Tag Archives: Mental Illness

We Can Be Heroes by Kyrie McCauley

Beck and Vivian never could stand each other, but they always tried their best for their mutual friend, Cassie. After the town moves on from Cassie’s murder too fast, Beck and Vivian finally find common ground: vengeance. They memorialize Cassie by secretly painting murals of her around town, a message to the world that Cassie won’t be forgotten. But Beck and Vivian are keeping secrets, like the third passenger riding in Beck’s VW bus with them—Cassie’s ghost. When their murals catch the attention of a podcaster covering Cassie’s case, they become the catalyst,,, Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Statutory rape mentioned
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Domestic abuse
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Lung cancer
  • Gun violence
  • School shooting
  • Car accident mentioned

Black Sheep by Brynne Weaver and Alexa Harlowe

Serial killer. That’s not the first thing you’d think when you meet Bria Brooks.She’s reserved. Polite. Charming, when she wants to be. But delve a little deeper. She’s cunning. Brilliant. Ruthless. Bria Brooks is not just a black sheep. She’s a wolf. And she has her heart set on a very elusive prize. Caron Berger. Trouble is, she’s not the only one. Dr. Elijah Kaplan is also on the hunt for the enigmatic leader of the Legio Agni cult. Caron Berger is a phantom, and Eli is keen on catching the ghost. What he doesn’t need is a beautiful and brutal doctoral student haunting his steps. Especially not one who seems so breakable, or who tempts him to bend every rule until it snaps, or who calls to each of… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Consensual non-consensual (noncon)
  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse & neglect recounted including whipping, burning and physical assault
  • Panic attacks & claustrophobia
  • Undiagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Religious trauma & cults recounted

Wrath by Ella James

Josh Miller. That’s his name, but I just call him DG for Do Gooder. This guy is relentless. All-American, baby-faced, blue-eyed band dork who’s not a band dork at all, because you can’t be a dork when you’re getting scouted to play college soccer. When he’s not doing music or sports, DG is counting up his Boy Scout badges or front-rowing it at the First Baptist church. DG is my new stepbrother. Little brother. I’m a whole year older, not that he knows. I don’t think he knows I’m starting senior year a whole year late. And he definitely doesn’t know why. I’ve got secrets I’m taking with me to the grave. Everyone thinks I came into… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Rape recounted, on-page
  • Conversion therapy recounted
  • Amnesia
  • Depression
  • Alcoholism
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Overdose, on-page
  • Car accident

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist – a chance encounter that spiralled into a daylong city adventure. The timing was wrong, but their connection was they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t. At thirty-two, Fern’s life hasn’t turned out how she imagined it. She’s back home, running her mother’s lakeside resort, which is in disarray – and her ex-boyfriend is the manager. She needs a lifeline. To Fern’s surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives – nine years too late… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Insomnia
  • Post-partum depression
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent, off-page

Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

The fake Canadian boyfriend. It’s a thing. The get out of jail free card for all kinds of sticky social situations. “I can’t go to prom; I’m going to be out of town visiting my boyfriend in Canada.” It’s all over pop culture. But Aurora Evans did it first. Once upon a time she met a teenage hockey player at the Mall of America. He was from Canada. He was a boy. She may have fudged the “friend” part a little, but it wasn’t like she was ever going to see him again. It wasn’t like she hurt anyone. Until she did—years later—on both counts. When pro hockey player and recent widower Mike Martin walks into the dance studio where Aurora Evans… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Verbal parental abuse
  • Eating disorder recovery
  • Anxiety & panic attack, on-page
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a spouse & mother in a car accident

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life. But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child physical & sexual abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Foster care system
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Childhood trauma

Sweet Vengeance by Viano Oniomoh

Joy needs a deal with a demon to bring an end to the man who’d ruined her life. Malachi needs a deal with a human so he can remain in the mortal realm, far from the sentries looking to drag him back to his sect in hell. It’s a match seemingly made in heaven. Except, Malachi doesn’t expect Joy’s thirst for vengeance to taste so sweet, and Joy doesn’t expect a freaking demon to revive everything in her she’d thought long-dead. After the deal is struck, and their contract had some to an end, they both realise that one contract will not nearly be enough.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Victim-blaming recounted
  • Rape & incestuous childhood sexual abuse recounted
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Nightmares & panic attacks
  • Self-harm
  • Murder
  • Stalking

The Princess of Thornwood Drive by Khalia Moreau

One year ago, a tragic car accident killed 22-year-old Laine’s parents and left her 18-year-old sister, Alyssa, paralyzed and nonverbal. Now—instead of studying animal nutrition or competing as one of the few equestrians of color—Laine is struggling with predatory banks, unscrupulous health care organizations, and rude customers at the coffee shop where she works. That’s why when Lake Forest Adult Day Center offers to take care of Alyssa, free of charge, Laine is relieved. Alyssa isn’t relieved, though. After all, in her mind, there was never a car accident. Instead, she and her parents—the king and queen of Mirendal—were attacked one year ago in the forest, her parents kidnapped… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault of a disabled person
  • Anxiety & panic attack
  • Death of both parents in a car accident
  • Car accident resulting in traumatic mutism & paralysis

Into the Sunken City by Dinesh Thiru

In the slowly sinking city of Coconino, Arizona, the days are long, the money is tight, and the rain never stops. For Jin Haldar, this life is nothing new—ever since her father died in a diving accident, she’s barely made ends meet for her and her younger sister, Thara. Enter Bhili: a drifter who offers Jin and Thara the score of a lifetime—a massive stash of gold hidden in the sunken ruins of Las Vegas. Jin knows it’s too dangerous. She stopped diving after her father’s accident. But when her sister decides to go, Jin’s left with only one choice: to go with her. A ragtag crew is assembled—including Jin’s annoyingly hot ex-boyfriend. From there… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Panic attacks
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Drowning
  • Gun violence

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever. Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except… Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Trauma & panic attacks
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sibling from suicide