Tag Archives: Overdose

The Kill Clause by Lisa Unger

A hit woman’s work doesn’t stop for the holidays. As the advent calendar winds down, Paige slips into a palatial house, ignoring a blizzard of texts from her ex-husband. No surprise—Julian always gets maudlin this time of year. The real shock comes when the target is not alone. His young daughter is there too. Risking the wrath of her organization, Paige retreats. There are some lines that, for personal reasons, she just won’t cross. But when she returns on Christmas Eve to finish the job, the girl is still there…along with someone even more startling. As the ghosts of her past gather,… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Overdose
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Home invasion
  • Animal death

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobic slurs
  • Child abuse & neglect mentioned
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Rape mentioned & recounted
  • Suicide, suicidal ideation & self-harm mentioned
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use including overdose
  • Death of a child (off-page)
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Fatal car acciedne tmentioned
  • Animal death (dog)

Braving the Storm by Elliott Rose

I’m not supposed to feel this way… I never wanted to disappear more than while around my family. Briar Lane, the girl only useful for one thing: my surname. A business handshake and pawn to be traded. My father’s chess piece shuffled between empires. That was my life back in L.A. but all it took was finding the dirty secret stuffed in a jacket pocket, and my entire world unraveled. So, I fled to the one place I knew they could never find me. Crimson Ridge. Arriving in this snowy, harsh world, I thought I’d be starting over on my own, but it turns out I couldn’t have been… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Statutory assault & rape, child prostitution & grooming mentioned (secondary characters)
  • Internalised victim-blaming by a rape survivor mentioned (secondary character)
  • Child abandonment & foster care system experiences mentioned (secondary character)
  • Verbal & emotional intimate partner abuse & gaslighting by ex-partner mentioned
  • Forced arranged marriage mentioned
  • Threats of disownment recounted
  • Infidelity by ex-partner discussed
  • Anxiety (protagonist) & nightmares recounted
  • Restrictive eating mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & mentions of alcoholism
  • Suicide of a pregnant side character by overdose mentioned
  • Infertility
  • Physical head injury (on-page) & mentions of past bull-riding injuries
  • Death of parents mentioned including death during childbirth (off-page)
  • Home invasion (off-page)
  • Blackmail & nonconsensual surveillance
  • Animal abuse mentioned

*Context : A romance between an adopted uncle and his estranged niece.

Lu by Jason Reynolds

Lu by Jason Reynolds

Lu was born to be co-captain of the Defenders. Well, actually, he was born albino, but that’s got nothing to do with being a track star. Lu has swagger, plus the talent to back it up, and with all that—not to mention the gold chains and diamond earrings—no one’s gonna outshine him. Lu knows he can lead Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and the team to victory at the championships, but it might not be as easy as it seems. Suddenly, there are hurdles in Lu’s way—literally and not-so-literally—and Lu needs to figure out, fast, what winning the gold really means.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Parental pregnancy mentioned
  • Death of an overdose mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying mentioned including ableist name-calling

Vanquish by Pam Godwin

Her life is like a prison cell. A self-made, to-hell-with-the-free-world existence that locks from the inside. Stop judging. Her agoraphobia doesn’t define her. It simply keeps her safe. He belongs in a prison cell. The 6×8, make-me-your-bitch variety that locks from the outside. But he’s free. To hunt. To take. To break. And he just found a sexy new toy. Capturing her is the easy part. Her fucked-up mind, however, makes him question everything he does next. But he’s a determined bastard. If all goes his way, this will hurt like hell.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Internalised fatphobia & body dysmorphia
  • Rape, sexual slavery & nonconsensual BDSM (on-page)
  • Sex trafficking (on-page & recounted)
  • Sex work recounted
  • Intimate partner violence (on-page)
  • Emotional & verbal intimate partner abuse recounted
  • Forced child abandonment
  • Divorce recounted
  • Agoraphobia, bulimia & Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (protagonist)
  • Psychiatric institutionalisation of a parent mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug abuse recounted (protagonists)
  • Death of a mother from an overdose recounted
  • Murder by gun violence mentioned (secondary character)
  • Kidnapping (on-page)

Context : The male protagonist kidnaps, rapes, and abuses the female protagonist, his love interest. He is a former stalker and sex trafficker who has raped others in the past. He has a child with a different secondary character who was forcibly taken away. The female protagonist is divorced.

The Apple Tree by Jewel E. Ann

He’s a single dad starting over in a new town. She’s a relentless flirt with a penchant for trouble, ten years younger than him, and the babysitter. What could go wrong? Eve has just graduated from high school, but she doesn’t know what’s next aside from working at the local motel, spying on Kyle, her neighbor, and stealing apples from his orchard. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’ll be stuck at home and treated like a child forever. Kyle is a single dad and the new football coach who needs a babysitter for his adorable son. When he meets Eve, there’s an instant connect… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Alcoholism & forced rehabilitation
  • Overdose

The Obsession by Jesse Q Sutanto

Nobody knows Delilah like Logan does. Nobody. He makes sure of it by learning everything he can through her social media and watching her through a hidden camera he has trained on her house. Some might call him a stalker. Logan prefers to be called “romantic.” But after Logan sees Delilah killing her abusive stepfather, he realizes there’s still more about her to discover. His sweet, perfect Delilah isn’t so perfect after all. Delilah knows she should feel guilty, but all she feels is free. She’s so over the men in her life controlling her. Except Logan saw what she did, and he won’t let… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & sexism
  • Attempted suicide
  • Substance addiction
  • Drugging & overdose
  • Stalking

Wild Side by Elsie Silver

I’d always dreamed of my wedding day. But not like this. Not looking into the eyes of the man who betrayed me. But when my nephew’s guardianship is contested, I decide I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy. Rhys Dupris. A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises—ones he won’t talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all. Which would be fine, except when he’s not talking, he’s staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent. The tension between us has.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a sibling from a drug overdose

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend. Called “Pastoral,” this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it… he disappears. Just like Maggie… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional abuse & glasighting
  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Suicide by overdose
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent by cancer mentioned
  • Execution by hanging

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