Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem’s Lot in hopes that exploring the history of the Marsten House, an old mansion long the subject of rumor and speculation, will help him cast out his personal devils and provide inspiration for his new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods, and only one returns alive, Mears begins to realize that something sinister is at work—in fact, his hometown is under siege from forces of darkness far beyond his imagination. And only he, with a small group of allies, can hope to contain the evil that is growing within the borders of this small New England town.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape recounted
  • Delusions
  • Nightmares
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a pregnant wife from a brain aneurysm
  • Murder by gun violence in a drive-by shooting
  • Murder & attempted murder by drowning
  • Infanticide
  • Kidnapping of a child
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Christine by Stephen King

Christine by Stephen King

Christine, blood-red, faIt’s love at first sight for high school student Arnie Cunningham when he and his best friend Dennis Guilder spot the dilapidated 1958 red-and-white Plymouth Fury for sale—dubbed “Christine” by its original cantankerous owner—rusting away on a front lawn of their suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood. Dennis knows that Arnie’s never had much luck in the looks or popularity department, or really taken an interest in owning a car . . . but Christine quickly changes all that. Arnie suddenly has the newfound confidence to stick up for himself, going as far as dating the most beautiful girl at Libertyville High—transfer student Leigh Cabot—even as a mysteriously restored Christine systematically and terrifyingly consumes every aspect of Arnie’s life.

Dennis and Leigh soon realize that they must uncover the awful truth behind a car with a horrifying and murderous history. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and heaven help anyone who gets in Christine’s way…

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Death of a child from choking recounted
  • Death of a wife from suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning recounted
  • Murder
  • Car accidents (theme)
  • Bullying
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Lisey’s Story by Stephen King

Lisey’s Story by Stephen King

Every marriage has two hearts, one light and one dark. Lisey knew it when she first fell for Scott. And now he’s dead, she knows it for sure.

Lisey was the light to Scott Landon’s dark for twenty-five years. As his wife, only she saw the truth behind the public face of the famous author – that he was a haunted man whose bestselling novels were based on a terrifying reality.

Now Scott has gone, Lisey wants to lock herself away with her memories. But the fans have other ideas. And when the sinister threats begin, Lisey realises that, just as Scott depended on her strength – her light – to live, so she will have to draw on his darkness to survive.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Self harm
  • Death of a husband
  • Filicide of a brother recounted
  • Attempted murder by gun violence recounted
  • Knife violence
  • Home invasion
  • Blackmail
  • Animal dead body (cat)
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Appetites and Vices by Felicia Grossman

Appetites & Vices by Felicia Grossman

Banking heiress Ursula Nunes has lived her life on the fringes of Philadelphia’s upper class. Her Jewish heritage means she’s never quite been welcomed by society’s elite…and her quick temper has never helped, either.

A faux engagement to the scion of the mid-Atlantic’s most storied family might work to repair her rumpled reputation and gain her entrée to the life she thinks she wants…if she can ignore the way her “betrothed” makes her feel warm all over and stay focused on her goal.

Former libertine John Thaddeus “Jay” Truitt is hardly the man to teach innocent women about propriety. Luckily, high society has little to do with being proper and everything to do with identifying your foe’s temptation—an art form Jay mastered long ago. A broken engagement will give him the perfect excuse to run off to Europe and a life of indulgence.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism
  • Misogyny
  • Antisemitism
  • Slut shaming
  • Substance addiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Death of a parent from cancer recounted
  • Death of a spouse & child from illness
  • Bullying recounted
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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person — no mean feat for a black woman in the ’30s. Janie’s quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Slavery mentioned
  • Rape
  • Domestic abuse & violence
  • Rabies
  • Death of a husband
  • Gun violence
  • Hurricane

Look the Part by Jewel E. Ann

Look the Part by Jewel E. Ann

Flint Hopkins finds the perfect tenant to rent the space above his Minneapolis-based law office. All the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted on Ellen’s application. Her references are good. And she’s easy on the eyes. Unti Flint discovers Ellen Rodgers, Board-Certified Music Therapist, plays music. Bongos, guitars, singing—not Beethoven administered through noise-cancelling headphones.

The cut-throat attorney serves up an eviction notice to the bubbly, constantly humming redhead who’s too sexy for her own good. But luck is on Ellen’s side when Flint’s autistic son, Harrison, takes an instant liking to her. A single dad can’t compete with guitars—and rats. Yes, she has pet rats.

This woman. She’s annoyingly happy with a constant need to touch him—adjust his tie, button his shirt, invade his space, and mess with his mind. Still … she must go.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Alcoholism
  • Unplanned pregnancy, on-page
  • Parent with a stroke, on0page
  • Death of a wife in a car accident recounted
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The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fantastical racism and racial slurs
  • Slavery
  • Child rape implied
  • Forced sexual relationships attempting pregnancy
  • Physical and emotional abuse of a child
  • Death of children
  • Death of a partner, on-page
  • Kidnapping
  • Captivity
  • Genocide recounted
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Black Widow by Carol Baxter

Black Widow by Carol Baxter

‘Never before in the hundred year history of Australia has a female prisoner become so notorious as Louisa Collins.’ – Evening News..Two inquests, four trials, three hung juries and the executioner…but was Louisa Collins really a husband killer? Was she the callous adulteress, drunkard and liar known as the Botany Bay Murderess and the Lucrezia Borgia of Botany Bay? Or was this mother of seven a spirited and defiant woman who was punished for breaching society’s expectations of womanly behaviour?..Compelling, freshly told and richly detailed, Black Widow uncovers the truth of a story that challenged the morality, the politics and the notion of law in an Australia on the edge of nationhood…

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Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Graphic emesis
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a spouse
  • Murder
  • Poisoning

King’s Captive by Amber Bardan

King’s Captive by Amber A. Bardan 

Some people would think being stuck on a private island is heaven, but this is my hell. Because I’m not here as a guest. Not even close. I’m a prisoner. I’m his. Julius King. Powerful. Wealthy. Dangerous. 

There are parts of me he wants that I can’t give him. When he looks at me, there are times I swear he sees someone else. And the scary part is that sometimes, when he touches me, I think he may be someone else, too. 

Though my body might be tempted, and he might control everything else, I can’t let him have any piece of my heart. I won’t. But every day, the fight gets harder, and Julius manages to slip past my defenses in the most unexpected ways. I have to find out the truth about Julius King. Even if it destroys me.  

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Amnesia
  • Physical injury, including brain injury & gunshot wounds
  • Hospitalisation
  • Scar & burn scars
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a spouse, perceived
  • Death of a father from gun violence
  • Death of a mother in a car accident mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Kidnapping
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Devil’s Lair by Sarah Barrie

Devil’s Lair by Sarah Barrie

After the violent death of her husband, Callie Jones retreats to a cottage in the grounds of an old mansion in Tasmania. The relative remoteness of the place and the wild beauty of the Tasmanian landscape are a balm to her shattered nerves and the locals seem friendly, particularly horseman Connor Atherton and his siblings at the nearby property, Calico Lodge.

But all is not well: the old mansion has a sinister past, one associated with witchcraft and murder. As Callie is threatened by odd events in the night and strange dreams overtake her sleep, she begins to doubt her own sanity. What’s really going on beneath the surface of this apparently peaceful town? Are her friends and neighbours really who they seem? As events escalate, Callie starts to realise that the mansion may hold the key to unlocking the mystery, but the truth might have as much power to destroy as it does to save.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a spouse
  • Death of a child recounted
  • Murder
  • Stabbing
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Stalking
  • Graphic animal death
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