Tag Archives: Death of a Parent & Guardian

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Two decades have passed since an inferno swept through Elmbridge High, claiming the lives of three teenagers and causing one student, Carly Johnson, to disappear. The main suspect: Kaitlyn, “the girl of nowhere.” Kaitlyn’s diary, discovered in the ruins of Elmbridge High, reveals the thoughts of a disturbed mind. Its charred pages tell a sinister version of events that took place that tragic night, and the girl of nowhere is caught in the centre of it all. But many claim Kaitlyn doesn’t exist, and in a way, she doesn’t – because she is the alter ego of Carly Johnson. Carly gets the day. Kaitlyn has the night. It’s during the night.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Sexual harassment
  • Self-harm
  • Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Murder

Taking the Heat by Victoria Dahl

All revved up for bright lights and steamy nights, writer Veronica Chandler chased her dreams to New York City. When she hit a dead end, reality sent her back home to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Saving her pride and her new gig—writing a relationship advice column!—requires some faking. No one can know the truth about her big-city flop or her nonexistent sex life. But the town’s irresistibly rugged librarian is determined to figure her out… and give her hands-on lessons in every wicked thing she wants to know. Gabe MacKenzie’s heart might be in Wyoming, but secretly his future’s tied up in his family’s Manhattan legacy. Getting down… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & internalised ableism
  • Heart attack mentioned
  • Death of a mother from cancer recounted
  • Dieting mentioned

Daughter of the King by Kerry Chaput

La Rochelle France, 1661. Fierce Protestant Isabelle is desperate to escape persecution by the Catholic King. Isabelle is tortured and harassed, her people forced to convert to the religion that rules the land. She risks her life by helping her fellow Protestants, which is forbidden by the powers of France. She accepts her fate – until she meets a handsome Catholic soldier who makes her question everything. She fights off an attack by a nobleman, and the only way to save herself is to flee to the colony of Canada as a Daughter of the King. She can have money, protection, and a new life… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Religious persecution
  • Hate crimes
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Infidelity
  • Death of a mother
  • Attempted murder
  • Torture

Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey

Andrew Prince wakes up before everyone else. He schedules the bar shifts, demands perfection from Long Beach’s lifeguards—most of all himself—and makes sure the family debts are paid. His unfaltering work ethic might leave him exhausted, but it comes with one advantage. It distracts him from the love he’s been harbouring since childhood for the girl next door—who he cannot have. Jiya Dalal has dreams. To fly a plane, see the world below…and prove irresistible to her best friend, Andrew. But she needs to be a good daughter first, which is becoming an increasingly difficult task, since her parents expect a good marriage… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Parent with alcoholism recounted
  • Murder of a father recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Police violence & corruption

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

Fitz has survived his first hazardous mission as king’s assassin, but is left little more than a cripple. Battered and bitter, he vows to abandon his oath to King Shrewd, remaining in the distant mountains. But love and events of terrible urgency draw him back to the court at Buckkeep, and into the deadly intrigues of the royal family. Renewing their vicious attacks on the coast, the Red-Ship Raiders leave burned-out villages and demented victims in their wake. The kingdom is also under assault from within, as treachery threatens the throne of the ailing king. In this time of great danger, the fate of the kingdom may rest in Fitz’s hands—and his role in its salvation may require the ultimate sacrifice.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Classism
  • Elder abuse
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Forced political marriage
  • Depressive episode recounted
  • Suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Pregnancy & miscarriage discussed
  • Graphic injuries & illness
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Emesis
  • Seizures
  • Chronic illness
  • Death of a father from medical complications due to chronic alcoholism recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Infanticide
  • Poisoning
  • Physical assault
  • Knife, arrow and axe violence
  • Imprisonment
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control & invasion)
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Naval warfare
  • Regicide
  • Animal abuse (wolf)
  • Animal death mentioned, including the death of a pet dog.

The Last Forever by Deb Caletti

Endings and beginnings sit so close to each other that it’s sometimes impossible to tell which is which. Nothing lasts forever, and no one gets that more than Tessa. After her mother died, it’s all she can do to keep her friends, her boyfriend, her happiness from slipping away. And then there’s her dad. He’s stuck in his own daze, and it’s so hard to feel like a family when their house no longer seems like a home. Her father’s solution? An impromptu road trip that lands them in a small coastal town at Tessa’s grandmother’s. Despite all the warmth and beauty there, Tessa can’t… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from cancer

Stay by Deb Caletti

Clara’s relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she’s ever experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it’s almost too late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is and what he’s willing to do to make her stay. Now Clara has left the city and Christian behind. No one back home has any idea where she is, but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won’t let her go that easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abusive relationship
  • Suicide discussed
  • Death of a parent

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes. The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in ’80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Antiziganism
  • Suicide
  • HIV/AIDs
  • Disordered eating
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a sibling
  • Gun violence

Twisted Hate by Ana Huang

Gorgeous, cocky, and fast on his way to becoming a hotshot doctor, Josh Chen has never met a woman he couldn’t charm—except for Jules f**king Ambrose. The beautiful redhead has been a thorn in his side since they met, but she also consumes his thoughts in a way no woman ever has. When their animosity explodes into one unforgettable night, he proposes a solution that’ll get her out of his system once and for all: an enemies with benefits arrangement with simple rules. No jealousy. No strings attached. And absolutely no falling in love. Outgoing and ambitious, Jules… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual harassment
  • Death of a parent
  • Physical assault (mugging)
  • Gun violence
  • Stalking
  • Blackmail

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t. They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Claustrophobia
  • Depression
  • Parent with Parkinson’s Disease
  • Recreational & medicinal drug use
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted