Tag Archives: Death of a Parent & Guardian

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of death of a parent or guardian.

See also Death of a mother, Death of a father, and Grief & loss depiction.

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare

Minerva Highwood, one of Spindle Cove’s confirmed spinsters, needs to be in Scotland. Colin Sandhurst, Lord Payne, a rake of the first order, needs to be…anywhere but Spindle Cove. These unlikely partners have one week to fake an elopement. convince family and friends they’re in “love”, outrun armed robbers, survive their worst nightmares, and travel four hundred miles without killing each other. All while sharing a very small carriage by day and an even smaller bed by night. What they don’t have time for is their growing attraction. Much less wild passion. And heaven forbid they spend precious hours baring their… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Trauma
  • Nightmares
  • Death of a parent recounted

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare

As the daughter of a famed author, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight grew up on tales of brave knights and fair maidens. She never doubted romance would be in her future, too. The storybooks offered endless possibilities. And as she grew older, Izzy crossed them off. One by one by one. Ugly duckling turned swan? Abducted by handsome highwayman? Rescued from drudgery by charming prince? No, no, and… Heh. Now Izzy’s given up yearning for romance. She’ll settle for a roof over her head. What fairy tales are left over for an impoverished twenty-six-year-old woman who’s never even been kissed? This one.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death from childbirth recounted
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Scars
  • Sword violence
  • Death of a mother recounted, off-page

One Dance With a Duke by Tessa Dare

One Dance With a Duke by Tessa Dare

A handsome and reclusive horse breeder, Spencer Dumarque, the fourth Duke of Morland, has a reputation as the dashing “Duke of Midnight.” Each evening he selects one lady for a breathtaking midnight waltz. But none of the ladies of the ton catch his interest for long, until Lady Amelia d’Orsay tries her luck. In an effort to get the Duke to forgive her brother’s debts, Amelia claims the duke’s dance. But she is playing a dangerous game with a notorious rake…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Gambling addiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Animal death

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare

After years of fending for herself, Kate Taylor found friendship and acceptance in Spindle Cove—but she never stopped yearning for love. The very last place she’d look for it is in the arms of Corporal Thorne. The militia commander is as stone cold as he is brutally handsome. But when mysterious strangers come searching for Kate, Thorne steps forward as her fiancé. He claims to have only Kate’s safety in mind. So why is there smouldering passion in his kiss? Long ago, Samuel Thorne devoted his life to guarding Kate’s happiness. He wants what’s best for her, and he knows it’s not marriage to a man like him. To … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Flogging
  • Incarceration

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare

After her livelihood slips through her fingers, Alexandra Mountbatten takes on an impossible post: transforming a pair of wild orphans into proper young ladies. However, the girls don’t need discipline. They need a loving home. Try telling that to their guardian, Chase Reynaud: duke’s heir in the streets and devil in the sheets. The ladies of London have tried—and failed—to make him settle down. Somehow, Alexandra must reach his heart… without risking her own. Like any self-respecting libertine, Chase lives by one rule: no attachments. When a stubborn little governess tries to reform him, he decides to give her an… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Death of a parent recounted

Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare

Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare

Ever the bold adventuress, Lucy Waltham has decided to go hunting for a husband. But first, she needs some target practice. So she turns to her brother’s best friend, Jeremy Trescott, the Earl of Kendall, to hone her seductive wiles on him before setting her sights on another man. But her practice kisses spark a smouldering passion – one that could send all her plans up in smoke. Jeremy has an influential title, a vast fortune, and a painful past full of long-buried secrets. He keeps a safe distance from his own emotions, but to distract Lucy from her reckless scheming, he must give his passions free rein. But when scandal … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Death of a sibling recounted

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia’s family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess–a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner. For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She’s endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside. Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Racism
  • Rape mentioned
  • Sexual harassment
  • Medical experimentation
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Poisoning
  • Whipping
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death
  • War & rebellion

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace’s drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder. Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, Jennifer Donnelly’s debut novel weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving and real.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder by drowning

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously. But someone… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical sibling abuse recounted (protagonist)
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted (protagonist)
  • Alcohol consumption (on-page)
  • Minor physical injury and depiction of dead bodies
  • Death of parents from cancer, illness and fire mentioned
  • Death of a father recounted (protagonist)
  • Parent with depression mentioned (protagonist)

Sweet Rome by Tillie Cole

Sweet Rome by Tillie Cole

It makes me laugh when I hear folks think Molly and I rushed into things too fast, spouting that we couldn’t possibly have felt what we did for each other in such a short space of time. I say, how the hell would they know? We made it, didn’t we? She became my whole life, didn’t she? And as for my folks not being real, being true? Tell that to me aged ten, eleven, twelve—damn, all my bastard life—when I was never enough when I was beaten until I bled for being too good at football and not being everything they’d dreamed: the perfectly dutiful son. Tell that to thousands of kids around the world getting wailed on by asshole parents for… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Suicide
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of parents