Tag Archives: Estrangement & Disownment

Spare by Prince Harry and J.R. Moehringer

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Parental divorce & infidelity
  • Familial estrangement
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Agoraphobia
  • Suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use (cigarettes, psychedelics, cocaine, marijuana)
  • Pregnancy, childbirth & miscarriage
  • Weight loss & gain mentioned
  • Physical injury and illness (frostbite, trench foot)
  • Death of a mother in a car accident
  • Death of an ex-partner from suicide
  • Death of a friend in a car accident and avalanche
  • Death of grandparents and great-grandmother mentioned
  • Stalking and harassment by the paparazzi and news organisations
  • Military service and deployment
  • Animal death including hunting and butchering
  • Injury of a pet dog

*Context : Mentions of intimate photos released without consent; Prince Harry’s uncle being accused of paedophilia and sexual violence.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place.

Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Mutilation of a dead body
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Murder, on-page
  • Fire
  • Bombing & missile attack

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

Thirteen-year-old Min comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you’d never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Loss of autonomy (magical coercion)

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows. Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental estrangement
  • Death of a parent, off-page
  • War themes

After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez

Guapo pobrecito her grandmother calls him. The “poor handsome man.” Professor Jeremiah Post, the poor handsome man, is in fact standing in the way of Alejandra “Alex” Torres turning Loretta’s, her grandmother’s bar, into a viable business. The hot brainiac who sleeps in one of the upstairs tenant rooms already has all of her Mexican American family’s admiration; she won’t let him have the bar and building she needs to resurrect her career, too. Alex blowing into town has rocked Jeremiah to his mild-mannered core, but the large, boisterous Torres clan is everything he never had. He doesn’t believe Alex has the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Racism, on-page
  • Emotional & verbal parental abuse
  • Familial estrangement
  • Parent in recovery for alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Death of a grandfather recounted
  • Bullying recounted
  • Animal cruelty mentioned

We’ll Never Have Paris by Adriana Anders

Jules aka “World’s most annoying laugher”. It’s Christmas Eve, one of my last nights in Paris, and I get stuck in a tiny elevator with the insufferable, grumpy Welshman from downstairs. I’m wearing nothing but my skimpy PJs and totally inappropriate spike heels. Oh, and the light’s gone out. What could possibly go wrong? Colin aka “Ebenezer McGrumpypants” She’s the neighbour from hell. Loud, brash, and American, with the body of a pin-up and the laugh of a wild hyena. My only wish is that she’ll move out and be done with Paris forever. Fate, apparently, has other ideas because tonight of all nights, when the city’s shut.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental estrangement
  • Sexual assault recounted (groping)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a mother in a car accident recounted
  • Death of a brother in an explosion recounted

Too Hot to Touch by Katy James

He’s spent a lifetime putting up walls to protect himself, but he never expected one woman to break them all down. Between working multiple jobs and tackling her dissertation, it’s hardly unexpected PhD student Murray Silva is a hot mess. What is unexpected? Tyler Valentine. When the hockey playboy and former—okay, current—crush shows up in her summer school class, he immediately becomes the kind of distraction she doesn’t need. Want, however? That’s a whole other story. Tyler Valentine understands… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & internalised homomisia including parental estrangement
  • Forced outing recounted
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Sports injuries including dislocated shoulders and broken bones
  • Parent in remission for breast cancer

*Context : The protagonist was outed by his partner to their hockey team in the past, resulting in bullying and being traded to another team.

With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson

Lauren Fox is the bookkeeper for Cold World, a tourist destination that’s always a winter wonderland despite being located in humid Orlando, Florida. Sure, it’s ranked way below any of the trademarked amusement parks and maybe foot traffic could be better. But it’s a fun place to work, even if “fun” isn’t exactly Lauren’s middle name.

Her coworker Asa Williamson, on the other hand, is all about finding ways to enliven his days at Cold World–whether that means organizing the Secret Santa or teasing Lauren… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Bimisia
  • Queermisia & religious bigotry
  • Sexual harassment
  • Foster care system
  • Parental estrangement
  • Outing recounted
  • Parent with a substance addiction recounted
  • Death of a parent from an overdose recounted

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.
At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Sex work
  • Family estrangement
  • Agoraphobia
  • Depression
  • Eating disorder
  • Suicide
  • Drug use & overdose
  • Cancer

When the Lights Come On by Katia Rose

When the Lights Come On by Katia Rose

Paige Rivera doesn’t intend to end up among the twice-fooled. It’s been six years since Youssef Salah let her down, and not even the shock of his reappearance is enough to make her consider letting him do it again. She learned a lot from that first fall: how to pick herself up, brush herself off, and push away anyone with the ability to knock her off her feet. He’s no longer the teenage boy she knew, but Youssef still possess the powers of a gravitational force, so Paige employs her failsafe strategy: head down, eyes on the prize. The prize in this case is her burgeoning career…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Familial estrangement
  • Emotional child abuse
  • Drugging