A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones

A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones

Some people greet the day with open arms. Sheriff Sunshine Vicram would rather give it a hearty shove and get back into bed, because there’s just too much going on right now. There’s a series of women going missing, and Sunny feels powerless to stop it. There’s her persistent and awesomely-rebellious daughter Auri, who’s out to singlehandedly become Del Sol’s youngest and fiercest investigator. And then there’s drama with Levi Ravinder—the guy she’s loved and lusted after for years. The guy who might just be her one and only. The guy who comes from a family of disingenuous vipers looking to oust him—and Sunshine—for… Read more,

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Sexual assault
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Knife & gun violence
  • Kidnapping

The Mercenaries of the Stolen Moon by Megan Derr

The Mercenaries of the Stolen Moon by Megan Derr

For twenty years Myra has served the High King, so familiar, respected, and envied the rest of the palace calls him the High Secretary. For twenty years he has kept his secrets buried, and after so long he dares to believe he has left his past behind. But during the Festival of Harmony, tragedy strikes, and Myra’s past is dragged into the present. Once third in command of Fathoms Deep, Charlaine is used to shadows and secrets, but even he is shocked to learn what his best friend, and the man he secretly loves, has been hiding all these years. In the wake of a… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Misgendering
  • Deadnaming
  • Kidnapping

Body Double by Tess Gerritsen

Body Double by Tess Gerritsen

Maura Isles deals with death. As a pathologist in downtown Boston, she has seen more than her share of corpses. But never before has the body on the medical examiner’s table been her own. There can be no denying the evidence though. The dead woman is her mirror image right down to the most intimate physical details. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type. Then a DNA test confirms that Maura’s mysterious double is indeed her twin sister, and suddenly an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing excursion into a past full of dark and deadly secrets.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Kidnapping of a pregnant woman

The Hellion and the Hero by Emily Sullivan

The Hellion and the Hero by Emily Sullivan

Lady Georgiana Arlington has always done what’s best for her family—even when it meant marrying a man she didn’t love to save her father. Her husband’s death has left her stronger and bolder—a hellion, some would even say. When a mysterious enemy jeopardizes her livelihood and reputation, there’s only one person she can trust to help her uncover the threat: the same man she left heartbroken years ago. Captain Henry Harris is no longer the penniless fortune hunter he was when they first met. Now a decorated naval hero, he could have his choice of women, but no other… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Infertility
  • Death of a husband
  • Torture recounted
  • Kidnapping
  • Military service

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Magic has been banished in the land of Syhl Shallow for as long as best friends Jax and Callyn can remember. They once loved the stories of the powerful magesmiths and mythical scravers who could conjure fire or control ice, but now they’ve learned that magic only leads to danger: magic is what killed Callyn’s parents, leaving her alone to raise her younger sister. Magic never helped Jax, whose leg was crushed in an accident that his father has been punishing him for ever since. Magic won’t save either of them when the tax collector comes calling, threatening to take their homes if…. Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Rape
  • Child abuse
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death

The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales by Eric LaRocca

The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales by Eric LaRocca

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; on-line posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution…

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Abusive relationship
  • Elder abuse
  • Incest
  • Cheating
  • Miscarriage
  • Cancer & terminal illness
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a spouse
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Torture

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Mattie can’t remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all. There’s something in the woods that wasn’t there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws. When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Graphic domestic violence including physical beatings, deprivation of food, water and shelter, and denial of autonomy (theme)
  • Martial rape, off-page
  • Miscarriage & stillbirth recounted
  • Chronic arm injury
  • Emesis, on-page
  • Blood & gore depiction including the hanging of dead bodies
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Strangulation, on-page
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Animal death and dead bodies (fox, bear)

The Never King by Nikki St Crowe

The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe

The stories were all wrong — Hook was never the villain. For two centuries, all of the Darling women have disappeared on their 18th birthday. Sometimes they’re gone for only a day, some a week or a month. But they always return broken. Now, on the afternoon of my 18th birthday, my mother is running around the house making sure all the windows are barred and the doors locked. But it’s pointless. Because when night falls, he comes for me. And this time, the Never King and the Lost Boys aren’t willing to let me go.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Kidnapping

These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan

These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan

After Abriella’s sister was sold to the fae, she thought life couldn’t get any worse. But when she suddenly finds herself caught in a web of lies of her own making ­- loving two princes and trusting neither – things are not quite as clear as she once thought. As civil war wages in the Court of Darkness, Brie finds herself unable to choose a side. How can she know where she stands when she doesn’t even know herself anymore? In this darkly romantic thrill ride, the more Faerie is torn apart from the inside, the clearer it becomes that prophecies don’t lie and Brie has a role to play in the… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping

Cruel Beast by JL Beck and Sade Rena

Cruel Beast by J.L. Beck & Sade Rena

Money. It’s the root of all evil and I need it bad. You could call it the wrong place, wrong time. To me the day I met Enzo was the day the old me died. When he kidnaps me thinking I’m the daughter of his enemy the only thing I can do is pretend to be something I’m not. But the more I pretend, the deeper I fall. Enzo is dark, cruel, and menacing but he’s protective, fierce and determined. Soon he wants to forge a contract between our families, making me his bride, but he has no idea I’m not who he thinks I am and when he finds out… well I know I’m as good as dead.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Organised crime (mafia)
  • Kidnapping & captivity