Tag Archives: Grief & Loss Depiction

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

It was Hannah who found April’s body ten years ago.
It was Hannah who didn’t question what she saw that day.
Did her testimony put an innocent man in prison?

She needs to know the truth.

Even if it means questioning her own friends.
Even if it means putting her own life at risk.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Pregnancy
  • Death of a friend
  • Grief depiction
  • Murder
  • Stalking discussed
  • Home invasion
  • Incarceration, including discussed of wrongful conviction

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

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.
Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Panic attack mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption with implications of alcohol abuse, on- & off-page
  • Pregnancy mentioned (prologue)
  • Graphic body horror
  • Detailed blood and injury depiction including eye trauma and an on-page arm amputation
  • Surgery and medical treatment, off-page
  • Hospitalisation, on-page
  • Needles, on-page
  • Grief and loss depiction (theme)
  • Death of a mother and father in a car accident, off-page
  • Death of a child from lockjaw mentioned
  • Death of a child and brother from drowning mentioned including a near-drowning incident recounted
  • Gun violence
  • Physical assault including assault with a hammer
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • Animal attack (dog)
  • Animal dead bodies and taxidermy discussed (squirrels)

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

The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane

Malcolm Gephardt, handsome and gregarious longtime bartender at the Half Moon, has always dreamed of owning a bar. When his boss finally retires, Malcolm stretches to buy the place. He sees unquantifiable magic and potential in the Half Moon and hopes to transform it into a bigger success, but struggles to stay afloat. His smart and confident wife, Jess, has devoted herself to her law career. After years of trying for a baby, she is facing the idea that motherhood may not be in the cards for her. Like Malcolm, she feels her youth beginning to slip away and wonders how to reshape her future.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Miscarriage
  • Infertility
  • Pregnancy
  • Grief & loss depiction

The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean

Malcolm Bevingstoke, Duke of Haven, has lived the last three years in self-imposed solitude, paying the price for a mistake he can never reverse and a love he lost forever. The dukedom does not wait, however, and Haven requires an heir, which means he must find himself a wife by summer’s end. There is only one problem—he already has one. After years in exile, Seraphina, Duchess of Haven, returns to London with a single goal—to reclaim the life she left and find happiness, unencumbered by the man who broke her heart. Haven offers her a deal; Sera can have her freedom, just as soon as she finds her… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical slut-shaming
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Miscarriage, on-page
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of an infant recounted

Context: The male protagonist slept with another woman as ‘revenge’ when he found out his shunned wife was pregnant and hadn’t told him. It is implied the wife caught him with the other woman.

The Widowmaker by Hannah Morrissey

Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared twenty years ago, the name “Reynolds” has become synonymous with “murder” and “mystery.” And now, lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives. The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday get-together, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue. This could finally be the thing to crack open the chilling cold case, and Investigator Ryan Hudson… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Child abuse
  • Incest*
  • Rape of a minor*
  • Sexual assault*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Police brutality
  • Fire

Context: The protagonist was raped by her uncle as a child. Her half-brother sexually assaults (and possibly rapes) her as well.

A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey

Dee Matthews is the cohost of the smash-hit podcast Did I Forget To Tell You?, where she interviews family, friends, and past lovers. Nothing is off limits, except for one man (known on the show only as Name Redacted) who happens to be her high school best friend Ben. During their senior year spring break, Dee and Ben took a road trip to visit Ben’s grandma. They buried a time capsule in her backyard, pledging to return in ten years to open it. Then their friendship fell apart in spectacular fashion. They haven’t spoken to each other since. Ben Porter’s life since… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Emesis (food poisoning)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a grandmother mentioned

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie

Valentina “Vale” Castillo-Green’s life revolves around soccer. Her friends, her future, and her father’s intense expectations are all wrapped up in the beautiful game. But after she incites a fight during playoffs with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, everything she’s been working toward seems to disappear. Embarrassed and desperate to be anywhere but home, Vale escapes to her beloved childhood soccer camp for a summer of relaxation and redemption…only to find out that she and the endlessly aggravating Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts. But the competition might be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Emotional child abuse
  • Anxiety & anxiety attacks
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Physical injuries (minor sports injury)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from breast cancer
  • Bullying

Girlhood by Cat Clarke

Girlhood by Cat Clarke

Harper has tried to forget the past and fit in at expensive boarding school Duncraggan Academy. Her new group of friends are tight; the kind of girls who Harper knows have her back. But Harper can’t escape the guilt of her twin sister’s Jenna’s death, and her own part in it – and she knows no one else will ever really understand. But new girl Kirsty seems to get Harper in ways she never expected. She has lost a sister too. Harper finally feels secure. She finally feels…loved. As if she can grow beyond the person she was when Jenna died. Then Kirsty’s behaviour becomes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister from anorexia-related medical issues