The White Girl by Tony Birch

The White Girl by Tony Birch

Odette Brown has lived her whole life on the fringes of a small country town. After her daughter disappeared and left her with her granddaughter Sissy to raise on her own, Odette has managed to stay under the radar of the welfare authorities who are removing fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. When a new policeman arrives in town, determined to enforce the law, Odette must risk everything to save Sissy and protect everything she loves.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism including the Stolen Generations
  • Antisemitism mentioned
  • Rape
  • Graphic suicide
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a spouse
  • Disappearance of a relative
  • Explosion
  • Colonialism
  • Animal death
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Lost in Amber by Maz Maddox

Lost in Amber by Maz Maddox

Being alive for millions of years means I’m rarely surprised. In the long expanse of my existence, I’ve been rescuing fossils for only a breath. During that time, my path has crossed with many different people — shifter and human alike. Some friendly, some nefarious. A hundred years ago, one such man graced me with his presence. He was one of the few to have almost killed me. Imagine my surprise when I see him again, buying the rarest amber fossil to have ever been discovered. Precious. Beautiful. Unique. A true treasure millions of years in the making. I won’t let him get away again.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a partner recounted
  • Gun violence
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The Cove by Alice Clark-Platts

The Cove by Alice Clark-Platts

Welcome to Turtle Cove. A luxury resort surrounded by pristine sea and the dense beauty of the jungle, it is the perfect escape from the stresses of life and work. For couples Lou and Adam, Eliza and Noah, a few days spent relaxing on the beach, while their kids are happily distracted, is exactly what they need. But appearances can be deceiving. There’s a strange tension brewing at the resort, with relations between the hotel and the locals threatening to spill over into violence. This is nothing though compared to the strained atmosphere between the two families. They haven’t been friends for long and they are starting to realise they… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Child neglect recounted
  • Spousal and parental infidelity mentioned
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse, on-page
  • Recreational drug use
  • Minor physical injury including mentions of burns
  • COVID-19 pandemic mentioned (epilogue)
  • Graphic dead bodies
  • Death of a husband
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a mother from suicide by hanging recounted
  • Murder
  • Disappearance of a spouse & child
  • Explosion
  • Gun violence mentioned
  • Fire
  • Animal death mentioned (wild pig, fish)
  • Mentions of cruel animal hunting practices
  • Discussions of loss of business/livelihoods and traditional ways of life due to climate change
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Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee

Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee

India, 1921. Haunted by his memories of the Great War, Captain Sam Wyndham is battling a serious addiction to opium that he must keep secret from his superiors in the Calcutta police force. When Sam is summoned to investigate a grisly murder, he is stunned at the sight of the body: he’s seen this before. Last night, in a drug-addled haze, he stumbled across a corpse with the same ritualistic injuries. It seems like there’s a deranged killer on the loose. Unfortunately for Sam, the corpse was in an opium den, and revealing his presence there could cost him his career… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Substance addiction
  • Eye trauma
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • War & colonialism theme
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The Proposal by Mary Balogh

The Proposal by Mary Balogh

Gwendoline, Lady Muir, has seen her share of tragedy, especially since a freak accident took her husband much too soon. Content in a quiet life with friends and family, the young widow has no desire to marry again. But when Hugo, Lord Trentham, scoops her up in his arms after a fall, she feels a sensation that both shocks and emboldens her. Hugo never intends to kiss Lady Muir, and frankly, he judges her to be a spoiled, frivolous–if beautiful–aristocrat. He is a gentleman in name only: a soldier whose bravery earned him a title; a merchant’s son who inherited his wealth. He is happiest when working the land, but duty and title… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Panic attacks
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Suicide
  • Infertility
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of a husband recounted
  • Military service in the Napoleonic Wars recounted
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Controlled Burn by Erin McLellan

Controlled Burn by Erin McLellan

At eighteen, Joel Smith’s life fell to pieces. His boyfriend died in a car crash while reading a sext from him, the local newspaper outed them both in the aftermath, and his parents got a divorce. Joel did everything possible to outrun his past: he moved to Oklahoma for college, legally changed his name, and started over. Since then, he hasn’t let anyone get close—not his classmates, not his roommate, and definitely not his hookups. The strategy has served him well for over three years. Why would he change it now? But Joel doesn’t plan on the articles about his boy… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Outing
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a boyfriend in a car accident recounted
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The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The year is 1915 and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to help deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo and travels south into Egypt to join the British army, he begins to write Elizabeth… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a wife & daughter
  • Armenian Genocide (theme)
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Beard Necessities by Penny Reid

Beard Necessities by Penny Reid

No one deserves a happily-ever-after quite as much as the second oldest Winston brother and his lady love, Claire McClure (aka Scarlet St. Claire). Cruelty and circumstance tore them apart almost twenty years ago. Secrecy and bitterness kept them separated. But you know who’s tired of their separation and stubbornness? Everyone. Especially Billy Winston’s family. And now they’re going to do something about it. Well-meaning interference means the star-crossed lovers can’t stop tripping over each other in the hills of Tuscany, the catacombs of Rome, and the waterways of… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Coerced adult-minor marriage
  • Marital rape
  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Death of a mother from cancer recounted
  • Death of a spouse during military service
  • Knife violence & stabbing mentioned
  • Death of a pet dog mentioned
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The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish

Last month, Alex Barrow’s whole life imploded—partner, home, job, all gone in forty-eight hours. But sometimes when everything falls apart, better things appear almost like magic. Now, he’s back in his Michigan hometown, finally opening the bakery he’s always dreamed of. But the pleasure of opening day is nothing compared to the lonely and beautiful man who bewitches Alex before he even orders. Corbin Wale is a weirdo. At least, that’s what he’s heard his whole life. He knows he’s often in a fantasy world, but the things he feels are very real. And so is the reason… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & homophobia
  • Intimate partner abuse mentioned (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father from an aneurysm recounted
  • Death of an aunt recounted
  • Death of a spouse from a heart attack mentioned (secondary character)
  • Bullying recounted

The Final Hunt by Audrey Cole

The Final Hunt by Audrey J. Cole

Alone in a hunting cabin, off-grid in an untamed wilderness. How does a marriage come to this? After John disappeared while hunting-presumed dead from a bear attack-Cameron found the crime photos. His role in the recent Seattle serial murders was discovered. The media destroyed her reputation. She lost her dental practice, is on the brink of losing her home. Everyone has a secret. But if her husband could hide the unimaginable from her, who’s to say he’s truly dead?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a husband in a hunting accident
  • Murder
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