Death of a Parent & Guardian – Page 168

Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke

Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke

Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.

Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children is engaged in a competition: the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. And Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, and the coveted King’s Fang title… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexism
Blood & gore depiction
Alcoholism
Physical injury, including eyeball trauma
Death of a parent mentioned
Executions
Gun violence
Stabbing
Poverty themes

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Emotional & physical abuse
Blood & gore depiction
Medical treatment & surgery
Chronic illness
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Murder
Torture
Poisoning
Kidnapping

Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai

Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai

When eleven-year-old Jingwen moves to a new country, he feels like he’s landed on Mars. School is torture, making friends is impossible since he doesn’t speak English, and he’s often stuck looking after his (extremely irritating) little brother, Yanghao.

To distract himself from the loneliness, Jingwen daydreams about making all the cakes on the menu of Pie in the Sky, the bakery his father had planned to open before he unexpectedly passed away. The only problem is his mother has laid down one major rule: the brothers are not to use the oven while she’s at work. As Jingwen and Yanghao bake elaborate cakes, they’ll have to cook up elaborate excuses to keep the cake making a secret from Mama.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father recounted
Bullying

Shattered by Lee Winters

Shattered by Lee Winters

Shattergirl, Earth’s first lesbian guardian—a brilliant but aloof alien superheroine who can hurl and destroy large objects—is refusing to save people and has gone off the grid.

Lena Martin, the street-smart tracker with a silver tongue and a disdain for the rogue guardians she chases, has only days to bring her home. As the pair clash heatedly, masks begin to crack and brutal secrets are exposed that could shatter them both.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Lesbomisia
Misogyny
Child sexual abuse
Emotional child abuse
Suicide
Death of a mother

Extra Whip by LA Witt

Extra Whip by L.A. Witt

Will and Aaron Taylor have a perfectly imperfect marriage. For twenty years, even when their desires haven’t quite matched, they’ve always found ways to adapt…until now. When Aaron’s needs push past his Dom’s limits, their best hope for compromise is finding a unicorn—a third person who checks both men’s boxes.

After his estranged father wills him a house he doesn’t want in a town he doesn’t know, Kelly Griffith is itching to find his place in this unfamiliar new world. When he finds an ad from a couple looking for a sub like him, he jumps at the opportunity. A chance to be what someone needs and wants instead of being a perpetual disappointment? Yes, please… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental emotional abuse
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent

Covet by Tracy Wolff

Covet by Tracy Wolff

I may have reached my breaking point. As if trying to graduate from a school for supernaturals isn’t stressful enough, my relationship status has gone from complicated to a straight-up dumpster fire. Oh, and the Bloodletter has decided to drop a bomb of epic proportions on us all… Then again, when has anything at Katmere Academy not been intense?

And the hits just keep coming. Jaxon’s turned colder than an Alaskan winter. The Circle is splintered over my upcoming coronation. As if things couldn’t get worse, now there’s an arrest warrant for Hudson’s and my supposed crimes—which apparently means a lifetime prison sentence with a deadly unbreakable curse.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Parental abandonment mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Graphic blood & gore depiction
Blood-drinking
Loss of limb
Death of a friend
Death of a parent in a car accident mentioned
Knife violence & stabbing
Strangulation
Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
Loss of autonomy (possession)

Crush by Tracy Wolff

Crush by Tracy Wolff

Everything feels off—especially me. I’ve returned to Katmere Academy, but I’m haunted by fragments of days I have no recollection of living and struggling to understand who, or what, I really am.

Just when I start to feel safe again, Hudson is back with a vengeance. He insists there are secrets I don’t know about, threatening to drive a wedge between Jaxon and me forever. But far worse enemies are at our doorstep… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Physical & emotional parental abuse recounted
Blood & gore depiction
Blood-drinking
Death of a parent in a car accident recounted
Knife violence & stabbing
Strangulation
Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
Loss of autonomy (possession)

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Crave by Tracy Wolff

My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it. Here I am, a mere mortal among gods…or monsters. I still can’t decide which of these warring factions I belong to, if I belong at all. I only know the one thing that unites them is their hatred of me.

Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Nonconsensual drugging
Graphic blood & gore depiction
Blood-drinking
Death from exsanguination
Dead bodies mentioned
Death of a parent in a car accident recounted
Gun violence
Knife violence & stabbing
Strangulation
Hanging mentioned
Kidnapping

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.

So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthorpe, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood & gore depiction
Death of a parent recounted
Gun violence
Knife violence & stabbing
Poisoning
Fire recounted

Heartbreak for Hire by Lauren Layne

Heartbreak for Hire by Lauren Layne

Brinkley Saunders has a secret. To everyone in the academic world she left behind, she lost it all when she dropped out of grad school. Once a rising star following in her mother’s footsteps, she’s now an administrative assistant at an insurance agency—or so they think.

In reality, Brinkley works at Heartbreak for Hire, a secret service that specializes in revenge for jilted lovers, frenemies, and long-suffering coworkers with a little cash to spare and a man who needs to be taken down a notch. It might not be as prestigious as academia, but it helps Brinkley save for her dream of opening an art gallery and lets her exorcise a few demons, all while helping to empower women… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Cheating
Emotional abuse & gaslighting