Tag Archives: Death of a Partner & Spouse

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of death of a spouse and partner.

See also Death of a husband, Death of a wife, and Grief & loss depiction.

The Demigod Complex by Abigail Owen

When Lyleia Naiad was head-hunted by Brimstone, Inc., for her job as Executive Assistant to a high-powered billionaire demigod, she was given one directive—do NOT fall in love with Castor Dioskouri. Doesn’t matter if he’s the son of Zeus and can electrify a room with a single glance. As an ex-nymph, she possesses a unique ability—a gift from the goddesses to protect nymphs from the randy gods—to resist her boss’s charms. Or so she thought. He insists she accompany him to an alpha wolf shifter mating ceremony, an event where the pheromones fly, and so do clothes… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Sexual harassment
  • Boss-employee relationship
  • Infideity recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder of a pregnant wife by being burning to death recounted
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Drowning
  • Stalking

The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan

Sebastian Malheur is the most dangerous sort of rake: an educated one. When he’s not scandalizing ladies in the bedchamber, he’s outraging proper society with his scientific theories. He’s desired, reviled, acclaimed, and despised—and he laughs through it all. Violet Waterfield, the widowed Countess of Cambury, on the other hand, is entirely respectable, and she’d like to stay that way. But Violet has a secret that is beyond ruinous, one that ties her irrevocably to England’s most infamous scoundrel: Sebastian’s theories aren’t his. They’re hers. So when Sebastian threatens to dissolve… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse recounted
  • Martial rape recounted*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Miscarriages recounted*
  • Sibling with a heart condition
  • Murder of a husband by being pushed down a staircase
  • Death of a father from suicide recounted
  • Imprisonment

* Context : The heroine had nineteen miscarriages in her previous marriage in attempt to sire an heir for her husband. Her husband forced and coerced her to have sex with him despite medical advice. She almost dies from the toll it places on her body.

Strangers in Time by David Baldacci

Charlie Matters’ life has always been a fight for survival. Orphaned with no prospects, Charlie steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he can enlist in the battle against the Germans. He miraculously emerges unscathed from the Blitz, but there’s no telling when the next bomb will fall, and whether it will be the one to end his life. Molly Wakefield’s dreams of a joyful homecoming are all she’s had to hold on to after being evacuated to the countryside via ‘Operation Pied Piper’ five years before. But when she finally returns to the city, Molly faces a London changed… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction (secondary character)
  • Death of a wife (secondary character)
  • World War II (theme)

Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver

Welcome to Cape Carnage! Visit Once, Stay Forever. Cape Carnage is a seaside town of colourful houses, quirky shops, and an unusually high body count. But with tourists comes trouble, and Harper Starling won’t let anyone ruin her picture-perfect home. A skilled gardener with killer instincts, Harper protects her sanctuary at any cost—especially for her aging mentor with a fading memory. Troublesome tourists don’t check out of Carnage. They compost beneath Harper’s award-winning flowerbeds. But Nolan Rhodes isn’t your average tourist. Devilishly handsome… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted (secondary character), including mentions of image-based sexual abuse and attempted paedophilia
  • Nonconsensual voyeurism of protagonist by secondary character
  • Self-harm (secondary character)
  • Panic attack, nightmares, and survivor’s guilt
  • Alzheimer’s Disease (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction including emesis, decapitation, body parts, and dead bodies
  • Physical injury, including scars, burns, and previous rehabilitation after severe injuries sustained in a car accident (protagonist)
  • Needles (piercing)
  • Death of a brother in a hit-and-run car accident recounted
  • Death of a mother & father in a car accident
  • Murder of a boyfriend recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder (theme)
  • Torture recounted, including food deprivation
  • Physical assault
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Kidnapping & captivity recounted
  • Golf cart and go-cart accidents (secondary characters)
  • Stalking & home invasion
  • Animal injury & death (horse)

Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night by Kresley Cole

Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan was nearly destroyed when he lost the one woman meant for him. The ruthless warrior grew even colder, never taking another to his bed—until a smoldering encounter with his enemy, Mariketa the Awaited, reawakens his darkest desires. When sinister forces unite against her, the Highlander finds himself using all his strength and skill to keep her alive. Temporarily stripped of her powers, Mari is forced to take refuge with her sworn adversary. It’s rumored that no one can tempt Bowen’s hardened heart, but soon passion burns between… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Threats of rape
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a partner (‘mate’)
  • Kidnapping & imprisonment
  • Plane crash

Stalking Ginevra by Gigi Styx

Ginevra: A masked man killed my fiancé, so I offered him anything in exchange for my life. He demanded my mouth, but he’s taken my body… and my soul. At night, he comes to my room to degrade and humiliate me for fun. When he murders my date, I turn to the only person strong enough to defeat my stalker. My ex-fiancé, Benito—the man I ruthlessly dumped for another guy. He’ll help, but only if I marry him and agree to his controlling demands. Benito: I’ve despised her since she left me for a bitter enemy. When I shot her fiancé, I also wanted to erase her from the earth. Then she made me an offer that was hard to resist. I got one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Foster care experiences recounted
  • Rape recounted. attempted rape & dubious consent (‘dubcon’)
  • Incest mentioned
  • Domestic violence & forced marriage
  • Alcoholism
  • Teen pregnancy recounted (secondary character)
  • Decapitation & evisceration
  • Forced body modifications (shaving)
  • Murder of a fiancé
  • Whipping & knife play
  • Bombing
  • Kidnapping & imprisonment
  • Stalking/surveillance & blackmail

The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean

The youngest of the infamous Talbot sisters scandalized society at the Liverpool Summer Soiree, striking her sister’s notoriously philandering husband and landing him backside-first in a goldfish pond. And we thought Sophie was the quiet one… When she finds herself the target of very public aristocratic scorn, Sophie Talbot does what she must to escape the city and its judgment—she flees on the back of a carriage, vowing never to return to London…or to society. But the carriage isn’t saving her from ruin. It’s filled with it. The marquess of Eversley was espied desc… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical slut-shaming
  • Physical child abuse recounted
  • Cheating (secondary characters)
  • Death of a partner in a coach accident
  • Gun violence

Passion Project by London Sperry

If your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life, Bennet Taylor is failing miserably . . . with a big emphasis on the miserable. Where’s that zest she keeps hearing about? She’s a temp worker in New York City with no direction, no future, and no social life. And at the painful center of this listlessness is grief over the death of her first love. When Bennet runs into Henry Adams just hours after standing him up for a first date, she makes an alcohol-fueled confession: She’s not ready to date. In fact, it’s been years since she felt passion for something. Not even pottery, or organized sports—not anything. Rather than leaving… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression (protagonist)
  • Parent with Alzheimer’s’ Disease mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a boyfriend mentioned

Between Now and Forever by Adriana Locke

When Gabrielle Solomon falls, she falls hard. Even if that means literally toppling over a porch railing in nothing but a flimsy towel—right in front of her sexy new neighbor. .Jay Stetson is 100 percent hero material with those arms, that chest, and his deliciously oh-so-sexy smirk. The chiseled hunk in flannel has an irresistible off-limits attitude while plucking Gabrielle out of the bushes and saving her from a snake. Unfortunately, he’s not indulging in what Gabrielle is offering—not with his emotional train wreck of a past. Just neighbors. Just friends. Or so he says. Secretly, he’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a partner

In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint by Alexandra Vasti

For seven years, Matilda Halifax and her twin have been the most scandalous ladies in London. But when Matilda accidentally sells erotic drawings of the brooding, reclusive Marquess of Ashford, she has—perhaps—gone a bit too far. Christian de Bord, Lord Ashford, knows what it’s like to be notorious. Ever since he was accused of murdering his wife, prurient gossip has kept him isolated from society, alone and determined to protect his adolescent sister Bea. But when Matilda Halifax’s salacious pamphlet appears—featuring his own damned face!—he’s thrust back into the storm of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Death of a spouse recounted