Tag Archives: Death of a Parent & Guardian

The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn

Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan—and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore. Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself. But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Homophobic bullying mentioned
  • Parental abandonment & divorce recounted
  • Minor physical injuries of a child mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a friend from suicide by drowning recounted
  • Death of an uncle in a car accident mentioned
  • Death of a mother from heart disease mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a secondary character from lung cancer mentioned

Can I Steal You for a Second? by Jodi McAlister

Mandie Mitchell will do anything to get over her toxic ex. Even sign up to the polarising reality dating show, Marry Me, Juliet. But with her self-esteem in tatters, she’s not sure she’s brave enough to actually go on the show – until she forms a friendship with fellow contestant Dylan Gilchrist, who gives her the push she needs. Dylan is everything Mandie is not – tough, strong, and totally unafraid to speak her mind. Unfortunately, she also looks set to win, as she soon becomes the clear favourite of the Romeo, who also happens to share the same name. It’s annoying, really, just how perfect the Dylans seem for… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Workplace sexism & sexual harassment
  • Biphobia & panphobia recounted including forced outing (secondary character)
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Anxiety & panic attacks (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Dieting discussed
  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • Death of a father from cancer mentioned
  • Bullying

Context : One protagonist’s ex-husband cheated and the other left her ex-boyfriend for another woman.

Christmas Is All Around by Martha Waters

Charlotte hates the holidays. As a former child actress, she starred in a modern classic of a holiday movie, and its fans won’t let her move on. When a piece revealing that her reluctance nixed plans for a reboot, she flees to London to spend the five-week countdown to the holidays with her sister. But the ghosts of Christmas past follow her there when she ends up at Eden Priory, a filming location for the movie she has never visited. There, after being recognized by a fan while viewing the extraordinary holiday decorations, she’s accidently left behind, forcing her to accept a ride back to London by Graham, the son of the owners. Their… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental infidelity mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father from cancer mentioned

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt: She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery. He’s Mr. Big-Time Thriller Guy. She hates his guts. He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.) But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself. That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone. She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Anxiety & anxiety attacks
  • Infidelity recounted (protagonist’s ex-partner cheated with her best friend)
  • Emotional intimate partner abuse & gaslighting recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of parents in a car accident recounted
  • Attempted murder by an intimate partner by beating (secondary character)
  • Near-death experience from falling off a cliff & long-term recovery from a serious shoulder injury recounted (protagonist
  • Poisoning
  • Arson
  • Kidnapping

A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based. Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Death of a wife from pancreatic cancer recounted (protagonist)
  • Death of parents in a drunk hit-and-run accident recounted
  • Minor animal sickness mentioned (secondary character)

Ruthless Demon King by Nikki St. Crowe

The Demon King has started a new monarchy in the United States. It used to be that the president was the most powerful person in the country. That all changed when Wrath crossed over to our world. Nothing could stop him. Nothing can kill him. Eventually we all bowed at his altar. Now there are websites dedicated to worshipping him. Countless internet memes about how ridiculously gorgeous he is. And yeah, I can admit he’s fine as hell. But he’s a villain to end all villains. There’s no way I’m falling prey to that. That is until I accidentally cross paths with the Demon King. Wrath… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobic slur mentioned
  • Misogyny
  • Sexual assault
  • Parental abandonment
  • Infidelity mentioned (protagonist’s ex-partner)
  • Alcoholism recovery mentioned (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a grandmother from lung cancer mentioned
  • Death of a mother from breast cancer mentioned (secondary character)
  • Murder & physical assault
  • Knife & gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity (protagonist)
  • Car accident resulting in a chronic spinal injury mentioned (secondary character)

Wedding Dashers by Heather McBreen

Ada’s little sister is getting married. Which should be a happy thought, right? But the once close sisters have been in a year long fight, the wedding is all the way in Ireland, and Ada is so broke that she just barely managed to get a ticket on a budget airline. And as if things couldn’t get worse, said airline just cancelled her connection. Which means Ada is stuck in London with no way to make it to the wedding. Surely she’s hit rock bottom? So, there’s no reason for her not to spill her heart out about the over-the-top wedding, her sister’s worryingly quick engagement, and the womanizing best man she’s dreading meeting to a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotionally abusive relationship mentioned (off-page)
  • Divorce
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent mentioned

The Sea in Winter by Christine Day

It’s been a hard year for Maisie Cannon, ever since she hurt her leg and could not keep up with her ballet training and auditions. Her blended family is loving and supportive, but Maisie knows that they just can’t understand how hopeless she feels. With everything she’s dealing with, Maisie is not excited for their family midwinter road trip along the coast, near the Makah community where her mother grew up. But soon, Maisie’s anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee. How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as roiling and cold as the ocean?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Leg injury (theme)
  • Death of a parent recounted

Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola

Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink. They’re soon embroiled in… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs including mentions of racial profiling and police harassment
  • Revenge pornography & blackmail
  • Dubious consent scene recounted*
  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Parental infidelity & infidelity mentioned
  • Depression (recovery)
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use (marijuana)
  • Emesis
  • Death of a grandfather mentioned
  • Physical assault

Context : The female protagonist’s ex-partner posts a intimate photo of her on social media without consent, and similarly blackmails other women. The protagonist’s best friend’s boyfriend coerced her to have sex while she was drunk.

Homestead by Claire Kent

After losing the last remaining member of my family, I’m left all alone in a dangerous, uncivilized world. A twenty-year-old woman with no skills, no resources, and no protection can’t make it on her own after Impact, so I’m forced to rely on the charity of strangers to survive. My one chance of safety and security comes from an unexpected offer. Jimmy Morgan needs a partner. He wants help in his house and a woman in his bed, and he’d like that partner to be me. In return I get a place to live, plenty of food, and the protection of a competent man and his larger community. It’s a good deal, so of course I accept. It means I have to live… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted rape
  • Minor physical injury & illness and emesis
  • Unplanned pregnancy mentioned (epilogue)
  • Accidental death of child from gun violence
  • Death of a wife & newborn in childbirth recounted (protagonist)
  • Murder of a grandfather & parents recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

Context : The female protagonist is saved from her assaulter by the male protagonist.