The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff 

So began the ceremony that was to make young Phaedrus, ex-slave and gladiator, Horse Lord of the Dalriadain. Phaedrus had come a long way since the fight in the arena that gained him his freedom. He had left behind his old Roman life and identity and had entered another, more primitive, world—that of the British tribes in the far north. In this world of superstition and ancient ritual, of fierce loyalties and intertribal rivalry, Phaedrus found companionship and love, and something more—a purpose and a meaning to his life as he came fully to understand the significance of the Mark of the Horse… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Sexual assault (nonconsensual kiss)
  • Forced arranged marriage
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Forced murder of a friend
  • Animal sacrifice (horse)
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Campfire by Shawn Sarles 

Campfire by Shawn Sarles 

While camping in a remote location, Maddie Davenport gathers around the fire with her friends and family to tell scary stories. Caleb, the handsome young guide, shares the local legend of the ferocious Mountain Men who hunt unsuspecting campers and leave their mark by carving grisly antlers into their victims’ foreheads.

The next day, the story comes true… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder, on-page
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Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

October “Toby” Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a “normal” life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas…

The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening’s dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and ren… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Depression
  • Blood depiction
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
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Truth, Lies, and Second Dates by MaryJanice Davidson

Truth, Lies, and Second Dates by MaryJanice Davidson

Captain Ava Capp has been flying from her past for a decade. She’d much rather leave it, and her home state, behind forever. But when she finds herself back in Minnesota, against her better judgment, everything goes sideways in a way she never expected it to.

M.E. Dr. Tom Baker has never forgotten Ava and the cold case she ran away from. When she shows up unexpectedly in town, in spite of himself, sparks fly. Which is terrible because he can’t stop his growing attraction… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia
  • Subtance addiction recovery
  • Suicidal ideation recounted
  • Death of a wife from cancer mentioned
  • Death of a sister & parents in a car accident
  • Murder of a friend recounted
  • Gun violence
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The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

Quala, a North Queensland sugar town, the 1970s.
Barbara McClymont walks the cane fields searching for Janet, her sixteen-year-old daughter, who has been missing for weeks. The police have no leads. The people of Quala are divided by dread and distrust. But the sugar crush is underway and the cane must be burned.

Meanwhile, children dream of a malevolent presence, a schoolteacher yearns to escape, and history… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Child sexual abuse mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping mentioned
  • Motorcycle accident
  • Fire
  • Animal death
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How She Died, How I Lived by Mary Crockett 

How She Died, How I Lived by Mary Crockett

On the eve of Kyle’s sentencing a year after Jamie’s death, all the other “chosen ones” are coping in various ways. But our tenacious narrator is full of anger, stuck somewhere between the horrifying past and the unknown future as she tries to piece together why she gets to live, while Jamie is dead.

Now she finds herself drawn to Charlie, Jamie’s boyfriend–knowing all the while that their relationship will always be haunted by what-ifs and why-nots… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Murder
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The Maid by Nita Prose 

The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etique… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Assisted suicide, on-page
  • Murder
  • Bullying
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My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton &  Jodi Meadows

Welcome ​to 1876 and a rootin’-tootin’ America bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou. JANE (a genuine hero-eene).

Calamity’s her name, and garou hunting’s her game—when she’s not starring in Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, that is. She reckons that if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Emotional & physical child abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity
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My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton &  Jodi Meadows

You may think you know the story. After a miserable childhood, penniless orphan Jane Eyre embarks on a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite their significant age gap (!) and his uneven temper (!!), they fall in love—and, Reader, she marries him. (!!!) Or does she?

Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions, in which all is not as it seems, a certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and one orphan… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
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Where the Truth Lives by Mia Sheridan

Where the Truth Lives by Mia Sheridan

When the director of a local mental health hospital is found murdered and mutilated, Homicide Detective Reed Davies is first on scene. What was done to the body is gruesome. Inexplicable. But Reed is dealt another curveball when he finds that the doctor who discovered the victim is someone Reed is intimately familiar with—a woman with whom he shared one passionate night weeks before.

Dr. Elizabeth Nolan is somehow tangled up in the crime, and even while Reed must now question her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape of a child recounted
  • Domestic abuse
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
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