Tag Archives: Mental Illness

A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti

When everything has been taken from you, what else is there to do but run? So that’s what Annabelle does—she runs from Seattle to Washington, DC, through mountain passes and suburban landscapes, from long lonely roads to college towns. She’s not ready to think about the why yet, just the how—muscles burning, heart pumping, feet pounding the earth. But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t outrun the tragedy from the past year, or the person—The Taker—that haunts her. Followed by Grandpa Ed in his RV and backed by her brother and two friends (her self-appoint.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Toxic friendship
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Excessive exercise (self-harm)
  • Murder of a friend by gun violence
  • Stalking

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misgendering
  • Slavery mentioned
  • Depression
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Plague
  • Nonconsensual castration recounted
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Starvation
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Death of children
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Torture, off-page
  • Bombings
  • War themes
  • Animal injury
  • Animal death

Things We Hide from the Light by Lucy Score

Nash Morgan was always known as the good Morgan brother, with a smile and a wink for everyone. But now, this chief of police is recovering from being shot and his Southern charm has been overshadowed by panic attacks and nightmares. He feels like a broody shell of the man he once was. Nash isn’t about to let anyone in his life know he’s struggling. But his new next-door neighbour, smart and sexy Lina, sees his shadows. As a rule, she’s not a fan of physical contact unless she initiates it, but for some reason Nash’s touch is different. He feels it too. The physical connection between them is incendiary, grounding him and making… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Domestic abuse
  • Panic attacks
  • Alcoholism recounted
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Police brutality
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t. They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Claustrophobia
  • Depression
  • Parent with Parkinson’s Disease
  • Recreational & medicinal drug use
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Lesbomisia
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Paedophilia
  • Rape
  • Sexual harassment
  • Emotional abuse
  • Depression
  • Schizophrenia
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Terminal cancer
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent

The Change by Kristen Miller

After Nessa James’s husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she’s left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn’t take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead—a gift she’s inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities. On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn’t left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Rape mentioned
  • Sexual assault
  • Sex work mentioned
  • Divorce
  • Eating disorder
  • Suicide
  • Murder

From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper

Wild child Isidora Avramov is a thrill chaser, adept demon summoner, and—despite the whole sexy-evil-sorceress vibe—also a cuddly animal lover. When she’s not designing costumes and new storylines for the Arcane Emporium’s haunted house, Issa’s nursing a secret, conflicted dream of ditching her family’s witchy business to become an indie fashion designer in her own right. But when someone starts sabotaging the celebrations leading up to this year’s Beltane festival with dark, dangerous magic, a member of the rival Thorn family gets badly hurt—throwing immediate suspicion on the Avramovs. To clear the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Anxiety & panic attacks, on-page
  • Self-harm for ritual
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)

Love on the Lake by Helena Hunting

Teagan Firestone has always been the dutiful daughter, especially since her mom died. But as her father finally begins to move on, it’s her turn to do the same. Her destination: Pearl Lake, a close-knit community with an entrepreneurial spirit and secrets of its own.

One of them is Aaron Saunders, who dropped out of college to work construction for Pearl Lake’s upper class. He’s a mystery and has a playboy reputation—that is, until he meets Teagan. Neither of them is looking for love, but in a town this small, it’s hard not to let your heart get involved… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Substance addiction
  • Death of a mother recounted

If Only You by Chloe Liese

Ziggy. I’m the youngest player on the National Soccer team, the baby of my family, and thoroughly sick of being underestimated, so I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Which is where my brother’s best friend and teammate, the infamous Sebastian Marchand, comes in. Seb needs to rehab his reputation. I want to give mine an edge. So I propose a fake friendship with real benefits: spending time in the public eye, my good-girl image and his bad-boy notoriety rubbing off on each other. He’s my devious, dark-haired fantasy come to life, but his destructive ways make it easy to keep him in the fake… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Emotional child abuse recounted
  • Anxiety
  • Chronic illness & pain (celiac disease)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis

A Soul to Guide by Opal Reyne

All Raewyn ever wanted was to go home. After accidentally creating a portal to another realm, Raewyn finds herself trapped in a world she’s struggling to navigate. Desperate to find those with magic who can help her, she sets out on a dangerous journey to another town. Unfortunately, on her travels, she learns there are bigger and scarier monsters than the Demons she knows of – and one of them won’t let her get away. All Merikh ever wanted was to escape. For a hundred and eighty years, Merikh has been hunting for a way off Earth. He doesn’t care who he has to eat, kill, or maim to get what he wants. So, when his prey ends… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Bullying recounted