Tag Archives: Drug Use & Abuse

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of lifee… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Paedophilia & sexual assault of a child recounted
  • Physical child abuse recounted
  • Intimate partner violence*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use & smoking
  • Abortion (sc)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of an aunt in a car accident
  • Death of a friend from suicide (theme)
  • Physical assault (fistfights)

*Context : The protagonist’s sister is physically abused by her boyfriend who she continues to date. The protagonist also accompanies her to have an abortion.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale. Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted
  • Suicide discussed
  • Drug abuse
  • Drugging mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Torture mentioned
  • Murder
  • Loss of autonomy (demonic possession)
  • Blackmail
  • Graphic animal death (rabbit)
  • Animal cruelty

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable. While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse, including emotional abuse & gaslighting, on-page
  • Intimate partner violence & abuse, on-page
  • Cheating recounted
  • Suicidal ideation recounted
  • Depression & depressive episodes
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Childbirth, on-page
  • Death of a grandfather from a heart attack recounted
  • Death of a grandmother
  • Death of a great-aunt
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Drowning mentioned

The Memory of Light by Francisco Stork

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

16-year-old Vicky Cruz wakes up in a hospital’s mental ward after a failed suicide attempt. Now she must find a path to recovery – and perhaps rescue some others along the way. When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn’t be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she’s never… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Drug abuse
  • Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Kidnapping

Tidal Wave by EM Lindsey

Tidal Wave by E.M. Lindsey

Gunner has spent half his life running from his past, and the other half trying to protect himself from ever being vulnerable again. He’s escaped his old club and worked hard to earn the VP patch on his cut after joining the Broken Chains. But his entire life is turned upside down when Gunner’s past comes back to haunt him, and the club’s Deaf delivery guy ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time. When his president asks him to protect the injured man, Gunner wants to say no. After all, he hasn’t been able to take his eyes off Logan since the day they met, and Gunner can’t afford that kind of distraction. But ignoring him is damn… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Misogyny
  • Homomisia
  • Racism
  • Hate crimes
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Drug use
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Kidnapping

Mafia King by CD Reiss

Mafia King by C.D. Reiss

Santino is my king. My lover. My husband. He’s the head of the Cavallo crime family and the moment he choked my vows from me, my life was bound to his. I’m done fighting my fate, until I hear two rumours, and I’m shaken to the core. One rumor about the past—that I wasn’t the first bride Santino took. Another about the future—a new bride is about to be taken. Changing the old ways is like dousing the flames of hell with tears. But I married the devil himself, and when I vowed to obey, I lied.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Smoking
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Organised crime (mafia)
  • Kidnapping

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy–yes, that Wendy. That is, until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she’s been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real but very dangerous. Holly is desperate to find Eden and protect her son, Jack, from a terrible web of family secrets before she loses both her children. And yet she has no one to turn to–her mother, Jane, is the only other person in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Panic attacks
  • Drug abuse
  • Death of a child
  • Car accident

I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan

I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan

In her small town, seventeen-year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn’t taken. Ten years ago she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. And though she told the police everything she remembered, it wasn’t enough. Sibby was never seen again. At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. Nobody knows Dee’s the Seeker, and she plans to keep it that way.. When another… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Pedophilia & grooming, implied
  • Recreational drug use
  • Disappearance of a loved
  • Kidnapping of a child
  • Bullying

The Watchers by A.M. Shine

The Watchers by A.M. Shine

This forest isn’t charted on any map. Every car breaks down at its treeline. Mina’s is no different. Left stranded, she is forced into the dark woodland only to find a woman shouting, urging Mina to run to a concrete bunker. As the door slams behind her, the building is besieged by screams. Mina finds herself in a room with a wall of glass and an electric light that activates at nightfall when the Watchers come above ground. These creatures emerge to observe their captive humans—and terrible things happen to anyone who doesn’t reach the bunker in time… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Drug use (smoking)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a husband
  • Death of a friend
  • Confinement

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke – until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighbourhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Racism mentioned
  • Ableism (r slur), on-page
  • Sexual assault mentioned (groping)
  • Child abuse and neglect recounted including a mention of child sexual assault
  • Spousal abandonment
  • Abusive relationship (scs)
  • Cheating
  • Sex work, on-page
  • Familial estrangement mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption, on-page
  • Alcohol abuse (implied)
  • Recreational drug use, on-page
  • Chronic leg injury
  • Grief and loss depiction
  • Death of a girlfriend from an oxycontin overdose mentioned
  • Death of a husband and a pet dog in a car accident recounted
  • Death of a sister from drowning recounted
  • Murder by drowning
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Murder by poisoning
  • Stalking
  • Animal dead body mentioned (seagull)