Tag Archives: Death of a Parent & Guardian

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade

Maria’s one-night-stand–the thick-thighed, sexy Viking of a man she left without a word or a note–just reappeared. Apparently, Peter’s her surly Gods of the Gates co-star, and they’re about to spend the next six years filming on a desolate Irish island together. She still wants him…but he now wants nothing to do with her. Peter knows this role could finally transform him from a forgettable character actor into a leading man. He also knows a failed relationship with Maria could poison the set, and he won’t sabotage his career for a woman who’s already walked away from him once. Given time, maybe they can be cooper… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia
  • Sexism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Experiences in the foster care system recounted
  • Depression
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Death of a parent

Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist by Codi Hall

Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist by Codi Hall

Nick Winter is just out of the military, and his Christmas homecoming is not going as planned. What was supposed to be a memorable holiday with his long-time girlfriend goes sour when he learns she cheated on him while he was stationed overseas. At least Nick can rely on his usual shift at the family Christmas tree farm with his best friend, Noel Carter, and her endless supply of Christmas tunes to lift his spirits. A night of fun together is just what he needs to forget about his ex. But then they kiss. And it feels…so right. If Noel can… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Infidelity
  • Hospital
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Bullying

Severance by Ling Ma

Severance by Ling Ma

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost. Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re travelling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Pregnancy
  • Plague
  • Death of parents
  • Imprisonment

The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan

The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan

It’s been years since Grace, Felicity, Alice and Hannah were together – The Wild Girls, as they were once called, are no longer so wild. Alice has settled with a new baby and partner. Hannah is now a teacher. Grace has gone to ground. Only Felicity seems to have the same spark she once had. And now Felicity has invited them all on the weekend of a lifetime – a mini-break in Botswana to celebrate her birthday, a chance to put that night two years ago behind them, when things went so very wrong between them, and their bomb-proof friendship was shattered for ever. But on arriving.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Incest
  • Infertility
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Animal death

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

‘It came from the woods. Most strange things do.’

Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss. These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll. Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Dismemberment
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a brother
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death & dead bodies
  • Animal hunting

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Magic has been banished in the land of Syhl Shallow for as long as best friends Jax and Callyn can remember. They once loved the stories of the powerful magesmiths and mythical scravers who could conjure fire or control ice, but now they’ve learned that magic only leads to danger: magic is what killed Callyn’s parents, leaving her alone to raise her younger sister. Magic never helped Jax, whose leg was crushed in an accident that his father has been punishing him for ever since. Magic won’t save either of them when the tax collector comes calling, threatening to take their homes if…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Rape
  • Child abuse
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death

The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales by Eric LaRocca

The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales by Eric LaRocca

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; on-line posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Abusive relationship
  • Elder abuse
  • Incest
  • Cheating
  • Miscarriage
  • Cancer & terminal illness
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a spouse
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Torture

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Mattie can’t remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all. There’s something in the woods that wasn’t there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws. When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Graphic domestic violence including physical beatings, deprivation of food, water and shelter, and denial of autonomy (theme)
  • Martial rape, off-page
  • Miscarriage & stillbirth recounted
  • Chronic arm injury
  • Emesis, on-page
  • Blood & gore depiction including the hanging of dead bodies
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Strangulation, on-page
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Animal death and dead bodies (fox, bear)

The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee

The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee

That painful fact of life couldn’t be truer for the Sullivan sisters. Once, they used to be close, sharing secrets inside homemade blanket castles. Now, life in the Sullivan house means closed doors and secrets left untold. Fourteen-year-old Murphy, an aspiring magician, is shocked by the death of Siegfried, her pet turtle. Seventeen-year-old Claire is bound for better things than her Oregonian hometown—until she receives a crushing rejection from her dream college. And eighteen-year-old Eileen is nursing a growing addiction in the wake of life-altering news… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Terminal cancer (leukemia)
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Animal death & neglect

The Raging Ones by Krista and Becca Ritchie

The Raging Ones by Krista Ritchie & Becca Ritchie

In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds. Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday. Until the day she does. Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him. Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Drug use
  • Death of a parent