Emotional Abuse & Gaslighting – Page 26

Human Enough by ES Yu

Human Enough by E.S. Yu

When Noah Lau joined the Vampire Hunters Association, seeking justice for his parents’ deaths, he didn’t anticipate ending up imprisoned in the house of the vampire he was supposed to kill—and he definitely didn’t anticipate falling for that vampire’s lover.

Six months later, Noah’s life has gotten significantly more complicated. On top of being autistic in a world that doesn’t try to understand him, he still hunts vampires for a living…while dating a vampire himself. Awkward. Yet Jordan Cross is sweet and kind, and after braving their inner demons and Jordan’s vicious partner… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Racism
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Abusive relationship recounted
Depression
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Alcohol consumption
Blood drinking
Death of a parent
Kidnapping & captivity

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

Vanessa Mazur knows she’s doing the right thing. She shouldn’t feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary. But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she’s beyond shocked. For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn’t find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He’s asking for the unthinkable.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Physical & emotional child abuse
Child neglect & abandonment
Intimate partner abuse

Stitches by David Small

Stitches by David Small

One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had throat cancer and was expected to die.

Readers will be riveted by his journey from speechless victim, subjected to X-rays by his radiologist father and scolded by his withholding and tormented mother, to his decision to flee his home at sixteen with nothing more than dreams of becoming an artist.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Emotional & verbal child abuse
Alcohol consumption
Smoking
Cancer
Surgery
Fire

UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir by Emily Lindin

UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir by Emily Lindin

UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir byb Emily Lindin book cover

When Emily Lindin was eleven years old, she was branded a “slut” by the rest of her classmates. For the next few years of her life, she was bullied incessantly at school, after school, and online. At the time, Emily didn’t feel comfortable confiding in her parents or in the other adults in her life. But she did keep a diary. UnSlut presents that diary, word for word, with split-page commentary to provide context and perspective. This unique diary and memoir sheds light on the important issues of sexual bullying, slut-shaming, and the murky mores of adolescent sexual development.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny, sexism & slut-shaming (theme)
Homophobia, body-shaming & ableist slurs
Sexual assault
Depression
Suicide & suicidal ideation
Self-harm mentioned, specifically cutting
Eating disorder mentioned (bulimia)
Alcohol consumption & drug use
Bullying

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

Four years after Bitterblue left off, a new land has been discovered to the east: Torla; and the closest nation to Monsea is Winterkeep. Winterkeep is a land of miracles, a democratic republic run by people who like each other, where people speak to telepathic sea creatures, adopt telepathic foxes as pets, and fly across the sky in ships attached to balloons.

But when Bitterblue’s envoys to Winterkeep drown under suspicious circumstances, she and Giddon and her half sister, Hava, set off to discover the truth–putting both Bitterblue’s life and Giddon’s heart to the test when Bitterbue is kidnapped. Giddon believes she has drowned, leaving him and Hava to solve the mystery of what’s wrong in Winterkeep… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut shaming
Sexual harassment
Parental abuse
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Blood depiction
Murder
Kidnapping
Drowning
Animal abuse

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery
Sexual assault
Rape mentioned
Emotional abuse & gaslighting
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Torture
Genocide & mass murder

The You I’ve Never Known by Ellen Hopkins

The You I’ve Never Known by Ellen Hopkins

For as long as she can remember, it’s been just Ariel and Dad. Ariel’s mom disappeared when she was a baby. Dad says home is wherever the two of them are, but Ariel is now seventeen and after years of new apartments, new schools, and new faces, all she wants is to put down some roots. Complicating things are Monica and Gabe, both of whom have stirred a different kind of desire.

Maya’s a teenager who’s run from an abusive mother right into the arms of an older man she thinks she can trust. But now she’s isolated with a baby on the way, and life’s getting more complicated than Maya ever could have imagined… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Queermisia
Racism
Physical & verbal child abuse
Emotional child abuse & gaslighting
Child neglect & abandonment
Death of a father
Kidnapping

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act—suicide.

Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade. Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills. And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself.

In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other’s help, they can find their way to a better life—but only if they’re strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Queermisia
Sexual, emotional & physical abuse
Teacher-student relationship mentioned
Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Substance addiction
Suicide & attempted suicide (theme)
Self-harm
Abortion mentioned
Psychiatric hospitalisation
Murder

A Wounded Name by Dot Hutchinson

A Wounded Name by Dot Hutchinson

Sixteen-year-old Ophelia Castellan will never be just another girl at Elsinore Academy. Seeing ghosts is not a skill prized in future society wives. Even when she takes her pills, the bean sidhe beckon, reminding her of a promise to her dead mother.

Now, in the wake of the Headmaster’s sudden death, the whole academy is in turmoil, and Ophelia can no longer ignore the fae. Especially once she starts seeing the Headmaster’s ghosts- two of them- on the school grounds… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Abusive relationship
Physical, emotional & verbal domestic abuse
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father
Gun violence
Poisoning

The Vanishing Season by Dot Hutchinson

The Vanishing Season by Dot Hutchinson

A recent abduction becomes an unexpected link to a decades-long spree of unspeakable crimes.

Eight-year-old Brooklyn Mercer has gone missing. And as accustomed as FBI agents Eliza Sterling and Brandon Eddison are to such harrowing cases, this one has struck a nerve. It marks the anniversary of the disappearance of Eddison’s own little sister. Disturbing, too, is the girl’s resemblance to Eliza—so uncanny they could be mother and daughter… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Emotional & verbal abuse
Terminal illness mentioned
Kidnapping