Tag Archives: Organised Crime

Broken Harbor by Catherine Cowles

Since the moment our lives fell apart, the only thing that mattered was making a good life for my son. A life where he was happy and safe. I just never expected to find that safety with a hockey player known for his brutal dominance on the ice and his recklessness off it. But Cope Colson is so much more. The gentle way he makes sure we’re okay. The playful care he shows my son. The way he truly sees me. When my life comes apart yet again, it’s Cope picking up the pieces. Now, we’re living in his house, eating his incredible, chef-worthy meals, and it’s not just my son… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence & abuse
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Organised crime
  • Car accident

The Badge by Lena Hendrix

One wrong turn down a dark alley and my career as one of Chicago’s most decorated female officers is at risk. Working on a remote Montana ranch designed to protect federal witnesses is easy. Not falling for the criminal who saved my life proves to be nearly impossible. Evan Walker is determined to start over––be a better man. When we’re forced to work together, I find that he is so much more than I ever expected. He’s strong. Kind-hearted. Irresistible. We’re drawn to each other in ways that are completely reckless. I shouldn’t let my touch linger or focus on how real… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Panic attacks
  • Overdose mentioned
  • Death of a friend
  • Organised crime
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping recounted

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Teenagers in a small Oklahoma town have split into two gangs, divided by money, tastes and attitude. The Socs’ idea of having a good time is beating up Greasers like Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy knows what to expect and knows he can count on his brothers and friends – until the night someone takes things too far, and life is changed forever.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sibling abuse
  • Murder
  • Gang violence (theme)
  • Fire

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang

In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor—but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue. In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead. And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before. Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging & drug use
  • Organised crime
  • Death of a father from cancer recounted
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • Animal death

Black Hearts by Karina Halle

For Vicente Bernal, truth is all he’s known. The son of an infamous drug lord, Vicente was born to help run the family business, which means he’s been raised on a throne of sordid pasts and dirty laundry, violence and pride. But when Vicente stumbles across someone he’s not supposed to know about – a woman from his father’s checkered past – he sets out to California to find her behind his father’s back. What Vicente doesn’t expect to find in San Francisco is Violet McQueen, the woman’s twenty-year-old daughter. Beautiful and edgy with vulnerability he can’t resist, Violet…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use (cigarettes)
  • Death of a grandfather from cancer
  • Death of an aunt from a car bomb recounted
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Organised crime
  • Attempted kidnapping

Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha

All Noelle Cunningham has ever wanted is a life beyond–beyond the walls of Eden, where only the righteous are allowed to remain, and beyond her stiflingly restrictive existence as a councilman’s daughter. But only ruins lie outside the City, remnants of a society destroyed by solar storms decades earlier. he sectors surrounding Eden house the corrupt, the criminal–men like Jasper McCray, bootlegger and cage fighter. Jas clawed his way up from nothing to stand at the right hand of Sector Four’s ruthless leader, and he’ll defend the O’Kane gang with his life. But no fight ever prepared him for the exiled City girl who… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Underage sex work mentioned*
  • Physical injury
  • Torture mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Organised crime

*Context : The female protagonist was trained to be a sex worker as a child.

Things You Won’t Say by Sarah Pekkanen

Every morning, as her husband Mike straps on his SIG Sauer and pulls on his heavy Magnum boots, Jamie Anderson tenses up. Then comes the call she has always dreaded: There’s been a shooting at police headquarters. Mike isn’t hurt, but his long-time partner is grievously injured. As weeks pass and her husband’s insomnia and disconnectedness mount, Jamie realizes he is an invisible casualty of the attack. Then the phone rings again. Another shooting but this time Mike has pulled the trigger. But the shooting does more than just alter Jamie’s world. It’s about to change everything for two other women. Christie Simmons, Mike.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity discussed
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Attempted murder of a police partner by gun violence
  • Police shooting of an unarmed latinx teen in a gang fight

Bloodied Hands by Adelaide Forrest

Bloodied Hands by Adelaide Forrest

Ivory: Caught in a bank robbery and staring down the barrel of a gun was not the way I intended to start my day. When the masked man takes one look at my face and mutters my name in shock, my world stops.. And then he follows it with a plea for forgiveness from the devil himself. Matteo uses the opportunity to invade my life, reclaiming me as if the past twelve years never happened. The boy I loved is gone, replaced by hardened cruelty and a dangerous reputation. But Matteo isn’t the only one who wants to make me a pawn in a game I never… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a father recounted
  • Bank robbery
  • Organised crime (mafia)

Sweet Sacrifice by Sav Miller

Sweet Sacrifice by Sav R. Miller

Fiona Ivers has been in love with her brother’s best friend since she was a kid. He’s older and oblivious to her existence—which only makes her want him more. She’s always believed he was disinterested until a charity gala pushes them together. There, she realizes maybe he pays more attention than he’s ever let on. Broody, tattooed loner Boyd Kelly has a low tolerance for distractions and has no issues letting those around him know. His best friend’s younger sister doesn’t seem to care, though. Each time the high-strung… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human & sex trafficking
  • Parental infidelity
  • Sexual assault
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Drug abuse
  • Hospitalisation for anaphylaxis (deliberate self-exposure)
  • Parent with chronic illness
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Organised crime

Sweet Solitude by Sav Miller

Sweet Solitude by Sav R. Miller

In the wake of her father’s death, lonely Juliet Harrison struggles with the guilt over her loss. She deals with it the way she deals with everything: by burying her feelings beneath impulsive decisions and desecrating the local graveyard. But Juliet isn’t as invisible as she believes. Hiding out from the ghosts of his past, Kieran Ivers is known in King’s Trace as a homicidal hermit. But the rumours don’t stop him from visiting the cemetery to taunt his late brother’s remains. It’s there he first spots a woman engaging in lascivious acts on her father’s grave and becomes enraptured by… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Sexual assault, voyeurism & dubious consent scenario
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Torture
  • Organised crime
  • Erotic asphyxiation