Tag Archives: Domestic Abuse & Violence

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who’s in trouble, kidnap and death are hot on their heels once more. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code, and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into action once more, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time? Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Suicide
  • Drug use mentioned
  • Explosion (car bomb)
  • Gun violence

Pinky Swear by Danielle Girard

Lexi thought she knew everything about Mara Vannatta. Best friends since middle school, they drifted apart after a tragedy derailed their senior year. But when Mara shows up on Lexi’s doorstep sixteen years later fleeing an abusive husband, Lexi takes her in without question. Lexi’s own marriage has been strained by her desire to have a baby, and when Mara offers to become her surrogate, their friendship feels stronger than ever. But four days before the due date, Mara disappears. Lexi is shocked but certain there must be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Domestic abuse mentioned
  • Anxiety
  • Infertility & pregnancy
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Knife violence
  • School shooting & gun violence mentioned
  • Missing person

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin

London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories. Eleanor Clarke, a devoted mother suffocating under the tyranny of her husband. Rose Wharton, a transplanted American dollar princess struggling to fit the mold of an aristocratic wife. Lavinia Cavendish, an artistic young woman haunted by a dangerous family secret…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny & ableism, including forced institutionalisation of women
  • Domestic abuse

The Master by Kresley Cole

Rich, irresistible politician/Mafya boss Maksimilian Sevastyan prefers tall, obedient blondes to fulfill his… complicated desires. That is, until the icy Russian encounters a disobedient brunette whose exquisite little body threatens his legendary restraint. Catarina Marín was a well-off young wife until her world fell apart. Now she’s hiding out, forced to start working as an escort in Miami. Her very first client is beyond gorgeous, but when he tells her what he plans to do to her, Cat almost walks out of the door… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned & dubious consent (‘dubcon’)
  • Sex work (protagonist, on-page)
  • Intimate partner violence & attempted murder
  • Infidelity (by husband)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of parents in a car accident
  • Murder
  • Death of a mother from murder
  • Whipping & resulting scars discussed
  • Organised crime (mafia)

Context : The heroine’s husband is a serial killer & con man who marries women for their money and then murders them. He is also cheating on her with his real partner. When the heroine accidentally kills his partner, he tries to kill her in revenge.

Taming Seraphine by Gigi Styx

They captured me, broke me. Molded me into their perfect weapon. They made me murder and seduce strangers. Until a hitman killed my captors and set me free. Leroi: I rescued a girl from a basement thinking she was innocent, but I brought home a serial killer whose darkness borders on insanity. Now, I need to tame her murderous instincts before I become her next victim. Seraphine is reckless, unstable, and likely to get us both destroyed. Every instinct says I should end her, but she’s too captivating to resist.Each day, she draws me deeper into her web, her allure stripping my self-control. But I’m harboring secrets treach… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape, sexual assault & dubious consent (‘dubcon’)
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Child abandonment
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Gential mutilation (castration) & dismemberment
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Knife play
  • Electrocution
  • Organised crime
  • Car accident
  • Kidnapping
  • Human & organ trafficking

Stalking Ginevra by Gigi Styx

Ginevra: A masked man killed my fiancé, so I offered him anything in exchange for my life. He demanded my mouth, but he’s taken my body… and my soul. At night, he comes to my room to degrade and humiliate me for fun. When he murders my date, I turn to the only person strong enough to defeat my stalker. My ex-fiancé, Benito—the man I ruthlessly dumped for another guy. He’ll help, but only if I marry him and agree to his controlling demands. Benito: I’ve despised her since she left me for a bitter enemy. When I shot her fiancé, I also wanted to erase her from the earth. Then she made me an offer that was hard to resist. I got one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Foster care experiences recounted
  • Rape recounted. attempted rape & dubious consent (‘dubcon’)
  • Incest mentioned
  • Domestic violence & forced marriage
  • Alcoholism
  • Teen pregnancy recounted (secondary character)
  • Decapitation & evisceration
  • Forced body modifications (shaving)
  • Murder of a fiancé
  • Whipping & knife play
  • Bombing
  • Kidnapping & imprisonment
  • Stalking/surveillance & blackmail

Snaring Emberly by Gigi Styx

Revenge was supposed to be simple, but love had other plans Emberly: When an abusive ex corners me in a nightclub, I cling to the first man I see for protection. Little do I know he’s a mafia Don, fresh out of prison and eager for a one-night stand. One night extends into two, then three. I’m beginning to suspect I can’t leave. But every time I raise questions, he answers with offers impossible to resist. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if I’m just paranoid or a pawn in a much larger game. Roman: When a man gets jailed for a crime he didn’t commit, the first thing he wants after leaving death row is vengeance. The bastard who framed me… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Elder abuse
  • Forced marriage
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & panic attacks
  • Attempted suicide, immolation & threats of suicide bombing
  • Drugging
  • Forced pregnancy due to birth control tampering
  • Male genital mutilation
  • Dismemberment, desecration of a corpse, and cremation of living people
  • Murder
  • Torture (waterboarding)
  • Organised crime (mafia)
  • Kidnapping & imprisonment

Context : Depiction of BDSM & kink, including voyeurism, exhibitionism, and mentions of urophilia

The Kill Clause by Lisa Unger

A hit woman’s work doesn’t stop for the holidays. As the advent calendar winds down, Paige slips into a palatial house, ignoring a blizzard of texts from her ex-husband. No surprise—Julian always gets maudlin this time of year. The real shock comes when the target is not alone. His young daughter is there too. Risking the wrath of her organization, Paige retreats. There are some lines that, for personal reasons, she just won’t cross. But when she returns on Christmas Eve to finish the job, the girl is still there…along with someone even more startling. As the ghosts of her past gather,… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Overdose
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Home invasion
  • Animal death

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray

Meddy has spent her whole life as a footnote in someone else’s story. Out of place next to her beautiful, immortal sisters and her parents—both gods, albeit minor ones—she dreams of leaving her family’s island for a life of adventure. So when she catches the eye of the goddess Athena, who invites her to train as an esteemed priestess in her temple, Meddy leaps at the chance to see the world beyond her home. In the colorful market streets of Athens and the clandestine chambers of the temple, Meddy flourishes in her role as Athena’s favored acolyte, getting her first… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & misogyny
  • Colonisation
  • Rape, grooming & child sexual assault (on-page)
  • Domestic abuse

Where He Left Me by Nicole Baart

College professors Sadie Sheridan and Felix Graham are on sabbatical at Hemlock House, located on a remote mountain homestead established years ago by Felix’s family. When Felix leaves on a work trip but doesn’t return, effectively stranding Sadie on the mountain, her world collapses. Alone at Hemlock House, frantic Sadie struggles to make sense of what her missing astronomer husband left behind. Forced to confront two mysterious trespassers just as a powerful storm bears down, Sadie and the strangers have no choice but to ride it out together. As conditions worsen and shocking secrets are revealed, Sadie must face… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Domestic abuse
  • Dementia
  • Death of a mother mentioned
  • Disspearance
  • Gun violence