Tag Archives: Death of a Parent & Guardian

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism (r slur)
  • Fatmisia & body-shaming
  • Child physical, verbal and emotional abuse including gaslighting
  • Grooming and sexually predatory behaviour toward a minor discussed
  • Hoarding
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Eating disorder (bulimia)
  • Graphic disordered eating including food restriction, bingeing, purging and over-exercising (theme)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a mother from terminal breast cancer

Wrong by Adelaide Forrest

Wrong by Adelaide Forrest

She’s the girl I can never have. Everlee likes to torment me, to enrapture me with her innocence at every turn. The games we play skirt the lines of what is appropriate, but I’d never allow myself to cross them. Her father would kill me if I did. He’s my oldest friend, and I’ve watched his daughter blossom into the woman she’s becoming. My tastes are too deviant for her shining light, and I need an outlet even if she’s all I see when I close my eyes. Enter Purgatory — the club that caters to every manner of taste. Arranging a meeting with a stranger to fill my needs, the last thing I expect when I look in the window of our meeting… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Consensual rape play
  • Forced pregnancy
  • Kidnapping

With Love from London by Sarah Jio

With Love from London by Sarah Jio

When librarian Valentina Baker was a teenager, her mother, Eloise, unexpectedly fled to her native London, leaving Val and her father on their own. Now in her thirties and fresh out of a failed marriage, Val feels a nagging disenchantment with her life–and knows she is still heartbroken over her mother’s abandonment. In a bittersweet twist of fate, Val receives word that Eloise has passed away, leaving Val her Primrose Hill apartment and the deed to a bookshop Val never knew she’d owned. Though the news is devastating, Val finds herself more determined than ever to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of a parent from cancer

Delicates by Brenna Thummler

Delicates by Brenna Thummler

Marjorie Glatt’s life hasn’t been the same ever since she discovered a group of ghosts hiding in her family’s laundromat. Wendell, who died young and now must wander Earth as a ghost with nothing more than a sheet for a body, soon became one of Marjorie’s only friends. But when Marjorie finally gets accepted by the popular kids at school, she begins to worry that if anyone learns about her secret ghost friends, she’ll be labelled as a freak who sees dead people. With Marjorie’s insistence on keeping Wendell’s ghost identity a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism mentioned
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Toxic friendships
  • Bullying

Enemies With Benefits by Roxie Noir

Enemies With Benefits by Roxie Noir

Eli Loveless was my nemesis from the first day of kindergarten until we graduated high school. Everything I did, he had to do better – and vice versa. The day he left town was the best day of my life. Ten years later, the day he came back was the worst. Now he’s my co-worker. Grown-up Eli Loveless is sexy as sin. He’s hotter than asphalt in the summer. The irritating kid I once knew is gone, and he’s been replaced by a man with green eyes, perfect abs, and a cocky smile. It’s bad that I want him. It’s worse that he… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Nonconsensual distribution of nude photographs
  • Sexual harassment
  • Slut shaming
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a father mentioned
  • Death of a mother from lung cancer mentioned
  • Bullying recounted

Gemini Keeps Capricorn by Anyta Sunday

Gemini Keeps Capricorn by Anyta Sunday

Wesley loves annoying his RA, Lloyd Reynolds. He just can’t help it. Lloyd is focused, decisive, grounded. He has this amusing ability to follow rules. Of course, Wesley wants Lloyd to break one… or three hundred.… It doesn’t stop Wesley teasing again. And again. And again… But damn. Lloyd doesn’t crack easily. He’s full of principles. He’s unshakable. He’s the perfect friend to have when Wesley needs help. Like with his truant brother and his old high school principal. What can he say? It seemed like a good idea at the time…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Cheating
  • Alcoholism
  • Heart failure mentioned
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Stalking

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

Enchantments run deep on the magical Isle of Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind, plaid shawls can be as strong as armour, and the smallest cut of a knife can instil fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that live there find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home, but that mischief turns to malevolence as girls begin to go missing. Adaira, heiress of the east, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, enticing them to return the missing girls. But there’s only one bard capable of drawing the spirits forth by song: her childhood enemy Jack Tamerlaine… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. He has been unable to paint since his mother’s ghost has begun to visit him each evening. As his grandmother’s sole caretaker, he spends his days cooped up in their apartment, avoiding his neighbourhood masjid, his estranged sister, and even his best friend (who also happens to be his longtime crush). The only time he feels truly free is when he slips out at night to paint murals on buildings in the once… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Transmisia
  • Islamomisia
  • Hate crimes
  • Sexual assault
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Fire

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks. 1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother (theme)