Tag Archives: Mental Illness

Will They or Won’t They by Ava Wilder

Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy are madly in love— at least, their characters are. As the stars of the hit paranormal TV show Intangible, they spent years pining for each other on-screen… until Lilah ditched the show at the end of season five in hopes of becoming a film star. With no such luck, she’s back to film the much-hyped ninth and final season, in which their characters will get together at last. But coming back means facing one of the biggest reasons she left: Shane. Ever since their secret behind-the-scenes fling imploded at the end of the first season, the two of them have despised each other. Now back on set together for… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Divorce mentioned (sc)
  • Dieting mentioned
  • Panic attack, on-page
  • Generalised Anxiety Disorder
  • Parent with a substance addiction recounted

Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong

Winter is drawing thick in 1932 Shanghai, as is the ever-nearing threat of a Japanese invasion. Rosalind Lang has suffered the worst possible fate for a national spy: she’s been exposed. With the media storm camped outside her apartment for the infamous Lady Fortune, she’s barely left her bedroom in weeks, plotting her next course of action after Orion was taken and his memories of Rosalind wiped. Though their marriage might have been a sham, his absence hurts her more than any physical wound. She won’t rest until she gets him back. But with her identity in the open, the task is near impossible. Th only way to leave the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human medical experimentation
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)

Spare by Prince Harry and J.R. Moehringer

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Parental divorce & infidelity
  • Familial estrangement
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Agoraphobia
  • Suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use (cigarettes, psychedelics, cocaine, marijuana)
  • Pregnancy, childbirth & miscarriage
  • Weight loss & gain mentioned
  • Physical injury and illness (frostbite, trench foot)
  • Death of a mother in a car accident
  • Death of an ex-partner from suicide
  • Death of a friend in a car accident and avalanche
  • Death of grandparents and great-grandmother mentioned
  • Stalking and harassment by the paparazzi and news organisations
  • Military service and deployment
  • Animal death including hunting and butchering
  • Injury of a pet dog

*Context : Mentions of intimate photos released without consent; Prince Harry’s uncle being accused of paedophilia and sexual violence.

Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid

A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites. Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Eating disorder (bulimia)
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm
  • Emesis, on-page
  • Body horror
  • Cannibalism
  • Animal death

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny. But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & internalised ableism
  • Sexual harassment & sexual assault mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug use (smoking)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Anxiety, panic attacks & nightmares
  • Amputation (protagonist is missing her finger)
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Torture recounted
  • Car accident recounted
  • Drowning & attempted drowning
  • Flood recounted
  • Animal death mentioned

*Context : A secondary character is kissed without consent and has plans to kidnap and hold her captive.

Starlings by Amanda Linsmeier

Kit’s father had always told her he had no family, but four months ago his sudden death revealed the truth. Now she has a grandmother she never knew she had–Agatha Starling–and an invitation to visit her father’s hometown, Rosemont.

And Rosemont… it’s picture perfect: the famed eternal roses bloom year-round, downtown is straight out of the 1950s… there’s even a cute guy to show Kit around… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drugging
  • Emesis, on-page
  • Starvation & cannibalism recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Drowning

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner’s life in this absorbing and whimsical novel.

Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse and neglect recounted
  • Foster care experiences
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
  • Munchausen by Proxy mentioned*
  • Alcoholism and substance addiction recovery (love interest)
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Unplanned pregnancy & miscarriage mentioned
  • Sibling with terminal cancer
  • Death of a brother from complications during heart surgery recounted
  • Financial and housing insecurity

*Context: The protagonist learns her sister’s childhood chronic illness was the result of her parents’ attempts to keep her sick. Discussions of children in foster care due to abusive alcoholic parents and parents’ deaths from overdoses.

Everybody’s Favorite by Lillian Stone

Lilian Stone—childhood evangelical, AOL girlfriend, and professional nail biter is always living on the edge of anxiety. From the pitfalls of a girl plagued by religious trauma, the incomprehensible yet unforgiving need for perfection, and a twenty-pound beagle she never meant to keep, Everybody’s Favorite is a refreshing story of what it means to pick yourself when the world is telling you otherwise. Still navigating the ins and outs of adulthood, accompanied by an obsessive-compulsive disorder that’s become an exercise in self-acceptance and thus compassion… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Religious trauma
  • Eating disorder
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Bullying

Congratulations, the Best is Over! by R. Eric Thomas

After going viral “reading” the chaotic political news, having one-too-many awkward social encounters, and coming to terms with his intersecting identities, R. Eric Thomas is ready to live his best life–or, if not, at least his best-ish life.

Now, in this collection of insightful and hilarious essays, Thomas finds himself doing things completely out of character, starting with moving back to his perpetually misunderstood hometown of Baltimore. They say you can’t go home again, but what if you and home have changed beyond recognition?.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression & anxiety
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of grandparents from a stroke
  • Death of a father-in-law from a heart attack

They Called Us Exceptional by Prachi Gupta

An Indian American daughter reveals how the dangerous model minority myth fractured her family in this searing, brave memoir.

How do we understand ourselves when the story about who we are supposed to be is stronger than our sense of self? What do we stand to gain — and lose — by taking control of our narrative? These questions propel Prachi Gupta’s heartfelt memoir and can feel particularly fraught for immigrants and their children who live under immense pressure to belong in America… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation