The Happy Family by Jackie Kabler

The Happy Family by Jackie Kabler

When Beth was 10 years old, her beautiful, wild mother Alice walked out and never came back. Beth’s life since hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but now she is happy and settled, with a successful career, a loving family and a beautiful home. Then one day there’s a knock at the door. Alice has returned. Overjoyed to have the chance to rebuild their relationship, Beth invites her mother to move in. At first, everything seems wonderful. But then Beth’s friends begin to drift away, strange things start to happen at home, and rumours begin to circle about her past… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Divorce
  • Alcohol consumption

The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe

The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe

Ever since she can remember, Aly has been fixing everything around her: her parents’ marriage, her colleagues’ work problems, and her friends’ love lives. After a chance meeting with an ex who has gone from a living in his parents’ basement to a married project manager in three years, she realizes she’s been fixing her boyfriends, too. So, Aly decides to put her talents to good use and, alongside two work friends, sets up The Fixer Upper, an exclusive, underground service for women who are tired of unpaid emotional labour. Using little tricks and tips, Aly and her friends get the men to do the work themselves – to get out of… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Divorce

Flawless by Elsie Silver

Flawless by Elsie Silver

The rules were simple. Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble. But now I’m stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken. I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.” But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running. A mouth I can’t stop thinking… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Toxic relationship & grooming*
  • Child abuse
  • Divorce
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Congenital heart defect recovery including heart surgery mentioned
  • Heart attack of a parent
  • A bull-riding accident resulting in broken ribs and a severe concussion
  • Dieting & food shaming mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother in childbirth recounted
  • Stalking*

*Context : The heroine was in a secret relationship with her surgeon, at age eighteen, for two years until he became engaged to her sister. There were elements of grooming and manipulation that advance to stalkerish behaviour in the current plotline. The protagonist is also her love interest’s sports agent.

Faking with Benefits by Lily Gold

Faking with Benefits by Lily Gold

My name is Layla Thompson, and I am undateable. Seriously. I’m twenty-eight and I’ve never had a boyfriend. And with my thirties rapidly approaching, I’m starting to lose patience. Lucky for me, I have three overprotective best friends who are all too eager to help hone my dating skills. There’s Zack, the huge rugby player with the cheeky grin and rippling biceps. Josh, the boy next door with the sculpted jaw and calculating stare. And Luke, the silver-haired divorcee who also happens to be my old professor. After a bad date leaves me crying on their shoulders, the three… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Sexual harassment
  • Divorce mentioned
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a partner from terminal illness recounted
  • Bullying recounted
  • Cyberbullying & online harassment

Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan

Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan

Fallon and Chloe used to be best friends, but last summer they hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings they are now not speaking to one another. A year later, Chloe’s back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to avoid her–which is especially difficult because their moms own a business together, a gourmet ice cream truck where both girls work. When their moms have the opportunity to make a presentation to some venture capitalists in Texas–something that could seriously expand their business and solve all their money problems to… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Abandonment
  • Parental divorce
  • Toxic friendship
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Car accident
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Before I Do by Sophie Cousens

Before I Do by Sophie Cousens

Head-in-the-stars Audrey is about to marry down-to-earth Josh. Though they are polar opposites, they have a healthy, stable relationship; Josh is just what Audrey needs. But romance should be unpredictable and full of fireworks, and as the big day approaches, Audrey’s found herself wondering if Josh really is The One. So, when Josh’s sister shows up to the rehearsal dinner with Fred, Audrey’s What If? guy–the man she met six years ago and had one amazing day with–Audrey finds herself torn. Surely Fred’s appearance the night before she is due to get married can’t be a… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual workplace harassment
  • Parental infidelity
  • Divorce
  • Panic attacks
  • Heart attack, on-page
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
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This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith

This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith

On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing on the side of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett. On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing on the side of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls…. Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Divorce
  • Depression
  • Infertility
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Accidental infanticide
  • Death of a wife from suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning
  • False incarceration
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One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone. But as soon as she steps foot on… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Divorce
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from cancer
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Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey

Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey

Once upon a time, Sandy Macintosh thought she would have her happily ever after with her high school sweetheart, Hank Tillman. Sandy wanted to be an artist, Hank was the only boy in town who seemed destined for bigger things, and they both had dreams to escape town together. But when Sandy’s plans fell through, she stayed in their small town in Ohio while Hank went off to Boston to follow his dreams to be a musician, with the promise to stay together. Only that plan fell through, too. Fifteen years later, Sandy runs a successful greenhouse while… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Divorce recounted

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Divorce
  • Miscarriage
  • Cancer, including medical treatment, on-page
  • Arson