Domestic Abuse & Violence – Page 2 – Trigger Warning Database

This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter

For GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, McAlpine Lodge seems like the ideal getaway to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-the-grid mountaintop property, it’s the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night. Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the Mc… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape recounted
Incest & child sexual abuse
Domestic violence
Alcohol & drug abuse
Graphic blood & injury depiction and autopsy scene
Murder
Poisoning

My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due

When Jessica marries David, he is everything she wants in a family man: brilliant, attentive, ever youthful. Yet she still feels something about him is just out of reach. Soon, as people close to Jessica begin to meet violent, mysterious deaths, David makes an unimaginable confession: More than 400 years ago, he and other members of an Ethiopian sect traded their humanity so they would never die, a secret he must protect at any cost. Now, his immortal brethren have decided David must return and leave his family in Miami. Instead, David vows to invoke a forbidden ritual to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny
Slavery & racial slurs
Infidelity
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Elder abuse
Domestic violence
Self-mutilation
Graphic blood & gore depiction
Graphic murder, including filicide by drugging & asphixiation
Stalking
Animal death (dog)

Ruthless Villains by Marion Blackwood

In a world where magic is distributed equally, there are some people who refuse to share their power. Dark mages. Lethal. Selfish. And utterly without morals. Audrey Sable is one of them. As a poison mage, she can bring men to their knees with a flick of her wrist. But the man she really wants to kill will not go down so easily. Callan Blackwell is also a powerful dark mage, and he would like nothing better than to see Audrey beg for mercy at his feet. But their hatred for one another will have to wait. When the heroic champions of equality prepare to launch an attack that will wipe… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Classism & persecution for witchcraft
Intimate partner abuse & violence
Alcohol consumption
Blood & injury depiction, including decapitation, dismemberment, loss of limb & mutilation
Torture
Knife violence
Strangulation
Poisoning
Physical assault (beating)
Home invasion
Kidnapping & hostage situation
Imprisonment
Blackmail

Bad Tourists by Caro Carver

Best friends Darcy, Camilla and Kate have just landed in the Maldives for a luxury holiday. They can’t wait for ten days of scorching sun, crystal-clear waters and white-sand beaches. But against this idyllic backdrop, long-buried secrets come to light one by one, and the darker side of female friendship floats to the surface. After all, when you’ve known each other forever, you’re bound to hold a grudge or two – and the best of friends can make the worst of enemies… Which of them will make it back alive – if any?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Divorce
Domestic violence & gaslighting
Knife violence

Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios

Grace wants out. Out of her house, where her stepfather wields fear like a weapon and her mother makes her scrub imaginary dirt off the floors. Out of her California town, too small to contain her big city dreams. Out of her life, and into the role of Parisian artist, New York director—anything but scared and alone. Enter Gavin: charming, talented, adored. Controlling. Dangerous. When Grace and Gavin fall in love, Grace is sure it’s too good to be true. She has no idea their relationship will become a prison she’s unable to escape.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Fatphobia & slut-shaming
Physical, emotional psychological & verbal child abuse
Abusive relationship (theme)
Rape
Graphic attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
Self-harm

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalists in the government become increasingly strident and the zealots next door start roaming the streets in gangs to help make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. The irony is not lost on Anvar that in America, his deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother are the ones who fit right in with the tightly knit and gossipy Desi community. Anvar wants more. At the same time, thousands… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Islamophobia
Rape
Domestic abuse
Animal death
Police violence (fatal shooting)

Bodyguard by C.D. Reiss

Emily enjoys all the perks of fame—the parties, the glamour, the tours—but they’ve brought her back to the attention of a dangerous ex-boyfriend hell bent on getting her back. Enter Carter Kincaid, a bodyguard so crushingly sexy he takes her breath away. Carter’s the best in the business and Emily is—professionally speaking—off-limits. But when it comes to stirring his desires, she’s hitting all the right notes. What’s happening between them is so hot it could get both of them burned. As Emily’s past gets closer, Carter is willing to break every rule of the job to… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Abusive relationship recounted
Stalking mentioned

The Intruder by Freida McFadden

Casey’s cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she’s a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window. She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood. The girl won’t explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse. The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse
Emotional & physical domestic abuse
Hoarding Disorder
Alcohol consumption
Murder
Gun violence
Fire

Age 16 by Samuel Teer & Mar Julia

Sixteen-year-old Roz is preoccupied with normal teenage navigating high school friendships, worrying about college, and figuring out what to wear to prom. When her estranged Por Por abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, the already delicate relationship between Roz and her mother is upended. With three generations under one roof, conflicts inevitably arise and long suppressed family secrets rise to the surface. Told in alternating perspectives, Age 16 shifts seamlessly between time and place, exploring how this pivotal year in adolescence… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexism & racism
Domestic abuse recounted
Fatphobia & body-shaming
Eating disorder (anorexia) & disordered eating. including starvation & binge-eating
Teen pregnancy

Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar

When the famed photographer Miranda Brand died mysteriously at the height of her career, it sent shock waves through Callinas, California. Decades later, old wounds are reopened when her son, Theo, hires ex-journalist Kate Aitken to create an archive of his mother’s work. From Miranda’s vast maze of personal effects, Kate pieces together a portrait of a vibrant artist buckling under the pressures of ambition, motherhood, and marriage. As the summer progresses, Kate navigates vicious local rumors and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape & sexual assault
Domestic violence
Suicide & mentions of self-harm
Postpartum psychosis & depression