Tag Archives: Death of a Sibling

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of death of a sibling.

See also Death of a sister, Death of a brother, and Grief & loss depiction.

Wicked Darlings by Jordyn Taylor

Aspiring journalist Noa has a secret she’s been keeping. Ever since her sister’s tragic death, she’s felt almost…relieved. Noa and Leah had been locked in competition with one another since childhood, and things came to a head when her sister scored a glitzy internship at a New York society newspaper. Noa can’t help but revel in her new found autonomy. But when she gets a lead about the sketchy circumstances surrounding her sister’s untimely death, she knows she needs to investigate−she owes it to Leah… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Death of a sister, presumed suicide from overdose
  • Car accident (drink driving accident)

A Grim and Sunken Vow by Ashley Shuttleworth

The die is cast. The era of Spring is over. Riadne’s bloody coup on the Summer Solstice changed Arlo’s life forever. In one fell swoop and a fool’s bargain, she lost both her family and free will to the newly crowned High Queen. Now, with Arlo forced to use her powers as Luck’s Hollow Star to help summon the rest of the seven deadly sins, Riadne stands closer than ever to achieving her dark goals. And Arlo isn’t the only one trapped in a frightening new role. Her ex-Fury girlfriend, Nausicaä, is determined to do whatever it takes to stay by Arlo’s side, even if that means becoming… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child trafficking
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Depression
  • Suicide recounted (off-page) & suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Self-harm
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister, mother & father
  • Murder & torture
  • Arson

Deep Secrets by Nikki Shannon Smith

Colette only wants three to prove she isn’t weak, to get a job, and to uncover the mystery surrounding her father. All her life she’s heard that he died in a factory accident, but she’s haunted by dreams of bitter cold and a sea of stars—and part of her knows it’s somehow connected to him. Colette is not to work, is not to leave the house, and is to never speak of her father. But when Colette secretly gets a job, she becomes fascinated by the stories that Walter, the store owner, tells. He was aboard the Titanic before it sank. He saw… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical racism discussed
  • Death of a father in a factory accident
  • Death of a brother in the Titanic tragedy (secondary character)
  • Poverty & financial difficulties during the Great Depression

Fall Out by Zoe York

Drew Castle is a Navy SEAL with a bad case of indifference. Until Annie Martin shows up on his doorstep, scared out of her mind, and all of a sudden, keeping her safe becomes the most important mission of his life. And this time, he’s on his own.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother recounted

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Several days later, Alison’s body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men – employees at the resort – are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the timeline against it, and the men are soon released. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives. Years later, Claire is living and working in New York… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder of a sister

Zero Hour by Megan Erickson

Hacker extraordinaire Roarke Brennan lives each hour – each breath – to avenge his brother’s murder. His first move: put together a team of the best coders he knows. They’re all brilliant, specialized, and every one an epic pain in his ass. Only now Wren Lee wants in too, threatening to upset their delicate balance. The girl Roarke never allowed himself to want is all grown up with sexy confidence and a dark past … and she’s the wild card he can’t control. Roarke might still think she’s a kid, but Wren’s been to hell and back. Nothing and nobody can stop her – especially the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & sex trafficking mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother
  • Kidnapping mentioned

Zombie Tag by Hannah Moskowitz

Thirteen-year-old Wil Lowenstein copes with his brother’s death by focusing on Zombie Tag, a mafia/capture the flag hybrid game where he and his friends fight off brain-eating zombies with their mothers’ spatulas. What Wil doesn’t tell anybody is that if he could bring his dead brother back as a zombie, he would in a heartbeat. But when Wil finds a way to summon all the dead within five miles, he’s surprised to discover that his back-from-the-dead brother is emotionless and distant.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Claustrophobia
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother from an asthma attack

Change of Plans by Dylan Newton

When disaster strikes and chef Bryce Weatherford is given guardianship of her three young nieces, her life goes from cooking with fire…to controlling a dumpster fire. Five‑year‑old Addison refuses to remove her fairy wings, eight‑year‑old Cecily won’t bathe, and tween June is majoring in belligerence. With all this chaos, Bryce jettisons hope for a life outside of managing her family and her new job. It’s been years since Ryker Matthews had his below‑the‑knee amputation, yet the phantom pain for his lost limb and Marine career haunts him. To cope, he focuses on his vehicle… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Leg amputation due to IED explosion sustained during military service (protagonist)
  • Parent with dementia
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother & sister-in-law in a car accident

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a perfectly normal boy. Well, he would be perfectly normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the world of the dead. There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more. But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod’s family.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Drugging
  • Murder of a father, mother & sister by stabbing
  • Kidnapping
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Car accident mentioned (hit-and-run)
  • Bullying

AfterMath by Emily Barth Isler

After her brother’s death from a congenital heart defect, twelve-year-old Lucy is not prepared to be the new kid at school–especially in a grade full of survivors of a shooting that happened four years ago. Without the shared past that both unites and divides her classmates, Lucy feels isolated and unable to share her family’s own loss, which is profoundly different from the trauma of her peers. Lucy clings to her love of math, which provides the absolute answers she craves. But through budding friendships and an after… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Hospitalisation mentioned
  • Death of a brother from a congenital heart defect
  • School shooting massacre (aftermath, theme)