Terminal Illness – Trigger Warning Database

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.

Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage. Harold Fry is determined to walk… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Domestic abuse
Alcoholism
Suicide
Hospitalisation
Terminal illness

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.

So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic… Read more.

Goo d reads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Cancer discussed
Parent with Parkinson’s Disease
Death of a parent recounted
Catfishing

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

In every life there is a turning point. A moment so tremendous, so sharp and breathtaking, that one knows one’s life will never be the same. For Michael Stirling, London’s most infamous rake, that moment came the first time he laid eyes on Francesca Bridgerton.

After a lifetime of chasing women, of smiling slyly as they chased him, of allowing himself to be caught but never permitting his heart to become engaged, he took one look at Francesca Bridgerton and fell so fast and hard into love it was a wonder he managed to remain standing. Unfortunately for Michael, however, Francesca’s surname was to remain Bridgerton for only a mere thirty-six hours longer—the occasion of their meeting was, lamentably, a supper celebrating her imminent wedding to his cousin…. Read more.

Goo d reads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Infertility
Miscarriage
Brain aneurysm
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a spouse

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

Goo d reads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Pregnancy
Miscarriage
Terminal illness, specifically Alzheimer’s disease
Death of a parent
Car accident

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients’ lives — a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can’t stop hooking up with the wrong guys — she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Sexism & misogyny
Victim blaming
Sexual harassment
Workplace harassment
Abuse, neglect & abandonment
Abusive relationships
Verbal abuse
Intimate partner abuse & violence
Estrangement & disownment
Child abuse
Mental illness
Intrusive thoughts
Addiction
Depression
Suicidal ideation
Medical treatment & procedures
Terminal illness
Cancer
Heart disease & heart attack
Physical injuries & wounds
Amputation/Loss of limb
Hospital & hospitalisation
Death of a child
Death of a friend
Death of a sibling
Grief & loss depiction
Physical assault
Stalking
Car accident

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

When each summer begins, Belly leaves her school life behind and escapes to Cousins Beach, the place she has spent every summer of her life. Not only does the beach house mean home away from home, but her favorite people are there: Susannah, her mother’s best friend, and her sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has been chasing Conrad for as long as she can remember, and more than anything, she hopes this summer will be different. Despite distractions from a new guy named Cam and lingering looks from Conrad’s brother, Jeremiah, Belly’s heart belongs to Conrad. Will he offer his to her? Will this be the summer that changes everything?

Goo d reads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Internalised misogyny
Slut shaming
Alcohol consumption
Parent with terminal cancer

The Wolf at Bay by Charlie Adhara

The Wolf at Bay by Charlie Adhara

Going home digs up bad memories, so it’s something Bureau of Special Investigations agent Cooper Dayton tries to avoid. When he’s guilted into a visit, Cooper brings along Oliver Park, his hot new werewolf partner, in the hopes the trip will help clarify their status as a couple…or not.

When Park’s keen shifter nose uncovers a body in the yard and Cooper’s father is the prime suspect, Cooper knows they’re on their own. Familial involvement means no sanctioned investigation. They’ll need to go rogue and solve the mystery quietly or risk seeing Cooper’s dad put behind bars… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Terminal cancer mentioned

Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts—her best friend, Noah Logan.

Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut shaming
Sexual assault
Sexual harassment mentioned
Hospitalisation for kidney transplant surgery
Terminal illness
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she’s seen her fair share of them, and she’s excellent at dealing with other people’s tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it’s an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie’s old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren’t exactly thrilled to have a “lady” on the crew, even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the handsome rookie, who doesn’t seem to mind having Cassie around… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Slut shaming
Rape recounted, off-page
Attempted suicide
Addiction
Terminal illness

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story—until the next day, when Ingrid disappears… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Cheating recounted
Nightmares
Suicide (on-page & recounted)
Self harm by burning (on-page)
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Nonconsensual drugging
Blood & physical injuries depiction
Nonconsensual medical procedures & experimentation
Emesis
Hospital
Surgery
Needles & syringes
Cancer & terminal illness mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father mentioned
Death of a friend
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence
Gun violence
Graphic fire (on-page)
Kidnapping & captivity
Car accident
Disappearance of a friend (theme)
Death from a fall (on-page)
Poverty theme
Homelessness