Tag Archives: Physical Injuries & Illness

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of physical illness and medical conditions and physical injuries, including burns, wounds, fractures, and scars.

Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi

Tenderhearted Galilee was raised by the Kincaids, a formidable clan of Black women sequestered deep in the weeping willows and dark rushing creeks of their land. Galilee has always known that she’s different—that there is an old and unknowable secret around her very existence. It has been a hollow ache inside her since her childhood, something she assumes she will always have to live with. Until she meets Lucifer Helel. He’s fronting as the head of security for her wealthy friend Oriaku’s family, protecting a mysterious, ancient artifact, but from the moment she lays eyes on him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Improper BDSM practice recounted (not respecting safe words)
  • Intimate partner violence (on-page, protagonist slaps her love interest)
  • Parental infertility & miscarriage mentioned
  • Alochol consumption
  • Physical injury, including temporary loss of vision and gunshot wounds
  • Murder of a father by a mother mentioned (protagonist)
  • Attempted murder & physical assailt
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping & stalking
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy (memory manipulation, angelic possession with the intent to impregnate another)
  • Battle scene

Make Me a Monster by Kalynn Bayron

Meka is used to death. After all, it’s the family business. As a newly certified mortician’s assistant at her parents’ funeral home, her days are not for the faint of heart. Luckily her boyfriend Noah isn’t squeamish, and Meka is finally feeling ready to say the three little words that will change everything. But then tragedy strikes, and Meka’s world is torn apart. Nothing makes sense, especially the strange things start happening. Ravens are circling her home. Strangers are following her. Someone is leaving mysterious items at her door. And worst of all. The dead don’t seem to be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Night terrors
  • Graphic blood, gore & injury depiction, including emesis & dead bodies
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Gun violence
  • Fire
  • Animal death

Waiting on a Friend by Natalie Adler

East Village, summer of 1984. Renata is a young dyke-about-town who happens to have the ability to see ghosts, which has been happening more and more frequently as her friends have started dying of what has recently been named AIDS. So, when her best friend Mark dies, she assumes she’ll see him again. There’s no way Mark wouldn’t give her a chance to say goodbye, would he? But to her disappointment – and increasingly, her concern – Mark doesn’t appear. Renata has other problems, too. There’s something strange happening in her advertisements for paranormal ‘exte… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a best friend from AIDS (theme)

His Tesoro by Emilia Rossi

Sofiya: I’ve spent years hidden away to protect my father from the shame of having a defective daughter. The head of the Bratva can’t be associated with weakness—and to him, that’s all I am. That is, until a marriage alliance gives him the opportunity to finally be rid of me. As I head down the aisle towards my mysterious husband, I hope I’m moving towards love and freedom. But Matteo makes it clear he wants nothing to do with me. I wish I could return his coldness, but the dangerous Don sets my body ablaze whenever he’s near. Matteo: My life has been defined… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & misogyny
  • Threats of sexual assault
  • Arranged marriage
  • Child abuse
  • Infertility mentioned (secondary character) & unplanned pregnancy
  • Medical marijuana use
  • Chronic illness (protagonist with hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder & torture
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal cruelty mentioned (secondary character)

Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison

Sutton and Ethan Montclair’s idyllic life is not as it appears. They seem made for each other, but the truth is ugly. Consumed by professional and personal betrayals and financial woes, the two both love and hate each other. As tensions mount, Sutton disappears, leaving behind a note saying not to look for her. Ethan finds himself the target of vicious gossip as friends, family and the media speculate on what really happened to Sutton Montclair. As the police investigate, the lies the couple have been spinning for years quickly unravel. Is Ethan a killer? Is he being set… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Abortion
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a son from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Tear Me Apart by J.T. Ellison

Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter. Who knows the answers? The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart… and someone is going to deadly extremes to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-harm & suicide
  • Miscarriage
  • Physical injury sustained during a skiing accident
  • Cancer (leukemia, protagonist)

Breaking His Ice by Klastella

I have one rule: I don’t do relationships. Hookups? Sure. Love? Hell no. Love doesn’t fix anything—it just screws you up. I know. I watched it ruin my family. As captain of the Ridgewater Warriors, my game plan is simple: keep it casual, stay focused, win games. Repeat. And it’s been working just fine—until Samantha Westbrook showed up. My best friend’s pesky little sister. The girl who’s had a crush on me since she was ten. Now she’s a freshman at Ridgewater U, and she’s everywhere I go, cockblocking every girl who so much as breathes near me. I spent years brushing her off, telling her to stay… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Parental infidelity
  • Parent with alcoholism, gambling issues & depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug use & smoking
  • Sports injury
  • Death of a parent from cancer (acute myeloid leukemia)
  • Animal death mentioned (pet)

The Burning Season by Caroline Starr Rose

Twelve-year-old Opal is deathly afraid of fire. Still Opal is preparing to become a fourth-generation lookout on Wolf Mountain, deep in the New Mexico wilderness. She, Mom, and Gran live at ten thousand feet in a single room at the top of a fire tower. They are responsible for spotting any hint of smoke before it becomes an uncontrollable blaze. Instead of training for the lonely life of a lookout, Opal wishes she could be starting seventh grade in Silver City, attending real classes with kids her own age and even going to afterschool clubs like FFA. But Wolf Mountain has other ideas. When Mom makes the long trek to town for supplies… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a father recounted
  • Hospitalisation for injury
  • Smoke spotting (theme) with discussions of wildfires

Some of Us Are Brave by Saadia Faruqi

It’s a humid summer in Houston, Texas, and Yasir is dreaming of being soccer team captain—if only he could get the team bully, Cody, off his back, and maybe impress his sort-of-crush, Mona. Meanwhile, Mona is turning her nightmares into art, and Cody’s home life feels as tense as the storm literally brewing down the coast. When Hurricane Harvey makes landfall, the three kids could hardly be called friends. But as their regular lives fall apart and rising floodwaters pull them together, Mona, Cody, and Yasir will need to work as a team if they want to survive. The… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism & racism
  • Parental abandonment, child abuse & domestic violence
  • Night terrors
  • Parent with anger management issues after being injured during military service
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a grandmother mentioned
  • Hurricane Harvey & floods (theme)
  • Near-drowning incident recounted
  • Bullying

Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins

A reporter has come to Wyoming to do a story on doctors for his Black newspaper back east. He thinks Colton Lee will be an interesting subject…until he meets Colton’s sister, Spring. She runs her own ranch, wears denim pants instead of dresses, and is the most fascinating woman he’s ever met. But Spring, who has overcome a raucous and scandalous past, isn’t looking for, nor does she want, love. As their attraction grows, will their differences come between them or unite them for an everlasting love?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny, slut-shaming & racism
  • Slavery recounted (protagonist)
  • Dubious consent scenario recounted (‘dubcon’)
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Hospitalisation & surgery for gunshot wound
  • Gun violence
  • Cheyenne Massacre mentioned