Tag Archives: Dubious Consent (DubCon)

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of dubious consent scenarios.

See also Rape, Sexual assault, Improper BDSM practices, and Sex work.

By Frenzy I Ruin by Cora Reilly

Aurora Scuderi spent her childhood and teenage days doing one thing– loving Nevio. Until one fateful moment, he breaks her heart without a second thought. Leaving Aurora with her broken heart bleeding in her hands. Fleeing Las Vegas is the only way for Aurora to heal – forget Nevio and that night. But a man like Nevio can’t be shaken off that easily. The hunter in him was awakened. Nevio Falcone is darkness. It seeps from his pores. It’s where his monster comes out to play to satisfy its cravings. Until he starts to crave something other than carnage: the one woman he… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol abuse & drug use
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Stalking

Stroke of Midnight by K. Webster

Money can buy anything. And anyone. As the head of the Constantine family, I’m used to people bowing to my will. Cruel, rigid, unyielding—I’m all those things. When I discover the one woman who doesn’t wither under my gaze, but instead smiles right back at me, I’m intrigued. Ash Elliott needs cash, and I make her trade in crudeness and degradation for it. I crave her tears, her moans, her submission. I pay for each one. And every time, she comes back for more. When she challenges me with an offer of her own, I have to decide if I’m willing to give her far more than cold hard cash. But love can have deadly consequences when… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent & sex work*
  • Sexual assault & harassment

*Context : The protagonist is an 18-year-old girl who is paid for sexual services by her employee, a 37-year-old man as old who is ‘turned on’ by her youth.

Break My Fall by Chloe Walsh

Desperation led me to his house. Lust led me to his bed.
I was homeless, strapped for cash, and running from my past. Now I’m here, in a brand-new state, miles away from home, and sleeping in the room next to his. The room with the revolving door of females. I know he’s a bad idea for me. He’s cocky, a manwhore, and way too self-assured for a sheltered girl with secrets. But when he smiles at me, I lose my freaking mind…. I don’t want her in my home. She’s too sweet for a prick like me. Too innocent. Too f*cking much. I have more baggage, secrets, and commitments than she could ever understand. I need her gone, dammit, but… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent concerning a secondary character and the male protagonist
  • Attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Miscarriage (on-page)

Beautifully Broken by Megan Bates

There is a feral side of me always lying dormant until I have someone pretty to ruin.
I could corrupt him so easily; I could make him understand what it’s like to play with the devil. I could make him find new meanings to the words
“Beautifully Broken “
This one isn’t leaving.
I’m going to make him need me, and only me, no matter what It takes.
I haven’t laid my eyes on such a pretty boy in so long
Until him… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Consensual nonconsent/rape play
  • Dubious consent scenarios including improper BDSM practices
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Substance addiction
  • Suicide discussed
  • Self-harm
  • Knife play
  • Kidnapping

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee

When Shuos Jedao wakes up for the first time, several things go wrong. His few memories tell him that he’s a seventeen-year-old cadet–but his body belongs to a man decades older.  Hexarch Nirai Kujen orders Jedao to reconquer the fractured hexarchate on his behalf even though Jedao has no memory of ever being a soldier, let alone a general.  Surely a knack for video games doesn’t qualify you to take charge of an army? Soon Jedao learns the situation is even worse.  The Kel soldiers under his command may be compelled to obey him, but they hate him thanks to a mass… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Memory loss
  • Suicide
  • Body horror
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • War themes

Walking on Knives by Maya Chhabra

The little mermaid has no idea that as she makes her way on land, she’s being watched over by the sister of the very witch with whom she made her bargain. She has no idea that the witch’s sister is falling in love with her. When the prince decides to marry another woman, the little mermaid’s secret helper offers her a chance to live. But the price may be too high…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & dubious consent
  • Stalking

Descent by Sam Mariano

Calvin will do anything for me… except let me go. We were strangers, as far as I knew. He saw me once, but didn’t introduce himself like he could have. Calvin Cutler. Nice to meet you. But there’s nothing nice about Calvin Cutler. He’s ruthless and single-minded, and he zeroed in on me—a hapless target for his dark and twisted appetites. In the depths of Hell, I first looked into his sinful brown eyes, felt the greedy touch of his demanding hands for the first time. Not the last time, though. He wanted more. So much more. He wanted me, whether I wanted him or not.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Improper BDSM practices
  • Drugging
  • Involuntary pregnancy
  • Murder
  • Blackmail

Colters’ Woman by Maya Banks

Adam, Ethan and Ryan aren’t looking for women. They’re looking for a woman. One woman to share their lives and their beds. They don’t want a casual romp in the hay, they want the woman who will complete them and they’re losing hope of finding her. That is until Adam finds Holly lying in the snow just yards from their cabin. He knows she’s different the minute he holds her in his arms. But before Adam gets his hopes up, he knows he has to gauge his brothers’ reactions. Soon it’s evident that she’s the one. There are a few problems, however, like convincing her she belongs with them and keeping her safe from the man who wants her dead.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Dubious consent scene (nonconsensual somnophilia)
  • Military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from torture as a prisoner of war
  • Illness from exposure to the cold and dehydration
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence

To Steal a Heart by KC Bateman

Forced to do the bidding of a corrupt government minister, Marianne de Bonnard agrees to plant incriminating evidence in the offices of France’s most notorious spymaster. Under cover of night, the tightrope-walking thief puts her skills to good use—until her aerial stunt is foiled when her target appears in the window and, with consummate poise, helps Marianne off the wire and into his lair. The tremors that run through her body are not just from fear; there’s an unwanted frisson of desire there, too. But is it because of her elegant, wickedly handsome host… or his proposition? Nicolas Valette has had plans… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & dubious consent scenes recounted
  • Death of a parent & sibling recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Fire

*Context : The romance is between a nineteen-year-old heroine and a 35-year-old hero.

Lush Money by Angelina M. Lopez

As a Latinx woman, Roxanne Medina has conquered small-town bullies, Ivy League snobs and boardrooms full of men. She’s earned the right to mother a princess and feel a little less lonely at the top. The offer she’s made is more than generous, and when the contract’s fulfilled, they’ll both walk away with everything they’ve ever wanted. Príncipe Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos is one of the top winegrowers in the world, and he’s not marrying and having a baby with a stranger. Even if the millions she’s offering could save his once-legendary wine-producing principality. But the successful, single-minded beauty uses a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child neglect discussed
  • Dubious consent scenario, on-page
  • Hospitalisation & surgery for injuries sustained during a car accident (secondary character)