Tag Archives: Mental Illness

Girlhood by Cat Clarke

Girlhood by Cat Clarke

Harper has tried to forget the past and fit in at expensive boarding school Duncraggan Academy. Her new group of friends are tight; the kind of girls who Harper knows have her back. But Harper can’t escape the guilt of her twin sister’s Jenna’s death, and her own part in it – and she knows no one else will ever really understand. But new girl Kirsty seems to get Harper in ways she never expected. She has lost a sister too. Harper finally feels secure. She finally feels…loved. As if she can grow beyond the person she was when Jenna died. Then Kirsty’s behaviour becomes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister from anorexia-related medical issues

We Are Young by Cat Clarke

We Are Young by Cat Clarke

On the same night, Evan’s mother marries local radio DJ ‘Breakfast Tim’, Evan’s brand-new step-brother Lewis is found unconscious and terribly injured, the only survivor of a horrific car crash. A media furore erupts, with the finger of blame pointed firmly at stoner, loner Lewis. Everyone else seems to think the crash was drug-related, but Evan isn’t buying it. With the help of her journalist father, Harry, she decides to find out what really happened that night. As Evan delves deeper into the lives of the three teenagers who died in the crash, she uncovers some disturbing truths and a secret that threatens to tear her family and the … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence
  • Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Eating disorder mentioned
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Self-harm

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

Harriet Douglass lives with her historian father on an old plantation in Louisiana, which they’ve transformed into one of the South’s few enslaved people’s museums. Together, while grieving the recent loss of Harriet’s mother, they run tours that help keep the memory of the past alive. Harriet’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of mother and daughter Claudia and Layla Hartwell—who plan to turn the property next door into a wedding venue, and host the offensively antebellum-themed wedding of two Hollywood stars. Harriet’s fully prepared to hate Layla Hartwell, but it… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism (theme)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson

The Lucky Ones by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

May is a survivor. But she doesn’t feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn’t know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through–no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her. Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister… and the one faithful friend who… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance addiction
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • School shooting (theme)
  • Stalking
  • Bullying

Whiskey Chaser by Lucy Score with Claire Kingsley

Whiskey Chaser by Lucy Score with Claire Kingsley

Raised by her three overbearing brothers, Scarlett is a hell-raising tomboy with a tool belt. A tornado stirring up trouble everywhere she goes. Her favorite pastimes? Drinking any man under the table and two-stepping. But she has zero interest in love. Scarlett’s only being neighborly when she claims her sexy next-door neighbor as her new pet project. Devlin is a man at rock bottom. Marriage, political career, five-year plan to Washington, D.C. All destroyed with one well-placed jab. The golden boy is now the black sheep relegated to Bootleg Springs, a tiny West Virginia… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Parental infidelity
  • Alcoholism
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping & disappearance of children discussed

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre

Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

On an Earth scarred by nuclear war, Snake harnesses the power of venom to cure illnesses and vaccinate against disease. The healer can even ease patients into death with the power of her dreamsnake. But she is not respected and trusted by all, and when she tries to help a sick nomad child, the frightened clan kills her dreamsnake. Ashamed of being misjudged and grieving the loss of her dreamsnake, Snake has one choice to maintain her livelihood: she must travel to the city, which jealously guards its knowledge. And before she faces the prejudices and arrogance…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Paedophilia
  • Child abuse
  • Substance addiction
  • Medical procedures
  • Torture
  • Animal cruelty

Skinny by Ibi Kaslik

Skinny by Ibi Kaslik

Holly’s older sister, Giselle, is self-destructing. Haunted by her love-deprived relationship with her late father, this once strong role model and medical student is gripped by anorexia. Holly, a track star, struggles to keep her own life in balance while coping with the mental and physical deterioration of her beloved sister. Together, they can feel themselves slipping and are holding on for dear life…

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Slut-shaming
  • Eating disorder (anorexia)
  • Death of a parent recounted

Supplicant by Sierra Simone

Supplicant by Sierra Simone

After being left at the altar by her cold and brilliant professor, Church Cason, Charlotte Tenpenny had to leave school to take care of her younger brother. But a fateful night brings Church—and his delicious, drugging kisses—back into Charlotte’s life. And it stirs up a reckoning years in the making . . .

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Child abuse & neglect recounted
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse

Misadventures in Blue by Sierra Simone

Misadventures in Blue by Sierra Simone

Senior Detective Cat Day has one hard and fast rule about dating: no cops. They live hard and die young—a truth she’s faced every day since her fiancé’s tragic death several years ago. But when rookie Jace Sutton shows up to work the same burglary investigation, she feels desire she hasn’t felt in years. Jace knows what he wants the minute Detective Day strolls onto his crime scene in heels and a pencil skirt tailored by God himself. He wants to thaw the legendary Ice Queen, and it only takes one hot, dirty night for Jace to realize he wants more. Much, much more. But more… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Gun violence

Reckless Refuge by Catherine Cowles

Reckless Refuge by Catherine Cowles

There were shadows I was running from. Ones that haunted and taunted. Ones that made it so I had no choice but to disappear. I’d spent years hiding from the world. My little island haven, the only assurance of safety. It all changed the moment he showed up at my door. The hint of pain in his eyes told me that something haunted him, too. And I couldn’t help but be drawn closer. But finding the person I needed most came with risks I never expected. And when our ghosts find us again, neither of us may make it out this time.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Panic attacks
  • Murder of parents recounted
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking