Paedophilia, Grooming & CSA – Page 49 – Trigger Warning Database

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

A half-Japanese teen grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school in this debut novel.

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.

But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableist slurs
Racism
Fatmisia
Paedophilia
Child sexual abuse
Emotional child abuse
Abandonment
Anxiety and panic attacks
Suicide attempt

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

“I need Owen to explain this. Because yes, I do know that Owen would never do that, but I also know Hannah would never lie about something like that.”

Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn’t know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn’t help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend and best friend since childhood, Charlie.

As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Coming out themes
Bimisia
Internalised enbymisia
Slut-shaming
Victim blaming, discussed
Misogyny
Racist microaggressions
Rape, central theme
Sexual assault
Paedophillia*
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Panic attacks, multiple occurrences on-page
Alcohol consumption
Minor injury, mentioned
Hospital visit, mentioned
Medical procedure including a rape kit, recounted
Physical assault
Bullying

*Main character, who is a minor, is sexually abused by her teacher

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy has been accused of raping a high school student. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago.

The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Victim blaming (discussed in-depth)
Rape culture (theme)
Sexual assault
Sexual harassment
Paedophilia mentioned
Graphic rape & gang rape of a minor discussed
Physical child abuse recounted
PTSD
Panic attacks
Night terrors
Attempted suicide by drowning mentioned
Suicide of a parent by overdose discussed
Addiction mentioned
Drug & alcohol abuse mentioned
Terminal cancer
Hospitalisation
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother recounted
Death of a sister & child (off-page)
Murder
Gun violence
Drowning
Hostage situation
Stalking
Car accident & motorcycle accident recounted
Animal injury mentioned (minor)
Bullying & hazing
Grave desecration

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny, slut-shaming & victim-blaming
Rape, sexual assault, paedophilia & child pornography
Substance addiction
Alcohol consumption
Death of a sister
Murder
Fire (arson)
Animal death
Animal abuse & cruelty

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse (theme)
Child pornography
Sex work
Child abandonment & neglect
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Alcoholism
Substance addiction
Disordered eating, mentioned
Attempted suicide
Self-injury (unintentional)
Alcohol & drug abuse
Overdose mentioned
Pregnancy mentioned
Terminal cancer mentioned
Graphic blood depiction
Physical injury & illness
Emesis
Hospitalisation
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a sister and child
Death of a grandmother
Death of a husband mentioned
Murder
Knife violence
Physical assault
Fire
Disappearance of a sibling
Hostage situation
Stalking
Car accident
Homelessness
Poverty

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Victim blaming
Statutory rape
Paedophilia
Domestic violence
Adult-minor relationship/s
Depression
Suicide, mentioned
Abortion
Teenage pregnancy
Pregnancy from rape
Mild gore depiction
Emesis
Death of a parent
Death of a sibling
Murder
Gun violence
Car accident

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

This Nebula Award-winning sequel to Parable of the Sower continues the story of Lauren Olamina in socially and economically depressed California in the 2030s. Convinced that her community should colonize the stars, Lauren and her followers make preparations. But the collapse of society and rise of fanatics result in Lauren’s followers being enslaved, and her daughter stolen from her. Now, Lauren must fight back to save the new world order.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Hate crimes
Victim blaming
Misogyny, sexism and gendered slurs
Racism and racial slurs
White supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Child sexual assault and rape
Grooming behaviour and paedophilia
Rape and rape by coercion
Sex trafficking and sex slavery
Abuse, neglect and abandonment
Child abuse
Emotional abuse
Physical abuse
Verbal abuse
Family estrangement
Adult-minor relationships
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Suicide and attempted suicide
Infertility themes
Pregnancy
Non-consensual pregnancy
Teenage and child pregnancy
Amnesia
Blood and gore depiction
Body horror
Emesis
Physical injuries and wounds
Scars
Starvation and dehydration depiction
Dead bodies and body parts
Death of a child
Death of a friend
Death of a parent/guardians
Death of a sibling
Death of a partner/spouse
Disappearance of a loved one
Grief and loss depiction
Flogging and whippings
Gun violence
Hanging and lynching
Murder and attempted murder
Torture
Avalanche
Chemical gassing and warfare
Cults
Home invasion
Exile
Indentured servitude
Imprisonment, incarceration and captivity
Kidnapping
Persecution for witchcraft
Police brutality and violence
Religious persecution
Terrorism
War and military themes
Homelessness
Poverty themes

The Ascent to Godhood by Neon Yang

The Ascent to Godhood by Neon Yang

The Protector is dead.

For fifty years, the Protector ruled, reshaping her country in her image and driving her enemies to the corners of the map. For half a century the world turned around her as she built her armies, trained her Tensors, and grasped at the reins of fate itself. Now she is dead. Her followers will quiver, her enemies rejoice.

But in one tavern, deep in rebel territory, her greatest enemy drowns her sorrows. Lady Han raised a movement that sought the Protector’s head, yet now she can only mourn her loss. She remembers how it all began, when the Protector was young, not yet crowned, and a desperate dancing girl dared to fall in love with her.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child trafficking
Rape & paedophilia
Suicide
Forced sterilization
Death of a toddler

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Humbert Humbert – scholar, aesthete and romantic – has fallen completely and utterly in love with Lolita Haze, his landlady’s gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Adult-minor relationship
Paedophilia & child sexual assault
Rape
Kidnapping

Mosqitoland by David Arnold

Mosquitoland by David Arnold

I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, because I am strange.

After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is dragged from her home in northern Ohio to the “wastelands” of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in Cleveland.

So she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes a few turns she could never see coming, Mim must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape, attempted rape and paedophilia