Tag Archives: Death of a Mother

When We Meet Again by Kristin Harmel

Emily Emerson is used to being alone; her dad walked out on the family when she was a just a kid, her mom died when she was eighteen, and her beloved grandmother has just passed away as well. But when she’s laid off from her reporting job, she finds herself completely adrift…until the day she receives a beautiful painting of a young woman standing at the edge of a sugarcane field under a violet sky. She recognizes the woman as her grandmother, but the painting arrived with no identification other than a handwritten note saying, “He never stopped loving her…” Curious, Emily begins to do some digging and uncovers… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Cancer
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a grandmother & grandfather
  • Lynching
  • World War II & internment camps (theme)

Marrow by Brynne Weaver and Trisha Wolfe

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Jack Sorensen is the perfect serial killer. In the bright lights of his public persona he’s a respected scientist, a leader in the field of human decomposition. But in his shadowed secret life he’s a ruthless and elusive killer, unseen by the authorities who have failed to follow his faint trail of destruction. Beautifully cold, brilliant and cruel, Jack wants nothing more than to keep his life captured in his vise-like grip of control. And Jack Sorensen never makes mistakes… until he underestimates Dr. Kyrie Roth. Wildlife biologist Kyrie is the enemy… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Consensual non-consent scene (‘CNC’)
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction, including discussions of the decomposition of dead bodies (theme)
  • Murder & attempted murder (theme)
  • Murder of a mother & father recounted (protagonist)

Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver

Welcome to Cape Carnage! Visit Once, Stay Forever. Cape Carnage is a seaside town of colourful houses, quirky shops, and an unusually high body count. But with tourists comes trouble, and Harper Starling won’t let anyone ruin her picture-perfect home. A skilled gardener with killer instincts, Harper protects her sanctuary at any cost—especially for her aging mentor with a fading memory. Troublesome tourists don’t check out of Carnage. They compost beneath Harper’s award-winning flowerbeds. But Nolan Rhodes isn’t your average tourist. Devilishly handsome… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted (secondary character), including mentions of image-based sexual abuse and attempted paedophilia
  • Nonconsensual voyeurism of protagonist by secondary character
  • Self-harm (secondary character)
  • Panic attack, nightmares, and survivor’s guilt
  • Alzheimer’s Disease (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction including emesis, decapitation, body parts, and dead bodies
  • Physical injury, including scars, burns, and previous rehabilitation after severe injuries sustained in a car accident (protagonist)
  • Needles (piercing)
  • Death of a brother in a hit-and-run car accident recounted
  • Death of a mother & father in a car accident
  • Murder of a boyfriend recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder (theme)
  • Torture recounted, including food deprivation
  • Physical assault
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Kidnapping & captivity recounted
  • Golf cart and go-cart accidents (secondary characters)
  • Stalking & home invasion
  • Animal injury & death (horse)

The Master by Kresley Cole

Rich, irresistible politician/Mafya boss Maksimilian Sevastyan prefers tall, obedient blondes to fulfill his… complicated desires. That is, until the icy Russian encounters a disobedient brunette whose exquisite little body threatens his legendary restraint. Catarina Marín was a well-off young wife until her world fell apart. Now she’s hiding out, forced to start working as an escort in Miami. Her very first client is beyond gorgeous, but when he tells her what he plans to do to her, Cat almost walks out of the door… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned & dubious consent (‘dubcon’)
  • Sex work (protagonist, on-page)
  • Intimate partner violence & attempted murder
  • Infidelity (by husband)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of parents in a car accident
  • Murder
  • Death of a mother from murder
  • Whipping & resulting scars discussed
  • Organised crime (mafia)

Context : The heroine’s husband is a serial killer & con man who marries women for their money and then murders them. He is also cheating on her with his real partner. When the heroine accidentally kills his partner, he tries to kill her in revenge.

Endless Knight by Kresley Cole

Evie has fully come into her powers as the tarot Empress, and Jack was there to see it all. As one of twenty-two teens given powers following the apocalypse, she now knows a war is brewing, and it’s kill or be killed. When Evie meets Death, the gorgeous and dangerous Endless Knight, things get even more complicated. Though falling for Jack, she’s drawn to Death as well. Somehow the Empress and Death share a romantic history, one that Evie can’t remember—but Death can’t forget…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & mentions of sex slavery
  • Suicide
  • Drugging
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies, decapitation & cannibalism
  • Death of a mother from illness
  • Captivity

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping by Alta Hensley

It’s the night before Christmas and I’m alone in the house… Popular jewelry influencer Chloe Hallman is steeling herself to spend another holiday on her own. Instead, she finds herself drawn to two different guys… a smoldering hot fan of her secret, seductive online persona, and a sexy fireman named Jack who looks out for her in their NYC neighborhood. She has no idea that I know her better than she knows herself. Her deepest secrets, her darkest desires—she’s careful, but I’ve been watching, never leaving footprints in the snow outside her home. Jack was the first responder to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of parents recounted
  • Stalking (theme)

Breaking Rosalind by Gigi Styx

I wove a deadly web, but it became my trap. Rosalind: I’m a cold-blooded killer, a femme fatale with a long list of victims. My latest target being Cesare Montesano. I must kill him and his brothers to protect my innocent young daughter. He catches me in the middle of the mission, but I’m not scared. I might be his prisoner yet I’m not without weapons. And I will use every trick in the book to disarm him and escape. Cesare: She tried to inject me with a poisonous syringe. Now, she’s my captive with a head full of secrets. Secrets that threaten my brother’s lives and rob our family’s power. She’s a betrayer, just like all the others, but I won’t… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Workplace sexual harassment
  • Child abuse & grooming recounted
  • Stockholm Syndrome & dubious consent (‘dubcon’)
  • Self-harm (cutting)
  • Drugging
  • Forced pregnancy & teen pregnancy recounted
  • Body modification, scars & branding, including tracker insertion
  • Genital mutilation (castration, stitching)
  • Dismemberment & evisceration
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Murder of a mother & father
  • Graphic torture, Russian roulette & sensory deprivation
  • Kidnapping
  • Blackmail
  • Animal cruelty recounted

Context : Depiction of BDSM & kink, including bondage, temperature play, pet play, breath play, candle play, gun play, hebephilia, knife play, and medical play

The Fix by Mia Sheridan

Eleven years ago, Cami Cortlandt’s mother and sister died cruelly in a violent home invasion. The trauma and notoriety still linger, but Cami has managed to build a life in her hometown despite everything she’s lost. Then one day it all comes rushing back. A distorted voice on the phone: Would you like a do-over? A disturbing video of a room with bars on the window, trapping a young boy inside who looks achingly, impossibly familiar. Four days to find him. With the help of Rex Lowe, an old classmate whose past is inextricably tied to her own, Cami races to uncover everything she can about the boy—where he is, who he is, and why… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape (multiple by captor, on-page & discussed)
  • Teen pregnancy & adoption
  • Drugging
  • Murder of a mother & sister in a home invasion (on-page)
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo

Gabriel Fisher was born an orphan, weighing eighteen pounds and measuring twenty-seven inches long. No one in Lakota, Wisconsin, knows what to make of him. He walks at eight months, communicates with animals, and seems to possess extraordinary athletic talent. But when the older brother who has been caring for him dies, Gabriel is taken in by his devout Amish grandparents who disapprove of all the attention and hide him away from the English world. But it’s hard to hide forever when you’re nearly eight feet tall. At seventeen, Gabriel is spotted working in a hay field by the local football coach. What happens… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Incest & child sexual abuse
  • Suicide
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother in childbirth recounted
  • Bullying
  • Animal death

Where He Left Me by Nicole Baart

College professors Sadie Sheridan and Felix Graham are on sabbatical at Hemlock House, located on a remote mountain homestead established years ago by Felix’s family. When Felix leaves on a work trip but doesn’t return, effectively stranding Sadie on the mountain, her world collapses. Alone at Hemlock House, frantic Sadie struggles to make sense of what her missing astronomer husband left behind. Forced to confront two mysterious trespassers just as a powerful storm bears down, Sadie and the strangers have no choice but to ride it out together. As conditions worsen and shocking secrets are revealed, Sadie must face… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Domestic abuse
  • Dementia
  • Death of a mother mentioned
  • Disspearance
  • Gun violence