Dieting & Food Shaming – Trigger Warning Database

Fat Girl on a Plane by Kelly deVos

High school senior Cookie Vonn’s post-graduation dreams include getting out of Phoenix, attending Parsons and becoming the next great fashion designer. But in the world of fashion, being fat is a cardinal sin. It doesn’t help that she’s constantly compared to her supermodel mother—and named after a dessert. Thanks to her job at a fashion blog, Cookie scores a trip to New York to pitch her portfolio and appeal for a scholarship, but her plans are put on standby when she’s declared too fat to fly. Forced to turn to her BFF for cash, Cookie buys a second seat on the plane. She… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Fatphobia & body shaming (theme)
Dieting & weight loss (on-page)
Bullying

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquillity is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism & ableism, including mentions of police brutality
Physical child abuse by alcoholic parent(secondary character)
Dieting mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Parental infertility mentioned (secondary character)
Physical injury & mentions of the COVID-19 pandemic
Death of a father from a heart attack mentioned (secondary character)
Death of a sister in a mountaineering accident recounted
Murder
Mugging with knife (secondary character)
Phyiscal assault
Incarceration for the murder of a stepfather in self-defence (secondary character)
Homelessness mentioned
Bushfires mentioned

The Love Haters by Katherine Center

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her co-worker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can. Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise! But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental abandonment recounted
Infidelity (ex-partner)
Disordered eating & body dysmorphia, including mentions of past dieting & calorie counting
Panic attack
Emesis
Death of parents in a car accident (off-page)
Loved one with terminal heart condition
Hurricane mentioned
Cyberbullying & harassment

All I Want For Christmas is the Girl Next Door by Chelsea Bobulski

Graham Wallace has been in love with the girl next door for a decade. Unfortunately, she’s been dating his best friend for the past two years. Out of sheer desperation, Graham makes a wish on a shooting star—all he wants for Christmas is Sarah Clarke. When Graham wakes up the next morning, everything has changed, and he’s the one who’s been dating Sarah for the past two years, not his best friend. Graham assumes the wish would have only come true if he and Sarah were meant to be together, but as it becomes clear that he… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Infidelity
Dieting & self-starvation discussed
Drowning

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life. Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Fatphobia & dieting discussed
Parental divorce recounted
Infidelity recounted
Anxiety & depression
Nightmare
Alcohol consumption & drug use
Pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)
Protagonist with a congenital heart condition (aortic valve stenosis & aortic coarctation), which requires open heart surgery
Mild physical illness (heatstroke) & mentions of a grandparent recovering from emergency hip replacement surgery
Death of a parent in a car accident
Death of a grandfather recounted
Death of a best friend recounted

Under Your Spell by Laura Wood

Dumped by her cheating ex, fired from her dream job, about to lose her flat: Clementine Monroe is not having a good day. So when her sisters get her drunk and suggest reviving a childhood ritual called the breakup spell, she doesn’t see the harm in it. But now Clemmie has accidentally ruined a funeral, had her first one-night stand, and she’s stuck with a new job she definitely doesn’t want – spending six weeks alone with the gorgeous and very-off-limits rock star, Theo Eliott. He’s the most famous man on the planet. Her life’s a disaster. When it comes to love, Clemmie is learning you should be careful what you wish for…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Statutory rape & teen pregnancy mentioned*
Image-based sexual abuse (paparazzi publish intimate photos of them)
Harassment & loss of privacy from paparazzi (on-page & recounted)
Parental abandonment & neglect recounted
Infidelity (ex-partner) & mentions of parental infidelity*
Minor physical injury & emesis
Dieting (protagonist)
Death of a grandparent from a heart attack
Alcohol consumption
Drug use recounted
Physical assault
Animal death

*Context : The protagonist’s 40-year-old father cheated on her mother and impregnated three women, including a 17-year-old teenage girl.

Let’s Make a Scene by Laura Wood

When Cynthie Taylor gets her first real acting job, starring in a small British movie, she is over the moon. There is only one problem…Cynthie’s arrogant and annoyingly handsome costar Jack hates her, and the feeling is definitely mutual. While they may be at war behind the scenes, their on-screen chemistry is palpable, and the studio sees an opportunity—have the two young stars fake a romance that will charm fans and draw crowds. Thirteen years later, Cynthie and Jack have successfully kept their promise to stay far away from one another, until a surprising offer… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Workplace sexual harassment
Parental abandonment recounted
Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
Intimate partner violence (secondary characer)
Infidelity (accidental, protagonist believed her boyfriend was seperated from his pregnant wife)
Parental infidelity & divorce mentioned
Anxiety & panic attacks
Alcohol consumption & drug use
Fainting spell (on-page)
Pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)

Merry and Bright by Ali Rosen

Miriam Brody is dreading Hanukkah with her overbearing family in Charleston. Ditto for dreamy pro football player Cal Durand and Christmas. After sharing a few flirty drinks on the flight there, the strangers conspire to tackle the holidays together, posing as a couple. But as shenanigans unfold, Miriam realizes her feelings are anything but fake. Uh-oh. Are they headed for a holiday miracle—or a holiday disaster?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Dieting (athletic)
Alcohol consumption
Minor physical injuries (ACL injury, oil burn)
Death of a wife in a skiing accident recounted

Tanked by Mia Hopkins

A fighter without a purpose. A crusader with nothing to lose. Can she trust him with her heart, or is he just another lost cause? Angel: By day, I do all the grunt work at my family’s struggling L.A. brewery. By night, I blow off steam at an underground fight club. I never thought the pandemic would bring Deanna Delgado back into my life—the woman who ghosted me three years ago after one unforgettable night. But the brewery needs a miracle to survive. And that miracle could cost me the only person who’s ever had faith in me. Deanna: My family calls me an… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic violence recounted
Dieting & body-shaming discussed
Post-partum depression
COVID-19 pandemic discussed

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Ever since a man was found dead in Vera’s teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend! All thanks to Vera, because Tilly’s girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn’t be ungrateful, even if one is slightly…bored. Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Human trafficking
Suicide
Dieting discussed
Alcohol consumption
Emesis
Murder
Gun violence