Tag Archives: Imprisonment & Incarceration

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days. The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Imprisonment
  • Wildfire
  • Bullying

Just My Luck by Lena Hendrix

You might think it’s reckless for a single mom to enter into a marriage of convenience with her boss… You would be correct. To make matters worse, Abel King is a grumpy local brewer with a criminal past. He also happens to be my boss and a total stick-in-the-mud. Every time I come to work with a smile and wave, I’m lucky if I can get a grunt in response. When I accidentally-on-purpose overhear that he’s having trouble securing a business loan due to his criminal record, I hatch a plan to help the both of us. The arrangement is perfect—a business transaction and nothing more. Like having a roommate… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Death of a child in a car accident discussed
  • Incarceration recounted

Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix

Obey the rules. It’s the only way to survive the night in a short story about what hides in the dark by the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother—then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Imprisonment

Glass Half Full by Katia Rose

Back at home with half a college degree after the fiasco of the century sent her packing, it’s safe to say that Renee Nyobé is losing some. She’s a hot mess, and not the cute kind. No, if hot messes had categories, hers would be ‘littering the stairs of the metro station with your sweaty underwear because you were too busy rushing to the job interview you’re already late for to zip up your yoga bag.’ A job—any job—is just what she needs to get her life back on track, and it might as well be at Montreal’s most famous dive bar, Taverne Toulouse. Dylan Trottard is winning some. As Taverne Toulouse’s new manager, he’s got one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Workplace harassment
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Drug use
  • Incarceration recounted

Zenith Dream by FT Lukens

When Ren wakes from his life-threatening injury on the Star Stream, he learns that Asher has left with the Phoenix Corps and that the Corps believes Ren to be dead. Despite the opportunity to disappear, Ren is determined to fix his mistakes. He convinces the crew to join him for one last mission—find Asher, free Liam, and escape from the Corps’ reach. But a war is brewing between two formidable armies, and, despite his wish to flee, Ren is drawn into the conflict. With his friends by his side, Ren must make a choice, and it will affect the future of his found family and the cluster forever.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & transphobia
  • Panic attacks
  • Auditory hallucinations
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik

As the youngest member of her High House, Catarina von Hasenberg is used to being underestimated, but her youth and flighty, bubbly personality mask a clever mind and stubborn determination. Her enemies, blind to her true strength, do not suspect that Cat is a spy—which makes her the perfect candidate to go undercover at a rival House’s summer retreat to gather intelligence on their recent treachery. Cat’s overprotective older sister reluctantly agrees, but on one condition: Cat cannot go alone. Alexander Sterling, a quiet, gorgeous bodyguard, will accompany her, posing as her lover. After Cat tries, and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical & emotional parental abuse
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Non-consensual medical experimentation recounted
  • Minor physical injury including maiming by cutting out tongue
  • Death of parents in a bombing
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Imprisonment
  • Near-fatal motorcycle accident
  • Torture (secondary character)
  • War themes & attempted coup

Context : The protagonist’s father manipulated her genes as a child; her brother-in-law experimented on her sister without consent and tortured her.

Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

In the far distant future, the universe is officially ruled by the Royal Consortium, but the High Councillors, the heads of the three High Houses, wield the true power. As the fifth of six children, Ada von Hasenberg has no authority; her only value to her High House is as a pawn in a political marriage. When her father arranges for her to wed a noble from House Rockhurst, a man she neither wants nor loves, Ada seizes control of her own destiny. The spirited princess flees before the betrothal ceremony and disappears among the stars. Ada eluded her father’s forces for two years, but now… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual harassment
  • Exile & familial disownment
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Dieting & mentions of a secondary character’s stress-related weight loss
  • Physical illness & injury including knife wounds, broken bones & hypothermia
  • Murder & physical assault
  • Torture (off-page)
  • Kidnapping & imprisonment

Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi

When Zelie seized the royal palace that fateful night, she thought her battles had come to an end. The monarchy had finally fallen. The maji had risen again. Zélie never expected to find herself locked in a cage and trapped on a foreign ship. Now warriors with iron skulls traffic her and her people across the seas, far from their homeland. Then everything changes when Zélie meets King Baldyr, her true captor, the ruler of the Skulls, and the man who has ravaged entire civilizations to find her. Baldyr’s quest to harness Zélie’s strength sends Zélie, Amari, and Tzain searching for allies in unknown lands… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Self-harm (blood magic) & self-sacrifice
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction including broken bones, seizures (secondary character) and needles for piercing/tattooing
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture & physical assault
  • Imprisonment
  • Volcanic eruption
  • Explosion
  • Animal death, abuse & injury

The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri

Malini has claimed her rightful throne as the empress of Parijatdvipa, just as the nameless gods prophesied. Now, in order to gain the support of the priesthood who remain loyal to the fallen emperor, she must consider a terrible Claim her throne and burn in order to seal her legacy—or find another willing to take her place on the pyre. Priya has survived the deathless waters and now their magic runs in her veins. But a mysterious yaksa with flowering eyes and a mouth of thorns lies beneath the waters. The yaksa promises protection for Ahiranya. But in exchange, she needs a sacrifice. And she’s chosen Priya as the one to offer it… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny & sexism
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Forced parent-child separation mentioned
  • Alcoholism
  • Suicidal ideation & self-sacrifice
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use (pipe & hookah smoking)
  • Blood & injury depiction including burns, broken bones, chronic pain, illness (which causes plants to grow through skin) and emesis
  • Death of a brother recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Fire
  • Drowning
  • Imprisonment
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal death

The Fae Princes by Nikki St. Crowe

I thought Peter Pan was a myth and Neverland a fairytale. A story spun by my mother who had lost her mind a long time ago. But there was no denying the overwhelming shadow cast by Peter Pan when he was standing in my house. Pan took me captive to Neverland and I somehow found my place among him and the Lost Boys. I’ve never looked back. Now I’m entangled right alongside him in a war we can’t seem to escape. We thought we had defeated our enemies. We thought we could finally have our happily ever after. But there was one enemy we never saw… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child abandonment recounted
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking (cigarettes)
  • Weight gain mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction including vision impairment
  • Murder and rape of a sister recounted
  • Death of a father & grandmother recounted
  • Death & resurrection of a mother
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Attempted murder by vivisepulture (buried alive)
  • Physical assault & knife violence
  • Drowning
  • Loss of autonomy by possession & mind control (secondary character)