Tag Archives: Exile & Estrangement

Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Months before she’s set to walk down the aisle, assistant district attorney Brooklyn Lewis suffers an unthinkable loss. It’s bad enough her fiancé is violently taken from her, but along with her grief she must also process the fact that the man of her dreams was unfaithful. Friends and family want to see her heal, but Brooklyn doesn’t know how to move on from trauma and deception until she discovers she’s not the only one broken by this tragedy. Attorney Vaughn Coleman and his partner Chris Shaw have also lost the love of their lives, who was found lifeless in the same bed as Brooklyn’s fiancé, taken from them by the same killer… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Disownment recounted
  • Cheating (scs)
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Suicide, off-page
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a partner recounted
  • Murder mentioned
  • Stalking recounted

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

Two siblings, both missing for 20 years turn up within one day of each other. One dead. One alive. It was an ordinary school day, the day I lost my little brother.
One moment he was on the roundabout and then was gone. Gone. Missing. They all blamed me. I was in charge. Even though I was only ten years old. They sent me away. The hurt, the shame, the questions. The not knowing. I tried to move on. It’s been nineteen years in exile and now somebody wants me back. Someone with a dark secret. They hold the keys, they know the truth. So, I need to return to my childhood village to find out who, because I have a secret, too… I did something bad.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Filicide of an autistic son
  • Murder of a partner
  • Death of a brother
  • Disappearance of a sibling recounted

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint. One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers. But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics. What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Familial disownment
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Death of a spouse mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Torture
  • Imprisonment
  • Blackmail
  • Earthquake
  • Colonialism

The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen

The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen

Five years ago, Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he’s made an art of hiding his sexuality from everyone. Including himself.

So it’s a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenceless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team’s new left-wing could… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Hate crimes
  • Disownment
  • Hospitalisation
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Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo book cover

Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Persecution for witchcraft
  • Classism
  • Indentured servitude discussed
  • Forced underaged sex work recounted
  • Child rape recounted
  • Child abuse
  • Parental abandonment
  • Disownment
  • Drug addiction
  • Gambling addiction
  • Drug dependency and withdrawal discussed
  • Recreational drug use recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Graphic physical injuries
  • Chronic illness and pain
  • Plague mentioned
  • Consensual body modification
  • Death of a boyfriend and death of a friend, on-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture, on-page
  • Explosions
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Imprisonment
  • Home invasion
  • Blackmail and death threats
  • Poverty themes and debt collection mentioned