Tag Archives: Sexual Assault

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of sexual assault. It is also used as an umbrella tag for any form of sexual violence.

See also Rape, Paedophilia & CSA, and Sex work.

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town. Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local folklore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Self-injury
  • Car accident
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent (off-page)
  • Murder by suffocation

Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana

In a land ruled by ruthless Fae, twenty-one-year-old Lore Alemeyu’s village is trapped in a forested prison. Lore knows that any escape attempt is futile—her scars are a testament to her past failures. But when her village is threatened, Lore makes a desperate deal with a Fae lord. She will leave her home to catalogue / organize an enchanted library that hasn’t been touched in a thousand years. No Fae may enter the library, but there is a chance a human might be able to breach the cursed doors. She convinces him that she will risk her life for wealth, but really she’s after the one thing the Fae covet above all: magic of her own… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & sexual assault mentioned
  • Forced pregnancy, implied
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping mentioned

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

At the northern edge of a land ruled by a monstrous, foreign tyrant lies the wild forest known as the Elmever. The villagers know better than to let their children go near—once someone goes in, they never come back out. No one knows the strange and terrifying traps of the Elmever better than Veris Thorn, the only person to ever rescue a child from the forest many years ago. When the Tyrant’s two young children go missing, Veris is commanded to enter the forest once more and bring them home safe. If Veris fails, the Tyrant will kill her; if she remains in the forest for longer than a day, she will be trapped forevermore. So Veris will… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood, gore & illness depiction including emesis
  • Death of children & parents recounted
  • Disappearance of a children
  • Animal abuse (off-page)

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering

On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It’s her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she’s just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world. So begins the story of Billie and Cassie’s friendship–both in recent weeks, and since they met twenty-three years ago, in their small Hudson Valley hometown the summer before seventh grade. Once fiercely bonded by their…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Paedophilia & sexual assault, on-page
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Toxic friendship
  • Alzheimer’s Disease

Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash

Lacey Bond is a thirteen-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & slurs
  • Sexual assault & paedophilia discussed

Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

It’s 2015, and Tatum Vega feels that her life is finally falling into place. Living in sunny Chile with her partner, Vera, she spends her days surrounded by art at the museum where she works. More than anything else, she loves this new life for helping her forget the decade she spent in New York City orbiting the brilliant and famous author M. Domínguez. When a reporter calls from the US asking for an interview, the careful separation Tatum has constructed between her past and present begins to crumble. Domínguez has been accused of assault, and the reporter is looking for corrobora… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny & racism
  • Sexual assault
  • Toxic relationship
  • Drug use

The Glass House by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion

Welcome to The Menzies. Trainee psychiatrist Doctor Hannah Wright, a country girl with a chaotic history, thought she had seen it all in the emergency room. But that was nothing compared to the psychiatric ward at Menzies Hospital. Amongst unrelenting hours, hospital politics, fraught relationships and new friendships, Hannah must learn on the job in a strained medical system, navigating the conflicting practice of her boss, Nash, who puts his faith in pharmaceuticals, and his boss, Professor Gordon, who takes the Freudian line. Meanwhile, the new manager thinks they’re all part of the problem. Hannah and her fellow… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse & foster care experiences
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide, attempted suicide & suicidal ideation

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time. This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Suicide & self-harm

Born of Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout

While Sera is finally free of Kolis and back with those she loves, not everything is calm. Memories of all she’s endured still haunt her, but Sera finally has hope for a future with the other half of her heart and soul. Nyktos desires, loves, and accepts every part of her—even the monstrous bits she still battles. More than ever, Sera and Ash have everything under the realms to fight for, and Nyktos has no doubt Sera is fit to be the Queen of the Gods. But she must find that faith within herself if they hope to convince the other Courts to support them against Kolis and make Iliseeum…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction including decapitation
  • Death of children mentioned
  • Captivity recounted

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theatre world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym. In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic violence
  • Abortion & miscarriage