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.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

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…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

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.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

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

Perfect Villain by JL Beck and Sade Rena

Perfect Villain by J.L. Beck & Sade Rena

The second our eyes connected I felt the shift in the air. The crackle of fire igniting between us. He was dark, dangerous, and secretive. He came into my life like a storm, ripping apart everything I believed in, everything I thought I knew. With his mischievous smirk, stunning looks, and alluring behaviour I should’ve ran as far away from him as I could. But I was stupid. I trapped myself in his web. I thought I was safe with him. Safe in his arms, safe from a past that refused to let go. Turns out Christian Russo was the past I was running from, and my first mistake was ever thinking I could escape him.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault & dubious consent scenarios
  • Infidelity*
  • Death of parents
  • Graphic murder
  • Organised crime (mafia)
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking

*Context: The heroine is in a relationship at the beginning of the novel and her boyfriend is cheating on her with her roommate. The hero and heroine get together before she breaks up with her current boyfriend.

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

Sawyer Dodd is a star athlete, a straight-A student, and the envy of every other girl who wants to date Kevin Anderson. When Kevin dies in a tragic car crash, Sawyer is stunned. Then she opens her locker to find a note: You’re welcome. Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knows that Sawyer and Kevin weren’t the perfect couple they seemed to be. And that someone—a killer—is now shadowing Sawyer’s every move…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Dementia
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Car accident
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Unhinged Cain by Brooklyn Cross

Unhinged Cain by Brooklyn Cross

Kirby wished for a new life, but the Devil sent her Cain. I knew what my calling in life was at a young age. I was the embodiment of death. The scent of blood and watching the life fade from something’s eyes was more delicious than any dessert. With my twin Abel by my side, we revelled in the pain of others and the knowledge that we were above it all. Not even the FBI could hunt us down. The one thing I hadn’t accounted for was Kirby and the unusual spark of emotion she created. Being a psychopath, I knew my range of emotions had always been limited. Things… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape, dubious consent scenes (dubcon) & sexual assault, on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Graphic murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping, stalking & captivity

Hate by KA Knight

Hate by K.A. Knight

I was abducted. They took me from my mates and threw me into a cell with a monster. But they should have known I’m the biggest monster of them all. With more and more females disappearing, I need to find out who is really behind all the kidnappings and experiments. But what I discover will test my mates and me and from the betrayal…hate will bloom. I have new allies, new enemies, and a whole lot of bodies piling up. Are you scared of me? You should be.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted
  • Sexual assault, on-page
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping & imprisonment