Tag Archives: Emotional Abuse & Gaslighting

What Was Meant to Be by Heather Guerre

There’s nothing Wes Sorenson cares about more than restoring his family’s lost legacy—a Northwoods cottage resort that’s been handed down from one generation to the next since the late-1800s until it was stolen from them by unscrupulous business partners, dismantled, and sold in pieces. Bit by bit, over the course of years, Wes has managed to restore the family business, except for one piece: the crucial lakefront acreage necessary to the resort’s success. But after years of dead ends, he’s finally figured out how to secure to the last piece of the puzzle: marrying the woman who owns the land. Rain has never really belonged anywhere… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Anxiety
  • Emotional child abuse recounted
  • Parental infidelity & divorce recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical illness (migraine)
  • Death of grandparents mentioned
  • Death of a father
  • Death of a mother from a heart defect recounted

Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha

For three thousand years, an ancient dragon god has protected the borders of the Sheltered Lands. In return, he makes only one demand: every one hundred years, the mortal ruler must send their heir to serve as his consort…for as long as they can survive. Sachielle of House Roquebarre is the thirty-first consort to be sacrificed to the monster who guards the mountain passes. She is young, beautiful—and she has three secrets. First: she’s a disposable orphan trained in seduction. Second: her handmaid, Zanya, is an assassin and the only person she has ever loved… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse including emotional abuse
  • Murder
  • Blackmail

The Will of the Many by James Islington

The Catenan Republic – the Hierarchy – may rule the world now, but they do not know everything. I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus – what they call Will – to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do. I tell them that I belong, and they… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Amputation (loss of limb)
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Genocide
  • Blackmail
  • Animal harm

Sabotage by Shantel Tessier

Colton: Raylee Lexington Adams is my stepsister and the one woman in the world who can make my blood boil. She’s vindictive, a lot of crazy, and absolutely stunning. I hate everything about her except for when she’s on her knees begging me to use her as my own personal toy. We’ve been playing a game of cat and mouse for far too long. We have used each other for our own sick pleasure. I’ve ruined every relationship my little princess has ever had. A sure way that she’ll come crawling back to me, begging me for what only I can give her when another man fails her. But I’m tired of watching others get a piece of what is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny & slut-shaming
  • Rape by an ex-partner, on-page
  • Sexual assault
  • Intimate partner violence & emotional abuse
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Infidelity
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use (cigarettes, marijuana)
  • Involuntary body modifications
  • Consensual blood & knife play
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Attempted strangulation
  • Car accident & car fire (arson)
  • Whipping

*Context : The female protagonist (FMC) is kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend to be raped, mutilated, and killed; she murders him after being raped. The male protagonist (MMC) kidnaps the FMC’s boyfriend, forces him to watch him have sex with the FMC, and orchestrates his friends to sexually assault him. The MMC also has these friends tape him having sex with the FMC without her consent and releases the video, again, without her consent. The FMC cheats on her boyfriend with MMC. The MMC carves his name into FMC’s skin without her consent.

The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier

A Lord is to marry after he graduates from Barrington University, an elite college for the rich. A Lady’s job is to help him fit into a world unaware of his secret society. The Lord does not get to choose who he spends the rest of his life with. But there is always an exception to the rule. And I just so happen to be his. I was to wed a Lord of my parents’ choosing. Wealth can’t buy you everything, or I would have had freedom years ago. Instead, my strict parents made sure I lived a dull life in a mansion resembling a prison. But on my wedding day, I was handed over to another man-an even more ruthless Lord that my family hatred. Tyson… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Slut-shaming
  • Adult-minor relationship mentioned
  • Forced marriage
  • Parental infidelity
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Emotional & physical child abuse
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging
  • Unplanned pregnancy due to reproductive assault and medical abuse
  • Involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Body modifications including branding and involuntary implantation of a tracker
  • Needles
  • Emesis
  • Dieting & weight loss recounted
  • Faked death of a pregnant sister and girlfriend recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Arson & immolation

*Context : The female protagonist (FMC) is raped while sedated and involuntarily instituitionalised by a secondary character. The FMC’s fiancé intended to drug and rape her. The FMC’s doctor administers a hormone injection to aid with ovulation under the disguise of birth control; she becomes pregnant as a result. The FMC’s mother was married to a 23-year-old man when she was only 17-years-old. The MMC threatens to kill the FMC’s brother if she doesn’t marry him. The FMC’s father installed cameras without the FMC or MMC’s consent and watched them have sex.

Trick Shot by Kayla Grosse

When Leo unexpectedly bumps into the captivating Riley at the airport, he’s both amused and intrigued by her assumption that he’s his renowned brother. Embracing his mischievous side, Leo decides to play along, relishing in their flirty banter and clever exchanges. But as fate would have it, their flight gets canceled, and Leo seizes the opportunity to spend more time with Riley. With a devilish glint in his eye, he invites her to spend the night at his penthouse. With an intriguing woman, his best friend Jace, and a whole night of possibilities ahead of them, Leo has all the ingredients for what promises to be a memorable Christmas Eve.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & familial rejection recounted
  • Rape by coercion
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
  • Alcohol consumption

*Context : The protagonist believes she is having sex with the other protagonist’s identical twin brother. Her ex-partner cheated on her.

For Never and Always by Helena Greer

Hannah Rosenstein should be after a lonely childhood of traipsing all over the world, she finally has a home as the co-owner of destination inn Carrigan’s All Year. But her thoughts keep coming back to Levi “Blue” her first love, worst heartbreak, and now, thanks to her great-aunt’s meddling will, absentee business partner.  When Levi left Carrigan’s, he had good intentions. As the queer son of the inn’s cook and groundskeeper, he never quite fit in their small town and desperately wanted to prove himself. Now that he’s a celebrity chef, he’s ready to come home and make amends. Only his return goes nothing like he his family’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia recounted
  • Coming out
  • Emotional child abuse mentioned (secondary character)
  • Anxiety & agoraphobia
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a great-aunt recounted

Evocation by S.T. Gibson

As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father’s death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he’s curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society. But with power comes a price, and the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. David’s days are numbered, and death looms at his door. Reluctantly, he reaches out to the only person he’s ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help. However, the only way to get to Rhys is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical & emotional child abuse discussed
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Alcoholism discussed & depicted
  • Drug use (smoking)

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner’s life in this absorbing and whimsical novel.

Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse and neglect recounted
  • Foster care experiences
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
  • Munchausen by Proxy mentioned*
  • Alcoholism and substance addiction recovery (love interest)
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Unplanned pregnancy & miscarriage mentioned
  • Sibling with terminal cancer
  • Death of a brother from complications during heart surgery recounted
  • Financial and housing insecurity

*Context: The protagonist learns her sister’s childhood chronic illness was the result of her parents’ attempts to keep her sick. Discussions of children in foster care due to abusive alcoholic parents and parents’ deaths from overdoses.

Hatchet Girls by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

When the parents of the richest family in Fall River are found murdered by axe, the town is quick to blame newcomer Vik. It doesn’t help that he was caught standing over the bodies with blood on his hands and can’t remember anything about the night in question.

But Vik’s sister, Tessa, knows that Vik would never be capable of such a gruesome crime. Haunted by the mistakes she made that led her family to Fall River in the first place, she sets out to prove her brother’s innocence… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Car accident recounted, off-page