Tag Archives: Death of a Parent & Guardian

Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber

Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor’s stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real. When she tracks down a local legend named the Watch Man, who can supposedly tell you when you’ll die, the world finally makes sense. Except that the Watch Man tells her she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart. With the clock ticking, Holland is pulled deeper into this magical world in the heart of Los Angeles… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Graphic blood & injury depiction
  • Death of parents mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Kidnapping

Braving the Storm by Elliott Rose

I’m not supposed to feel this way… I never wanted to disappear more than while around my family. Briar Lane, the girl only useful for one thing: my surname. A business handshake and pawn to be traded. My father’s chess piece shuffled between empires. That was my life back in L.A. but all it took was finding the dirty secret stuffed in a jacket pocket, and my entire world unraveled. So, I fled to the one place I knew they could never find me. Crimson Ridge. Arriving in this snowy, harsh world, I thought I’d be starting over on my own, but it turns out I couldn’t have been… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Statutory assault & rape, child prostitution & grooming mentioned (secondary characters)
  • Internalised victim-blaming by a rape survivor mentioned (secondary character)
  • Child abandonment & foster care system experiences mentioned (secondary character)
  • Verbal & emotional intimate partner abuse & gaslighting by ex-partner mentioned
  • Forced arranged marriage mentioned
  • Threats of disownment recounted
  • Infidelity by ex-partner discussed
  • Anxiety (protagonist) & nightmares recounted
  • Restrictive eating mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & mentions of alcoholism
  • Suicide of a pregnant side character by overdose mentioned
  • Infertility
  • Physical head injury (on-page) & mentions of past bull-riding injuries
  • Death of parents mentioned including death during childbirth (off-page)
  • Home invasion (off-page)
  • Blackmail & nonconsensual surveillance
  • Animal abuse mentioned

*Context : A romance between an adopted uncle and his estranged niece.

The Miracle on Ebenezer Street by Catherine Doyle

When George stumbles across Marley’s Curiosity Shop at the Christmas fair he finds a mysterious snow globe. The scene it contains is just the first in a series of impossibilities . . . George and his Scrooge of a dad are soon swept on a hilarious adventure to Christmases past, present and future. With help from an enthusiastic elf, a rather grumpy purple reindeer and a very mischievous Nan, can George find a way to bring the joy of Christmas home once again?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent in a car accident

The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle

In Fantome, a kingdom of cobbled streets, flickering lamplight, beautiful buildings, and secret catacombs, Shade-magic is a scarce and deadly commodity controlled by two enemy the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins. On the night of her mother’s murder, 17-year-old Seraphine runs for her life. Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge. But are her secret abilities a match for the dark-haired boy whose quicksilver eyes follow her around the city? Nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Poisoning mentioned

Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents’ murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn’t quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn’t have a habit of causing trouble… Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Persecution for witchcraft (theme)
  • Child abuse recounted (on-page)
  • Alcohol consumption (on-page)
  • Attempted murder by poisoning (on-page)
  • Minor blood & injury depiction
  • Murder of a father by poisoning mentioned
  • Murder of a mother & great-aunt from their throats being slit (recounted & on-page)
  • Minor battle scenes and fantasy violence, including sword, bow and arrow & knife violence (recounted & on-page) as well as discussions of past war and genocide
  • Imprisonment (on-page)
  • Torture mentioned (off-page)
  • Kidnapping (on-page)
  • Loss of autonomy (magical-induced memory loss and sleep)
  • Animal death (snow leopard, elk, birds)
  • Bullying, including being magically suffocated and thrown off a cliff into the ocean to drown (on-page)

Dirty Ties by Pam Godwin

Revenge. I race to finance it. I evade to protect it. I kill to attain it. I planned everything. Except her. The alluring, curvaceous blonde at the finish line. With sapphire eyes that cheat and lie. Whose powerful family murdered mine. I hate her. I want her. I know she’s hiding something. But so am I.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Sexual harassment
  • Forced arranged marriage (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Murder by knife violence
  • Motorcycle accident (secondary character)

Vanquish by Pam Godwin

Her life is like a prison cell. A self-made, to-hell-with-the-free-world existence that locks from the inside. Stop judging. Her agoraphobia doesn’t define her. It simply keeps her safe. He belongs in a prison cell. The 6×8, make-me-your-bitch variety that locks from the outside. But he’s free. To hunt. To take. To break. And he just found a sexy new toy. Capturing her is the easy part. Her fucked-up mind, however, makes him question everything he does next. But he’s a determined bastard. If all goes his way, this will hurt like hell.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Internalised fatphobia & body dysmorphia
  • Rape, sexual slavery & nonconsensual BDSM (on-page)
  • Sex trafficking (on-page & recounted)
  • Sex work recounted
  • Intimate partner violence (on-page)
  • Emotional & verbal intimate partner abuse recounted
  • Forced child abandonment
  • Divorce recounted
  • Agoraphobia, bulimia & Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (protagonist)
  • Psychiatric institutionalisation of a parent mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug abuse recounted (protagonists)
  • Death of a mother from an overdose recounted
  • Murder by gun violence mentioned (secondary character)
  • Kidnapping (on-page)

Context : The male protagonist kidnaps, rapes, and abuses the female protagonist, his love interest. He is a former stalker and sex trafficker who has raped others in the past. He has a child with a different secondary character who was forcibly taken away. The female protagonist is divorced.

Hills of Shivers and Shadows by Pam Godwin

Abducted and taken to a remote cabin in Alaska, Frankie finds herself at the mercy of four feral men, each with his own dark secrets and twisted desires.
With nowhere to run, she must rely on her wits to survive the harsh winter, trapped with them. As she delves into their mysterious pasts, she uncovers an insidious evil that feeds on loyalty and uses love as a weapon. Nothing is as it seems. They torment her, protect her, and keep her in the dark. But to have any chance of escape, they must stand together. Or fall prey to the evil in the hills of shivers and shadows.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse recounted (love interest)
  • Pregnancy & miscarriage due to snowmobile accident (on-page, protagonist)
  • Forced pregnancy mentioned
  • Death of a mother from suicide & murder mentioned (love interest)
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping & captivity of children and women (theme)
  • Blizzard (on-page)

*Context : The antagonist kidnapped multiple mothers and sons who he held captivity in a remote cabin. He sexually abused both the children and women, including forced pregnancy, until he is murdered by one of the kidnapped men. Some of the mothers are murdered, some died during escape attempts, and others died from suicide.

Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope

CeCe Ashby is looking for a fresh start after escaping the toxic relationship that has consumed her adult life. Unsure of what the future holds, she returns to the small town of Laurel Creek and her family’s ranch. Nash Carter is the recently retired hockey superstar of the Dallas Stars, Laurel Creek’s hometown hero, and notorious bachelor. He may look good in a cowboy hat, but he is also CeCe’s brother’s best friend… and therefore off limits. When CeCe reappears in her hometown in need of a job, Nash knows he has to have her, and not entirely for business… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Insomnia & nightmares (protagonist)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents in a car accident recounted

The Chemistry of Familiar Objects by Alexandra Vasti

57 Gresham Street is the most incendiary building in London. Upstairs, unconventional chemist Emmeline Starling uses combustion to solve scientific mysteries. Downstairs, buttoned-up children’s book printer Robert Vane tries very hard not to panic when the ceiling catches on fire. And when these two opposing forces are contained within one small building? Explosions are just the beginning. After two years of putting up with Robert Vane’s scowls, his precious rules, and the infuriating cleft in his chin, Emmeline has seized upon a solution to the problem of sharing 57 Gresham: she’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Gun violence
  • War themes