Tag Archives: Emotional Abuse & Gaslighting

All Hours by Andie J. Christopher

A RESTLESS ROMANTIC
Felix Pascual misses being someone’s boyfriend, which is why he’s willing to get set up by the only Hernandez he’ll admit to liking (out loud)—Lola. But when he gets to the restaurant he finds that Lola has matched him up with none other than Joaquin Delgado, a man who has never shown one iota of interest in him.. And Joaquin doesn’t seem any more open to Felix’s unique charms this time around.

A SKEPTICAL SUITOR
Joaquin will do anything for his grandmother… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Queermisia mentioned
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
  • Childbirth recounted

Only She Came Back by Margot Harrison

On July 28 at 6:30 p.m., Kiri Dunsmore walks out of the desert wearing her boyfriend’s sweatshirt, covered in his blood. Dazed and on the verge of unconsciousness, she tells a cashier that he’s still out there and most likely dead. The disappearance of Callum Massey, a “survival guru” with hundreds of thousands of YouTube followers, rocks the nation. And Kiri is a prime suspect. Back in Kiri’s hometown, true-crime fanatic Sam   is completely hooked on the case—especially now that she recognizes the suspect as shy Katie from high school. Although they didn’t know each other well… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fat-shaming mentioned
  • Emotional abuse
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Dieting and disordered eating
  • Animal death (chicken), off-page

The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu

Clementine Chang moves from Earth to Mars for a new start and is lucky enough to land her dream job with Dr. Marcella Lin, an Artificial Intelligence pioneer. On her first day of work, Clem meets Dr. Lin’s assistant, a humanoid AI named Kye. Clem is no stranger to robots—she built herself a cute moth-shaped companion named SENA. Still, there’s something about Kye that feels almost too human. When Clem and Kye begin to collaborate, their chemistry sets off sparks. The only downside? Dr. Lin is enraged by Kye’s growing independence and won’t allow him more… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional child abuse

Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

Ana and Reid needed a lucky break. The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling: with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. That’s about to change with the words any New Yorker would love to hear―affordable housing lottery. They’ve won an apartment in the Deptford, one of Manhattan’s most revered buildings with beautiful vistas of Central Park and stunning architecture. Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia as the price of living in New York―people are odd―but he can’t explain the needle-like bite marks on the baby.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Antisemitism
  • Homomisic slurs
  • Gaslighting
  • Post-partum depression
  • Claustrophobia
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Death of a parent
  • Infanticide mentioned
  • COVID-19 pandemic

A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon—one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.
Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry—if he can strike a bargain with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Toxic familial relationships
  • Cheating
  • Fire

Never a Hero by Vanessa Len

Despite all of the odds, Joan achieved the impossible. She reset the timeline, saved her family – and destroyed the hero, Nick. But her success has come at a terrible cost. She alone remembers what happened. Now, Aaron, her hard-won friend – and maybe more – is an enemy, trying to kill her. And Nick, the boy she loved, is a stranger who doesn’t even know her name. Only Joan remembers that there is a ruthless and dangerous enemy still out there. When a deadly attack forces Joan back into the monster world as a fugitive, she finds herself on the run with Nick as Aaron close… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Emotional parental abuse
  • Panic attack
  • Nightmare
  • Emesis
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a parent from a heart attack recounted
  • Execution of a parent recounted
  • Torture recounted
  • Attempted kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.
At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Religious persecution
  • Sexual assault
  • Emotional abuse
  • Childbirth
  • Miscarriage
  • Decapitation
  • Physical assault

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

When Ralph and Abby Lamb move in with Ralph’s mother, Laura, Abby hopes it’s just what she and her mother-in-law need to finally connect. But Laura isn’t interested in bonding with her daughter-in-law. She’s venomous and cruel, especially to Abby, and life with her is hellish. When Laura takes her own life, her ghost haunts Abby and Ralph in very different ways: Ralph is plunged into depression, and Abby is terrorized by a force intent on destroying everything she loves. To make matters worse, Mrs. Bondy’s daughter is threatening to move Mrs. Bondy from the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape discussed
  • Toxic relationships
  • Parental neglect
  • Emotional abuse
  • Borderline Personality Disorder
  • Hallucinations & delusions
  • Dissociation
  • Suicide
  • Self-harm
  • Miscarriage & pregnancy discussed
  • Cannibalism
  • Graphic grief & loss depiction
  • Death of mother
  • Murder

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, including microaggressions & slurs
  • Bullying
  • Cyberharassment, including doxxing
  • Sexual assault & rape recounted
  • Emotional abuse, specifically gaslighting
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a daughter
  • Death of a friend
  • Graphic death by choking

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year. The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional child abuse discussed (on-page)
  • Hallucinations (protagonist)
  • Physical injury & illness (on-page)
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father from suicide by drowning after terminal cancer discussed (off-page)
  • Graphic animal death & injury (theme) including the protagonist being swallowed alive by a sperm whale

*Context : The protagonist’s father uses dive weights to drown after his terminal cancer diagnosis. A general warning for content sensitive for readers with claustrophobia.