Tag Archives: Drug Use & Abuse

The Apple Tree by Jewel E. Ann

He’s a single dad starting over in a new town. She’s a relentless flirt with a penchant for trouble, ten years younger than him, and the babysitter. What could go wrong? Eve has just graduated from high school, but she doesn’t know what’s next aside from working at the local motel, spying on Kyle, her neighbor, and stealing apples from his orchard. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’ll be stuck at home and treated like a child forever. Kyle is a single dad and the new football coach who needs a babysitter for his adorable son. When he meets Eve, there’s an instant connect… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Alcoholism & forced rehabilitation
  • Overdose

We Could Be Rats by Emily R. Austin

Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid’s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society. But Sigrid’s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She’s haunted by the pains of her past—from pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Substance addiction & drug abuse
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation

Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy

When former bad girl Genevieve West returns home for her mother’s funeral, she’s prepared to keep her distance from her ex-boyfriend, Evan Hartley. Their history is rife with turbulence. And passion. A heck of a lot of passion… which she’s trying desperately to forget. But it’s impossible not to run into Evan in the small coastal town where they once ran wild. And the moment she sees her gorgeous ex again, it’s clear to Gen that Evan is still as unruly, sexy, and irresistible as ever. This time around, however, she’s resolved to walk a new path. No more partying. No more foolish mistakes. Her plan is to temporarily remain in town to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug abuse
  • Death of a parent

Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can’t wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Attempted murder
  • Kidnapping

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

Rachel and Noah have been friends since they met at university. While they once thought that they might be something more, now, twenty years later, they are each happily married to other people, Jack and Paige respectively. Jack’s brother Will is getting married, to the dazzling, impulsive Ali, and the group of six travel to Portugal for their destination weekend. Three couples.
As they arrive at a gorgeous villa perched on a cliff-edge, overlooking towering waves that crash on the famous surfing beaches below at Nazaré, they try to settle into a weekend of fun. While Rachel is looking forward to getting to know her future… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Infidelity
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a friend
  • Car accident

I Would Die for You by Sandie Jones

Now: Nicole Forbes lives a quiet life in a small seaside Californian town with her husband and daughter. She is not expecting a writer to knock on her door asking for her personal insight into the downfall of the biggest British band of the 1980s—unveiling the threads of a life she put behind her years ago. The same day, her daughter goes missing and the school claims her aunt picked her up . . . but she doesn’t have an aunt. Convinced of a link between the two, Nicole is forced to revisit long-abandoned memories from her past to protect everything she now holds dear… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Drug use

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy

The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she’s ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history. In the winter of 1981, in a costume two sizes too small, her toes pinched by towering stilettos, Sherri joins the daughters of dairy farmers and factory workers for the defining experience of her life…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Drug use
  • Disordered eating

The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith

Every citizen of England is granted one bargain from their immortal fae queen. High society girls are expected to bargain for qualities that will win them suitors: a rare talent for piano in exchange for one’s happiest childhood memory. A perfect smile for one’s ability to taste. But Ivy Benton’s debut season arrives with a shocking twist: a competition to secure the heart of the Queen’s fae son, Prince Bram. A prize that could save Ivy’s family from ruin… and free her sister from the bargain that destroyed her. Yet every glittering fae deal has a rotting heart—and at the center of this contest is a plot that could destroy everything…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical & verbal child abuse mentioned (secondary character)
  • Memory loss
  • Suicide (implied)
  • Self-injury & loss of limb/appendages for magic
  • Alcohol consumption & mentions of smoking
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Murder by stabbing
  • Drowning mentioned
  • Animal death (swan)
  • Bullying mentioned (secondary character)

Wild Side by Elsie Silver

I’d always dreamed of my wedding day. But not like this. Not looking into the eyes of the man who betrayed me. But when my nephew’s guardianship is contested, I decide I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy. Rhys Dupris. A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises—ones he won’t talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all. Which would be fine, except when he’s not talking, he’s staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent. The tension between us has.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a sibling from a drug overdose

The Bitter End by Alexa Donne

When a winter storm traps eight teens in a remote ski cabin, they find themselves stranded with a killer—who may be one of their own. The trip of a lifetime might be the death of them all. The students of LA’s elite Warner Prep can’t wait for their Senior Excursion—five days of Instagrammable adventure in one of the world’s most exclusive locations. This is not your average field trip. Which is why eight students can’t believe their bad luck when they end up on a digital detox in an isolated Colorado ski chalet. Their epic trip is panning out to be an epic bore . . . until their classmates start dropping in a series of disturbing deaths. The message… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Emesis
  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Bullying & cyberbullying