Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar

When the famed photographer Miranda Brand died mysteriously at the height of her career, it sent shock waves through Callinas, California. Decades later, old wounds are reopened when her son, Theo, hires ex-journalist Kate Aitken to create an archive of his mother’s work. From Miranda’s vast maze of personal effects, Kate pieces together a portrait of a vibrant artist buckling under the pressures of ambition, motherhood, and marriage. As the summer progresses, Kate navigates vicious local rumors and… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & sexual assault
  • Domestic violence
  • Suicide & mentions of self-harm
  • Postpartum psychosis & depression

Glint by Raven Kennedy

For ten years, I’ve lived in a gilded cage inside King Midas’s golden castle. But one night changed everything. Now I’m here, a prisoner of Fourth Kingdom’s army, and I’m not sure if I’m going to make it out of this in one piece. They’re marching to battle, and I’m the bargaining chip that will either douse the fire or spark a war. At the heart of my fear, my worry, there’s him—Commander Rip. Known for his brutality on the battlefield, his viciousness is unsurpassed. But I know the truth about what he is. Fae. The… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Human trafficking & slavery
  • Misogyny
  • Child abuse & neglect mentioned
  • Rape & sexual assault mentioned
  • Murder

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Rape & attempted rape (recounted & discussed), including a mob lynching after a rape
  • Childbirth (multiple scenes)
  • Stillbirth discussed
  • Death of three children from illness (protagonist)
  • Murder

Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin

Charlotte’s daughter Stella is sensitive and brilliant, perhaps even a genius, but a recent change in her behavior has alarmed her mother. Following the sudden death of Stella’s babysitter, Blanka, the once disruptive and anti-social child has become docile and agreeable. But what’s unsettling is that she has begun to mirror Blanka’s personality, from Blanka’s repetitive phrases to her accent, to fierce cravings for Armenian meat stew after being raised a vegetarian. Charlotte is pregnant with her second child, and depleted and sick with the pregnancy. She is convinced that Blanka… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Infidelity
  • Suicide

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd

1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent. A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests—but when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape of a minor
  • Teen pregnancy

The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose

Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and recently promoted Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, good things are just around the corner, including her marriage to her beloved fiancé, Juan Manuel, only two months away. But Molly’s entire existence is upended when a film crew descends upon the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show Hidden Treasures, starring popular art appraisers Brown and Beagle. On a whim, Molly brings in a shoebox containing a few of her gran’s old things…. Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Slut-shaming
  • Sexual assault & mentions of rape
  • Disownment
  • Child abuse
  • Arranged marriage
  • Involuntary pregnancy & death during childbirth
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a grandmother & guardian
  • Death of a child
  • Homelessness
  • Bullying

Inferno by Luna Mason

Are you prepared to participate in the decadence experience? Where your inhibitions must be left at the gates. The rules are simple. You SUBMIT to the challenges in five rooms. Only the surviving contestant shall win a golden ticket to lead them to the Master of Inferno. Be warned, one must be prepared to step into hell to explore both their desires and nightmares. Good luck and may all your erotic dreams come true.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence & abuse including martial rape & sexual assault*
  • Forced marriage*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy
  • Murder & torture
  • Kidnapping of a minor*
  • Organised crime (mafia)
  • Fire, blood & knife play (consensual, on-page)

Context : The female protagonist is kidnapped when she is 18-years-old and forced to marry a man who physically & sexually abuses her.

The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair by MacKenzie Common

When Daphne confesses to killing a number of men throughout her lifetime, she chooses Ruth to produce the podcast reporting her story. Each episode charts Daphne’s humble beginnings from the Dust Bowl in Canada to her glittering life in 70s New York – and a string of murders in her wake. Daphne tells her story. Ruth listens. And edits it. The public are hooked. Is she a feminist icon taking revenge on bad men? Or just a ruthless criminal? Then, as the podcast finale approaches, it becomes clear that neither woman has been entirely honest with the other. Who has been controlling the narrative? After all, the truth doesn’t always make for the best story…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & misogyny
  • Rape
  • Domestic violence & child abuse
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Murder

Stormfire by Christine Monson

Abducted on her way to boarding school, a terrified Catherine Enderly was brought from England to the coast of Ireland, the prisoner of the angry and powerful young Sean Culhane—a man sworn to vengeance against her family. Frightened but defiant, the young countess met her captor with a strength that belied her fragile loveliness. But even as Sean vowed to have his revenge on Catherine, with each encounter he became more attracted to her. Her fiery innocence was a seduction that lured the passions of long smouldering hostility into a blazing inferno of desire… Read more,

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & gang-rape
  • Forced starvation
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of a mother
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Physical assault
  • Whipping
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Napoleonic War & colonialization

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

Sixteen-year-old Iris itches constantly for the strike of a match. But when she’s caught setting one too many fires, she’s whisked away to London before she can get arrested—at least that’s the story her mother tells. Mounting debt actually drove them out of LA, and it’s greed that brings them to a home Iris doesn’t recognize, where her millionaire father—a man she’s never met—lives. Though not for much longer. Iris’s father is dying, and her mother is determined to claim his life’s fortune, including his priceless art collection. Forced to live with him as part of an exploitive scheme, Iris soon realizes her father is far different… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted rape (on-page)
  • Pyromania & fire (theme, protagonist)
  • Parent with terminal ilness