Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover by Sarah MacLean

By day, she is Lady Georgiana, sister to a Duke, ruined before her first season in the worst kind of scandal. But the truth is far more shocking—in London’s darkest corners, she is Chase, the mysterious, unknown founder of the city’s most legendary gaming hell. For years, her double identity has gone undiscovered… until now. Brilliant, handsome-as-sin Duncan West is intrigued by the beautiful, ruined woman who is somehow connected to a world of sin. He knows she is more than she seems and he vows to uncover all of Georgiana’s secrets, laying bare her past, threatening her present, and risking all she holds dear including her heart.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical sexism, sex-work shaming & slut-shaming
  • Rape & attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Domestic violence (secondary character)
  • Unplanned pregnancy of a minor recounted
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder by gun violence of an abuser
  • Blackmail

Bombshell by Sarah MacLean

After years of living as London’s brightest scandal, Lady Sesily Talbot has embraced the reputation and the freedom that comes with the title. No one looks twice when she lures a gentleman into the dark gardens beyond a Mayfair ballroom…and no one realizes those trysts are not what they seem. No one, that is, but Caleb Calhoun, who has spent years trying not to notice his best friend’s beautiful, brash, brilliant sister. If you ask him, he’s been a saint about it, considering the way she looks at him and the way she talks to him…and the way she’d felt in his arms during their one ill… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Slut shaming
  • Rape, implied
  • Domestic abuse, implied
  • Murder recounted
  • Gun violence

The Widowmaker by Hannah Morrissey

Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared twenty years ago, the name “Reynolds” has become synonymous with “murder” and “mystery.” And now, lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives. The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday get-together, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue. This could finally be the thing to crack open the chilling cold case, and Investigator Ryan Hudson… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Child abuse
  • Incest*
  • Rape of a minor*
  • Sexual assault*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Police brutality
  • Fire

Context: The protagonist was raped by her uncle as a child. Her half-brother sexually assaults (and possibly rapes) her as well.

Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee

When the hexarchate’s gifted young captain Kel Cheris summoned the ghost of the long-dead General Shuos Jedao to help her put down a rebellion, she didn’t reckon on his breaking free of centuries of imprisonment – and possessing her. Even worse, the enemy Hafn are invading, and Jedao takes over General Kel Khiruev’s fleet, which was tasked with stopping them. Only one of Khiruev’s subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, seems to be able to resist the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao. Jedao claims to be interested in defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev or Brezan trust him? For that… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted
  • Incest (sibling)
  • Memory loss
  • Suicide
  • Mass shooting
  • Torture
  • Genocide

Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas

Meet the blue-eyed devil . . . His name is Hardy Cates. He’s a self-made millionaire who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. He’s made enemies in the rough-and-tumble ride to the top of Houston’s oil industry. He’s got hot blood in his veins. And vengeance on his mind. Meet the heiress . . . She’s Haven Travis. Despite her family’s money, she refuses to set out on the path they’ve chosen for her. But when Haven marries a man her family disapproves of, her life is set on a new and dangerous course. Two years later, Haven comes home, determined to guard her heart. And Hardy… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional, physical & verbal child abuse
  • Domestic abuse (theme)
  • Rape
  • Narcissistic Personality Disorder
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Bullying
  • Cyberbullying & doxxing

Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by Hayley Krischer

Ali Greenleaf and Blythe Jensen couldn’t be more different. Ali is sweet, bitingly funny, and just a little naive. Blythe is beautiful, terrifying, and the most popular girl in school. They’ve never even talked to each other, until a party when Ali decides she’ll finally make her move on Sean Nessel, her longtime crush, and the soccer team’s superstar. But Sean pushes Ali farther than she wants to go. When she resists–he rapes her. Blythe sees Ali when she runs from the party, everyone sees her. And Blythe knows something happened with Sean, she knows how he… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Victim-blaming
  • Rape & sexual assault of a minor (theme), on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Overdose
  • Bullying

Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

Everything’s changing for our friendly neighbourhood serial killer. As if getting married wasn’t enough to complete his nice-guy persona, Dexter is now the proud father of a baby girl. And disconcertingly, he actually seems to care. But even if fatherhood is distracting Dexter from his midnight excursions to rid Miami of a few more lowlifes, there’s no let-up at work. Two young girls are missing – and it’s not long before one of the bodies turns up, partially eaten. But as Dexter and Miami PD’s finest investigate, Dexter can’t shake the feeling that somebody’s watching him…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism (r slur)
  • Antiziganism (g slur)
  • Fatmphobic language
  • Rape mentioned
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping

Need to Know by Karen Cleveland

Need to Know by Karen Cleveland

Vivian Miller is a CIA analyst assigned to uncover Russian sleeper cells in the USA. After accessing the computer of a potential Russian spy, she stumbles on a secret dossier of deep-cover agents living in her own country. Five seemingly normal people living in plain sight. A few clicks later, everything that matters to Vivian is threatened – her job, her husband, even her four children. Vivian has vowed to defend her country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. But now she’s facing impossible choices. Torn between loyalty and betrayal, allegiance and treason… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Threats of rape, on-page
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Miscarriage, on-page
  • Cancer
  • Murder, on-page
  • Gun violence, on-page
  • Blackmail

In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath

In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath

They call him the Devil Earl—a scoundrel and accused murderer who grew up on the violent London streets. A proper young lady risks more than her reputation when consorting with the roguishly handsome Lucian Langdon, but Lady Catherine Mabry believes she has no choice. To protect those she loves, she would do anything—even strike a bargain with the devil himself. Lucian desires respectability and a wife above all else, but the woman of his choosing lacks the social graces to be accepted by the aristocracy. Catherine can help Lucian gain everything he wants. But what she asks for in exchange will put their very lives in… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape of a child recounted
  • Domestic violence (sc)
  • Cheating*
  • Death of a parent, on- & off-page
  • Murder of an uncle, off-page
  • Murder of parents

*Context : While the hero falls in love with the heroine, he proposes to another woman who does not love him back.

The Killing Lessons by Saul Black

The Killing Lessons by Saul Black

When the two strangers turn up at Rowena Cooper’s isolated Colorado farmhouse, she knows instantly that it’s the end of everything. For the two haunted and driven men, on the other hand, it’s just another stop on a long and bloody journey. And they still have many miles to go, and victims to sacrifice, before their work is done. For San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart, their trail of victims–women abducted, tortured and left with a seemingly random series of objects inside them–has brought her from obsession to the edge of physical and psychological… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Sexism
  • Rape
  • Child abuse
  • Alcoholism
  • Miscarriage
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking