Tag Archives: Gambling Addiction

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay

Twenty five years ago, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were the best of friends, having forged a bond through the abuse and neglect they endured as residents of Savior House, a group home for parentless teens. When the home was shut down―after the disappearance of several kids―the three were split up. Though the trauma of their childhood has never left them, each went on to live accomplished―if troubled―lives. They haven’t seen one another since they were teens but now are reunited for a single haunting reason: someone is trying to kill them. To survive, the group will have to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment and child abuse & neglect in the foster care system recounted
  • Attempted rape of a minor mentioned
  • Gambling addiction & alcoholism
  • Drug & alcohol abuse
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

If You Love Something by Jayce Ellis

As executive chef at one of the hottest restaurants in DC, DeShawn Franklin has almost everything he’s ever wanted. He’s well-known, his restaurant is Michelin starred and he can write his own ticket anywhere he wants. Until his grandmother calls him home and drops two 1) She has cancer and she’s not seeking treatment. 2) She’s willing half her estate to DeShawn’s ex-husband, Malik. Make that three bombshells. 3) That whole divorce thing? It didn’t quite go through. DeShawn and Malik are still married. And when DeShawn’s shady uncle contests Grandma… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Divorce discussed
  • Gambling addiction & gambling mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a grandmother from terminal cancer (off-page)

Final Word by Janet Sumner Johnson

Thirteen-year-old twins Hope and Gordon enter a spelling bee in a last-ditch effort to save their family from financial ruin, only to find themselves in a cut-throat competition to uncover a fortune and dark secrets about the wealthy relations they’ve never known. Hope Smith can’t stand rich people—the dictionary magnate family the Wintertons most of all. Not since she and her twin brother, Gordon, learned that their dad was one. So when Gordon enters the family into the Winterton’s charity spelling bee, Hope wants nothing to do with it. But with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement due to substance addiction
  • Gambling addiction mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a teenage boy in a car accident
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass

When Shelby Dawson survives a harrowing attack that should have left her dead, she tries to move past it—for herself, and for her family. Fifteen months later, with the help of her best friend, Mackenzie, she finally feels safe again in the snowy Minnesota town she calls home. But when an anonymous note appears on her windshield bearing the same threats her attacker made, Shelby realizes that her nightmare has only just begun. As new evidence surfaces, and a group of well-meaning senior citizens accidentally makes the case go viral online, the situation quickly goes from bad to worse…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Gambling addiction mentioned
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping

Best of Luck by Kate Clayborn

Greer Hawthorne is finally on the cusp of proving to her big, overprotective family that shes independent until a careless mistake jeopardizes her plan to graduate. Lucky for her, theres someone in town who may be able to help. Alex Averin plans to show up for his sisters wedding, then get straight back to his job as a world-renowned photojournalist. But when gorgeous, good-hearted Greer needs an assist with a photography project, he’s powerless to say no. Can a ceaseless wanderer find a stopping place alongside a woman determined to set out on her own, or are Alex and Greer both pushing their luck too far?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism and internalised ableism
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Parent with alcoholism & gambling addiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of mother recounted
  • Poverty recounted

Beginner’s Luck by Kate Clayborn

Kit Averin is anything but a gambler. A scientist with a quiet, steady job at a university, Kit’s focus has always been maintaining the acceptable status quo. A sudden windfall doesn’t change that, with one exception: the fixer-upper she plans to buy, her first and only real home. It’s more than enough to keep her busy, until an unsettlingly handsome, charming, and determined corporate recruiter shows up in her lab—and manages to work his way into her heart… Ben Tucker is surprised to find that the scientist he wants for Beaumont Materials is a young woman-and a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment & neglect recounted
  • Dieting mentioned
  • Parent with alcoholism & gambling addiction
  • Serious physical injury of a parent, requiring the use of a wheelchair & cane
  • Stroke
  • Arson recounted

The Packing House by G. Donald Cribbs

When 16-year-old Joel Scrivener has a raging nightmare in study hall and someone records it on their phone, he awakens to a living nightmare where everyone knows his secret, one that he’s suppressed for ten years. Reeling as the whole school finds out the truth, Joel takes to the woods, leaving the bullies and his broken home behind. However, life as a runaway isn’t easy, as Joel’s hallucinations and nightmares follow him into the wilderness. To stop them once and for all, he pieces clues together with flashes of the images that play endlessly inside his head – will he figure out the identity of the person who caused his nightmare before it’s too late?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Graphic sexual assault of a child
  • Domestic abuse
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance & gambling addiction
  • Bullying
  • Homelessness

Cry of Metal and Bone by L Penelope

Six weeks after the fall of the Mantle, centuries-old enemies Elsira and Lagrimar struggle to unite. The will of the goddess is that the two nations become one, but while the war may be over, peace is still elusive. As desperate Lagrimari flee their barren land for a chance at a better life in Elsira, a dangerous faction opposed to the unification rises. When a shadowy group with ties to the Elsiran government takes responsibility for the attack and promises more, an unlikely crew is assembled to investigate. Among them are Lizvette Nirall, a disgraced socialite seeking redemption for past mistakes, and Tai Summerhawk, a… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Verbal & emotional child abuse
  • Self-injury for magic & bloodletting
  • Parent with gambling addiction
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injury & illness
  • Emesis
  • Medical experimentation
  • Attempted assassination by poisoning
  • Torture
  • Terrorism (bombing of a religious institution)
  • Kidnapping
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

Wildfire by Hannah Grace

Maple Hills students Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts cross paths at a party celebrating the end of the academic year, where a drinking game results in them having a passionate one-night stand. Never one to overstay her welcome (or expect much from a man), Aurora slips away before Russ even has the chance to ask for her full name. Imagine their surprise when they bump into each other on the first day of the summer camp where they are both counsellors, hoping to escape their complicated home lives by spending the summer working. Russ hopes if he gets far enough away from Maple Hills, he can avoid deal… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Parent with alcoholism and gambling addiction

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

A decade ago, the Marquess of Bourne was cast from society with nothing but his title. Now a partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, the cold, ruthless Bourne will do whatever it takes to regain his inheritance—including marrying perfect, proper Lady Penelope Marbury. A broken engagement and years of disappointing courtships have left Penelope with little interest in a quiet, comfortable marriage, and a longing for something more. How lucky that her new husband has access to such unexplored pleasures. Bourne may be a prince of London’s underworld, but… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Forced marriage
  • Gambling addiction recovery
  • Kidnapping
  • Death of parents recounted