Tag Archives: Drug Use & Abuse

Final Offer by Lauren Asher

Callahan. I’m the Kane brother everyone gossips about behind closed doors. Trust fund brat. Washed-up athlete. High-functioning alcoholic. No one knows the real me but her. Lana Castillo—my childhood best friend and the only woman I ever loved. When I broke her heart six years ago, I promised to never return to Lake Wisteria. I kept my word until my grandfather’s will changed everything. To receive my inheritance, I was tasked with spending a summer at the family lake house before selling it. The request was simple in theory until my entire plan blew up on the very first day. Turns out Lana doesn’t just live at the house, but… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Emotional & verbal child abuse
  • Substance addiction & alcoholism
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Drug use (smoking)
  • Overdose recounted
  • Infertility
  • Cancer
  • Death of a grandfather
  • Animal abuse

The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike

Rotterham Home was a hospice for young people—a place where teenagers with terminal illnesses went to die. Nobody who checked in ever checked out. It was a place of pain and sorrow, but also, remarkably, a place of humor and adventure. Every night at twelve, a group of young guys and girls at the hospice came together to tell stories. They called themselves the Midnight Club, and their stories could be true or false, inspiring or depressing, or somewhere in-between. One night, in the middle of a particularly scary story, the teenagers make a secret pact with each other, which says… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Alcohol & drug abuse
  • Overdose
  • Cancer, AIDs & terminal illness
  • Amputation
  • Paralysis
  • Emesis
  • Death of a child
  • Mass shooting & gun violence

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Sexism
  • Slavery
  • Sex-trafficking & slavery mentioned
  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Trauma
  • Intrusive thoughts & panic attacks
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug abuse
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Physical injuries including amputation (off-page)
  • Medical experimentation mentioned
  • Famine & starvation
  • Emesis
  • Cannibalism
  • Decapitation
  • Mutilation & genital mutilation (castration)
  • Murder & mass death
  • Torture
  • Sword violence
  • Poisoning
  • Bombings
  • Animal abuse & death
  • Graphic war themes & battle scenes (theme)
  • Colonialism (theme)

Black Hearts by Karina Halle

For Vicente Bernal, truth is all he’s known. The son of an infamous drug lord, Vicente was born to help run the family business, which means he’s been raised on a throne of sordid pasts and dirty laundry, violence and pride. But when Vicente stumbles across someone he’s not supposed to know about – a woman from his father’s checkered past – he sets out to California to find her behind his father’s back. What Vicente doesn’t expect to find in San Francisco is Violet McQueen, the woman’s twenty-year-old daughter. Beautiful and edgy with vulnerability he can’t resist, Violet…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use (cigarettes)
  • Death of a grandfather from cancer
  • Death of an aunt from a car bomb recounted
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Organised crime
  • Attempted kidnapping

Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter

Lena Adams has spent her life struggling to forget her childhood in Reece, the small town which nearly destroyed her. She’s made a new life for herself as a police detective in Heartsdale, a hundred miles away – but nothing could prepare her for the violence which explodes when she is forced to return. A vicious murder leaves a young woman incinerated beyond recognition. And Lena is the only suspect. When Heartsdale police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, Lena’s boss, receives word that his detective has been arrested, he has no choice but to go to Lena’s aid – taking with him his wife, medical examiner Sara Linton. But soon after…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & white supremacy
  • Rape recounted
  • Drug abuse
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Explosion
  • Car accident
  • Fire & immolation

False Witness by Karin Slaughter

Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised – her life is just as unremarkable as she’d always hoped it would be. But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average… a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence. Then a case lands on her desk – defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It’s the highest profile case she’s ever been given – a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accuse…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Graphic child sexual abuse
  • Child pornography
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Graphic drug use
  • Substance addiction
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Chronic pain
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Death of a sibling

Beyond Temptation by Kit Rocha

Hacker Noah Lennox lives in the shadows, fighting a one-man war against the corrupt leader of Sector Five. The only weak spot in his armor is his best friend’s sweet younger sister–the girl he swore to save, even from himself. With her brother dead and a target on their backs, getting her out of the sector–and out of danger–meant giving her up for good. Or so he thought. Emma Cibulski has made her own home in Sector Four, as a full member of the O’Kane gang and apprentice to their infamous tattoo artist. When Noah–the first man she ever loved–stumbles back into her life, it’s her chance to have it all. The spark… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Drug abuse mentioned

Sabotage by Shantel Tessier

Colton: Raylee Lexington Adams is my stepsister and the one woman in the world who can make my blood boil. She’s vindictive, a lot of crazy, and absolutely stunning. I hate everything about her except for when she’s on her knees begging me to use her as my own personal toy. We’ve been playing a game of cat and mouse for far too long. We have used each other for our own sick pleasure. I’ve ruined every relationship my little princess has ever had. A sure way that she’ll come crawling back to me, begging me for what only I can give her when another man fails her. But I’m tired of watching others get a piece of what is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny & slut-shaming
  • Rape by an ex-partner, on-page
  • Sexual assault
  • Intimate partner violence & emotional abuse
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Infidelity
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use (cigarettes, marijuana)
  • Involuntary body modifications
  • Consensual blood & knife play
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Attempted strangulation
  • Car accident & car fire (arson)
  • Whipping

*Context : The female protagonist (FMC) is kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend to be raped, mutilated, and killed; she murders him after being raped. The male protagonist (MMC) kidnaps the FMC’s boyfriend, forces him to watch him have sex with the FMC, and orchestrates his friends to sexually assault him. The MMC also has these friends tape him having sex with the FMC without her consent and releases the video, again, without her consent. The FMC cheats on her boyfriend with MMC. The MMC carves his name into FMC’s skin without her consent.

Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender

Logan Gray is Hollywood’s bad boy—a talented but troubled actor who the public loves to hate. Mattie Cole is an up‑and‑coming golden boy, adored by all but plagued by insecurities. When Logan and Mattie are cast as leads in a new romantic film, Logan claims that Matt has “zero talent,” sending the film’s publicity into a nosedive. To create positive buzz, the two are persuaded into a fake‑dating scheme—but as the two actors get to know their new characters, real feelings start to develop. As public scrutiny intensifies and old wounds resurface, the two must fight for their relationship and their love.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & bimisia
  • Sexual assault & attempted rape
  • Infidelity
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)
  • Dissociation
  • Depression & suicidal ideation
  • Drug abuse
  • Alcohol consumption and abuse
  • Cyberbullying & -harassment

*Context : The protagonist withdraws consent during sex and his partner refuses to accept it. He is able to escape the assault and physically assault his attacker. The perpetrator later victim blames the protagonist and kisses him without consent.

Evocation by S.T. Gibson

As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father’s death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he’s curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society. But with power comes a price, and the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. David’s days are numbered, and death looms at his door. Reluctantly, he reaches out to the only person he’s ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help. However, the only way to get to Rhys is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical & emotional child abuse discussed
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Alcoholism discussed & depicted
  • Drug use (smoking)