Death of a Parent & Guardian – Page 180

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people north with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband Benjy have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won’t touch. When they find one of their friends slain in an alley, Hetty and Benjy bury the body and set off to find answers. But the secrets and intricate lies of the elites of Black Philadelphia only serve to dredge up more questions. To solve this mystery, they will have to face ugly truths all around them, including the ones about each other.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Slavery & human trafficking
Racism & colourism
Domestic abuse & violence
Infertility, miscarriage & mentions of pregnancy
Physical injury, including burns & scars
Blood and gore depiction
Death of a mother & father, friend, husband, sister & son
Disappearance of a sister
Torture
Knife violence
Fire
Kidnapping
Incarceration & captivity mentioned
Hanging/lynching (implied)

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.

The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Misogyny
Fatmisia
Racism & racial slurs
Sexual harassment
Sexual assault, on-page
Rape, on-page
Cheating recounted
Child abuse & neglect mentioned
Substance addiction discussed
Nightmares
Suicide by a gunshot to the head, on-page
Alcohol consumption
Drug use & abuse (theme)
Overdose mentioned
Teen pregnancy recounted
Grandparent recovering from a stroke
Physical injuries, including nerve damage & chronic shoulder injury
Hospitalisation for internalised bleeding & liver damage
Surgery mentioned
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of an uncle
Death of a father
Murder of a friend & teenager by gun violence, on-page
Car accident, on- & off-page
Bullying

What Momma Left Me by Renée Watson

What Momma Left Me by Renée Watson

How is it that unsavory raw ingredients come together to form a delicious cake? What is it about life that when you take all the hard stuff and rough stuff and add in a lot of love, you still just might have a wonderful life?

For Serenity, these questions rise up early when her father kills her mother, and leaves her and her brother Danny to live with their kind but strict grandparents. Despite the difficulties of a new school, a new church, and a new neighborhood, Serenity gains strength from the family around her, the new friends she finds, and her own careful optimism.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Domestic violence
Sexual assault mentioned
Suicide mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother recounted
Gun violence
Poverty themes

Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan

Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson & Ellen Hagan

Jasmine and Chelsea are sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women’s Rights Club. They post everything online—poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine’s response to the racial macroaggressions she experiences—and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by online trolls. When things escalate, the principal shuts the club down. Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices—and those of other young women—to be heard.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Fatmisia & body shaming
Sexism
Racism, including cultural appropriation & anti-Blackness
Sexual harassment
Grey-area cheating
Death of a parent to cancer
Hospital
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father & husband
Bullying

Fallen Heir by Erin Watt

Fallen Heir by Erin Watt

Easton Royal has it all: looks, money, intelligence. His goal in life is to have as much fun as possible. He never thinks about the consequences because he doesn’t have to.

Until Hartley Wright appears, shaking up his easy life. She’s the one girl who’s said no, despite being attracted to him. Easton can’t figure her out and that makes her all the more irresistible.

Hartley doesn’t want him. She says he needs to grow up.

Rivals. Rules. Regrets. For the first time in Easton’s life, wearing a Royal crown isn’t enough. He’s about to learn that the higher you start, the harder you fall.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Physical abuse
Teacher-student relationship
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Death of a parent

Twisted Palace by Erin Watt

Twisted Palace by Erin Watt

Ella Harper has met every challenge that life has thrown her way. She’s tough, resilient, and willing to do whatever it takes to defend the people she loves, but the challenge of a long-lost father and a boyfriend whose life is on the line might be too much for even Ella to overcome.

Reed Royal has a quick temper and even faster fists. But his tendency to meet every obstacle with violence has finally caught up with him. If he wants to save himself and the girl he loves, he’ll need to rise above his tortured past and tarnished reputation.

With everything and everyone conspiring to keep them apart, Ella and Reed must find a way to beat the law, save their families, and unravel all the secrets in their Twisted Palace.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut-shaming
Physical abuse
Sexual harassment
Sexual assault & attempted rape
Dubious consent scenarios
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Addiction
Death of a parent

Broken Prince by Erin Watt

Broken Prince by Erin Watt

Reed Royal has it all—looks, status, money. The girls at his elite prep school line up to date him, the guys want to be him, but Reed never gave a damn about anyone but his family until Ella Harper walked into his life.

What started off as burning resentment and the need to make his father’s new ward suffer turned into something else entirely—keep Ella close. Keep Ella safe. But when one foolish mistake drives her out of Reed’s arms and brings chaos to the Royal household, Reed’s entire world begins to fall apart around him.

Ella doesn’t want him anymore. She says they’ll only destroy each other.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut-shaming
Physical abuse
Sexual harassment
Sexual assault & attempted rape
Dubious consent scenarios
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Addiction
Death of a parent

Paper Princess by Erin Watt

Paper Princess by Erin Watt

Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.

Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from. Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals. He might be right.

Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut-shaming
Physical abuse
Sexual harassment
Sexual assault & attempted rape
Dubious consent scenarios
Alcohol consumption
Addiction
Death of a parent
Bullying

When It’s Real by Erin Watt

When It’s Real by Erin Watt

There’s nothing ordinary about Oakley. This bad-boy pop star’s got Grammy Awards, millions of fangirls and a reputation as a restless, too-charming troublemaker. But with his home life disintegrating, his music well suddenly running dry and the tabloids having a field day over his outrageous exploits, Oakley needs to show the world he’s settling down—and who better to help him than Vaughn, a part-time waitress trying to help her family get by? The very definition of ordinary.

Posing as his girlfriend, Vaughn will overhaul Oakley’s image from troublemaker to serious artist. In return for enough money to put her brothers through college, she can endure outlandish Hollywood parties and carefully orchestrated Twitter exchanges. She’ll fool the paparazzi and the groupies. She might even start fooling herself a little.

Because when ordinary rules no longer apply, there’s no telling what your heart will do…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Adult-minor relationship*
Death of a parent recounted

*Note: The protagonist is a 17-year-old girl and the love interest is a 20-year-old man.

On the Fence by Kasie West

On the Fence by Kasie West

For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows—including her longtime neighbour and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn’t know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she’s spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game. To cope with the stress of faking… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse
Death of a mother from suicide by car accident