The Taming of Jessi Rose by Beverly Jenkins

Jessi Rose Clayton would do anything to keep the family ranch from falling into the wrong hands-even agree to take on a rough-and-tumble outlaw as her protector. With his rugged, handsome face and muscular bronze body, Griffin Blake can draw a sigh from a lady’s lips almost as fast as his strong, sculpted arm can draw a gun from its holster. But Jessi Rose has no intentions of falling for his charms. No, her relationship with him is strictly business. Until He Came Along Robbing the railroad is Griffin Blake’s game, but he has no choice. Either he agrees to help Jessi Rose or he gets sent back to jail-so he arrives… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Rape mentioned (off-page)
  • Infertility mentioned
  • Death of parents mentioned
  • Murder by gun violence (on-page)

Night Song by Beverly Jenkins

Cara Lee Henson knows no soldier can be trusted to stay in one place–and that includes handsome Sergeant Chase Jefferson of the Tenth Cavalry. Dallying with the dashing man in blue could cost the pretty, independent Kansas schoolteacher her job and her reputation. So Cara is determined to repel Chase′s advances–even though her aloof façade barely masks her smouldering desire. Never before has Chase longed for a woman the way he aches for lovely Cara Lee. The strong-willed ebony beauty, however, will not surrender easily. But with tender words and soulful caresses, Chase intends to conquer the reluctant… Read more.

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Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & colourism
  • Miscarriage
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Lynching
  • Kidnapping

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

When the notorious Black Daniel is carried, badly injured, into Hester Wyatt’s home, there is no question that he will be cared for and protected. Once a slave herself, Hester regularly gives shelter to runaways, yet the man of mysteries she now harbours brings greater danger than she’s ever known. He is Galen Vachon, a member of a unique elite class of pre-Civil War blacks. Handsome, arrogant, and accustomed to lavish living, he fears he’s been betrayed in his work with the underground and wants to move on quickly. Yet the magic healing caresses that flow from Hester’s lovely indigo-stained hands tear at his heart… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, colourism & racial slurs, including discussions of slavery & forced conscription
  • Misogyny & slut-shaming
  • Infidelity*
  • Emotional, verbal & physical child abuse recounted
  • Threats of rape
  • Statutory rape recounted*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death during childbirth mentioned (secondary character’s daughter)
  • Minor physical injury & illness including broken bones, gunshot wounds, & fever
  • Death of an aunt & grandmother mentioned
  • Death of a father from wasting disease mentioned
  • Death of parents & grandfather in a boating accident recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence (secondary character shoots her abusive partner)
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment recounted
  • Death from snakebite mentioned

*Context : The female protagonist was enslaved until she was nine-years-old. The male protagonist had sex with a 28-year-old woman when he was 17-years-old. The male protagonist kisses the female protagonist when she is engaged to someone else; however, it’s intended to be a celibate marriage of convenience and the fiancé turns out to be married. A secondary character’s wife is cheating on him. The male protagonist’s grandfather left his grandmother for his mistress.

Destiny’s Surrender by Beverly Jenkins

Andrew Yates has come to a decision: it’s time to stop sowing those oats and start a family. But searching for a bride isn’t as simple as he’d hoped, and many of the respectable women of his acquaintance feel . . . lacking. Then beautiful, feisty Wilhelmina “Billie” Wells arrives at the family ranch with a toddler in her arms, claiming Drew is the father! Billie had no choice but to show up at Destiny in search of Drew. For the sake of their child, she’s willing to leave him with his father so the boy can have a better life, but then, before she can blink, she’s saying “I do” in front of a preacher in a marriage of convenience. All Billie and Drew have… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & slut-shaming
  • Sex work & attempted rape
  • Murder
  • Poisoning

A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins

Loreli Winters never imagined she’d end up a “mail-order bride” in middle-of-nowhere Kansas — until the two adorable orphan nieces of a dusky dream named Jake Reed beg her to be their new “mama.” And one look at the dark, devastatingly handsome man is enough to entice her to abandon her California plans and stay put for a while in this one-horse frontier town. Strong, sensible Jake was hoping for a wife to help him raise his girls, but Loreli may be more than he can handle. He can’t stop wondering what it would be like to hold the fiery enchantress close and kiss her deeply. Surely he could never compete with the… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Rape recounted (off-page)
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Arson

Rebel by Beverly Jenkins

Valinda Lacey’s mission in the steamy heart of New Orleans is to help the newly emancipated community survive and flourish. But soon she discovers that here, freedom can also mean danger. When thugs destroy the school she has set up and then target her, Valinda runs for her life—and straight into the arms of Captain Drake LeVeq. As an architect from an old New Orleans family, Drake has a deeply personal interest in rebuilding the city. Raised by strong women, he recognizes Valinda’s determination. And he can’t stop admiring—or wanting—her. But when Valinda’s father demands she return home to marry a man she doesn’t love… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical racism & homophobia
  • Slavery discussed
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Murder & gun violence
  • Arson

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady’s companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago. What she didn’t expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who’s also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity & spousal abandonment*
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Emotional parental abuse recounted
  • Suicide mentioned (secondary character)
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction, including minor self-injury for blood, dead bodies & emesis
  • Death of parents in a car accident recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Knife violence
  • Loss of autonomy (ghost possession)

Context : Violet is technically married to a man who abandoned her & stole her possessions; due to his disappearance, she is unable to dissolve their marriage and never reveals this to her love interest.

The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty

Princess Ko’s been bluffing about the mysterious absence of her father, desperately trying to keep the government running on her own. But if she can’t get him back in a matter of weeks, the consequence may be a devastating war. So under the guise of a publicity stunt she gathers a group of teens — each with a special ability — from across the kingdom to crack the unsolvable case of the missing royals of Cello. Chief among these is farm-boy heartthrob Elliot Baranski, more determined than ever to find… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child neglect
  • Amnesia
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Murder & kidnapping

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

This is a tale of missing persons. Madeleine and her mother have run away from their former life, under mysterious circumstances, and settled in a rainy corner of Cambridge (in our world). Elliot, on the other hand, is in search of his father, who disappeared on the night his uncle was found dead. The talk in the town of Bonfire (in the Kingdom of Cello) is that Elliot’s dad may have killed his brother and run away with the Physics teacher. But Elliot refuses to believe it. And he is determined to find both his dad and the… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Parent with a brain tumour
  • Death of an uncle mentioned
  • Murder & kidnapping

Death Note, Vol. 8: Target by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Light–working as Kira, the newest member of the NPA intelligence bureau, and L–has nearly succeeded in creating his ideal world. But the years of uncontested victory have made him complacent, and he is unprepared for a new attack close to home. With his younger sister Sayu kidnapped and the NPA’s Death Note demanded as ransom, Light must travel across the world and confront two new adversaries, each with a very different agenda. Will Light’s quick wits be a match for this new challenge, or will he be forced to choose between Kira’s ambitions and his own family’s lives?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Heart attack
  • Murder (on- & off-page)
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Illegal & unethical surveillance and invasions of privacy by law enforcement