I ended up flipping through my hiking books to find a trail near where we were going to be Saturday, which is how we ended up at the Shavers Fork Area, which is (I’m pretty sure) part of the Cheat River WMA.
Aside from our GPS disagreeing with the map, we found our way there and hiked the Crouch Ridge Trail.
It was lovely. We saw no other humans, the leaves were turning, and we there was even a tiny bit of snow falling from the sky!
One thing you don’t see a lot of in genre fiction is main characters with a serious illness. Sure, there are ill relatives and friends, but I have come across a far smaller number of stories where one of the main characters has a serious or chronic illness—especially in comparison to injured main characters or ill relatives. (I love mysteries, and in them someone is always getting hurt sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong. (Is there a mystery book bingo card? Because that is definitely on it.))
Serious or chronic illness is something we are all likely to experience as we get older—either our own ill health or that of someone we love. Reading about these struggles can do several things: it can help us have empathy for those around us, it can prepare us for possible events, and it lets us feel seen when we might be struggling with illness or caregiving.
So I want to mention some books featuring main characters dealing with serious illness—either acute or chronic.
First is Dahlia Donovan’s story The Wanderer, which despite all the boinking (a me issue, not a story issue), was amazing. It’s a romance, and the whole thing is unflinching as we watch Graham go through cancer diagnosis and treatment. This includes not just the hair loss and weight loss, but things that are typically glossed over.
Aside from losing his hair, Graham’s body suffered from other side effects. His skin grew paler, and his nails were brittle. They’d gotten lotion to help with his dry and irritated skin.
— Dahlia Donovan, The Wanderer
The story is also blunt about the sexual side effects, and makes it clear many of the side effects of chemo and radiation can persist for a long time.
They’d all warned him about fatigue continuing to be a problem for what could be a potentially prolonged period up to several years post-surgery.
— Dahlia Donovan, The Wanderer
It also doesn’t pull punches when it comes to the strain such an illness can put on relationships.
Bad news combined with a stronger dose of chemo to make Graham both listless and depressed, and no one could blame him. A steady stream of visitors attempting to cheer him up hadn’t helped. Rupert’s last visit had ended in angry tears from both twins; the older ginger hadn’t been back since the fight.
— Dahlia Donovan, The Wanderer
We see not just the family and friends gathering together to help out, but also the bickering and misery and anger.
“I’d be ever so grateful if you’d tell my bloody brother to bugger off. How can he not see why I might need a good laugh right about now without feeling guilty? I’m taking my decreasing chances of survival as seriously as I can. What does he want me to do?”
— Dahlia Donovan, The Wanderer
Even more importantly, the story touches on caregiver burnout—how difficult it can be for those caring for an ill, elderly, or dying loved one.
Adriana Herrera’s American Dreamer (this is all SPOILERS, so skip ahead to avoid them) looks at previously fractured relationships, and how illness and impending death don’t always pull everyone together.
After everything that happened when I came out, my four siblings, using Mary as their speaker, had politely requested I never contact them again. So now I needed permission before I called to ask about my sister who was dying.
— Adriana Herrera. American Dreamer
After a moment, (the preacher) cleared his throat. “Jude, I’m here at Mary’s request to talk about your salvation, son. Your sister is dying, and she’s worried about the state of your soul as much as her own. She loves you and wants more than anything to see you turn away from the life of sin and perdition you’re living. She doesn’t want to leave this world without hearing you repent and say you accept our Lord in your heart once again.”
— Adriana Herrera. American Dreamer
This part of the story does not have a happy ending (although the romance of course does) but it does have a realistic ending, and that is incredibly important. Because stories lead us to believe that when serious illness comes, everyone will gather around and all will be good, past insults and injuries forgotten and forgiven.
END SPOILERS
Sweetest in the Gale is a collection of three novellas, and the third story has the main character discover of a lump in her breast and get a biopsy.
“I’m about to insert that titanium clip you heard about. It’ll help mark the spot for future mammograms or if you need surgery.”
— Sweetest in the Gale, Olivia Dade
And she does this while worrying about how she is going to pay for the diagnosis and treatment
Although marriage of convenience is a trope I particularly like, it is weirdly common in contemporary American romances, which is quite honestly depressing , and ’d be happier if it was relegated to historicals.
Layla Reyne’s story, Dine With Me, is a journey from diagnosis to accepting that life is worth fighting for, even if that life is irrevocably changed.
“Our lives revolve around taste— perfecting seasoning, pairings, entire menus. How much salt to add? Does it need acid? Where’s the perfect balance of sweet and savory? If I lose the ability to taste, to do those things that are essential to my daily life, both for work and my soul, which is highly likely with the course of chemo I need, not to mention radiation and possible surgery, then what the hell am I supposed to do with myself? Who the fuck am I?”
— Layla Reyne, Dine With Me
The story is his coming to accept he is more than his career, and that he has value even if he is no longer able to be a chef.
Lissa Kasey’s Haven Investigations series shows the dangers of concussion I’ve never seen in a story before.
“What happened?”
He pulled in a deep breath. “You had a stroke.”
I blinked at him in confusion. “Huh?”
“It’s called an Ischemic Stroke. A blood clot in the brain that deprives the brain of oxygen and nutrients. The neurosurgeon who’s treating you thinks it was caused by the multiple concussions you’ve had.”
— Lissa Kasey. Model Investigator
As a society, we’re mostly aware of the long-term dangers of repeated concussion, such early onset dementia like has been seen in those who played contact sports. But concussion can also cause blood clots and stroke, which can cause further brain damage.
“But if the clots are gone, I shouldn’t have any more seizures.”
“Baby, the seizures weren’t from the clots. They were from the damage to your brain, the swelling of blood vessels and oxygen deprivation. Those things aren’t healed yet.
— Lissa Kasey. Model Investigator
He’d had one seizure at home since having a stroke. It had been a rather mild one compared to that first terrifying moment when the stroke had hit him, but it still terrified me. Keeping him well fed and rested were keys to minimizing the seizures and allowing him time to heal. He still had small blackouts and often forgot things, which worried me a little. He might always have issues from the stroke.
— Lissa Kasey. Model Investigator
Oliver even loses his driver’s license because of the seizures.
That series tends to darkness and suspense, so the serious injuries and their repercussions (and there are a lot of both) help emphasize the danger of the situations the two characters keep ending up in.
However, illness is more than the big diseases that put you in the hospital and from which many people make a full recovery. There is also chronic illness—diseases for which there is no cure, or from which someone will never recover to who they were before.
I love stories with the day-to-day bits of living, so I particularly like ones that show living with a non-standard brain or body.
In Alissa Cole’s Can’t Escape Love, Reggie uses a wheelchair, due to her ataxia.
Gus caught a glimpse of several wheelchairs, at least one of which looked like something from a sci-fi movie. He imagined none of them had come cheaply. “You have a lot of those,” he said.
She glanced up at him, and when she spoke there was a frost in the air that didn’t come from the AC. “The device I depend on to navigate the world? Yes. I have more than one.”
— Alyssa Cole, Can’t Escape Love
Reggie knows how lucky she is to be able to afford multiple wheelchairs, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t also annoyed by people doubting her capability solely because she has mobility issues or frustrated by the weakness and lack of control she sometimes experiences.
(E)ven now, there was something in her cadence that people picked up on. She could always mark the moment when the stranger on the other end of the line began to speak to her louder and more slowly, like she needed their help to comprehend things when they were the ones with a problem.
— Alyssa Cole, Can’t Escape Love
Another story that is upfront in addressing accessibility issues is Play It Again by Aidan Wayne. Dovid and his sister review restaurants as part of their vlog.
Dovid counted to six in his head to give Rachel editing leeway, then said, “So that was a negative for The Sweet Spot. The aisle was plain too narrow for me to get through easily on my own. Which also means it’d be even harder to have someone side-by-side leading me along. And I don’t know exactly how wide the aisle was because I couldn’t see it, but it really didn’t seem like a chair would be able to maneuver comfortably either. Now, our hostess might not have been thinking and there was a wider path she could have shown us, but I can only judge what I got.”
— Aidan Wayne, Play It Again
I am aware of some of these things because I live in an area that is frequently inaccessible—which I discovered when I spent six weeks on crutches (as well as during the years my grandmother lived with us) and let me tell you it is maddening to find you can’t do simple things like open doors because a building has not been made properly accessible.
There are also “invisible” disabilities: Ones that aren’t obvious to the average bystander, but may have serious effects on someone’s daily life.
“I have POTS.”
Apparently convinced she was steady, he stepped back. She tried not to miss the feel of him, that reassuring solidness.
“What the fuck is POTS?” he demanded.
“It’s a circulation thing. Mine is fairly mild. Sometimes, when I stand up, my heart beats too fast and I get dizzy.” She usually rose slowly, so she wouldn’t drop like a sack of potatoes.
— Talia Hibbert, That Kind of Guy
“That night, I passed out on the sofa, woke up at dawn, and had this bright idea— if I cleaned up the mess before Kevin woke up, he’d be really happy. He hated untidiness, and the house was my responsibility. I suppose I got a bit nervous. So, I stood up to move all of the empty bottles… only, I’d forgotten about my heart.”
…
“I stood up too fast. My heart panicked, and I passed out and dropped everything. Then there was all this blood, shouting… It was a dramatic way to ring in the new year.”— Talia Hibbert, That Kind of Guy
Even in stories where the characters have rare conditions, I still learn fascinating things I would not have realized otherwise.
I liked old black-and-white movies. They were easier to watch, what with never being overwhelmed by the mess of tones and colors blending into one another that represented modern cinema.
— CS Poe, The Mystery of the Curiosities
It’s one thing to know about color blindness, but it’s something else to go with someone through their day as they try to do things like getting dressed, or finding the building with “the red door.”
More than a decade ago I was in a class where one of my classmates blithely said that if he was no longer able to drive, he wouldn’t want to live anymore.
I was taken aback, to say the least.
Yes, different people have difference standards of quality of life, but to see a life restricted by something as small as no longer being able to drive as a life not worth living any longer… That’s a pretty harsh take.
It’s another reason I think stories are so important—because they allow you to see the value in other lives—even ones we might think we would find restricted and unhappy.
Historicals can sometimes be problematic for me, because they often to gloss over the lack of medicine and treatment available. The likelihood of a woman dying at any point in any of her pregnancies is a subject I’ll skip for now, except to say there are books that do an amazing job of addressing the subject, and I wish there were more.
Aside from pregnancy, there were many serious illness—easily treated now—that were common and devastating.
It had taken him years to accept that he couldn’t properly run a business when he might be taken ill at any time. There were men whose livelihoods depended on Medlock Shipping remaining a going concern, and he couldn’t properly ensure that when he was delirious and feverish. The realization that his bouts of illness were going to continue forever, bringing his life to a grinding halt with no warning, had finally dawned on him this past year. There would always be relapses and recurrences; he might not die, but he wouldn’t get better. Regardless of how well he felt when he was healthy, there would always be another attack waiting for him around the corner. Eleanor’s tinctures only did so much. Bloodletting and special teas did nothing at all. He would spend the rest of his life trying to cram his living into the space between illnesses, his life a sentence with the ugliest punctuation.
— Cat Sebastian, The Ruin of a Rake
Despite the many different miracles of technology we use on a daily basis, it’s how we are able to heal and control so many once common illnesses that I think would impress travelers from the past.
I initially had difficulty accepting the HEA of the following story, because the main character had tuberculous, which is uncurable and would have severely shortened his life.
“The doctor said you broke a rib coughing. He said not to try binding it up because then you’d risk injuring your lungs. So I’m afraid it may have healed badly.”
— Cat Sebastian, Two Rogues Make a Right
Then I realized I was being obnoxiously selfish and abelist, because everyone deserves love and happiness. None of us know how long our lives, and the lives of those we love will be, so we should grab love and happiness when we have the chance.
As much as I adore properly researched historicals (and I do love them) one of the more terrifying things about them is treatments of that time which make an appearance.
“My sister,” Chant began, “was… odd. That’s what my parents called it at least. She would have fits where her body would jerk and she would lash out. She might shout obscenities or nonsense. But, Gale, she was sweetness itself when you knew her, you must believe me. My parents called it an affliction. Her doctors too. And I suppose it was. But I also think that, were the world more receptive to the idea that we are all made differently— that it is not really for any of us to say what is normal or right— perhaps her character would not have seemed such a burden to my mother. My father loved her so very dearly. My mother too, in her way. But my father was especially bonded to her. He was a busy man, and I don’t think he fully understood the toll it took on my mother to care for Jenny in a society that thinks those with ‘afflictions’ ought to be locked away and only spoken of in whispers. Jenny’s prospects lay in marriage. But my mother took her to a rout one Season, and it was such a disaster that we attended no more events. Gradually I noticed my parents were keeping Jenny inside more and more. Not even trips to the pie shop or the bookstore were permitted. Jenny became all but a captive within those walls.
— J.A. Rock and, Lisa Henry, A Case for Christmas
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He clenches his hands into fists around the blankets, face set, then says, “Fine, you want to know why? Because at the end of this year, I’m not going to law school, I’m going into an asylum.”
We stare at each other. It takes a long moment for me to grasp what he’s said— it’s so horrid and utterly unbelievable that I’m certain I must have heard wrong. “You’re . . . what?”
“There’s a place in Holland. A sanatorium. For the . . .” He squeezes his eyes tight and finishes very carefully. “For the insane.”
— Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
“My aunt thinks that this is God’s way of punishing me. The family’s bastard Negro boy has convulsive fits— it’s appropriate. She still won’t be disabused of the notion that I’m possessed by the devil, and my uncle keeps telling me that I need to stop being hysterical and overcome it.”
— Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
“Have you ever taken the water cure?”
“No, but I understand that if it’s properly done, it can alleviate a great many ills.”
“Is there a proper way to douse a terrified child with ice water? Or wrap her in freezing, wet sheets and tie her to a bed, or—”
“No,” he said quickly. “None.”
— Alissa Johnson, A Dangerous Deceit
“Some doctors call it epilepsy,” she said cautiously. “But she has seen so many of them. The only thing they can agree on is that they don’t know how to cure her fits.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “What I overheard the other day, that’s the nature of the typical experiment, then? The doctors want to send an electric shock through her?”
“Among so many other things.” Too many treatments to list. Too many for Jane to think about without feeling sick to her stomach. “They’ve tried bloodletting and leeches and potions that make her vomit. Those are the easy ones to talk about. The rest…” If she closed her eyes, she could still smell the poker burning into her sister’s arm. She could still hear her scream. “You don’t want to hear about the rest.”
— Courtney Milan, The Heiress Effect
Never mind the cocaine pills and mummy powder and laudanum and trepanning and Mercury elixir and snake oil.
My favorite thing about historicals is that I am only visiting the past—I don’t have to live there. I only wish the future where all things are better, was already here.
Books with Illness Representation
Main Characters
~Romance~
Not So Cookie Cutter (2019) Aidan Wayne, osteoarthritis
Play It Again (2019) Aidan Wayne, cancer
Can’t Escape Love (2019) Alissa Cole, ataxia
Destined To Last (2010) Alissa Johnson (Providence Series) unknown
Arctic Heat (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) cancer
Status Update (2015) Annabeth Albert (#gaymers) Celiac disease
A Duke in Disguise (2019) Cat Sebastian (Regency Imposter) epilepsy
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) Malaria
Two Rogues Make a Right (2020) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) tuberculosis
Lucky Charm (2019) Chace Verity, deaf
A Kiss for Midwinter (2012) Courtney Milan (The Brothers Sinister) miscarriage
The Countess Conspiracy (2013) Courtney Milan (The Brothers Sinister) miscarriage
The Color of You (2017) CS Poe, asthma
The Wanderer (2014) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) cancer
Sweetest in the Gale (2020) Olivia Dade, cancer
Get a Life, Chloe Brown (2019) Talia Hibbert (Brown Sisters) fibromyalgia
That Kind of Guy (2019) Talia Hibbert (Ravenswood) POTS
Blind Faith (2018) N.R. Walker, blindness
~Mystery~
Blind Justice (1994) Bruce Alexander (Sir John Fielding) blindness
CS Poe‘s Snow & Winter series, achromatopsia : The Mystery of Nevermore (2016), The Mystery of the Curiosities (2017), The Mystery of the Moving Image (2018), The Mystery of the Bones (2019), The Mystery of the Spirits (2021)
Southernmost Murder (2018) CS Poe, narcolepsy
Fatal Shadows (2000) Josh Lanyon (Adrien English) heart
Dine with Me (2019) Layla Reyne, cancer
Lissa Kasey‘s Haven Investigations series, concussion, seizures (attack)
Model Exposure (2017), Model Investigator (2017)
~Fantasy~
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (2017) Mackenzi Lee, epilepsy
The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks (2021) Mackenzi Lee, epilepsy
A Natural History of Dragons (2013) Marie Brennan (Lady Trent) miscarriage
Secondary Characters
~Romance~
Life’s Too Short (2021) Abby Jimenez, parent, sibling, ALS
American Dreamer (2019) Adriana Herrera, family, cancer
Knit Tight (2015) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) family, cancer
The Heiress Effect (2013) Courtney Milan (The Brothers Sinister) sibling, epilepsy
The Luckiest Lady in London (2013) Sherry Thomas, sibling, epilepsy
~Mystery~
A Case for Christmas (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) sibling, epilepsy
Why Representation in Books Is Important
Mental Health Representation in Books: Depression
Mental Health Representation in Books: Anxiety
Mental Health Representation in Books: Grief
Mental Health Representation in Books: PTSD
Mental Health Representation in Books: Addiction and Eating Disorders
Representation in Books: Injury
I’ve reached the point in life where very few people my age haven’t been laid up with an in injury or serious illness at some point, so they are in our conscious now. And disability (either in ourselves, friends or family members) is also something with which we have become familiar.become
But even when I was younger, I knew about these things from reading.
And I knew those TV shows and movies where the hero is knocked in the head and jumps right up, or is shot and walking around by the end credits were bullshit.
Recovery takes time. And you don’t always get back what you had before. So you learn to cope and accept these changes are the new normal.
When I think about injury and recovery, the book that always jumps immediately to mind is Robert B Parker’s Small Vices.
In chapter 35 Spenser is shot and goes into the “not quite frozen” river. In Chapter 36, Spenser, Hawk, and Susan drive across the country, where Spenser will spend more than half a year recovering.
What astounds me every time is that in three chapters you fully get the sense of how much work Spenser had to do—and how long it took him to do it.
About a quarter mile from the house was a hill that went up sharply at right angles to the much gentler hill we lived on. Each morning, Hawk and Pearl and I walked up to the foot of the hill and looked at it. Actually Pearl dashed. Hawk walked. I shuffled. But after the first week I shuffled without holding on. Pearl would race up the hill, barrel chested and wasp waisted. Bred to run for hours, she rubbed it in every day, looking puzzled that I couldn’t do at all what she did so effortlessly.
— Robert B Parker, Small Vices, Chapter 37
“Here we go,” I said.
We started up. I was half dragging my left leg. Hawk walked slowly beside me. On the right there was a lemon grove, the wet fruit glistening among the green leaves. Nobody seemed to be harvesting it. The fruit was yellow and heavy on the trees and littered the ground, some of it rotting beneath the trees. I was gasping for breath. I looked up and the mailbox was still thirty yards away.
“No reason not to stop and rest,” Hawk said.
I nodded. I looked back. The wet black road surface gleamed. I was twenty yards up the hill and I couldn’t talk. We stood silently together in the steady rain. I was wearing an Oakland A’s baseball cap, and white New Balance sneakers, jeans, and a bright green rain jacket that Susan said was the ugliest garment she’d ever seen legalized. In the left-hand pocket the Detective Special weighed about two hundred pounds.
“How . . . high . . . is . . . this . . . hill?”
“Never measured it,” Hawk said. “Takes me ’bout ten minutes to walk up, five minutes to run.”
— Robert B Parker, Small Vices, Chapter 38
Hawk and I went up into one of the canyons back in the hills and began to shoot. I held the gun in both hands, though my left was doing all the work, and I was able to level it mainly by pulling my right arm up with my left. My only success was that I didn’t shoot myself. I was up to five-pound dumbbells. With my right arm I was actually moving the weight, curling it maybe halfway so that my forearm was at right angles to my biceps.
— Robert B Parker, Small Vices, Chapter 39
Chapter 39 ends with this:
One morning I ran up the hill. All the way.
— Robert B Parker, Small Vices, Chapter 39
Then we’re back to the mystery.
But in those three chapters—27 pages—you can feel just how far Spenser had to go to recover, and just how hard he had to work to achieve that recovery. I’ve read (and listened) to that book more times than I can count, and every time I am shocked by how short the recovery chapters really are, because in the story I feel the work and the struggle and the time.
Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series also does a good job of showing the aftermath of a life-changing injury.
Prior to the start of the story, Cooper took three slashes to his abdomen, with permanent damage to his digestive system.
He was supposed to eat small meals frequently throughout the day to allow his shortened small intestine to absorb the necessary amount of nutrients, but it was hard to do on the road. Cooper didn’t want to draw attention to himself as weak or, god forbid, stopping everything when a boy was missing so that he could get a snack. His guts would just have to deal.
— Charlie Adhara. The Wolf at the Door
What I appreciate so much about this story is that not only does this problem not disappear from the series, it’s appearance in subsequent books shows you glimpses of Cooper and Oliver’s relationship.
Ever since then Park had been hyper-vigilant that Cooper was getting enough nutrition. He often cooked him little omelets in the morning before Cooper woke, had started researching supplements and vitamins he thought Cooper should take, and packed snacks for him on cases as if he was a child.
— Charlie Adhara, The Wolf at Bay
They’d fallen into a habit of Cooper shopping and Park cooking since if left to his own devices Cooper often went weeks uninterested in meals that required more than three or four steps, his relationship with food having changed a lot since his gut had been torn up and he’d spent months not being able to eat “real” food.
— Charlie Adhara. Cry Wolf
Cooper’s life was irrevocably changed after the attack, but it goes on. Although he changes jobs, he remains capable of doing the work he loves. (This series also shows Cooper doing the work of realizing he has PTSD from his attack and then slowly—slowly—getting better.)
Plus, action, mystery, and werewolves. What’s not to love?
Neither of these books dwells on the subject, but they make it clear that being in a dangerous line of work can lead unexpected (and unwanted) life changes.
I’ve also found that scenes while someone is recovering can further the characters and the story.
Mercy Thompson was badly hurt fighting a monster.
“And do you know, when you have a broken hand and a giant cut under your arm, crutches don’t work, and neither does a wheelchair unless you have a minion to wheel you around. My good hand is burnt, so I can’t even turn circles.”
…
I was tired of everyone, which was ungracious of me. But I don’t like being dependent— it makes me cranky. I needed someone to carry me upstairs and downstairs. I needed someone to help me outside and inside. I even needed someone to help me into the bathroom because none of the bathroom doors were big enough for a wheelchair.— Patricia Briggs, River Marked
Which is followed by this:
“Mercy,” (Stefan) said gently. “It’s not that they don’t want to help— they can’t. You’ve told them all to leave you alone. With Adam gone, you’re the highest power in the pack, and they can’t gainsay you. Warren told me that they were down to leaving you with pack members he couldn’t be happy about.”
That had never occurred to me. And explained why Auriele and Darryl hadn’t been back, even after I’d sent them an e-mail apologizing for yelling at them. I know e-mail apologies are lame, but it was the only way I could be sure not to grump at them some more.
“You need to tell them they can come back to the house and talk to you— and help you do whatever you need. Just as you would help them if they needed it.”
— Patricia Briggs, River Marked
That scene is powerful because we learn about how the pack works, and also because we see Mercy bend and accept help from those around her.
The pain of a major injury is awful, but in some ways, being completely dependent upon others is harder. It’s an important reminder we do not exist in isolation and it’s not just okay to ask for help when you need it—it’s important to do so.
And that goes for mental health as well as physical health.
Then there is concussion.
There is more awareness than there was two decades ago, but the fastest way for a book to piss me off is for a character to be knocked unconscious and then all but jump up and dive right back into danger.
A concussion isn’t a convenient plot point.
“(T)he thing is, you’ve suffered a concussion. That’s a brain injury. In your case, the injury appears to be mild, but symptoms can manifest even several days after the traumatic event.”
“I know. I run a mystery bookstore. Ninety percent of injuries suffered by characters in mysteries are concussions.”
Dr. Mane laughed, although Ellery was being serious. “Sure, but it’s not like in the books or in movies. Your brain needs time to heal, which can take seven to fourteen days. Ten is the average.”
“Ten days?” Ellery gaped at him.
“On average.”
— Josh Lanyon, Mystery at the Masquerade
They were given a long list of things Martin couldn’t do for a couple of weeks with his concussion, which included reading or looking at anything on a screen.
— Ada Maria Soto, His Quiet Agent
I am glad we are better educated about the dangers of concussion—both short term and long term consequences. But we still need regular reminders that head injuries are serious and can takes days, weeks, or even months to recover from.
And ignoring the doctors’ restrictions can lead to further injury or even death.
Sure, it’s not really fund and exciting to have a character in the hospital, or going through a long, slow recovery, but it’s a reminder for us that injuries aren’t something to be taken lightly. A reminder that we continue to learn and grow even when we can’t do things on our own.
The trouble with having a limp was that it was nearly impossible to execute a proper stomping. That wasn’t the only trouble, of course, but it was the inconvenience that most vexed Evie at present.
— Alissa Johnson, McAlistair’s Fortune
Another thing many of these books—especially romances—show is how some of the mechanics of sex may need to change after a serious injury, but those physical changes don’t end the sex life of the characters. Being me, that’s about all I want to say on the subject, but it is an important aspect of life, and putting such discussions and scenes in books is important because it lets people see that their physical changes aren’t an end, just a change.
Injury and recovery are a part of life, so I’m always glad to see them in fiction.
Main Characters
– Romance –
His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto, concussion
Merlin in the Library (2018) Ada Maria Soto, concussion
McAlistair’s Fortune (2009) Alissa Johnson (Providence Series) injury (accident)
Connection Error (2016) Annabeth Albert (#gaymers) amputation (war)
Arctic Wild (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) injury (accident)
The Soldier’s Scoundrel (2016) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) injury (war)
Whiteout (2017) Elyse Springer (Seasons of Love) concussion (accident)
Sympathy (2009) Jordan Castillo Price injury (accident)
– Fantasy –
Widdershins, (2006) Charles de Lint, injury (attack)
Charlie Adhara‘s Big Bad Wolf series, injury (attack)
The Wolf at the Door (2018), The Wolf at Bay (2018), Thrown to the Wolves (2019), Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2020), Cry Wolf (2021)
River Marked (2011) Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson) injury (attack)
– Mystery –
Lessons in Discovery (2009) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) concussion (accident)
Madison Square Murders (2021) CS Poe (Momento Mori) concussion (attack)
A Dangerous Thing (2002) Josh Lanyon, concussion
Somebody Killed His Editor (2009) Josh Lanyon (Holmes & Moriarity) concussion
Requiem for Mr. Busybody (2020) Josh Lanyon, injury (accident)
Mystery at the Masquerade (2021) Josh Lanyon (Secrets & Scrabble) concussion (attack)
Lissa Kasey‘s Haven Investigations series, concussion (attack)
Model Exposure (2017), Model Investigator (2017)
Small Vices (1997) Robert B Parker (Spenser) injury (attack)
Skin and Bone (2002) TA Moore, concussion (attack)
Why Representation in Books Is Important
Mental Health Representation in Books: Depression
Mental Health Representation in Books: Anxiety
Mental Health Representation in Books: PTSD
Mental Health Representation in Books: Addiction and Eating Disorders
Towards the end of the month I started reading a lot more. Part of it was receiving some comics I wanted caught up on, but another part was trying to shift my brain back into reading as a distraction.
That is working only so-so.
Oh! There were new releases I really wanted to read. By that I mean, I actually read two books that came out in the same month in which I read them.
Crazy, I know.
I was delighted by both K.D. Edwards‘s third book in the Tarot Sequence, The Hourglass Throne as well as the first book in Charlie Adhara‘s Monster Hunt series. And actually annoyed I didn’t get another Oliver and Cooper book and so was grumpy about switching to Eli’s POV in Pack of Lies.
Silly me.
I’ve been reading up on the next series of posts I want to write about representation in fiction (I wrote several posts about mental health representation, and although it was good to do, it was also somewhat exhausting) so several of the books I read were ones I went delving into for quotes and ended up rereading the entire thing.
I was able to borrow the latest in Ashley Gardners Kat Holloway series, which I very much liked. I am not sure if the series is preparing to wind up or if it’s just the romance that is going to be settled, so I’m curious to see what happens next.
I did read one book that ended up pissing me off, mostly because they went with a power imbalance in the secondary character’s relationship. As I went through something similar my freshman year, I wasn’t delighted to see it seen as OK for a TA to date a student in a class he was currently assisting. No. Sorry. It’s not ok. Once the class is over, fine. But not concurrent.
Yeah, I’m still unhappy about it.
I got the newest Lacy Mechanika, which was good, but very dark, and a bit cliffhanger-y, which is mildly aggravating as those books are soooo slow to come out. Which isn’t the authors’ fault, but I do hate waiting.
And I had some comfort reads while I was flailing around. And Everything Nice is just a fun story that is full of baking–and no boinking. It’s very sweet. And I randomly got Glass Tidings in my brain and had to read that.
I also want to recommend (again) Loud and Clear by Aidan Wayne because it is sweet and cute and also has some amazing disability rep, making it clear (without preaching) just how much the luck of one’s birth affects whether someone with a disability can succeed.
Plus the romance is incredibly sweet.
I’ve got at least three new releases I coming my way; hopefully I’ll manage to read them immediately as well.
Fantasy
The Hourglass Throne (2022) K.D. Edwards (The Tarot Sequence) 8.5/10
Pack of Lies (2022) Charlie Adhara (Monster Hunt) 8.5/10
Human Enough (2019) ES Yu 8.5/10
Green Creek series by T.J. Klune: Wolfsong (2016) 7.5/10, Ravensong (2019)
Mystery
The Secret of Bow Lane (2022) Ashley Gardner (Kat Holloway) 8/10
Requiem for Mr. Busybody (2020) Josh Lanyon 7.5/10
Romance
Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne 9/10
Band Sinister (2018) K.J. Charles 9/10
Glass Tidings (2018) Amy Jo Cousins 8.5/10
And Everything Nice (2020) Ada Maria Soto 8.5/10
His Quiet Agent (2017) Ada Maria Soto 8.5/10
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) 7.5/10
Sympathy (2009) Jordan Castillo Price 7/10
The Other Side of the Roses (2017) R. Cooper
Lucky Charm (2019) Chace Verity
Adorkable (2020) Shane K. Morton 
Audio
Rivers of London, Audio Edition by Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith: Broken Homes (2014) 9/10, Foxglove Summer (2015) 9/10, The Furthest Station (2017) 8.5/10, The Hanging Tree (2017) 8/10, A Rare Book of Cunning Device, Audio Edition (2017), Lies Sleeping, Audio Edition (2018)
Comics
Lady Mechanika Volume 7: The Monster of the Ministry of Hell (2022) Joe Benitez, Beth Sotelo, Michael Heisler
Rivers Of London: Vol. 8: The Fey and the Furious (2020) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Vol. 9: Monday, Monday (2022) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, José María Beroy 7/10
Random Stats:
I’ve read 52 books that were published since 2021, and it’s currently split evenly between the two years.
13% of the books have been audio books, which apparently comes out to 13 days, 4 hrs, and 2 mins worth of audio books so far this year.
The lowest I have rated a book this year is 4/10 while 43% of the books I rated have been 8/10
8% of this years reading has been library books.
And 41% of the books this year have been rereads.
I really do like hiking Otter Creek. I almost always find solitude there, and the entire hike is beside the creek, which is one of my favorite sounds.
I’ll be honest–all these pictures are simply ones I liked, rather than ones that show the landscape. These stills reflect how being there makes me feel.
It was a lovely day.
Canaan Valley State Park
Blackwater River Trail, Canaan Valley State Park
Table Rock, Canaan Mountain Backcountry
The forecast was rain, but there was a night, home game, so we settled on a series of short hikes to waterfalls.
Douglas Falls is just outside of Thomas, and although the Blackwater Canyon trail is easy, there is a scramble down to the waterfall.
My favorite spot is along the top of the old (and crumbling) retaining wall, and down past the falls a bit.
Then we headed to Blackwater Falls to hike along the Falls of Pendleton.
This hike is not an easy one.
But the views were lovely.
Sadly, as much as I enjoyed sitting there watching the falls, my pictures don’t really show just how amazing the views were.
On the other hand, the weather meant we didn’t see anyone anyone else, which is always a plus.
Quite a few audio books this month. One was our travel book, the others were my exercise / cleaning books.
I’ve had a lot of cleaning to catch up on.
Lots of rereads, but I did manage some new releases–including three books that were released in August. That rarely happens–I tend to put off reading new releases for no rational reason. But these were mostly cozy mysteries, and I was very much in the mood for cozies.
Plus Husband Material, which is not a cozy, but a rom-com is just as good. And it was Alexis Hall! HUZZAH!
I want to give props to That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf. You’ll not I only gave it a middling rating, but it was a bunch of stuff I don’t care for (fated mate, weird mating rituals, tentacles, and a LOT of sex) and I still really enjoyed it.
I was just a little weirded out by some of the boinking bits.
If you like cozy mysteries, I highly recommend Charlie Cochrane‘s Lindenshaw Mysteries. The first book I was a little meh on, but I’ve loved every book since.
Mystery
Lock, Stock and Peril (2022) Charlie Cochrane (Lindenshaw Mysteries) (8/10)
Death at the Deep Dive (2022) Josh Lanyon (Secrets and Scrabble) (7.5/10)
Purloined Poinsettia (2022) Dahlia Donovan (Motts Cold Case Mystery) (7/10)
Give Unto Others (2022) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti) (7/10)
Fantasy
That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf (2022) Kimberly Lemming (Mead Mishaps) 7/10
Of Claws and Fangs (2022) Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock) (7/10)
Romance
Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2016) R. Cooper (8.5/10)
For Better or Worse (2017) R. Cooper (8/10)
Husband Material (2022) Alexis Hall (London Calling) (8/10)
The Labours of Lord Perry Cavendish (2021) Joanna Chambers (Winterbourne) (8/10)
The Turners by Cat Sebastian: The Soldier’s Scoundrel (2016) (7/10), The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) 8/10
Non-Fiction
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (2009) Dan Ariely (8.5/10)
Audio
The Rook, Audio Edition (2012) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Susan Duerden (10/10)
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith: Midnight Riot, Audio Edition (2012) (9.5/10), Moon Over Soho, Audio Edition (2011) (9/10), Whispers Under Ground (2012) (8.5/10)
I’ve only (only! HA!) read 160 books so far this year, but only 38% have been rereads, which is down from last year (and those rereads include 18 audio books (Almost all my audio books are rereads.) Plus, I’ve read 11 non-fiction books so far–I read only one last year. And that’s actually a decent pace for me for non-fiction, as I tend to read it much slower, and often go back and reread passages.
Plus, according to Goodreads I’ve read 1292% of my goal for the year!
(Yeah, goodreads numbers are off–but that 160 is the number of reviews I’ve written, so that’s the accurate number. (Except that I haven’t written reviews of a handful of books non-fiction I’ve read, but that’s a tale for another day.))
I’ve been (for quite awhile now) failing at posting about recent hikes.
So here are some pictures from the past month or so.
Addiction
There are several different kinds of stories that deal with addiction.
One is watching a main character spiral until they hit bottom and work to achieve their sobriety.
“I’m not an alcoholic.”
“If I asked you right now to go one solid week without a single alcoholic drink, would you be able to?”
The idea of facing his mother without that barrier, of trying to sleep without the pillow of numbness, made James’s insides squirrelly. He didn’t know because he’d never tried. He’d never had a reason to try.
— A.M. Arthur, Getting It Right
I think some of the books that do this best are the ones where you follow a character over the course of a series, so you have time to see the dawning of awareness that they have a problem, as well as the struggle and work to gain and keep their sobriety.
He couldn’t lie anymore about using alcohol as a way to cope with his anger and pain. Maybe he wasn’t addicted, but his behaviour was just as self-destructive. Time would tell if stepping outside of his life in Cardiff for a few months would actually change anything for him.
— Dahlia Donovan, The Lion Tamer (Sin Bin)
The thing about the Sin Bin series is that although only the final two stories are about Scottie, you watch him slowly get worse in the preceding books, which makes his recovery in the final book satisfying.
A second kind of story is where a character struggles with their sobriety over the course of the story.
Medlock gave him an appraising glance. “It’s like that, is it?” And then he took the bottle and the glass and poured the contents of both out the window.
“What the hell are you doing?” He could ill afford another bottle.
“If you wanted to drink it, you would have done so hours ago. I think you wanted not to drink it, so I helped.”
— Cat Sebastian, The Ruin of a Rake
Beyond the importance of routine, it was vital to stay healthy in times of stress. Swift had badly abused his body for most of his life. His current state of health required consciousness and commitment.
— Josh Lanyon, Come Unto These Yellow Sands
This was what I did. Things got bad, I didn’t want anyone to see me weak and broken, so I decided I’d wait until I was just a tiny bit stronger, and then I’d call. But in the space between shame and a public face lay the ocean of demons just waiting for the drop of blood that would set it churning. And I nicked myself with pride every time.
— Roan Parrish, Riven
I feel like these struggle are incredibly important—they remind us that sobriety is work. Sometimes you fail, but that as long as you’re alive, you can try again and again.
A third type of story is where a main character doesn’t struggle with their sobriety, yet their past still affects their actions as well as how they see themselves.
He hated telling people about his drinking problem, hated the way it changed how they looked at him, how it colored every interaction from that point onward.
— Annabeth Albert, Arctic Sun
“Laudanum.” He allowed the word to settle into the conversation, waited for her face to slowly change to a mask of confusion. “I don’t refuse it because it makes me muzzy-headed, because it gives me vivid dreams, or even because I dislike the taste. I refuse it because I developed an addiction to it when I was young. It was so severe that when I was at Eton, I took a dose that nearly killed me. I stopped breathing.”
She inhaled and tried to pull her hand away. Christian held on tightly.
“When I was… imbibing, I would set my day by my doses. It took over everything I was, everything I wanted. There is no safe dose, not for me.”
— Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess
If an author is going to do this, I want to see the work. Representation is good, but I want it to be more than lip service. Just a mention with no further discussion of the struggle feels like a disservice to those who are currently struggling and want to gain / maintain sobriety.
Just as important is where the main character has to deal with a family member who is an addict—either sober or actively using.
Dad had not had a good day. He’d woken up from a nap to a war movie playing on TV that had triggered some memories and anxiety he’d tried to walk off. Walks helped when he wanted a drink,
— R Cooper, Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut
I knew what was coming, like following a script written specifically for us. And yet every time I hoped this time would be different. This time he would really mean what he said. This time he would give up his brandy. So when he failed and I stumbled upon him defiantly swigging from a flask or passed out in his chair, an empty bottle at his feet, it was doubly painful.
— Anna Lee Huber, Secrets in the Mist
“It’s a disease. It’s not my fault. I can’t help it!”
“It is your fault! The disease didn’t decide to drink. The disease didn’t go find your purse. The disease didn’t walk out the door and down the street to Lucky’s. The disease didn’t walk to the back row where the vodka is and pick the bottle up off the shelf—”
“I didn’t go to Lucky’s. You never understand.”
“— and walk up to the register and pay for it. The disease didn’t open the bottle, Mom. The disease didn’t drink it, either. You did. It is your fault. It’s always your fault.”
— Heidi Cullinan & Marie Sexton, Family Man
One of the things I appreciate about the last two quotes is that they allow the characters to be angry. And that anger is complicated.
Why do I want to read about the struggles of other people? It’s multi-fold, really. It is nice to read about problems that are not my own, and because it reminds me that others might not be going through what I am, but they may be going through their own struggles—ones I don’t see.
National Helpline: 800-622-4357
Substance Use Resource Center (Blue Cross Blue Shield)
Mental Health and Substance Abuse (USA.gov)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Resources (WVU)
Eating Disorders
In some ways, eating disorders are similar to addiction. Except you cannot avoid the substance you have a troubled relationship with.
“Okay, so Maxine. Coke and booze. Plus she had issues with food. She ditched the coke and the booze, right? Went to meetings, did the whole bit. Took her a while, but she did it. After she’d been clean for about five years, you know what she told me? She said that she didn’t talk about it much at meetings because people didn’t take it serious, but the hardest thing for her to get under control— harder than coke and booze? Her eating disorder.”
“What? Why?”
He nodded. “You can draw a clean line with coke and booze. Say never again, and stay away from them, period. Food? You gotta eat that shit three times a day every day for the rest of your life, and you gotta make choices about it every time.
— Riven, Roan Parrish
(800) 931-2237
National Institute of Mental Health – Eating Disorders (NIMH)
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
Eating Disorder Resources (WVU)
Books with Characters Dealing with Addiction
Characters seek help:
The Lion Tamer (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) main character [alcohol] (Contemporary Romance)
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (2017) Mackenzi Lee, main character [alcohol] (Historical Fantasy)
Open for Business (2016) Angel Martinez (Brandywine Investigations) main character [alcohol] (Contemporary Fantasy)
Black and Blue (1997) Ian Rankin (Inspector Rebus) main character [alcohol] (Contemporary Mystery)
Characters are sober, but sometimes struggle:
The Secret, Book, & Scone Society (2017) Ellery Adams (The Secret, Book, & Scone Society) main character [alcohol] (Contemporary Mystery)
Arctic Sun (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) main character [alcohol] (Contemporary Romance)
The Duchess Deal (2017) Tessa Dare (Girl Meets Duke) main character [laudanum] (Historical Romance)
Clean (2012) Alex Hughes, main character (Contemporary Fantasy)
Come Unto These Yellow Sands (2011) Josh Lanyon, main character [drugs] (Contemporary Mystery)
Once Upon a Marquess (2015) Courtney Milan (Worth Saga) main character [laudanum] (Historical Romance)
Riven (2018) Roan Parrish (Riven) main character [drugs] (Contemporary Romance)
Raze (2019) Roan Parrish (Riven) main character [drugs] (Contemporary Romance)
The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) main character [alcohol] (Historical Romance)
Two Rogues Make a Right (2020) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) main character [laudanum] (Historical Romance)
Secondary characters with an addiction:
Baked Fresh (2015) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) secondary character (Contemporary Romance)
Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018) R Cooper, parental [alcohol] (Contemporary Romance)
Family Man (2017) Heidi Cullinan & Marie Sexton, parent [alcohol] (Contemporary Romance)
Secrets in the Mist (2016) Anna Lee Huber, parent [alcohol] (Historical Mystery)
Jar City (2000) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder (Inspector Erlendur) adult child [drugs] (Contemporary Mystery)
Life’s Too Short (2021) Abby Jimenez, sibling [drugs] (Contemporary Romance)
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (2018) Mackenzi Lee, sibling [alcohol] (Historical Fantasy)
Books with Characters Dealing with an Eating Disorder
Getting it Right (2015) A.M. Arthur (Restoration) supporting character (Romance)
Boyfriend Material (2020) Alexis Hall (London Calling) main character (Romance)
Husband Material (2022) Alexis Hall (London Calling) main character (Romance)
Three Stupid Weddings (2018) Ann Gallagher, main character (Romance)
Arctic Sun (2019) Annabeth Albert (Frozen Hearts) main character (Romance)
Haven Investigations series by Lissa Kasey, main character (Contemporary Mystery): Model Citizen (2016), Model Bodyguard (2016), Model Investigator (2017), Model Exposure (2017)
The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks (2021) Mackenzi Lee, main character (Historical Fantasy)
Call or text 988
Why Representation in Books Is Important
Mental Health Representation in Books: Depression
Mental Health Representation in Books: Anxiety
Mental Health Representation in Books: Grief
Mental Health Representation in Books: PTSD
Factories
Fields
Mining
Come all of you good workers,
Good news to you I’ll tell
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.
My daddy was a miner
And I’m a miner’s son,
And I’ll stick with the union
‘Til every battle’s won.
They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there;
You’ll either be a union man,
Or a thug for J. H. Blair.
Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can.
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?
Just a reminder what we’re celebrating today.
Although I cannot judge the accuracy of the presentation, I want to mention books with characters with PTSD.
PTSD has been called a lot of things over the centuries: acute mania, soldier’s heart, shell shock, gas hysteria, battle fatigue, combat fatigue, war neurosis, Combat Stress Reaction. It is not a new diagnosis, just simply a renaming of something that has been around for as long as soldiers have gone to war.
For as long as people have suffered from violence and upheaval and has been in written history since the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Consider that many people need to be taught to kill—that in conflicts, the enemy is dehumanized—seen as little more than animals and thus unworthy of life. It is a small wonder that violence can cause disorder, as one tries to understand the inexplicable.
To me, PTSD isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of our humanity.
In the list of books below, I’ve tried to give some details as to what to expect from the various stories, but it’s sometimes difficult to do without giving away parts of the stories.
Additionally, I’ve ordered the books from makes me a “little sad” to “punch in the stomach” hard to read. So as you get towards the end of the list, you might want to check other reviews if you’re leery. Because I don’t know how to compare the on-the-page violence and horror of Paul Cornell’s Shadow Police series with the on-the-page sexual assault in Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series. (I find the Shadow Police series MUCH easier to read than Iron Kissed, FWIW.)
But what all of the books do have in common is the character’s PTSD does not magically “get better”.
Because that is utter bullshit.
In the handful of series I list below, it sometimes takes several books for a character to come to terms with their need for help, and to take the steps needed to work towards getting better.
These are some of the books I like best, because they don’t attempt to sugarcoat how hard the process of getting help is (this is true for ANY mental health issue, not just PTSD). And in some of the books, even characters already in therapy have relapses, which is something often ignored in fiction—that once the character falls in love or goes to therapy everything isn’t immediately okay.
Therapy requires being honest with yourself (and your therapist) and recognizing there will be setbacks.
The reason I think these stories are important is because I am old enough to remember some of the fall-out after the Vietnam war. When veterans were harangued and worse for participating in that war—even when they often had no choice in the matter. It was our responsibility as a society to care for them, and we let them down.
It is our duty to see and acknowledge those who have served our country, and to make sure they are allowed to say what the need—feel what they need.
It is also important for us to see and acknowledge those who have gone through other traumas and are struggling.
Another important point is that one person’s “better” is not going to be the same as another person’s “better” and you can’t judge anyone’s journey to any recovery with anyone else’s. One person’s good day might be finishing a report or running a marathon, while for another a good day might be getting out of bed and brushing their teeth.
With that, I want to give you just one quote that. I adore more than almost any other about mental health struggles.
Calvin hardly ever talked about his therapist or their sessions together. Not that I expected him to. It was his journey. So long as he sought discussion with someone who would guide him to discovering self-forgiveness and healthy coping mechanisms, I didn’t care if he never shared a word.
— CS Poe, The Mystery of the Moving Image (2018)
Call or text 988
Veterans Crisis Line Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and press 1 or text to 838255
PTSD and Shell Shock (History.com)
The Shock of War (Smithsonian Magazine)
History of PTSD in Veterans: Civil War to DSM-5 (VA)
A Brief History of PTSD and How it Was Discovered
Books with Characters Dealing with PTSD
Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2016) R Cooper, tertiary character [war] (Contemporary Romance)
Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018) R Cooper, parental [war] (Contemporary Romance)
Lessons in Love (2008) Charlie Cochrane (Cambridge Fellows) main character [parental suicide] (Historical Mystery)
A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) main character [war] (Historical Mystery)
McAlistair’s Fortune (2009) Alissa Johnson (Providence Series) main character [war] (Historical Romance)
Hither, Page (2019) Cat Sebastian (Page & Sommers) main character [war] (Historical Mystery)
The Anatomist’s Wife (2012) Anna Lee Huber (Lady Darby) main character [partner abuse] (Historical Mystery)
The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister) main character [parental neglect, mob violence] (Historical Romance)
A Dangerous Deceit (2017) Alissa Johnson (The Thief-Takers) main character [institutionalization] (Historical Mystery)
Snow & Winter by CS Poe, main character [war] (Contemporary Mystery): The Mystery of Nevermore (2016), The Mystery of the Curiosities (2017), The Mystery of the Moving Image (2018), The Mystery of the Bones (2019)
Nearly a Lady (2011) Alissa Johnson (Haverston Family) main character [war] (Historical Romance)
Love In The Afternoon (2010) Lisa Kleypas (Hathaways) main character [war] (Historical Romance)
Two Rogues Make a Right (2020) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) [military, parental abuse & neglect] (Historical Romance)
Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara, main character [assault & injury] (Contemporary Fantasy): The Wolf at the Door (2018), The Wolf at Bay (2018), Thrown to the Wolves (2019), Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2020), Cry Wolf (2021)
Kitty Goes to War (2010) Carrie Vaughn (Kitty the Werewolf) secondary characters [war] (Contemporary Fantasy)
An Agreement with the Soldier (2021) Sadie Bosque, main character [war] (Historical Romance)
Bayou Moon (2010) Ilona Andrews, main character [war] (Contemporary Fantasy)
Burn for Me (2014) Ilona Andrews, main character [war] (Contemporary Fantasy)
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker, main character [partner abuse (off page)] (Contemporary Romance)
Rend (2018) Roan Parrish (Riven) main character [abuse & abandonment] (Contemporary Romance)
Alpha & Omega (2007) Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega) main character [repeated abuse by pack, rape (off page)] (Contemporary Fantasy)
Bone Crossed (2009) Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson) main character [assault, rape (on page in previous book)] (Contemporary Fantasy)
The Soldier’s Dark Secret (2015) Marguerite Kaye, main character [war] (Historical Romance)
Getting it Right (2015) A.M. Arthur (Restoration) main character, supporting character [assault, abuse, discussion of abuse] (Contemporary Romance)
Inspector Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd starting with A Test of Wills (1996) main character [war] (Historical Mystery)
After the Scrum (2014) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) main character [assault] (Contemporary Romance)
The Lion Tamer (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) main character [parental abuse] (Contemporary Romance)
The Botanist (2017) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) supporting character [assault (rescue on page)] (Contemporary Romance)
The Onion Girl (2002) and Widdershins, (2006) by Charles de Lint main character [parental abuse, rape] (Contemporary Fantasy)
Shadow Police series by Paul Cornell: London Falling (2013), The Severed Streets (2014) main character [parental death, assault], Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? (2016) main character [murder (on page in second book)] (Contemporary Fantasy)
Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards, main character, secondary characters [assault, rape, attempted murder] (Contemporary Fantasy): The Last Sun (2018), The Hanged Man (2019)
Simply Crafty series by Lissa Kasey, main character [war, kidnapping] (Contemporary Fantasy): Stalked by Shadows (2019), Possessed by Shadows (2021)
Haven Investigations by Lissa Kasey main character [war, parental abuse, sibling suicide] (Contemporary Mystery): Model Citizen (2016), Model Bodyguard (2016), Model Investigator (2017), Model Exposure (2017)
Call or text 988
Why Representation in Books Is Important
Mental Health Representation in Books: Depression
Mental Health Representation in Books: Anxiety
Mental Health Representation in Books: Grief
Mental Health Representation in Books: Addiction and Eating Disorders
Grief is something I have struggled with since I was quite young. I do not think I have more grief than anyone else, or worse grief than anyone else, it is just that it takes me a while to process everything, and to come to terms with loss.
Everyone deals with grief in their own way, so all I can offer here are stories and quotes that resonated with me. That perhaps helped me come to terms with my own losses, or reflected how I have reacted.
Though I’ve devoted many sleepless nights since youth to anxiously concocting scenarios in which the people I love died and I was left alone, it’s only now she’s gone that I realize I was afraid of the wrong thing. It’s not the moment the world splits in two, it’s all the days after, trying to live a cleaved life and pretend you never knew it whole and don’t feel the space of that missing piece that can never be repaired or replaced.
— Mackenzi Lee, The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks
Did he intend to wait until he no longer feared another loss?
If so, he’d never move on. Never fall in love again.
— Sweetest in the Gale, Olivia Dade
Hank had still died, and Griffin had slid into that dark place he hoped never to revisit. Caring too much about another person was dangerous and meant he was destined to lose big.
— Annabeth Albert, Arctic Sun
“In any case, it’s been over a year now, hasn’t it? You must be learning to get on without him.”
The words were spoken carelessly, and though I knew she meant well, they still lodged in my chest like a splinter. As if one could quantify the exact period of mourning one should endure. As if the pain automatically lessened once enough time had passed.
— Anna Lee Huber, This Side of Murder
You fear that seizing the happiness you are entitled to will be somehow disrespectful to those you have grieved for.
— J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry, A Case for Christmas
“Yeah, it hurts. Understanding a thing doesn’t make it hurt less.”
— A.M. Arthur, Getting It Right
Grief was like the great Southern Ocean; it moved in ebbs and flows, often turbulent and rough, or peaceful and settled, and even over time when I could navigate the waters, the tide never stopped.
— Galaxies and Oceans, N.R. Walker
Call or text 988
Veterans Crisis Line Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and press 1 or text to 838255
Resources for Coping with Grief (ALA / APA)
Grief Resources (Good Grief)
Grief and Loss (CDC)
Grief: Coping with the loss of your loved one (APA)
Books with Characters Dealing with Grief
Served Hot (2015) Annabeth Albert (Portland Heat) main character [partner] (Romance)
At Your Service (2018) Sandra Antonelli main character [partner] (Mystery)
Getting it Right (2015) A.M. Arthur (Restoration) supporting character [partner] (Romance)
The Tropic of Serpents (2014) Marie Brennan (Lady Trent) main character [partner] (Fantasy)
An Unnatural Vice (2017) KJ Charles (Sins of the Cities) main character [partner] (Romance)
Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter (2016) R Cooper seconday character [partner] (Romance)
Sweetest in the Gale (2020) Olivia Dade, main character [partner] (Romance)
This Side of Murder (2017) Anna Lee Huber (Verity Kent) main character [partner] (Mystery)
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand (2012) Carla Kelly, main character [partner] (Romance)
The Haunted Heart: Winter (2013) Josh Lanyon, [partner] main character
Single Malt (2017) Layla Reyne (Agents Irish & Whisley) main character [partner] (Mystery)
It Takes Two to Tumble (2017) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) main character [partner, spouse] (Romance)
Whiteout (2017) Elyse Springer (Seasons of Love) main character [partner] (Romance)
Lady Helena Investigates (2018) Jane Steen, main character [partner] (Mystery)
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker main character [partner] (Romance)
An Agreement with the Soldier (2021) Sadie Bosque, main character [sibling] (Romance)
A Fashionable Indulgence (2015) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) main character [sibling] (Romance)
After the Scrum (2014) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) main character [sibling] (Romance)
Haven Investigations by Lissa Kasey, main character [sibling]: Model Citizen (2016), Model Bodyguard (2016), Model Exposure (2017), Model Investigator (2017)
Take a Hint, Dani Brown (2020) Talia Hibbert (Brown Sisters) main character [immediate family members] (Romance)
Life’s Too Short (2021) Abby Jimenez, main character, supporting characters [immediate family members] (Romance)
Banquet of Lies (2013) Michelle Diener (Regency London) main character [parent] (Mystery)
The Lion Tamer (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) main character [parent] (Romance)
Husband Material (2022) Alexis Hall (London Calling) main character [parent] (Romance)
Secrets in the Mist (2016) Anna Lee Huber, [parent] (Mystery)
The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks (2021) Mackenzi Lee, main character [parent] (Fantasy)
Best Laid Plans (2021) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) main character [parents] (Romance)
The Dream Thieves (2013) Maggie Stiefvater [parent] (Raven Boys)
Jar City (2000) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder (Inspector Erlendur) main character, secondary character (Mystery)
Heir to a Curse (2020) Lissa Kasey (Romancing a Curse) main character (Fantasy)
A Case for Christmas (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) main character
A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) main character (Mystery)
Secrets of a Scandalous Heiress (2015) Theresa Romain, main character (The Matchmaker Trilogy) main character (Romance)
Call or text 988
Why Representation in Books Is Important
Mental Health Representation in Books: Depression
Mental Health Representation in Books: Anxiety
Mental Health Representation in Books: PTSD
Mental Health Representation in Books: Addiction and Eating Disorders
Living with anxiety can be even stranger than living with depression. Because everyone feels anxious sometimes, so how do you know if it’s normal anxiety or excessive anxiety?
First through, you have to recognize it is anxiety, not physical illness.
Hannah felt as if her body and her soul were shaking at different frequencies, like she could fall out of her own flesh at any moment. Her heart pounded so hard, she was worried it might actually come loose. That didn’t sound medically possible, but anxiety could be a real bitch sometimes.
— Talia Hibbert, Untouchable
Because anxiety can feel like something is physically wrong; your brain can create physical symptoms.
Martin bit his lip, hard, and breathed through his nose, trying to slow down the panicky beat of his heart. The sensation wasn’t unfamiliar. He’d just never realized what this was before, that a person could have tiny little bursts of terror from only a few words.
— R Cooper, His Mossy Boy
Even knowing what is happening doesn’t make it easier to cope, because you don’t have control over it.
Simon wished the floor would open up and swallow him. He sucked in a tight breath through nostrils narrowed with panic and squeezed his eyes shut tight so he couldn’t see himself be seen.
— Roan Parrish, Better Than People
You have to try and pay attention to how you feel, so you can find the things that cause problems—that set off your anxiety.
(T)alking on the phone gave him enough anxiety as it was. Never knowing whether a call might turn nasty made him dread it every time he was given a ring.
— Aidan Wayne, Play It Again
Even when you know what it is, even when you have tools to deal with it, it still doesn’t go away.
That was the thing about anxiety— worries over whether to take the medication and when could be worse than the primary symptoms sometimes.
— Annabeth Albert, Conventionally Yours
Like depression, anxiety feels like something you should be able to deal with—to control—with willpower alone.
“(W)hat if you’d gone to Sidney’s and said you were super anxious and couldn’t do the show in that exact moment?”
“But I’d said I would.”
“I know, but you… couldn’t.” She’d gone all gentle. “You had a panic attack. It’s not like you could just reschedule it for when it was more convenient.”
“Sometimes I can cover it up for a while.”
— Kris Ripper, The Love Study
But that’s not how mental health works.
There are things you can do.
He cut off his thought spiral and pictured windshield wipers clearing the troubling images from his mind.
— Roan Parrish, Best Laid Plans
Tricks you can use to redirect your brain.
Cooper felt the discomfort that had been prickling at the base of his skull since the market bloom across his skin. You don’t belong here. He told that voice to fuck off
— Charlie Adhara, Thrown to the Wolves
Even physical things like exercise to burn off what feels like excess energy.
(T)he high school therapist who told him exercise might help reduce his anxiety, about consequently becoming obsessed with exercise.
— Alison Cochrun, The Charm Offensive
To move when remaining still is overwhelming.
He was barely holding himself together and had enough nervous energy running through his body to fuel a walk to Sussex and back. He didn’t think he could take being cooped up in a carriage.
— Cat Sebastian, The Lawrence Browne Affair
But even with tricks, you still doubt yourself.
Why? What the hell about him had Park seen and thought, Oh yes, anxiety-ridden loner with a temper sharper than a serpent’s tooth and a deep-seated fear of change whose longest successful relationship is with an equally judgmental cat? Swoon. It seemed too improbable for words.
— Charlie Adhara, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Because the things you believe about yourself may be irrational, but they are still things you believe.
It was as if he thought he only had one chance and he had to find the right idea, the perfect idea, before he began. As if he thought I might not get him another box, and another and another, until he’d created every single display he might want.
— Roan Parrish, Raze
You can’t help yourself.
“It’s hard for me to understand why anyone wouldn’t want you in their life.”
I snorted. “Have you met me?”
“Please don’t laugh this off. I mean it.”
“I know. It’s just easier to push people away than watch them leave.” The words hung there, and I wished I could suck them back into my mouth.
— Alexis Hall, Boyfriend Material
You just have to remind yourself that you can keep going.
I nodded and told myself the thing that I knew was true: This cannot actually kill you. Sometimes it helped.
— Roan Parrish, Riven
One day at a time.
“People like to throw around words like closure and forgiveness, but I’ve long suspected that’s because they don’t want to admit how often healing is cruelly arbitrary. Some things just hurt until they don’t anymore and no one can tell you why, so they pretend you must have gotten closure.”
— Charlie Adhara, Cry Wolf
Because it cannot actually kill you. Even when it feels like it’s trying.
Call or text 988
Veterans Crisis Line Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and press 1 or text to 838255
Here’s Why Your Anxiety Can Cause Some Pretty Gnarly Physical Symptoms
Physical Symptoms of Anxiety: How Does It Feel?
How to Help Someone with Anxiety (John Hopkins)
Tips for Living With Anxiety (WebMD)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (ADAA)
Anxiety Disorders: Overview (NIH)
Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara, main character (Contemporary Fantasy): The Wolf at the Door (2018), The Wolf at Bay (2018), Thrown to the Wolves (2019), Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (2020), Cry Wolf (2021)
Conventionally Yours (2020) Annabeth Albert, main character (Contemporary Romance)
The Charm Offensive (2021) Alison Cochrun, main character (Contemporary Romance)
Vincent’s Thanksgiving Date (2014) R Cooper, main character (Contemporary Romance)
His Mossy Boy (2017) R Cooper (Beings in Love) main character (Contemporary Fantasy)
Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut (2018) R Cooper, parent Contemporary (Contemporary Romance)
After the Scrum (2014) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin series) main character (Contemporary Romance)
Poisoned Primrose (2020) Dahlia Donovan (Motts Cold Case series) main character (Contemporary Mystery)
London Calling series by Alexis Hall, main character (Contemporary Romance): Boyfriend Material (2020), Husband Material (2022)
Untouchable (2018) Talia Hibbert (Ravenswood) main character (Contemporary Romance)
Work for It (2019) Talia Hibbert, main character (Contemporary Romance)
Take a Hint, Dani Brown (2020) Talia Hibbert (Brown Sisters) main character (Contemporary Romance)
Stalked by Shadows (2019) Lissa Kasey (Simply Crafty) main character (Contemporary Fantasy)
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (2017) Mackenzi Lee, main character (Historical Fantasy)
The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks (2021) Mackenzi Lee, main character (Historical Fantasy)
After the Wedding (2018) Courtney Milan (Worth Saga) main character (Historical Romance)
Invitation to the Blues (2018) Roan Parrish (Small Change) main character (Contemporary Romance)
Rend (2018) Roan Parrish (Riven) main character (Contemporary Romance)
Better than People (2020) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) main character (Contemporary Romance)
Best Laid Plans (2021) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) main character (Contemporary Romance)
The Love Study (2929) Kris Ripper, main character (Contemporary Romance)
To Charm a Naughty Countess (2014) Theresa Romain (The Matchmaker Trilogy) main character (Historical Romance)
A Delicate Deception (2019) Cat Sebastian (Regency Imposter) main character (Historical Romance)
The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series) main character (Historical Romance)
Play It Again (2019) Aidan Wayne, main character (Contemporary Romance)
Call or text 988
Mental Health Representation in Books: Depression
Mental Health Representation in Books: Grief
Mental Health Representation in Books: PTSD
Mental Health Representation in Books: Addiction and Eating Disorders
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