Emotional Abuse & Gaslighting – Page 18

The Monster of Her Age by Danielle Binks

The Monster of Her Age by Danielle Binks

Ellie Marsden was born into the legendary Lovinger acting dynasty. Granddaughter of the infamous Lottie Lovinger, as a child Ellie shared the silver screen with Lottie in her one-and-only role-playing the child monster in a cult horror movie. The experience left Ellie deeply traumatised and estranged from people she loved.

Now seventeen, Ellie has returned home to Hobart for the first time in years. Lottie is dying and Ellie wants to make peace with her before it’s too late. But forgiveness feels like playing make-believe… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Emotional child abuse & gaslighting recounted
Hospitalisation of a grandparent
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a grandparent
Bullying recounted

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

It’s 1875, and Alva Webster has perfected her stiff upper lip after three years of being pilloried in the presses of two continents over fleeing her abusive husband. Now his sudden death allows her to return to New York to make a fresh start, restoring Liefdehuis, a dilapidated Hyde Park mansion, and hopefully her reputation at the same time. However, fresh starts aren’t as easy as they seem, as Alva discovers when stories of a haunting at Liefdehuis begin to reach her. But Alva doesn’t believe in ghosts. So when the eccentric and brilliant professor, Samuel Moore, appears and informs her that he… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Adult-minor relationship
Forced child marriage
Physical & emotional abuse
Rape
Psychiatric hospitalisation of a child mentioned
Blackmail

West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

While most young ladies attend balls and hunt for husbands, Ophelia Hardwick has spent the last ten years masquerading as a man. As the land steward for the Earl of Carlyle, she’s found safety from the uncle determined to kill her and freedoms a lady could only dream of. Ophelia’s situation would be perfect—if only she wasn’t hopelessly attracted to her employer.

Calvin, Earl of Carlyle, is determined to see his sister married this season. And he’ll do it with the help of his trusted right-hand man… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Emotional abuse recounted
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sibling recounted

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn’t add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister’s return might just be the beginning of the crime.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Emotional & verbal child abuse
PTSD & trauma

The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu

The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu

Remy Tsai used to know how her story would turn out. But now, she doesn’t even know what tomorrow will look like. She was happy once. Remy had her boyfriend Jack, and Elise, her best friend—her soulmate—who understood her better than anyone else in the world. But now Jack is dead, shot through the chest—

And it was Elise who pulled the trigger… Was it self-defense? Or something deeper, darker than anything Remy could have imagined?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Physical & emotional child abuse
Cheating
Divorce
Suicidal ideation
Alcohol consumption
Smoking
Death of a friend
Murder
Arson

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950’s America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Seemingly for good. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny (theme)
Parental abandonment
Emotional & physical child abuse
ALcoholism
Panic attack
Death of a father, off-page
Death of a mother from cancer, on-page
Fire mentioned
Animal cruelty & death

Lease on Love by Falon Ballard

Lease on Love by Falon Ballard

After getting passed over for an overdue—and much needed—promotion, Sadie Green is in desperate need of three things: a stiff drink, a new place to live, and a one-night-stand. When one drink turns into one too many, Sadie mixes up a long-ignored dating app for a roommate-finding app and finds herself on the doorstep of Jack Thomas’s gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone. Too bad she’s more attracted to his impressive real estate than she is to the man himself… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Emotional & verbal parental abuse recounted
Anxiety
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent

Throttled by Lauren Asher

Throttled by Lauren Asher

Noah Slade is a Formula 1 legend in the making. Focused. Unapproachable. Ruthless on and off the track. A man with walls higher than the Grand Canyon. And my brother’s new teammate. I want more of the prince who disguises himself as the villain. But while I crave a happy ending, he wants to destroy his.

Maya Alatorre is a forbidden temptation. An ambitious post-grad I should stay far away from. And chaos wrapped with a bow. We’re a ticking time bomb, about one wrong move away from exploding. I want to trip the wire, detonating together in passion and pain. Because in the end, all’s fair in lust and war.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental emotional & verbal abuse
Car accident

Redirection by Gregory Ashe

Redirection by Gregory Ashe

The Borealis boys are settling into their new normal, or at least into their new digs. But when North’s soon-to-be (please-let-it-be-soon) ex-husband, Tucker, is arrested and charged with murder, everything goes sideways.

Hired by Tucker’s parents, North and Shaw begin looking for proof that Tucker is innocent, in spite of the evidence against him. When they find seemingly incriminating photos hidden in Tucker’s BMW, North is convinced that someone is trying to frame Tucker—and might get away with it… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Ableism
Rape mentioned
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Alcohol abuse
Drug abuse & overdose
Parent with cancer mentioned
Stroke mentioned
Murder & attempted murder
Blackmail
Death of a pet recounted

Misdirection by Gregory Ashe

Misdirection by Gregory Ashe

When a rising star in the state senate asks Shaw Aldrich and North McKinney to transport her son, Flip, to and from his drug testing appointments, they’re not happy—they don’t do babysitting jobs. Arriving at the boy’s dorm room, though, they discover that the door has been forced and that Flip has disappeared, and rumours of strange men on campus suggest that something seriously bad has happened. The students and staff at the ritzy private school have plenty to tell about Flip, but the deeper North and Shaw dig, the less they understand what might have happened to the boy… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Statutory rape
Emotional & physical abuse mentioned
Bulimia mentioned
Blackmail
Murder
Fire & destruction of property in a house fire