Poverty & Financial Difficulties – Page 5

The Kindest Lieby Nancy Johnson

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to—and was forced to leave behind—when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past. Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Drug abuse
Substance addiction
Gang violence
Lynching
Police brutality
Poverty

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim

When Amaya rescues a mysterious stranger from drowning, she fears her rash actions have earned her a longer sentence on the debtor ship where she’s been held captive for years. Instead, the man she saved offers her unimaginable riches and a new identity, setting Amaya on a perilous course through the coastal city-state of Moray, where old-world opulence and desperate gamblers collide. Amaya wants one thing: revenge against the man who ruined her family and stole the life she once had. But the more entangled she becomes in this game of deception—and as her path intertwines with the son of the man she’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Classism
Indentured servitude of children, discussed in-depth
Sexual assault, on-page
Child abuse
Forced arranged marriage
Gambling addiction recovery & relapse (theme)
Suicide mentioned
Alcohol consumption & abuse, recounted & discussed
Drugging
Blood & gore depiction,
Dead bodies & body parts
Needles
Terminal illness (plague-like), recounted & on-page
Depiction of starvation
Cannibalism mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father recounted
Death of children, on-page
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence & stabbing
Torture recounted
Whipping recounted
Hanging mentioned
Kidnapping & captivity
Blackmail
Death by a fall recounted
Near-drowning incident
War themes discussed
Poverty themes & debt collection (theme)

I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

News stations across the country are reporting mysterious messages that Earth has been receiving from a planet—Alma—claiming to be its creator. If they’re being interpreted correctly, in seven days Alma will hit the kill switch on their “colony” Earth. True or not, for teenagers Jesse Hewitt, Cate Collins, and Adeem Khan, the prospect of this ticking time bomb will change their lives forever. Jesse, who has been dealt one bad blow after another, wonders if it even matters what happens to the world. Cate, on the other hand, is desperate to use this time to find the father she never… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Schizophrenia
Depression
Attempted suicide
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm
Cancer
Surgery
Hospital
Death of a parent recounted
Gun violence
Poverty
Animal death

Tattered by Devney Perry

Tattered by Devney Perry

Thea Landry has always known her place in modern-day society. It’s somewhere just above the trash can her mother dumped her in as a newborn but below the class where much comes easy. With her tattered shoes and bargain-bin clothes, her life has never been full of glamour. So when a rich and charismatic man takes interest, she doesn’t fool herself into thinking their encounter is anything more than a one-night stand. Months later, she’s kicking herself for not getting his phone number. Or his last name. She’s given up hope of seeing him ever again. Until one day, years… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child neglect
Unplanned pregnancy, off-page
Physical assault,
Stalking, on-page
Poverty recounted

Never Fall for Your Fiancée by Virginia Heath

Never Fall for Your Fiancée by Virginia Heath

The last thing Hugh Standish, Earl of Fareham, ever wants is a wife. Unfortunately for him, his mother is determined to find him one, even from across the other side of the ocean. So, Hugh invents a fake fiancée to keep his mother’s matchmaking ways at bay. But when Hugh learns his interfering mother is on a ship bound for England, he realizes his complicated, convoluted but convenient ruse is about to implode. Until he collides with a beautiful woman, who might just be the miracle he needs. Minerva Merriwell has had to struggle to support herself and her two younger… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Death of a parent recounted
Blackmail
Poverty

The Guy in the Middle by Kate Stewart

The Guy in the Middle by Kate Stewart

I was born to play and bred to win. My priorities were instilled in me early on—family and football. Those ideals led me to TGU and a coach whose ironclad principles mirrored my own. With one last college season to play, my goal was singular—get drafted. By realizing my NFL dream, I could save my family, our ranch, and the only home I’d ever known. ⁣⁣⁣⁣Two birds, one ball. .Playing hard was my only option, but there’s always a wild card. For all of my planning and hard work, I never anticipated falling for the coach’s daughter. Harper was a fair catch, but who knew loving her could be the one… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Parent with a gambling addiction, off-page
Suicide mentioned
Parent with Parkinson’s Disease, on page
Bullying
Poverty

Drive by Kate Stewart

Drive by Kate Stewart

The average song is three and a half minutes long; those three and a half minutes could lead to a slow blink, a glimpse of the past, or catapult the soul into heart-shattering nostalgia. At the height of my career, I had the life I wanted, the life I’d always envisioned. I’d found my tempo, my rhythm. Then I received a phone call that left me off key.. You see, my favourite songs had a way of playing simultaneously. I was in love with one man’s beats and another’s lyrics. But when it came to the soundtrack of a life, how could anyone choose a favourite song? So, to erase any doubt, I ditched my first-class ticket and decided to take.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cheating, on-page
Parent with alcoholism mentioned
Drug use, on-page
Poverty

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Sang Ly lives at Cambodia’s largest city dump, earning a living for her family by sifting through the trash for recyclables and things that can be repaired and sold. On a good day, she can earn enough to buy food for her family. She needs enough good days to pay the Rent Collector, Sopeap—a grumpy old woman who is willing to evict any tenant who can’t pay their rent on time. When Sang Ly is unable to pay her rent, she fears her family will have to leave their shanty home—a place where her only possessions can be carried in two hands. But when Sopeap sees a discarded children’s book lying on Sang Ly’s cardboard bed, her mood… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Human trafficking mentioned
Physical injuries & illnesses mentioned
Death of a parent
Gang violence
Physical assault
Poverty (theme)

Hitting the Wall by Cate Wells

Hitting the Wall by Cate C. Wells

Shay. Six years ago, the good, upstanding men of Stonecut County ran me off. I took a secret with me. An inconvenient truth they wanted buried. Actions have consequences. Their perfect golden boy maybe wasn’t so perfect after all. Then life hands me one too many lemons. I’m forced to go back, and in Stonecut, nothing ever changes. Kellum Wall is still golden. I’m still unwanted. And falling for his cocksure smile will most certainly ruin my life all over again. Kellum
I believe there are still good men left in this world, and I strive to be one. I was raised to live by a code. God and country. Protect and serve. I always do the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Rape & statutory rape recounted
Intimate partner violence
Parent with alcoholism mentioned
Alcohol consumption
Teen pregnancy recounted
Emesis
Death of a grandparent mentioned
Attempted infanticide by drowning mentioned
Physical assault
Police corruption & abuse of power
Accidental death of a pet horse mentioned
Animal hunting
Poverty

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

At fifty-one years old, twins Jeanie and Julius still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation in the English countryside. The cottage they have shared their entire lives is their only protection against the modernizing world around them. Inside its walls, they make music, and in its garden, they grow everything they need to survive. To an outsider, it looks like poverty; to them, it is home. But when Dot dies unexpectedly, the world they’ve so carefully created begins to fall apart. The cottage they love, and the security it offered, is taken back by their landlord, exposing the twins to harsh truths and even harsher realities. Seeing… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Death of a mother from a stroke
Poverty