Tag Archives: Drug Use & Abuse

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of both recreational drug use and drug abuse.

See also Overdose and Alcohol consumption. For drug addiction, see Substance addiction and Alcoholism. For involuntary drug use, see Drugging

Saga, Vol. 5 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga, Vol. 5 by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated Fiona Staples

Multiple storylines collide in this cosmos-spanning new volume. While Gwendolyn and Lying Cat risk everything to find a cure for The Will, Marko makes an uneasy alliance with Prince Robot IV to find their missing children, who are trapped on a strange world with terrifying new enemies.

Collecting: Saga 25-30

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Grey-area cheating
  • Substance addiction
  • Hallucinations mentioned
  • Drug abuse & recreational drug use
  • Overdose
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Fire
  • Plane crash
  • Imprisonment
  • War themes & military violence (theme)
  • Animal death
  • Animal torture recounted
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Saga, Vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga, Vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated Fiona Staples

Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. As they visit a strange new world and encounter even more adversaries, baby Hazel finally becomes a toddler, while her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana struggle to stay on their feet.

Collecting: Saga 19-24

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Dubious consent scenario*
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Grey-area cheating
  • Substance addiction
  • Hallucinations mentioned
  • Drug abuse & recreational drug use
  • Graphic childbirth
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a son
  • Death of a mother & wife
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • War themes & military violence (theme)
  • Animal death

*Note: Sex scene with a protagonist under the influence of recreational drugs.

Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard book cover

Everyone has something to hide, especially high school juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna. Spencer covets her sister’s boyfriend. Aria’s fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily’s crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful. But they’ve all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished. How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and the dirty secrets they’ve kept. And guess what? I’m telling.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia &body shaming
  • Misogyny, slut-shaming, ableism & racism
  • Homophobia & lesbophobia
  • Child emotional abuse & neglect
  • Teacher-student relationship
  • Sexual harassment
  • Infidelity
  • Eating disorders (bulimia), including disordered food thoughts, binging, and purging (on-page) and discussions of weight loss
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Murder
  • Stalking & blackmail (theme)
  • Car accident
  • Bullying

Saga, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated Fiona Staples

Searching for their literary hero, new parents Marko and Alana travel to a cosmic lighthouse on the planet Quietus, while the couple’s multiple pursuers finally close in on their targets.

Collecting: Saga 13-18.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Racism
  • Misogyny
  • Dubious consent scenario*
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Grey-area cheating
  • Substance addiction
  • Hallucinations mentioned
  • Drug abuse & recreational drug use
  • Graphic childbirth
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a son
  • Death of a mother & wife
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • War themes & military violence (theme)
  • Animal death

*Note: Sex scene with a protagonist under the influence of recreational drugs.

Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Flawless by Sara Shepard

Flawless by Sara Shepard book cover

Spencer stole her sister’s boyfriend. Aria is brokenhearted over her English teacher. Emily likes her new friend Maya . . . as much more than a friend. And Hanna’s obsession with looking flawless is literally making her sick. But the most horrible secret of all is something so scandalous it could destroy their perfect little lives. And someone named “A” is threatening to do just that. At first they thought A was Alison, their friend who vanished three years ago . . . but then Alison turned up dead. So could A be Melissa, Spencer’s ultra-competitive sister? Or Maya, who wants… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body shaming
  • Ableism, racism & misogyny
  • Lesbophobia & outing mentioned
  • Sexual assault/attempted rape & incestuous child sexual abuse
  • Eating disorder (bulimia), including discussions of bingeing &purging
  • Panic attack
  • Suicide & self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Fire
  • Blackmail & stalking (theme)
  • Car accident mentioned
  • Bullying

Faking Under the Mistletoe by Ashley Shepherd

Faking Under the Mistletoe by Ashley Shepherd

Faking Under the Mistletoe by Ashley Shepherd book cover

Olivia Langley is the human embodiment of Christmas cheer, and she has absolutely no problem spreading it around for all to hear.

Christmas sweaters? She has twenty. Christmas cookies? She’ll take three dozen. Christmas movies? Yeah, she’s seen them all.

So it’s no surprise when she’s put in charge of Loveridge & McGowan’s holiday festivities. Secret Santas? Yep. Ice skating? Of course. Holiday trivia? Duh. Christmas-themed bar crawl? That’s one big jingle bell hell yes.

Kissing her boss at a Christmas tree lighting in front of his ex-girlfriend? Well… it is the season of giving. And Olivia does not come with a gift receipt. No exchanges. No returns. No refunds. All sales are final.

In an effort to ungrinch the grinchiest man she’s ever met, Olivia enlists herself, Santa’s Executive Helper, to scheme up a plan that includes sleigh rides, snow days, and one too many mistletoe kisses, which certainly gets Asher’s tinsel in a tangle. She’s pretty sure that she sleighed this whole fake dating thing. Well… until she realizes there’s nothing fake about her feelings for Asher, and suddenly tangled tinsel, unsolicited Christmas trees, and celebrity heartthrobs are the least of her worries.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Rape mentioned
  • Drug use
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated Fiona Staples

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe.

From bestselling writer Brian K. Vaughan, Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in this sexy, subversive drama for adults.

Collecting: Saga 1-6

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language including r slur
  • Racism
  • Slut-shaming
  • Child sexual slavery & forced sex work
  • Rape mentioned
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Trauma & PTSD, including flashbacks
  • Recreational drug use
  • Graphic childbirth (on-page)
  • Blood & gore depiction, including serious injury
  • Dead bodies
  • Death of a child recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions
  • Stabbing
  • Imprisonment recounted
  • War themes & military violence (theme)
  • Animal death
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Survive the Night by Danielle Vega

Survive the Night by Danielle Vega

Julie lies dead and disemboweled in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Her friends think she’s just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music.
 
In a tunnel nearby, Casey regrets coming to Survive the Night, the all-night underground rave in the New York City subway. Her best friend Shana talked her into it, even though Casey just got out of rehab. Alone and lost in the dark, creepy tunnels, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse . . . until she comes across Julie’s body, and the party turns deadly.
 
Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway system, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone.
They’re being hunted.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Addiction recovery mentioned
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Drug abuse
Support Us at Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma. Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Misogyny
  • Adult-minor relationship discussed
  • Parental abandonment
  • Domestic abuse
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Suicide, attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Depression
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Recreational drug use & abuse
  • Infertility mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Physical injuries
  • Death of a father & husband
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Poisoning
  • Torture
  • Whipping
  • War themes
  • Graphic animal death, including multiple death of pet dogs
  • Animal cruelty & abuse
  • Hunting
  • Animal attack mentioned

Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis

Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis book cover

Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof. So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine. Morning brings the realization that she’s alone – and far off-trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Physical child abuse recounted (secondary character)
  • Cheating
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use (off-page)
  • Graphic blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a friend mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death & dead bodies