiction
Murder by drowning & near-drowning incidents (on-page)
Death of a husband by accidental drowning discussed
Death of a wife from suicide by throwing herself down a set of stars discussed (disguised as an accidental death)
Poisoning
Physical assault
Kidnapping & captivity
Home invasion & stalking
Disappearance of a friend & missing person cases discussed (on-page)
Loss of autonomy (ghost possession)

Context: The protagonist is an alcoholic and her love interest is in recovery for alcoholism after losing his wife. The protagonist drugs her husband and dumps him in the lake to drown after she discovers he’s a serial killer. The protagonist’s neighbour is attempting to kill his wife by poisoning (and she almost drowns due to muscle weakness caused by the poison). The protagonist witnesses the wife punch the husband after a fight.

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Margot Lee’s mother, Mina, isn’t returning her calls. It’s a mystery to twenty-six-year-old Margot, until she visits her childhood apartment in Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died. The discovery sends Margot digging through the past, unravelling the tenuous invisible strings that held together her single mother’s life as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother. Interwoven with Margot’s present-day search is Mina’s story of her first year in Los Angeles as she navigates the promises and perils of the American myth of reinvention. While… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Attempted rape & sexual assault
Sexual harassment
Domestic abuse mentioned
Suicidal ideation
Cancer
Death of a mother
Death of a daughter
Death of a husband
Gun violence
Stalking mentioned

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Bergensdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Northern town of Vardø must fend for themselves. Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband’s authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Period-typical misogyny
Anti-indigenous racism
Colonialism
Religious bigotry and persecution for witchcraft (theme) including the on-page depiction of witch trials and burning women at the stake
Graphic martial rape and sexual assault
Infidelity*
Forced marriage
Pregnancy and pregnancy from rape discussed including childbirth
Miscarriage
Alcohol consumption
Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
Death of a friend, on-page
Death of a father, husband and brother mentioned
Mass death by boating accident
Murder, on-page
Torture, implied
Imprisonment mentioned
Near-drowning incident
Animal death

*Context : The protagonist falls in love with a woman but is in a forced arranged marriage with a man.

Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson

Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson

Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life. Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something special and he’s tracked her down to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Rape by coercion, on-page
Domestic abuse & violence
Cheating
Alcohol consumption, on-page
Recreational drug use & smoking, on-page
Drugging, on-page
Blood & gore depiction
Death of a husband, on-page
Graphic murder & attempted murder, on-page
Knife violence & stabbing, on-page
Bow & arrow violence
Torture & psychological torture
Kidnapping & captivity
Stalking
Bullying mentioned

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

Halla is a housekeeper who has suddenly inherited her great-uncle’s estate… and, unfortunately, his relatives. Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped in a prison of enchanted steel. When Halla draws the sword that imprisons him, Sarkis finds himself attempting to defend his new wielder against everything from bandits and roving inquisitors to her own in-laws… and the sword itself may prove to be the greatest threat of all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment recounted
Suicide
Suicidal ideation
Death of a sister during childbirth recounted
Death of an uncle recounted
Death of a husband from fever recounted
Murder & attempted murder
Sword violence
Imprisonment
Kidnapping
Attempted mugging
Animal death

Horrid by Katrina Leno

Horrid by Katrina Leno

Following her father’s death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor’s doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone…and more tormented. As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident “bad seed,” struggling to tamp down her own worst… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Child abuse recounted
Self-harm mentioned
Suicidal ideation mentioned
Suicide attempt & suicide, off-page
Hospitalisation
Panic attacks
Nightmares
Flashbacks & blackouts
Pica (central theme)
Blood depiction
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father & husband from a heart attack recounted
Death of a sister recounted
Death of a child recounted
Murder & attempted murder
Vivisepulture (being buried alive), on-page & recounted
Physical assault
Home invasion & vandalism
Death of a pet kitten mentioned
Bullying

The Birthday List by Devney Perry

The Birthday List by Devney Perry

I carry a journal with me. A journal with a list. Take a karate class. Go skydiving. Learn to play the ukulele. Say yes to everything for an entire day. The list goes on, line by line, of youthful dreams. Take a karate class. Go skydiving. Learn to play the ukulele. Say yes to everything for an entire day. The list goes on, line by line, of youthful dreams. It should have marked the first day of a new life. A fresh start. But then Cole Goodman waltzed through the door and brought with him the past. A man who shattered my heart. A man I tried to forget. Maybe it’s a good thing he insists on sticking around. Because the only way I’ll finish the list is with Cole’s help. And then I can finally say goodbye.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a husband, on-page
Murder

A Treacherous Curse byDeanna Raybourn

A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn

London, 1888. As colourful and unfettered as the butterflies she collects, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell can’t resist the allure of an exotic mystery—particularly one involving her enigmatic colleague, Stoker. His former expedition partner has vanished from an archaeological dig with a priceless diadem unearthed from the newly discovered tomb of an Egyptian princess. This disappearance is just the latest in a string of unfortunate events that have plagued the controversial expedition, and rumours abound that the curse of the vengeful princess has been… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Racism
Antiziganism
Misogyny
Slut-shaming
Cheating recounted
Suicide, on-page
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Mild blood depiction & serious physical injuries
Death of a husband & father
Murder by poison
Attempted murder by fire
Gun violence
Disappearance
Hostage situation
Bullying