Tag Archives: Terminal Illness

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of terminal illness.

See also Physical illness & injury and Cancer.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Terminal illness
  • Death of a sister and child recounted

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

Mili Rathod hasn’t seen her husband in twenty years–not since she was promised to him at the age of four. Yet marriage has allowed Mili a freedom rarely given to girls in her village. Her grandmother has even allowed her to leave India and study in America for eight months, all to make her the perfect modern wife. Which is exactly what Mili longs to be–if her husband would just come and claim her. Bollywood’s favourite director, Samir Rathod, has come to Michigan to secure a divorce for his older brother. Persuading a naive village girl to sign the papers should be easy for… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child marriage
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Parent with terminal cancer
  • Pregnancy & childbirth
  • Death of a parent mentioned

How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton

How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton

Event planner Kate Sweet is famous for creating the perfect happily-ever-after moment for her clients’ dream weddings. So how is it that her best friend has roped her into planning a bestselling horror writer’s book launch extravaganza? But the second Kate meets—or rather, accidentally maims—the drop-dead-hot Drake Matthews, her well-ordered life quickly transforms into an absolute nightmare. Drake Matthews is tired of the spotlight and tired of his reputation as the Knight of Nightmares. He’s really a nice guy! But he’s not prepared for Kate, a fearless agent of chaos in steel-tipped stilettos, or for that sweet sting of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating recounted
  • Domestic abuse mentioned
  • Military-Related PTSD
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Amputation
  • Terminal cancer mentioned
  • Death of a mother in a house fire mentioned

Only For Tonight by Kendall Ryan

Only For Tonight by Kendall Ryan

Spotting a hooker on a city street corner is not an abnormal thing. Me bringing one home? Well, that’s a first. But this girl . . . She’s in trouble. And this asshole is not a guy she wants to go home with. So I do the exact thing I shouldn’t—I offer to bring her home with me instead. She says this is the first time she’s ever done this, which is adorably ironic. Then proceeds to tell me a sob story about needing money to care for the baby who was left on her doorstep. That’s when my stomach starts to clench. I think she might be telling the truth. So I do what any respectable man would do—I take her home, stopping to pick up diapers and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sex work
  • Child abandonment, on-page
  • Terminal cancer (sc)
  • Poverty
  • Homelessness

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic Plague will reshape life on earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Suicide
  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • Cancer & terminal illness
  • Hospitalisation
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Gun violence mentioned
  • Animal death & cruelty
  • Animal experimentation

Sunkissed by Kasie West

Sunkissed by Kasie West

Avery has always used music as an escape. But after her best friend betrays her, even her perfectly curated playlists can’t help her forget what happened. To make matters worse, her parents have dragged her and her social-media-obsessed sister to a remote family camp for two months of “fun.” Just when Avery is ready to give up on the summer altogether, she meets Brooks—mysterious, frustratingly charming Brooks—who just happens to be on staff—which means he’s off-limits. What starts as a disaster turns into something else. As the outside world falls away, Avery embarks on a journey of self-discovery. And when Brook… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Terminal illness
  • Parent in care following a stroke
  • Emesis

The Twisted Dead by Darcy Coates

The Twisted Dead by Darcy Coates

Keira is ready for her life to return to normal. Though, to be fair, normal is a tall ask when your ability to see ghosts has landed you the job of groundskeeper in a small town’s cemetery. When Keira receives an invitation to dinner at Dane Crispin’s crumbling ancestral estate, she knows she can’t refuse. The last living descendant of the Crispin family is reclusive. Keira only met him once…on the night he tried to kill her. The mansion is steeped in history that is equal parts complicated and bloody. Keira senses the presence of restless spirits the moment she steps through its door. And Dane, waiting for her inside, wants to ask for her help.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement mentioned
  • Amnesia
  • Parent with a chronically, and possibly terminally, ill parent (sc)
  • Blood and physical injuries, on-page
  • Needles
  • Arson and damage to property discussed
  • Murder including murder by stabbing and knife violence, on-page
  • Gun violence

Faking with Benefits by Lily Gold

Faking with Benefits by Lily Gold

My name is Layla Thompson, and I am undateable. Seriously. I’m twenty-eight and I’ve never had a boyfriend. And with my thirties rapidly approaching, I’m starting to lose patience. Lucky for me, I have three overprotective best friends who are all too eager to help hone my dating skills. There’s Zack, the huge rugby player with the cheeky grin and rippling biceps. Josh, the boy next door with the sculpted jaw and calculating stare. And Luke, the silver-haired divorcee who also happens to be my old professor. After a bad date leaves me crying on their shoulders, the three… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming
  • Sexual harassment
  • Divorce mentioned
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a partner from terminal illness recounted
  • Bullying recounted
  • Cyberbullying & online harassment

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism (r slur)
  • Fatmisia & body-shaming
  • Child physical, verbal and emotional abuse including gaslighting
  • Grooming and sexually predatory behaviour toward a minor discussed
  • Hoarding
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Eating disorder (bulimia)
  • Graphic disordered eating including food restriction, bingeing, purging and over-exercising (theme)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of a mother from terminal breast cancer

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr

After talking her way into a job with Dan Mansfield, the leading investigative reporter in Chicago, rising young journalist Jules Roth is given an unusual–and very secret–assignment. Dan needs her to locate a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 75 years earlier: legendary Expressionist artist Ernst Engel’s most famous work, Woman on Fire. World-renowned shoe designer Ellis Baum wants this portrait of a beautiful, mysterious woman for deeply personal reasons, and has enlisted Dan’s help to find it. But Jules doesn’t have much time; the famous designer is dying… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Antisemitism
  • Statutory rape recounted
  • Alcoholism
  • Suicide recounted
  • Drug overdose recounted
  • Terminal cancer
  • Murder
  • Hostage situation
  • World War Two & the Holocaust