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.

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

The convent has returned Sybella to a life that nearly drove her mad. Her father’s rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother’s love is equally monstrous. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will the daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Sex work shaming
  • Incest (brother-sister & father-daughter)
  • Rape & attempted rape, on-page & recounted (multiple scenes)
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Pregnancy from rape mentioned
  • Childbirth mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic physical injuries & illness,
  • Facial scars and disfigurement mentioned
  • Death of a sister, off-page
  • Death of a newborn daughter recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Attempted infanticide by drowning mentioned
  • Infanticide by snapping a newborn’s neck recounted, on-page
  • Knife, sword & arrow violence
  • Poisoning
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal death (dog) mentioned
  • Animal hunting
  • War themes & battle scenes including discussions of sieges

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan

Love demands sacrifice. Her blood. Her body. Even her life. Singapore, 1927. Verity Edevane needs blood. And not just anyone’s blood. She craves the sweet, salty rush from a young woman’s veins, the heady swirl of desire mixed with fealty—such a rarity in this foreign colony. It’s a lot to ask. But doesn’t she deserve the best? Gean Choo needs money. Mrs. Edevane makes her an offer Gean Choo can’t refuse. But who is her strange, alluring new mistress? What is she? And what will Gean Choo sacrifice to earn her love?… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Child sexual abuse recounted
  • Dubious consent scenarios, including employer-employee relationship
  • Child abandonment
  • Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
  • Abusive relationship
  • Cheating
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self-harm & self-inflicted injury
  • Recreational drug use
  • Death during childbirth mentioned
  • Physical injury, including a broken nose
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Physical assault

A Game of Cones by Abby Collette

A Game of Cones by Abby Collette

Bronwyn Crewse is delighted that Crewse Creamery, the ice cream shop her family has owned for decades, is restored to its former glory and serving sweet frozen treats to happy customers in the picturesque small town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. But when a big city developer comes to town intent on building a mall, a killer with a frozen heart takes him out. After literally stumbling across the body, one of Win’s closest friends becomes the prime suspect, and to make things worse, Win’s aunt has come to town with the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Murder
  • Stalking

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

Sawyer Dodd is a star athlete, a straight-A student, and the envy of every other girl who wants to date Kevin Anderson. When Kevin dies in a tragic car crash, Sawyer is stunned. Then she opens her locker to find a note: You’re welcome. Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knows that Sawyer and Kevin weren’t the perfect couple they seemed to be. And that someone—a killer—is now shadowing Sawyer’s every move…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Dementia
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Car accident
  • Kidnapping & captivity

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard

Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. You won’t find it on a map, your phone won’t work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you. Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie’s town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night. Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injury
  • Bullying

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

With a flick of her paintbrush, Isobel creates stunning portraits for a dangerous set of clients: the fair folk. These immortal creatures cannot bake bread or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and they trade valuable enchantments for Isobel’s paintings. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—Isobel makes a deadly mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes, a weakness that could cost him his throne, and even his life. Furious, Rook spirits Isobel away to his kingdom to stand… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Self-injury
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Kidnapping
  • Loss of autonomy discussed (magic)
  • Animal attack

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

It’s something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it’s a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn’t do as she’s told, the boy will die. “You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last.” Rachel is now part of The Chain… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug abuse & use, on-page
  • Protagonist with cancer
  • Death and resuscitation of a child for anaphylactic shock
  • Murder
  • Gun violence & threats of gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity of children, on-page (theme)
  • Disappearance of a daughter
  • Stalking
  • Physical assault with a wrench and physical assault of a child
  • Animal hunting

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th-century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles. But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking
  • Slavery
  • Antisemitism
  • Queermisia
  • Rape mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking and medicinal drug use mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction including broken bones and knife wounds
  • Depiction of corpses
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Genocide recounted
  • Torture mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Knife violence
  • Drowning
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • War themes
  • Animal death

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Infidelity mentioned (sc)
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Sports injury
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse recounted
  • Parental abandonment
  • Panic attack
  • Suicide recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging mentioned
  • Stillbirth recounted
  • Blood & physical injuries depiction
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother & father in a fire recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Explosion
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Blackmail
  • Colonialism & slavery discussed
  • Animal death mentioned