Tag Archives: Sexual Assault

All the Fighting Parts by Hannah V. Sawyerr

Sixteen-year-old Amina Conteh has always believed in using her tongue as her weapon—even when it gets her into trouble. After cursing at a classmate, her father forces her to volunteer at their church with Pastor Johnson. But Pastor Johnson isn’t the holy man everyone thinks he is. The same voice Amina uses to fight falls quiet the night she is sexually assaulted by Pastor Johnson. After that, her life starts to unravel: her father is frustrated that her grades are slipping, and her best friend and boyfriend don’t understand why the once loud and proud girl is now quiet and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape of a minor by a member of the protagonist’s church community 
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother by immolation discussed

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux

At Wilberton Academy, few students are more revered than the members of the elite Wilberton Theatrical Society—a.k.a. the WTS—and no one represents that exclusive club better than Elizabeth Woodward. Breathtakingly beautiful, beloved by all, and a talented thespian, it’s no surprise she’s starring as Juliet in the WTS’s performance of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. But when she’s found dead the morning after opening night, the whole school is thrown into chaos. Transfer student Abby Kita was one of the last people to see Elizabeth alive, and when local authorities… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Sexual assault of a minor & grooming
  • Suicide
  • Bullying

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.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

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

Vantage Point by Sara Sligar

The old-money Wieland family has it all—wealth, status, power. They’re also famously cursed. Clara and her brother Teddy grew up on a small island in Maine in the shadow of their parents’ tragic deaths, haunted by rumors and paparazzi. Fourteen years later they’ve mostly put their turbulent past to rest. Teddy has married Clara’s best friend, Jess, and the three of them have moved back home to take over the sprawling, remote family mansion known as Vantage Point. Then Teddy decides to run for the Senate—an unnerving prospect made much worse when… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Domestic abuse
  • Sexual assault
  • Eating disorder (protagonist)

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.

Goodreads • The 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.

Goodreads • The 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

I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin by Katy Brent

Your favourite anti-heroine, Kitty Collins, is back! Expect more wit, sass, and, of course, murder…My name is Kitty Collins and I’m a serial killer. I don’t want to kill. It’s just so hard to resist. Some men really, really deserve it. Men like Blaze Bundy, an anonymous influencer spreading misogyny online. He’s making it very hard for me to control my murderous urges. Meanwhile I’m in the South of France to watch my mother marry a man I’ve never met. I should be drinking cocktails and focusing on my tan, not plotting a murder. But a woman’s work is never done. Surely one more teensy little kill wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Hate crimes mentioned
  • Graphic attempted sexual assault (on-page)
  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Murder (on-page)

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.

Goodreads • The 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.

Goodreads • The 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.

Goodreads • The 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.