Tag Archives: Emotional Abuse & Gaslighting

Devourer of Men by Nikki St. Crowe

I have few friends and fewer allies. What I do have on the island of Everland is a lot of people who want me gone. So when the Crocodile and Captain Hook reappear in my life, I am in no mood. And worse, they’re unknowingly endangering themselves by asking for me by a name I long considered dead. Now, not only do I have to save myself, I have to save the two men who I swore I would murder with my bare hands if I ever set eyes on them again considering they abandoned me. Unfortunately for me, Roc and Hook have other plans, and when I find myself caught between them, I have to make a decision: risk my heart or risk my life?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abandonment recounted
  • Physical & emotional child abuse recounted
  • Forced marriage recounted
  • Anxiety & nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking (cigarettes)
  • Blood & injury depiction including cannibalism, blood-drinking, amputation (hand), and needles
  • Death of a mother from suicide recounted
  • Death of a sister mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault (mugging) & stabbing
  • Imprisonment recounted

Wedding Dashers by Heather McBreen

Ada’s little sister is getting married. Which should be a happy thought, right? But the once close sisters have been in a year long fight, the wedding is all the way in Ireland, and Ada is so broke that she just barely managed to get a ticket on a budget airline. And as if things couldn’t get worse, said airline just cancelled her connection. Which means Ada is stuck in London with no way to make it to the wedding. Surely she’s hit rock bottom? So, there’s no reason for her not to spill her heart out about the over-the-top wedding, her sister’s worryingly quick engagement, and the womanizing best man she’s dreading meeting to a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotionally abusive relationship mentioned (off-page)
  • Divorce
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a parent mentioned

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity recounted*
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Emotional & verbal child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Emesis mentioned

Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney

Jane has no interest in a husband. Eager to make her own way in the world, she accepts the governess position at Thornfield Hall. Though her new employer, Edward Rochester, has a charming air—not to mention a handsome face—Jane discovers that his smile can sharpen in an instant. Plagued by Edward’s mercurial mood and the strange wails that echo through the corridors, she grows suspicious of the secrets hidden within Thornfield Hall—unaware of the true horrors lurking above her very head.. On the topmost floor, Bertha is trapped in more ways than one… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Bitter Sweet Heart by H. Hunting

From the outside looking in, I live a charmed life: hockey legend for a father, my own promising future in the league, a great family, awesome friends. It’s not untrue, but it’s not quite that simple either. My dad’s advice has always been to make hockey my number-one priority—at least until I make it to the pros. So, going into my senior year of college, I have a plan. I’ll put in the effort required to pass my classes, play hockey like my life depends on it, and avoid relationships. All I have to do is stay focused on the end game, and I’ll walk away with a degree and into a career in the NHL. It… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual harassment
  • Emotionally abusive relationship & gaslighting
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Kidnapping mentioned

Only You by Samantha Young

It took Monroe Sinclair eighteen years to return home to Ardnoch after a fateful night that devastated her friendship with Brodan Adair. She fled her unrequited love for him, as well as her difficult family life, and tried not to look behind her. Only a daughter’s guilt could lure her back to the Highlands and the assumption that Brodan Adair rarely ever sets foot in their hometown. She can handle seeing the rest of the Adairs so long as she can avoid her ex-best friend and the only man she’s ever loved. Nothing is more important to Brodan than family, and only his demons have the power to keep him from them. For years, acting was some… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Alcoholism
  • Emotional, physical & verbal domestic abuse and gaslighting
  • Kidnapping

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text colour to white so no one can see. That is, until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions. When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional child abuse & gaslighting
  • Anxiety, depression & Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Bullying & workplace harassment
  • Terminal cancer mentioned

A Secret for a Secret by Helena Hunting

My name is Ryan Kingston, and I’m a rule follower. I’ve never been in a fistfight. I always obey the speed limit. I don’t get drunk, and I definitely don’t pick up random women at bars. Except the night I found out that my whole existence has been a lie. I got drunk. And picked up a stranger. Her name was Queenie, and she was everything I’m not: reckless, impulsive, and chaotic. We did shots and traded secrets. And ended up naked at my place. She left me a thank-you note in the morning and her panties as a parting gift. But no way to contact her. Six weeks later I’m sitting in the first… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Verbal & emotional parental abuse (off-page)
  • Divorce (on-page)*

*Context : The heroine was unknowingly still married to her ex-partner.

Bad Fruit by Ella King

Just graduated from high school and waiting to start college at Oxford, Lily lives under the scrutiny of her volatile Singaporean mother, May, and is unable to find kinship with her elusive British father, Charlie. When May suspects that Charlie is having an affair, there’s only one thing that calms May down: a glass of perfectly spoiled orange juice served by Lily, who must always taste it first to make sure it’s just right. As her mother becomes increasingly unhinged, Lily starts to have flashbacks that she knows aren’t her own. Over a sweltering London summer, all semblance of civility and propriety is lost, as Lily begins to unravel… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming & victim-blaming
  • Rape
  • Graphic emotional child abuse

King of Sloth by Ana Huang

Charming, easygoing, and rich beyond belief, Xavier Castillo has the world at his fingertips.  He also has no interest in taking over his family’s empire (much to his father’s chagrin), but that hasn’t stopped women from throwing themselves at him…unless the woman in question is his publicist. Nothing brings him more joy than riling her up, but when a tragedy forces them closer than ever, he must grapple with the uncertainty of his future—and the realization that the only person immune to his charms is the only one he truly wants. Cool, intelligent, and ambitious, Sloane… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Parent with cancer mentioned
  • Animal death (pet) mentioned