Tag Archives: Grief & Loss Depiction

The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham

It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy and amidst the happy chaos of friends reuniting, selfies uploading, and cars unloading, shocking news: America Today just ranked Tiffin the number two boarding school in the country. It’s a seventeen-spot jump – was there a typo? The dorms need to be renovated, their sports teams always come in last place, and let’s just say Tiffin students are known for being more social than academic. On the other hand, the campus is exquisite, class sizes are small, and the dining hall is run by an acclaimed New York chef. And they do have fun—lots of parties and school dances, and a piano man plays in the student lounge every Monday night… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia
  • Eating disorder (builmia)
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol abuse & alcoholism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Throughout her life Sybil Van Antwerp has used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings around half past ten Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter. Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has. A mother, grandmother, wife, divorcée, distinguished… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide mentioned
  • Miscarriage
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child recounted & discussed

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Foster care discussed
  • Rape & sexual assault mentioned
  • Domestic abuse
  • Attempted suicide, suicidal ideation & self-harm
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Depression
  • Alcoholism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Bullying

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman

It is bedlam on the eighth floor. As management reels from the unexpected conclusion of the seventh level, the surviving crawlers stumble onto the eighth and find themselves scattered. It’s a map based on Earth’s final days before the collapse, where ethereal, intangible ghosts of humanity go about their lives, oblivious of the impending doom. Living amongst these ghosts are monsters based in Earth lore. “Legendary” creatures tied to the geographical location they inhabit. Each team of crawlers is given a task: find and capture six of these beasts. The captured monsters will be turned into cards. Cards that can be summoned into… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Parental abandonment & child abuse recounted
  • Self-sacrifice & suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption, smoking & drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & mass death
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions & fire
  • Animal death (turkeys)

The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman

A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade.” The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds. As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside tourists are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are here and ready to hunt. Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career. But their prey is far from harmless, and this season they are fighting back.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Parental abandonment & child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption, smoking & drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction and emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & mass death
  • Explosions & fire
  • Car accident recounted
  • Animal death (dog)

Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds

Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds

Twenty-four months ago: Neon gets chased by a dog all around the parking lot of a church. Not his finest moment. And definitely one he would have loved to forget if it weren’t for the dog’s owner: Aria. Dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail. Aria. Way more than fine. Twenty-four weeks ago: Neon’s dad insists on talking to him about tenderness and intimacy. Neon and Aria are definitely in love, and while they haven’t taken that next big step…yet, they’ve starting talking about…that. Twenty-four days ago: Neon’s mom finds her—gulp—bra in his room. Hey! No judging! Those hook thingies are complicated! So he’d figured he’d… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child sexual abuse mentioned (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a grandfather

Between Now and Forever by Adriana Locke

When Gabrielle Solomon falls, she falls hard. Even if that means literally toppling over a porch railing in nothing but a flimsy towel—right in front of her sexy new neighbor. .Jay Stetson is 100 percent hero material with those arms, that chest, and his deliciously oh-so-sexy smirk. The chiseled hunk in flannel has an irresistible off-limits attitude while plucking Gabrielle out of the bushes and saving her from a snake. Unfortunately, he’s not indulging in what Gabrielle is offering—not with his emotional train wreck of a past. Just neighbors. Just friends. Or so he says. Secretly, he’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a partner

Protect by Paisley Hope

Imagine coming into the town pub with my crew, dirty and exhausted, only to walk right into my biggest regret. The twin sister of my lost best friend and the one who got away. I haven’t seen Violette Taylor in years but I haven’t forgotten her either. I used to be Rowan to her. Now, I’m just King, the guy who broke her heart, but not for the reasons she thinks. Violette is back in town for good, she’s a single mom and a nurse in the burn unit I accidentally wind up in. Can you call that fate? Maybe, if she wasn’t doing her best to stay far away from anyone who reminded her of her past, especially… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Burn injury from fire
  • Grief & loss depiction

Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope

CeCe Ashby is looking for a fresh start after escaping the toxic relationship that has consumed her adult life. Unsure of what the future holds, she returns to the small town of Laurel Creek and her family’s ranch. Nash Carter is the recently retired hockey superstar of the Dallas Stars, Laurel Creek’s hometown hero, and notorious bachelor. He may look good in a cowboy hat, but he is also CeCe’s brother’s best friend… and therefore off limits. When CeCe reappears in her hometown in need of a job, Nash knows he has to have her, and not entirely for business… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Insomnia & nightmares (protagonist)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents in a car accident recounted

In Which Winnie Halifax Is Utterly Ruined by Alexandra Vasti

In 1811, Winifred Wallace told one tiny lie. To secure her future as an independent sheep farmer, she invented an estranged husband named Mr. Spencer Halifax and forged their marriage record. Ten years later, her deception catches up with her: in the form of the disturbingly real, distressingly attractive earl on her doorstep. Spencer Halifax wants to set a good example for his beloved hellion sisters. Ever since their father’s death, he’s tried to play the role of steady, sensible earl—and involving himself with a moderately felonious sheep farmer is decidedly not sensible. But Winnie’s unfettered passion and fierce self-reliance… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Incarceration