Grief & Loss Depiction – Page 13 – Trigger Warning Database

Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall

Sophia’s first memory is of drowning. She remembers the darkness of the water and the briny taste as it fills her throat. She remembers the cold shock of going under. She remembers her mother pulling her to safety before disappearing forever. But Sophia has never been in the ocean. And her mother died years ago in a hospital. Or so she has been told her whole life. A series of clues have led Sophia to the island of Bitter Rock, Alaska, where she talked her way into a summer internship at the Landon Avian Research Center, the same center her mother worked at right before she died. There, she meets the disarmingly… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Memory loss
Panic attack
Suicidal ideation
Body horror
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Drowning
Animal death

Meant to Be by Jennifer Probst

It’s been two years since Chiara Kennedy lost her dearest friend, Rory. Chiara misses everything about her. Rory’s widowed husband is another story. Sebastian Ryder is a man Chiara had secretly wanted, let slip away, and hoped to never see again. Then fate throws them together for an unexpected one-night stand and a morning after of new challenges. Sebastian had a soul mate in Rory. Shutting down after his tragic loss, he kept a cool distance from everyone—including Chiara, with whom he once shared a deep if fleeting affection. That was over and done with a… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Dubious consent scenario*
Drugging
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a wife

*Context : The protagonists have sex while the male protagonist is drugged (he intercepts a roofied drink intended for her) and the female protagonist believes she is having a dream. She becomes pregnant.

To Sicily with Love by Jennifer Probst

Aurora York had it all loving parents, a steady relationship, and a promising career. But after she loses both parents unexpectedly, she can’t seem to stay on track any longer. Lonely and lost after a public meltdown that threatens her professional credibility, she’s shocked when DNA test results show a blood relative in Sicily. When her cousin reaches out online and begs her to come to Italy to meet everyone in person, Aurora makes the leap. Aurora arrives in Sicily for a month, and there she meets a colorful, dynamic family steeped in tradition. The younger generation is fascinated by her social media fame… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit. But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Infidelity
Alcohol consumption
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent recounted
Injury depiction & medical content

The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood

Anna was never going to have an easy time at her best friend’s wedding. She’s the bridesmaid; her ex, Joel, is a groomsman. But she’s determined to get through the festivities with a smile on her face. Despite the fact that Joel is bringing his new partner, Bianca. Despite the fact she’s stuck sharing a house with the newly in-love couple. And despite the fact Anna has just turned thirty and her life is not exactly where she thought it would be by now. Anna has all her feelings completely under control—right up until the moment Joel drops a bombshell that rocks her to her core… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption
Pregnancy
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce

Newly minted child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field where the first people called are experts, she’s been unable to get her feet wet. Instead she aimlessly spends her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain and anxiously contemplates her upcoming marriage to careful, precise researcher Oscar. The only reprieve from her small, close world is attending the local bereavement group to mourn her brother’s death from years ago. Then she meets journalist Sam Hunter at the grief group one day, and he has a proposition for her: Thirteen-year-old Alice Webber claims a witch is haunting her… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother recounted

Iveliz Explains It All by Andrea Beatriz Arango

Seventh grade is going to be Iveliz’s year. She’s going to make a new friend, help her abuela Mimi get settled after moving from Puerto Rico, and she is not going to get into any more trouble at school.. Except is that what happens? Of course not. Because no matter how hard Iveliz tries, sometimes people say things that just make her so mad. And worse, Mimi keeps saying Iveliz’s medicine is unnecessary–even though it helps Iveliz feel less sad. But how do you explain your feelings to others when you’re not even sure what’s going on yourself?

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Trigger and Content Warnings

Alzheimer’s Disease & dementia
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Panic attacks
Self-harm ideation
Suicidal ideation
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent recounted

Monster Tree by Sarah Allen

Linus used to be an artist, like his dad. Then his father died and Linus’s mom moved them to the other side of the city, hoping for a fresh start. Maybe, for the first time since losing Dad, Linus will even start drawing again. But there’s something unusual about their new neighbor Maude, and something wrong with the grotesque tree in her backyard. At night Linus sees it moving, changing, growing. When increasingly bizarre events plague the neighborhood—massive claw marks, missing pets, sightings of a red-eyed creature—he suspects Maude and her tree are to blame… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Asthma
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father in a car accident discussed
Kidnapping

Next Stop by Debbie Fong

Pia is a soft-spoken middle schooler whose life is turned upside down after the loss of her younger brother, followed by her parents’ decision to move to a new town. In an effort to get her mind off of the troubles at home, Pia goes on a bus tour with a family friend, stopping at weird and wacky roadside attractions. The final stop is a mysterious underground lake. The locals say it has magical powers; Pia won’t admit she believes in it, but she’s holding on to hope that the waters may hold the answer to mending her broken family.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Suicide & suicidal ideation
Grief & loss depiction (theme)
Death of a child
Drowning

Missing Clarissa by Ripley Jones

In August of 1999, dazzlingly popular cheerleader Clarissa Campbell disappears from a party in the woods outside the rural town of Oreville, Washington and is never seen again. The police question her friends, teachers, and the adults who knew her—who all have something to hide. And thanks to Clarissa’s beauty, the mystery captures the attention of the nation. But with no leads and no body, the case soon grows cold. Despite the efforts of internet sleuths and true-crime aficionados, Clarissa is never found—dead or alive. Over twenty years later, Oreville high school… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism, racism & homophobia mentioned
Adult-minor teacher-student relationship & statutory rape
Blood & injury depiction
Grief & loss depiction
Murder & attempted murder
Gun violence
Kidnapping