Tag Archives: Sex Work & Sex Slavery

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are Boneless Mercies – death-traders, hired to kill quickly, quietly and mercifully. It is a job for women, and women only. Men will not do this sad, dark work.
Frey has no family, no home, no fortune, and yet her blood sings a song of glory. So when she hears of a monster slaughtering men, women, and children in a northern jarldom, she decides this the Mercies’ one chance to change their fate… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Child abuse
  • Attempted forced child sex work mentioned
  • Suicide & assisted voluntary euthanasia, on-page
  • Suicidal ideation & attempted suicide recounted
  • Self-flagellation, on-page
  • Dead bodies & body parts
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Eyeball trauma
  • Serious physical injury & illness
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child, on-page
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Death of a girlfriend recounted
  • Death of a mentor recounted
  • Death of a parent from illness recounted
  • Death of a friend, on-page
  • Graphic murder & attempted murder (theme)
  • Knife, axe & attempted murder
  • Hanging, off-page
  • Poisoning
  • Graphic drowning
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal attack
  • Graphic animal death
  • Animal abuse

Bite Me by Robyn Bachar

When an out-of-control spell triggers the zombie apocalypse, Lizzy Addams is left in the ruins of Chicago with only the unhinged commentary—and endless erotic appetites—of her inner demon for company. Her blood supply dwindling, Lizzy must find survivors to feed from, or die trying. Officer Angela Kinney was on duty when hungry corpses overwhelmed the city. Angie’s group of survivors look to her for leadership, but nothing prepared her for a beautiful monster who offers safety in exchange for blood. Sean MacMillan never expected to see Lizzy again after she rejected his attempts to lure her back to the vampire… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slur
  • Rape recounted & off-page
  • Child sexual abuse by a stepfather resulting in pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)
  • Sex work mentioned
  • Emotional sibling abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction including body horror and blood-drinking
  • Physical injury & scar
  • Death of a mother from childbirth recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Stalking

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.
At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Sex work
  • Family estrangement
  • Agoraphobia
  • Depression
  • Eating disorder
  • Suicide
  • Drug use & overdose
  • Cancer

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Homomisia mentioned
  • Sexual assault
  • Prostitution
  • Intimate domestic abuse
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug & alcohol abuse
  • Starvation
  • Cancer recounted
  • Death of a loved one
  • Grief depiction
  • Physical assault
  • Imprisonment
  • War themes

Stung by Bethany Wiggins

Stung by Bethany Wiggins

There is no cure for being stung. Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she awakens, her world no longer exists. Her house is abandoned and broken. Her neighborhood is barren and dead. And there is a tattoo on her right hand. A tattoo Fiona doesn’t remember getting…but somehow she must conceal at any cost. Because humanity has been divided. Those bearing the tattoo have turned into mindless, violent beasts that roam the streets and sewers, preying upon the unbranded, while a select few live protected inside a fortresslike wall… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sex slavery
  • Rape
  • Starvation

Beyond Jealousy by Kit Rocha

Beyond Jealousy by Kit Rocha

When Rachel Riley sacrificed a life in Eden to protect the O’Kanes, she earned her place in the powerful Sector Four gang. But the former crime princess is tired of being everyone’s sweet little sister. It’s time for her to get wild, to embrace her fantasies as only an O’Kane can—with a delicious exiled soldier and the gang’s wickedly sinful tattoo artist. Lorenzo Cruz is a warrior, taught by his commanding officers in Eden that involvement equals distraction. Emotion is a liability, and desire is a sin. In Sector Four, he finds… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sex work
  • Substance addiction
  • Stabbing

The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham

The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham

When Lady Constance Stonewell accidentally ruins the Earl of Apthorp’s entire future with her gossip column, she does what any honourable young lady must: offer her hand in marriage. Or, at the very least, stage a whirlwind fake engagement to repair his reputation. Never mind that it means spending a month with the dullest man in England. Or the fact that he disapproves of everything she holds dear. Julian Haywood, the Earl of Apthorp, is on the cusp of finally proving himself to be the man he’s always wanted to be when his future is destroyed in a single afternoon. When… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sex work shaming
  • Attempted sexual assault recounted

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Those 2300 words were life-altering for the People.com editor, turning her into an influential and outspoken public figure and a desperately needed voice for an often voiceless community. In these pages, she offers a bold and inspiring perspective on being young, multicultural, economically challenged, and transgender in America. Welcomed into the world as her parents’ firstborn son, Mock decided early on that she would be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Transmisia
  • Racism
  • Gender dysphoria
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Sex work
  • Cheating
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Self-harm
  • Alcoholism
  • Substance addiction
  • Emesis
  • Gun violence

Sweet Surrender by Sav Miller

Sweet Surrender by Sav R. Miller

After his father’s retirement, Elia Montalto took over organized crime in King’s Trace, Maine. His pragmatic nature makes him popular and allows alliances with government officials, which keeps prying eyes off his business. But even a town as small as theirs is not without risk or envy, and Elia has only ever really wanted one thing: Senator Harrison’s daughter. As the eldest daughter of a corrupt politician, survival was Caroline Harrison’s only hope at one day being granted freedom. But her father has other plans, and when negotiations for her hand in marriage begin, all her dreams shatter. That is, until she makes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Arranged marriage
  • Infidelity
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Sex work mentioned
  • Physical child abuse
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Knife play
  • Organised crime

Most of All You by Mia Sheridan

Most of All You by Mia Sheridan

Crystal learned long ago that love brings only pain. Feeling nothing at all is far better than being hurt again. She guards her wounded heart behind a hard exterior and carries within her a deep mistrust of men, who, in her experience, have only ever used and taken. Then Gabriel Dalton walks into her life. Despite the terrible darkness of his past, there’s an undeniable goodness in him. And even though she knows the cost, Crystal finds herself drawn to Gabriel. His quiet strength is wearing down her defences and his gentle patience is causing her to question everything she thought… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Abandonment
  • Rape & sexual assault, on-page
  • Rape of a child recounted
  • Sex work
  • Child abuse, on-page
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping of a child recounted